Born on the Fourth of July1989

Mrs. Kovic:
What happend in that war? What happend to you? You need help, Ronnie, you need help.

Ron Kovic:
No, you need help! All your God and your bullshit dreams about me!

Mrs. Kovic:
You'll wake the whole neighborhood. [She starts telling the other children to go to bed]

Ron Kovic:
YOU ARE ASHAMED OF ME! You're EMBARRASSED by me.

Tommy Kovic:
Please, Mom, let me talk to him.

Mrs. Kovic:
You go to bed!

Ron Kovic:
F*** YOU!

Mr. Kovic:
Don't you talk to your mother like that!

Mrs. Kovic:
What did you say to me?! [Comes back to Ron's room, enraged] WHAT DID YOU SAY TO ME?? [Smacks Ron's face a couple of times and leaves; Ron strolls after her]

Ron Kovic:
F*** YOU!!!

Mr. Kovic:
Ronnie, that's ENOUGH!

Mrs. Kovic:
You're gonna wake the whole neighborhood!

Ron Kovic:
OH, WAKE 'EM UP! TELL THEM! CUSACKS, CAMELLETTIS, WALSHES!! You tell them all! Tell them what they did to me. What they did to this country.

Mrs. Kovic:
[To Mr. Kovic] They're gonna call the police this time

Ron Kovic:
We went to Vietnam to stop communism!... We shot women and children!

Mrs. Kovic:
You didn't shoot women and children! What are you saying?

Ron Kovic:
That was the war, communism, the insidious evil! They told us to go.

Mrs. Kovic:
Yes, yes that's what they told us.

Ron Kovic:
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 Kovic:
But they're the evil, Mom. They're the ones we should be fighting. They lied to me growing up, they lied to all of us, but it's not gonna work anymore. Not for you... for me... for anybody else.

Mrs. Kovic:
Stop it, stop it! As long as you're in this house, you will not talk that way. Eli, please stop him.

Mr. Kovic:
Ron, come on now... you made your point, now stop.

Ron Kovic:
No, I haven't made my point. Tell her, Dad. They're killing everybody now.

Mrs. Kovic:
I didn't force you to go!!

Ron Kovic:
YES, YOU DID! YES, YOU DID!!! It's all falling apart, Mom! King. Kennedy. Kent State. We all lost the war, Mom. F***ing Communism won! It's all for nothing!

Mrs. Kovic:
That is not true, Ronnie.

Ron Kovic:
What do you know, Ma? WHAT DO YOU KNOW?!?

Tommy Kovic:
Ron.

Ron Kovic:
What? Tell her, Tommy. You tell her, Dad! Tell her it's all a lie! It's a f***ing lie! Tell her God's as dead as my legs. There's no God and there's no country. It's just me... and this f***ing wheelchair for the rest... of my life. [Unzips his pants and sticks his hand in] It's just me and this... dead... penis.

Mrs. Kovic:
[Hysterically disgusted] OH MY GOD! RONNIE!!

Mr. Kovic:
Don't, Ronnie! Not with the catheter! For God sake!

Ron Kovic:
DEAD... PENIS!

Mrs. Kovic:
Oh, GOD! Eli, I can't take this anymore.

Mr. Kovic:
[Notices the children] Go to your rooms. Go to your ROOMS!

Mrs. Kovic:
[To Ron] THE HELL WITH YOU!!!

Ron Kovic:
In church they said that it's a sin if you play with your penis, I wish I could.

Mrs. Kovic:
Don't say penis in this house!

Ron Kovic:
Penis!

Mrs. Kovic:
Stop!

Ron Kovic:
Penis! Big f***ing erect penis, MA!

Mrs. Kovic:
STOOOOOOP!!

Ron Kovic:
PENIS! PENIIIIIIIIIS!!!

Mrs. Kovic:
[Praying in tears] Lord, he won't let go, what do I do?

Ron Kovic:
I really don't have time to learn to use it. It's gone in some jungle. Some f***ing jungle over there. It's just gone. [Notices his mother sits down crying, and he, too, is in tears] I'm sorry it happened this way. I'm sorry if you're sad, Mom. [Softens] I'm so sorry you're sad. I'm sorry.