Born on the Fourth of July

 And this week's Friday night movie has been... Born on the Fourth of July!

Original image located here. Accessed 4th July 2025

I couldn't resist.

Jokes aside, there is nothing funny about this: a biopic about Vietnam vet Ron Kovic, tracing his story from childhood to adulthood. We see him fighting in the conflict, becoming paralysed and confined to a wheelchair, coming home and struggling to readjust to a civilian life, pursuing hedonistic pleasures to zero satisfaction and eventually becoming an anti-war activist.

I have a feeling that if this movie was released today it would be written-off as Oscar Bait. It certainly ticks the boxes that are favoured by the Academy and it certainly goes a long way to humanise those who fought in a very unpopular war. But somehow, this movie still stands on it;s own feet purely through it's lead: Tom Cruise.
For a long time. Cruise was a punchline: so much so it is easy to forget that he was truly one of the finest actors of his day. And here he delivers quite possibly his best performance: He inhabits the role of Kovis delivering the fire and pathos necessary to effectively become Kovic. 

This story may sound like one told many times before - indeed Kovic's story is one that many Vietnam vets would have faced - but none could hit like this. 

Platoon

And this week's Friday night movie has been... Platoon!

Original image located here. Accessed 4th November 2024

Best Picture Oscar winner no.: 59 (1986)

There seems to be a 'Big Four' of Vietnam War movies: Apocalypse Now, Full Metal Jacket, The Deer Hunter and this: Platoon. Of particular note is that the latter two have won the Academy Award for Best Picture. Which is quite a feat as the Vietnam was regarded as a very unpopular war. 

Compared to the other Big Four, Platoon has the unique advantage of being director by an actual Vietnam veteran. For this I don't doubt this movie's realism, nor do I doubt it's message on the brutality and futility on the conflict. More than any other movie, this is the view from the grunt's perspective, facing death, mayhem, conflicting COs, uncertainty as to what they're doing there and struggling to keep it all together.

Okay I admit it: I'm struggling to get the words together but perhaps that is a testament to this movie's power.
I mean, any film that opens with Barber's Adagio for Strings isn't messing around...