MOVIES - May 25, 1988

Tom Cruise has been signed to star in the next Oliver Stone film, “Born on the Fourth of July,” a story based on the experiences of author Ron Kovic--a young patriot who volunteered to serve in Vietnam, returned home paralyzed and then joined up with the anti-war protesters he once lambasted as traitors. “I felt this was the story to tell after “Platoon,’ ” said producer John Daly, chairman of Hemdale Film Corp., the company that worked with Stone on both “Salvador” and “Platoon.” “It is one of the great untold stories of a generation.” Stone will write the screenplay from Kovic’s book of the same name.