Playing Soldiers: The Politics of Casting in Tumbledown and Born on the Fourth of July

Abstract

A conundrum: is it possible for a fiction film to take as its subject the personal experiences of a real-life soldier as combatant in and casualty of a recent controversial and politically influential military campaign and its domestic after-effects, and for that film not to be construed as political comment upon both that campaign and its instigators, the film-makers’ publicly-expressed intentions notwithstanding? The answer, in the specific cases of the BBC film Tumbledown, transmitted in May 1988, and Universal Pictures’ feature film Born on the Fourth of July (1989), would seem to be no, if the critical debate occasioned on both sides of the Atlantic is anything to go by. That debate pivots, of course, around two closely-related issues: the proprietary claim to ‘truth’ made by all concerned, film-makers and opponents alike; and the choice of medium: fictional film narrative.

I felt like a burden was lifted, that I was passing all this on to Tom. I knew he was about to go to Vietnam, to the dark side in his own way.

(Ron Kovic, Empire March 1990, p. 39)

We ended up emotional Siamese twins really … I started having the most appalling dreams, some of them as if I was Robert, doing the things that Robert was doing.

(Colin Firth, Wogan, BBC1, 27 May 1988)

You’re a lot like him, only better. And worse. He was a natural heroic son of a bitch.

(Commander Mike Metcalf, Top Gun, 1986)

That scene is real. It’s happening. You’re there. In person.

(Tom Cruise, Time Out 31 Jan-7 Feb 1990, p. 16)

You never fought that war. You weren’t even there, man!

(Charlie, Born on the Fourth of July, 1989)

Militarism from twelve to half-past four. Little boys all dressed up and playing soldiers.

(Tommy Judd, Another Country, 1984)