In a considerably more dramatic manner, this is also the story of my own trajectory in and out of Vietnam. I too came from a family and a community that wrapped itself tight in the flag. Politically conservative and all gung-ho about the military and American involvement in Vietnam, being a soldier was something that all honorable American citizens were expected to embrace wholeheartedly. And while the war in Vietnam was not exactly the equivalent of WW2, neither was it understood in the context of the war economy or the military industrial complex.
Not where I grew up.
But then, by the time that I got back, I had a profoundly different political narrative from which to view both the war and the government that sent me over there. It just took Ron Kovic a little longer to see the light.
Of course he had to view it from a wheelchair. And that can make all the difference in the world.
And once again this is a film that clearly shows how the life that you live can suck you down into a frame of mind that only makes sense because of that life itself. The existential parameters of “I” are marbled through and through the trajectory of this man. And then it is only a matter of sifting and then shifting through all the entangled variables and trying to understand how one might yank himself up out of them…trying to grapple with a point of view that is more reflective of the way things really are.
IMDb
[b]The real Ron Kovic gave Tom Cruise his Bronze Star for his performance in this movie.
Oliver Stone and Tom Cruise both expressed interest in using a nerve agent to cause genuine paralysis in Cruise’s legs, but they were unable to find a substance that was safe enough to guarantee no permanent damage.
The film’s anti-war message meant that Universal were very nervous about its box office chances so they kept the budget low. To keep costs down, most of the cast didn’t receive an upfront salary.
A copy of “Johnny Got His Gun,” a popular anti-war novel about WW1, is visible on Ron’s hospital bed when he learns he will never walk again. In the novel, the main character is a soldier who is mutilated beyond recognition in a war; he has lost both of his arms and legs as well as his sight and hearing.[/b]
at wiki: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Born_on_t … July_(film
trailer: youtu.be/t8NR6n1nRMI
BORN ON THE FOURTH OF JULY [1989]
Written in part and directed by Oliver Stone
[b]Ron [voiceover]: It was a long time ago. Sometimes I can still hear their voices across Sally’s woods. There was Billy, Steve, Tommy, and the tall kid from down the street… Joey. Yeah, it was Joey Walsh. My best friend was Timmy Burns who lived two blocks away from me. We turned the woods into a battlefield and dreamed that someday we would become men.
…
Mrs. Kovic: Your brother’s a hard worker, Tommy, 'cause he wants to be the best. Win or lose… in school, in sports, in life… as long as you do your best, that’s what matters to God.
…
Timmy: My brother’s at school at Adelphi. He said there will be a war in…what is it?
Ron: Vietnam.
Timmy: The Marines will be the first in, and it won’t last long. So if we don’t sign up
soon, we’ll miss it.
Ron: I’ve already decided. I’m going in. I’m going in now.
Stevie: You’re crazy.
Ron: Our dads got to go to WWII. This is our chance to be part of history.
Timmy: Yeah, just like our dads.
…
Ron: What do you think, Dad, about that?
Father: I don’t know. that’s a long way to go to fight a war. They fought the French and the Japanese for 30 years. Can they be weeded out?
Ron: Anything that lives in a cave can be weeded out.
Father: I just hope they send you to Europe or Korea or…
Ron: They can’t.
Father: …Someplace safe.
Ron: Every Marine has a tour of duty there. It’s not like the Army. What’s wrong with you? You served. Uncle Bob served.
Father: I know, Ronnie. I know.
Ron: Remember what President Kennedy said? There won’t be an America anymore unless people are willing to sacrifice. I love my country.
Father: I know.
Mother: And you’re right, Ronnie. You’re doing the right thing. Communism has to be stopped. It’s God’s will you go. We’re proud of you. Be careful, that’s all.
Ron: Don’t you know what being a Marine means to me, Dad? Ever since I was a kid, I’ve wanted to serve my country, And I want to go. I want to go to Vietnam, and I’ll die there if I have to.
…
Chaplain: How are you?
Ron [weakly]: Tell them - they have to operate on me. There’s something wrong with me.
Chaplain: The doctors are real busy right now. There’s a lot of wounded here today. No time for anything except trying to stay alive, so you got to try and stay alive, okay? You hear me? Try and stay alive.
[pause]
Chaplain: I’ve come to give you your last rites. Are you ready?
Ron [weakly]: Yeah.
Chaplain: I am the Resurrection and the Life. He who believes in Me, though he were dead, yet shall he live, and whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die. You brught nothing into this world, and it is certain that you will take nothing out of it. The Lord gives, and the Lord takes away. Blessed be the name of the Lord.
…
Ron: This place is a fuckin’ slum!
Marvin: You want out of here, man? Fine. We take that leg of yours, and we can get you out of here in two weeks!
Ron: I want my leg.
Marvin: Why?
Ron: I want my leg!
Marvin: Why? You can’t feel it no how!
Ron (incredulous and angry): It’s my leg! I want my leg, you understand? Can’t you understand that? All’s I’m sayin’ is that I want to be treated like a human being! I fought for my country! I am a Vietnam veteran! I fought for my country!
