http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ELKzmZK5Dec In his first of 3 collaborations with director Oliver Stone (which were all Oscar nominated scores) Williams creates a work that delivers a power that very few of his scores have ever achieved. The film tells the story of Ron Kovic, who lived a picturesque and patriotic existence before joining the Marines and fighting and ultimately becoming paralyzed in the Vietnam war. The film opens with a haunting and beautifully composed theme by Williams, showing the Rockwellian life that Kovic leads as a boy in suburban Long Island. The music expands into a masterful piece complimenting the utopia that Kovic lives in making us feel warm and fuzzy inside. As the film as well as Kovic descend deeper into resentment over the war and ultimately his country, Williams brings back the earlier theme he had played over the images of his boyhood. Now the music takes on a whole new meaning, one of hurt and isolation. Williams stings the drama even more by adding a masterfully played trumpet solo to the composition, representing Kovic and his singular battle with accepting that he gave his body in the jungle and lost. Williams' score for Born On The Fourth Of July is one of his more darker contributions, but it is a work of a master at the top of his game.