{"id":40251,"date":"2018-03-04T15:16:03","date_gmt":"2018-03-04T22:16:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=40251"},"modified":"2021-01-23T20:55:10","modified_gmt":"2021-01-24T03:55:10","slug":"coming-home-1978","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=40251","title":{"rendered":"Coming Home (1978)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>&#8220;We don&#8217;t have to go to Vietnam to find reasons to kill ourselves.&#8221;<\/strong><\/p>\n<table>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/Coming-Home-Poster.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/Coming-Home-Poster-196x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"196\" height=\"300\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-40252\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/Coming-Home-Poster-196x300.jpg 196w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/Coming-Home-Poster-84x128.jpg 84w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/Coming-Home-Poster.jpg 493w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 196px) 100vw, 196px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Synopsis:<\/strong><br \/>\nThe wife (Jane Fonda) of a marine heading overseas to fight in the Vietnam War volunteers with her new friend (Penelope Milford) at a local vet hospital, where she meets and falls in love with a paraplegic (Jon Voight) &#8212; but what will happen to their romance once Dern returns home?\n<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<p>\n<strong>Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Bruce Dern Films<\/li>\n<li>Character Arc<\/li>\n<li>Disabilities<\/li>\n<li>Hal Ashby Films<\/li>\n<li>Homecoming<\/li>\n<li>Infidelity<\/li>\n<li>Jane Fonda Films<\/li>\n<li>Jon Voight Films<\/li>\n<li>Love Triangle<\/li>\n<li>Sexuality<\/li>\n<li>Veterans<\/li>\n<li>Vietnam War<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Response to Peary\u2019s Review: <\/strong><br \/>\nPeary writes that this Hal Ashby-directed &#8220;breakthrough anti-Vietnam War film&#8221; also &#8220;makes a persuasive plea for more sensitive treatment of returning vets&#8230; whether they are physically injured, thoroughly disillusioned by their experiences, or having difficulty with readjustment to wives, the rhythm of civilian life, and a country filled with war protestors&#8221;. In his <em>Alternate Oscars<\/em>, Peary names this film Best Picture in place of <em>The Deer Hunter<\/em>, writing that <em>Coming Home<\/em> &#8220;deals with issues that are still timely, such as our government and military&#8217;s insensitivity and indifference toward&#8230; vets with physical and\/or psychological problems&#8221;. In <em>GFTFF<\/em>, he notes that the &#8220;Oscar-winning script&#8221; is &#8220;powerful, yet sensitive to <em>all<\/em> the major characters, including Dern&#8221; &#8212; indeed, the complexity of their relationship (he&#8217;s far from a one-dimensional &#8220;hawkish career marine&#8221;) is key to our engagement with the story: while it&#8217;s impossible not to root for Fonda and Voight&#8217;s romance, we also feel genuinely terrible for Dern when &#8220;he learns about Fonda&#8217;s infidelity&#8221;. Indeed, in <em>Alternate Oscars<\/em>, Peary adds that &#8220;startingly, we end up with more sympathy for Dern &#8212; his <em>pain<\/em> breaks your heart &#8212; than for anyone else. Unlike Voight, whose anger was tempered by Fonda&#8217;s understanding, Dern hurts too much to wait patiently for Fonda to heal him&#8221;. <\/p>\n<p>In <em>GFTFF<\/em>, Peary writes that &#8220;Fonda won an Oscar with her appealing performance, playing one of her naive women who bravely step into unknown territory and become politicized&#8221; &#8212; but he adds that &#8220;Voight is even better in his Oscar-winning performance&#8221;, playing &#8220;his character with amazing intelligence, sensitivity, restraint, and lack of pretension&#8221;. In <em>Alternate Oscars<\/em>, he writes that Voight&#8217;s &#8220;role was hard to play for several reasons. Luke [Voight] is in a wheelchair yet must come across as physically fit and sexually desirable. He must display hostility and rage, yet still seem reasonable and not scare viewers into thinking he shouldn&#8217;t be welcomed back into society. He must elicit audience sympathy for all disabled vets by complaining about his own treatment, yet not display self-pity&#8221; (the latter takes time, but we can see his transformation through the arc of the storyline). Peary adds that he &#8220;turns out to be one of the nicest, most admirable, most desirable of movie heroes&#8221;. <\/p>\n<p>There are many memorable scenes in <em>Coming Home<\/em>, including &#8220;one of the cinema&#8217;s most famous erotic scenes&#8221;, in which Voight &#8220;and Fonda make love in bed&#8221;, and &#8220;Voight speaking to a high school about the amoral war&#8221; &#8212; but other moments stand out as well. Near the beginning of her volunteer work, for instance, Fonda attempts to communicate with a black veteran without realizing he needs his voice box plugged in; when she begins to feed him, she drops his first mouthful of food, and then they engage in an awkward back-and-forth over whether she&#8217;ll give this piece to him or not &#8212; it&#8217;s a version of two people attempting to walk by each other and getting the direction wrong each time. Robert Carradine as Milford&#8217;s emotionally damaged brother is also memorable, showing how trauma manifests in mysterious ways; his suicide scene is deeply disturbing. <em>Coming Home<\/em> isn&#8217;t a film one can watch easily, but it&#8217;s well-worth viewing. <\/p>\n<p><strong>Redeeming Qualities and Moments: <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Jane Fonda as Sally (nominated by Peary as one oof the Best Actresses of the Year in <em>Alternate Oscars<\/em>)<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/Coming-Home-Fonda.