FIFTH OF JULY is a wonderfully sweet, bitter, funny, and ultimately enjoyable play and this film captures those qualities to a T. It's openness about what some consider taboo subjects is amazing for a film from 1982. AIDS hadn't been fully discovered just yet and in Lanford Wilson's work we have a gay couple who are not threatened by the ravages of disease, like so many post-discovery films. This isn't AND THE BAND PLAYED ON, or LOVE, VALOUR, COMPASSION but the importance of it is almost equally valid. Here is a an American family, disrupted by the Vietnam War, the radical dreams of the 1960s, the desire to be different than the generation before. These are real people with real agendas, painted with a brush that might be more familiar with them then it leads us to believe. Mr. Wilson weaves a tapestry worth enjoying. Netflix has this film available in their collection so I recommend checking it out if you have a lazy Saturday afternoon to spare... pour some lemonade, make yourself a grilled cheese sandwich, and pop this into your DVD player.
Review of Fifth of July
