William Mapother Movies
William Mapother has staked out a peripheral film career thanks to his cousin, Tom Cruise. With haunting eyes and a brooding demeanor, Mapother was a memorable choice to play Marisa Tomei's vicious ex-husband in In the Bedroom (2001), his most recognizable role. Cruise gave the Kentucky native his start with production assistant jobs on Cocktail and Rain Man (both 1988), then a small role in Born on the Fourth of July (1989), where he also worked as the actor's assistant. Mapother has continued to appear in the margins of Cruise films, ranging from Magnolia (1999) to Minority Report (2002), as well as undertaking a larger role in the Cruise-produced Without Limits (1998). ~ Derek Armstrong, All Movie Guide
The second of three films by co-writer/director Oliver Stone to explore the effects of the Vietnam War (Platoon and Heaven and Earth are the others), Born On The Fourth Of July tells the true story of Ron Kovic (Tom Cruise), a patriotic, All-American small town athlete who shocks his family by enlisting with the Marines to fight in the Vietnam War. Once he is overseas, however, Kovic's gung-ho enthusiasm turns to horror and confusion when he accidentally kills one of his own men in a firefight. His downfall is furthered by a bullet wound that leaves him paralyzed from the chest down. He returns home, spends an appalling, nightmarish stint in a veterans' hospital, and follows an increasingly disillusioned and fragmented path that ultimately leaves him drunk and dissolute in Mexico. However, Kovic somehow turns himself around and pulls his life together, becoming an outspoken anti-war activist in the process. The film is long but emotionally powerful; many consider it Stone's best work and Cruise's best performance. Both were nominated for Oscars, as was the film itself, but only Stone, who co-wrote the film with Kovic from the latter's book, won for Best Director. ~ Don Kaye, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tom Cruise, Raymond J. Barry, (more)