Patient: Shut the fuck up!
Ron: And I think that I deserve to be treated… decent!
…
Doctor: We want to make one thing very clear to you, Ron. The possibility of your ever walking again is minimal… almost impossible. You’re a T6 - paralyzed from the mid-chest down. Probably… you’ll be in a wheelchair for the rest of your life. Do you understand what I’m saying?
Ron: Well, doctor…
Doctor: Hmm?
Ron: Doctor, will I ever be able to - to have children?
Doctor: No.
[pause]
Doctor: No, but we have a good psychologist. He’s helped a lot of people.
Ron: I’ll walk again.
Doctor: No you won’t…
Ron: No, I know I’ll walk again!
Doctor: No, let me tell you something, Ron. You will NEVER walk again.
…
Ron: They burned the flag and they demonstrated against us; it’s on the cover of the paper today. They have no respect. They have no idea what’s going on over there, Mom - the men that are sacrificing their lives. People are dying every day over there, and nobody back here even seems to care. It’s a bunch of goddamn shit if you ask me!
Mrs. Kovic: Ronnie, don’t take the Lord’s name in vain - not in front of the children. I agree with everything you say!
Ron: I served my country - and they just want to take from it - just take, take! Love it or leave it, that’s what I think.
…
Ron: When I was in the hospital, I thought, yeah - yeah, this makes sense.
Timmy: What makes sense?
Ron: Because I failed, Timmy.
Timmy: What are you talking about?
Ron: Because I - I killed some - people; I made some terrible - mistakes!
Timmy: Oh, for Christ’s sake, Ronnie, we all made mistakes. I mean, you - you had no choice. That’s something that those goddamn pansy demonstrators ain’t never gonna understand! Now, you don’t even have to talk about it, Ronnie; I mean, it was insane over there! It was crazy!
Ron: Sometimes I wish, I wish I’d - The first time I got hit, I was shot in the foot. I could have laid down, I mean - who gives a fuck now if I was a hero or not? I was paralyzed, castrated that day; why? It was all so - stupid! I’d have my dick and my balls now, and some days, Timmy - some days I think I’d give everything I believe in - everything I got, all my values, just to have my body back again, just to be whole again. But I’m not whole; I never will be, and that’s - that’s the way it is, isn’t it?
Timmy: For Christ’s sake, Ronnie, it’s your birthday. You’re alive. You made it! Smile.
…
Steve: You could start out as a cashier… and then work your way up to becoming a manager of one of these places - just like your dad.
Ron: I get $1700 a month from the government. I think I’m just going to lay low, and look around…
Steve [dismissively]: That’s charity money, Ronnie; this isn’t.
Ron Charity?
Steve: All I’m saying is that you got to - you got to put the war behind you, you know; you got to forget about this chair you’re in!
Ron: Sometimes, Stevie, I think people, they know you’re back from Vietnam, and their face - changes: the eyes, the voice, the way they look at you, you know.
Steve: I know what you mean, Ronnie, but people here - they don’t give a shit about the war! Yeah! To them it’s just a million miles away. It’s all bullshit, anyway. I mean, the government sold us a bill of goods and we bought it, and got the shit kicked out of us, and for what, huh?
Ron: What do you mean, “we,” Stevie? You were in college, man.
Steve [shrugs]: You bought that Communist bullshit, Ronnie. Yeah, they were going to take over the world, you remember that? Fenelli, you, Walsh - the whole town was devastated.
[pause]
Steve: For what? For lies, for bullshit lies?
…
Mrs. Kovic: Don’t say penis in this house!
Ron: Penis! Penis! Big fucking erect penis, Mom!
…
Ron We went to Vietnam to stop communism!..We shell women and children!
Mrs. Kovic: You didn’t shoot women and children! What are you saying?
Ron: That was the war, communism, the incidious evil! They told us to go.
Mrs. Kovic: Yes, yes that’s what they told us.
Ron: Thou shalt not kill, Mom. Thou shalt not kill women and children! Thou shalt not kill! Remember? Isn’t that what you taught us? Isn’t that what they taught us?
Mrs. Kovic: Stop it! Stop it!
…
Ron: Am I good? Hey…
[drags himself forward]
Ron: Am I good?
Willie: Man, you’re one crazy Marine, Kovic - so gung-ho and everything, but you don’t know shit about what’s really happenin’ in this country.
Ron: Fuck you, Willie.
Willie: I’m serious man. It ain’t about burnin’ the flag and Vietnam, man. While we fight for rights over there, we ain’t got no rights at home. It’s about Detroit and Newark, man. It’s about racism, man.
Ron: Is that right?
Willie: Because you can’t get no job at home. Vietnam is a white man’s war, a rich man’s war.
Ron (contemptuously): Where’s my money?
Willie: I’m serious, man, you gotta read some books. There’s a revolution going on, Kovic. Brothers are gettin’ it together, and if you ain’t part of the solution, man, then you’re part of the problem. [/b]