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/Coming-Home-Fonda-1024x555.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"347\" class=\"alignnone size-large wp-image-40254\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/Coming-Home-Fonda-1024x555.png 1024w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/Coming-Home-Fonda-128x69.png 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/Coming-Home-Fonda-300x163.png 300w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/Coming-Home-Fonda-768x416.png 768w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/Coming-Home-Fonda.png 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<li>Jon Voight as Luke (selected by Peary as Best Actor of the Year in <em>Alternate Oscars<\/em>)<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/Coming-Home-Voight.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/Coming-Home-Voight-1024x555.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"347\" class=\"alignnone size-large wp-image-40253\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/Coming-Home-Voight-1024x555.png 1024w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/Coming-Home-Voight-128x69.png 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/Coming-Home-Voight-300x163.png 300w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/Coming-Home-Voight-768x416.png 768w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/Coming-Home-Voight.png 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<li>Haskell Wexler&#8217;s fine cinematography and good use of natural locales<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/Coming-Home-Cinematography.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/Coming-Home-Cinematography-1024x555.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"347\" class=\"alignnone size-large wp-image-40256\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/Coming-Home-Cinematography-1024x555.png 1024w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/Coming-Home-Cinematography-128x69.png 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/Coming-Home-Cinematography-300x163.png 300w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/Coming-Home-Cinematography-768x416.png 768w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/Coming-Home-Cinematography.png 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/Coming-Home-Cinematography2.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/Coming-Home-Cinematography2-1024x555.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"347\" class=\"alignnone size-large wp-image-40255\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/Coming-Home-Cinematography2-1024x555.png 1024w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/Coming-Home-Cinematography2-128x69.png 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/Coming-Home-Cinematography2-300x163.png 300w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/Coming-Home-Cinematography2-768x416.png 768w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/Coming-Home-Cinematography2.png 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Must See? <\/strong><br \/>\nYes, as an enduring post-war classic.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Categories<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Noteworthy Performance(s)<\/li>\n<li>Oscar Winner or Nominee<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Links: <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt0077362\/\">IMDb entry<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/1978\/02\/19\/archives\/film-view-hollywood-focuses-on-vietnam-at-last-film-view-hollywood.html\">NY Times Original Review<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.tvguide.com\/movies\/coming-home\/review\/111230\/\">TV Guide Review<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;We don&#8217;t have to go to Vietnam to find reasons to kill ourselves.&#8221; Synopsis: The wife (Jane Fonda) of a marine heading overseas to fight in the Vietnam War volunteers with her new friend (Penelope Milford) at a local vet hospital, where she meets and falls in love with a paraplegic (Jon Voight) &#8212; but what will happen to their romance once Dern returns home? Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors: Bruce Dern Films Character Arc Disabilities Hal Ashby Films Homecoming&#8230;<\/p>\n<p class=\"read-more\"><a class=\"btn btn-default\" href=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=40251\"> Read More<span class=\"screen-reader-text\">  Read More<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-40251","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-responses-to-peary"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40251","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=40251"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40251\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":65442,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40251\/revisions\/65442"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=40251"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=40251"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=40251"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}