| Lowest Recommended Age: | Mature High Schooler |
| MPAA Rating: | NR |
| Profanity: | Strong language |
| Nudity/Sex: | References to gay and straight sex |
| Alcohol/Drugs: | Drinking and drunkenness |
| Violence/Scariness: | Tense and angry confrontations |
| Diversity Issues: | A good example of a disabled character as a real person, not a victim or a saint |
| Movie Release Date: | 1982 |
| DVD Release Date: | July 5, 2011 |
This filmed version of Lanford Wilson’s Fifth of July is a brilliantly acted story of the complicated relationships of a group of friends and relatives who get together over the 4th of July holiday. It centers around the relationship of Kenneth Talley, Jr. (Richard Thomas), a disabled Vietnam vet in a wheelchair and his partner Jed (Jeff Daniels), his sister June (Joyce Reehling) and recently widowed aunt Sally (Helen Stenborg), and his old friends, a wealthy couple named John and Gwen (Swoosie Kurtz in her Tony award-winning role). It is a searing but ultimately hopeful and healing story of very real characters and also a thoughtful commentary on the Vietnam era. This is one of three plays the gifted Wilson wrote about the Talley family, and it is a part of the superb series of Broadway Theater Archive productions that brought the best of live theater to Showtime audiences in the early 80′s.




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