Coming Home (1978)

Pretty good movie overall. First half was nothing special but it got better as it went along.

This is a dark and sometimes deeply uncomfortable drama

The movie is made so realistic it has a lot of that WoW feeling at the right moments and never tooo over the top. the suspense is done so well and the emotion is felt. Very well put together with the music and all.

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

Coming Home was one of the films from the first wave of Vietnam War movies. Like The Deer Hunter, also from the same year, it deals with the effects the war had on the people back home in America, both ex-soldiers and wives. It examines the psychological fallout. It's in essence about a love triangle – a woman, her husband who has gone to the war and a physically damaged soldier who has returned. These personal relationships add a considerable layer of complexity to the anti-war themes directly levelled at the Vietnam situation. So the movie is a quite detailed set of motivations and impulses from a group of damaged individuals. One man is physically crippled, the other mentally broken, while the woman in the middle is lost. The primary reason that it all works so well is on account of towering performances from the three leads, namely Bruce Dern, Jane Fonda and Jon Voight. All three are extremely good and drive the dramatics. The style of the movie is very loose in terms of both dialogue and also camera-work. It lends a sense of realism that works in its favour and keeps the feel very personal.Its director Hal Ashby made a series of highly impressive films throughout the 70's and this is simply another example. The anti-war message is certainly quite clearly given, culminating in a scene where Voight delivers an impassioned speech to a group of high school students about his feelings about his participation in the war; it's a powerhouse moment. It seems that many people don't like the ending very much though, particularly where Dern's character kills himself by swimming out into the ocean. I myself thought it powerful and one that isn't as morally weak as some others believe, after all Dern's suicide doesn't simply resolve the love triangle problem for the other two characters but it also would leave them with a considerable amount of guilt due to their actions contributing to this action. It's an intense but strong ending in my view. Also of note is a particularly strong soundtrack of 60's rock songs, including the very rare use of original Beatles recordings on a film score.

The cast is first rate with the leads like Jane Fonda and Jon Voight winning their Oscars for their performances in this film about Vietnam. Jane played Sally Bender Hyde, a Captain's wife who volunteers at the Veterans hospital where she is reunited with Luke Martin (played by Voight) who is paralyzed from his injuries in Vietnam. Bruce Dern played Captain Bob Hyde, Sally's husband. Penelope Milford played Vi, Sally's friend, a sister of veteran (Robert Carradine played this role), and in love with Bink (Robert Ginty). Anyway Hal Ashby directed a classic film about love and war and how both can destroy and create at the same time. The ending with Dern at the beach really puzzled me. I won't say anymore about it without spoiling it. I really felt the sexual tension between Fonda and Voight in their characters. Fonda played a woman who is torn between two men. The reality of war is never far from the story of the film. In fact, many of the patients were actually Vietnam veterans themselves.

This film looks at the effect of the Vietnam war on the home front. The script is preachy and cliché-ridden and Ashby's approach is heavy handed. Fonda is fine as the woman torn between husband Dern and lover Voight. The latter two actors don't fare as well. Initially, Voight overdoes the bitter war vet routine. Then his abrupt transformation from obnoxious and self-centered to sensitive and thoughtful is not believable. Dern is surprisingly normal initially but eventually turns into the weirdo that had been the trademark of most of his career at the time. The movie feels stale and uninspired, as reflected by the lazy use of 1960s songs on the soundtrack.

This was probably an important political film. It certainly is a heart-rending one. John Voight and Jane Fonda play their roles with grace and expertise. Watching this film at the time of its release and now leaves me conflicted. I like the politics and I admire the quietness and grace of this work. However, "Coming Home" often seems to have gotten away from director Hal Ashby, one of my favourite directors. I particularly admire his film "The Last Detail". For me, this film feels too much like a series of sermons.However, Bruce Dern is one of my favourite actors. He saves this film with his role as Marine Captain Bob Hyde. He is the moral and narrative core of the film. Dern is a fantastic actor; his portrayal here is proof. He plays a military man who seeks to understand the ambiguities of life, particularly his career as a Marine officer.Mr. Ashby's direction of Dern is masterful. The interplay of music (The Rolling Stones song "Out of Time", for example) and editing (Captain Hyde's relentless running) creates a memorable and powerful icon. Dern's character has a density and depth unlike that of any other character I know from a film about the Vietnam War with the exceptions of several of those in the film "Casualties of War".The casting of Ms. Fonda and Mr. Voight was appropriate. The script seems to be the problem; it just lacks in its entity the subtly that the Captain Hyde character has.Regardless, this film deeply touched me. It is a powerful work.