Ron Kovic was a young man who served with the U.S Marines in Vietnam. Played by Tom Cruise in the film, his duty turns into a disaster when he accidentally kills his fellow Marine and is later paralyzed from the middle of his chest and down. After writing his book, Kovic became well a known anti-war activist. His memoir published in 1976, Born on the Fourth of July, because the book on which the film is based.
The film was praised by critics, and hit at the box office, cruising over $160 million dollars around the world. It won four Golden Globe Awards, including all of the majors: Best Actor, Best Screenplay, and Best Director for Oliver Stone’s efforts on the picture.
Almost Famous (2000)
Almost Famous is a 2000 dramedy film that stars Kate Hudson and Billy Crudup and tells the tale of a promising young journalist, played by Patrick Fugit, who’s working for Rolling Stone in the 1970s. Roger Ebert called the production, “funny and touching in so many ways.” The film is based on the childhood of the director of the film, Cameron Crowe.
Writer and director Cameron Crowe pulled inspiration from several actual musicians and groupies in the ‘70s to create the film, which was ranked the 79th greatest of all time in a 2014 list put out by the Hollywood Reporter.
Girl, Interrupted (1999)
This 1999 psychological drama stars Wynona Rider and Angelina Jolie as fellow patients in a mental hospital in the late 1960s. Rider plays an 18-year-old who suffers a nervous breakdown and winds up in a facility meant for serious mental illness, where she winds up making friends with a lot of the other girls. The film is based on Susanna Kaysen who relates her experiences as a young woman in a psychiatric hospital in the 1960s.
Brittany Murphy and Elisabeth Moss also make appearances in the film, which opened the mixed reviews, but won several awards. Jolie won the Academy Award, Critics’ Choice Award, and Golden Globe Award for best-supporting actress.
Not Without My Daughter (1990)
Sally Fields plays a distraught wife and mother Betty Mahoody, who’s married to an Iranian doctor, who tricks her and her daughter into staying in Iran after leading them to believe it would be a short trip. Then, after his family is stuck, he becomes abusive, and Betty has to get their daughter and escape back home to the U.S.
Luckily, the two make it back. The film grossed just $15 million at the box office and holds just a 50% approval on esteemed review site, Rotten Tomatoes. Field’s performance got her nominated for the 1991 Razzie for Worst Actress of the year. Yikes.
Mommie Dearest (1981)
Faye Dunaway stars in this 1981 docudrama, based on the life of abusive mother Joan Crawford. While the film was a huge success at the box office, grossing nearly $40 million against a $5 million budget, it’s based on a sad true story of abuse and manipulation. The memoir and exposé that was written by Christina Crawford, the adopted daughter of actress Joan Crawford was published in 1978.
Unfortunately, the only awards the film won were a number of Razzie awards, including Worst Picture, Worst Screenplay, and Worst Actress for Dunaway, who tied with Bo Derek for her work in Tarzan, The Ape Man. Dunaway later blamed the film for her decline of work in Hollywood.