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Oliver Stone was born in New York, NY on Sept. 15^TH , 1946. His father, Lou Stone was a Jewish stockbroker native to New York. Stones mother, Jacqueline was a catholic French and was from an upper class family. Stone lived well as his parents were wealthy. They lived in Manhattan and Stamford, Connecticut town homes. Stone spent the majority of his childhood with nannies, his parents spending much of their time in the social scene. Maybe because of this, Stone developed an early talent. He began writing marionette style skits at the age of five, in which he would cast his cousins to play the parts. At the age of seven, his father would pay him a quarter for each story he would write. At nine years of age, Stone began a nine hundred page book about his life and family. Stone attended Trinity School in Upper East Manhattan and later the college preparatory academy, Hill School in Pottstown, Pennsylvania. Vacations for Stone were typically spent in France with his maternal grandparents. In 1961, during his junior year at Hill School, Stones parents divorced. Lou was having many extramarital affairs and was also quickly spiraling towards bankruptcy. Stone realize he had been taking his privileged life for granted when his father advised him that other then paying for his college, Stone would be on his own financially.

At this point, Stone considered becoming a mercenary in Congo. He decided against it and instead completed high school and then went on to Yale University to study liberal arts. He left one year later after being inspired by people such as Joseph Conrad and George Harrison and moved to Saigon. He was accepted into the Free Pacific Institute teaching program in 1965 at the age of 18. He only stayed for six months. Over the next two years Stone spent his time as a wiper on a U.S. merchant marine ship, then to Oregon and Guadalajara Mexico. In Mexico, he began writing ” A Child’s Night Dream” and he returned to Yale to try again. Unfortunately Stone devoted more time to his novel then to his studies and his grades suffered causing him to drop out again. He completed his novel but threw half of it into the East River after failing to interest a publisher, Shortly after in 1967 Stone enlisted in the US Army and requested combat duty in Vietnam. During his tour, he was injured several times earning him honors such as the Bronze STAR, Extraordinary acts of Courage Under Fire and the Purple Heart with an Oak Leaf Cluster.

Stone went to Mexico after his discharge and was thrown in jail after trying to return to the US with 2 ounces of marijuana. Stone realized he needed to straiten up his life and enrolled in New York University film school. Stone proclaims this his salvation, a way to express his feelings and creativity. His first teacher was Director Martin Scorses, whom Stone credits for helping his to channel his rage. He wrote two short films while at the University. He graduated in 1971 with a fine arts degree. He wrote ten screen plays but worked as a cab driver and Xerox messenger to support himself since her was having a hard time getting noticed as a writer with out an agent.

In 1973, Stone age 27 finally sold one of his screenplays. Slowly his career began. He wrote the screenplay for Midnight Express and he began winning awards such as the Golden Glob and Writers Guild award for the screenplay. Stone put out a few disappointments such as The hand and Year of the Dragon. The trial Stone has gone through and life journeys he has taken may have helped him evolve into the daring, radical and liberating artist he is. He developed techniques such as fast editing, unpredictable angles, fluctuating colors and non-stop music flexible enough to accommodate dramas such as JFK, all the way to Comedies like U-Turn.

Heaven and Earth, Nixon and Any Given Sunday are all works from Stone. Heaven and Earth was part of a trilogy of Nam films from Stone. This is the only movie of Stone’s to ever be told from the woman’s perspective. This movie was compelling in that Stone tried to acknowledge that all the participants in the Nam war were right and wrong each in their own ways. The reflections Stone created through out the film were memorable but not unique as the same style was used in Nixon and Any Given Sunday. However Stone did something very right with this film, As Ebert said in his Heaven and Earth review, “Movies are not the best way to make a reasoned argument. For that you need the written word, which can be pinned down, footnoted, double checked and debated. Movies traffic emotion. They are about the way thing look and feel.” Stone has able to so both with this film.

Nixon on the other hand is Stone’s interpretation, combined with truth and dramatically interpreted events to create the “disjointed masterpiece” that is Nixon, as mentioned in the Film Tracks Nixon film review. The same reflection techniques occur in the film as in Heaven and Earth. Stone will go from one scene to a memory of the actually event. The cast was also unique and diverse. The cast was so large and the need for well known talent hindered the ability to match the perfect actor to the correct character. There were however a handful that could not have fit the image better, having striking resemblance’s to the real person. Joan Allen who portrayed Pat Nixon is an example of this.

Any Given Sunday is a mixture of perfection and style and creativity disaster. The movie while predictable was well told and overall fun to watch. Cameron Diaz and Jaime Foxx really got to test their talent as the characters they played were definitely out of their personal comfort zones. Stones attempts at his (what is seemingly becoming a trademark) reflection technique went horribly wrong in this film. Some of the shots created a early eighties feel with multi action frame scenes. Stone had great potential with this one but his creative drive got in the way cutting himself and the film short.

Over all if Stone continues to be the innovative, creative and edgy director we have all come to know his prestige will remain. Although slightly skeptical seeing as three randomly selected films have a very similar feel. Stone does need to remember to continue attempting new and artistic approaches. In doing so he will remain fresh and respected.

Oliver Stone- Annoted Bibliography

Oliver Stone Biograpy, Filmbug.com, Bio courtesy Warner Bros, 15^th April 2006

, Filmbug.com, Bio courtesy Warner Bros, 15 April 2006 

http://www.filmbug.com/db/1614-9

Oliver Stone Biograpy, Filmbug.com, Bio courtesy Warner Bros. for “Error! Bookmark not defined.” (21-Nov-2004) , 15^th April, 2006

, Filmbug.com, Bio courtesy Warner Bros. for “” (21-Nov-2004) , 15 April, 2006 

http://www.filmbug.com/db/1614

Holm, D.K. Oliver Stone, cinemonkey.com, 15^th April, 2006

http://www.cinemonkey.com/reviews/oliverstone/oliverstone.html

EBERT, ROGER Heaven And Earth ,

,December 24, 1993, rogerebert.suntimes.com, 15^th April 2006

December 24, 1993, rogerebert.suntimes.com, 15 April 2006.

http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/19931224/REVIEWS/312240302/1023

Jacobs, Leslie Any Given Sunday (1999)-R, Showbizdata.com, 15^TH April, 2006

http://www.showbizdata.com/mreviews.cfm/224588/ANY_GIVEN_SUNDAY

China, Todd Nixon, filmtracks.com, 15^th April, 2006

http://www.filmtracks.com/titles/nixon.html

Filmaker Oliver Stone Biography, filmmakers.com, 15^th April 2006

, filmmakers.com, 15 April 2006 

http://www.filmmakers.com/artists/oliverstone/biography/index.htm#Top