Coming Home (1978)

A woman whose husband is fighting in Vietnam falls in love with another man who suffered a paralyzing combat injury there.

Director:

Hal Ashby

Writers:

Waldo Salt (screenplay), Robert C. Jones (screenplay)

Stars:

Jane Fonda, Jon Voight, Bruce Dern

Won 3 Oscars. Another 11 wins & 14 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Jane Fonda	...	Sally Hyde
Jon Voight	...	Luke Martin
Bruce Dern	...	Capt. Bob Hyde
Penelope Milford	...	Vi Munson
Robert Carradine	...	Bill Munson
Robert Ginty	...	Sgt. Dink Mobley
Mary Gregory	...	Martha Vickery
Kathleen Miller	...	Kathy Delise
Beeson Carroll	...	Capt. Earl Delise
Willie Tyler	...	Virgil
Louis Carello	...	Bozo (as Lou Carello)
Charles Cyphers	...	Pee Wee
Olivia Cole	...	Corrine
Tresa Hughes	...	Nurse Degroot
Bruce French	...	Dr. Lincoln

Storyline

Sally Bender is the wife of a Captain in the U.S. Marine Corps. He is sent over to Vietnam, and Sally is alone. With nothing else to do, she decides to volunteer at a local veteran's hospital, where she meets Luke, who went to high school with Sally. Luke was wounded and is paralyzed and confined to a wheelchair. When Sally begins to fall in love with Luke, she has to make a crucial decision about her life.

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Plot Keywords:

vietnam | paraplegic | vietnam war | wheelchair | u.s. marine corps | 

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Taglines:

A man who believed in war! A man who believed in nothing! And a woman who believed in both of them!

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Genres:

Drama | Romance | War

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Certificate:

R

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

15 February 1978 (USA)

Also Known As:

Buffalo Ghosts

Filming Locations:

Manhattan Beach, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$3,000,000 (estimated)

Gross USA:

$32,653,905

Company Credits

Production Co:

Jerome Hellman Productions, Jayne Productions Inc.

Technical Specs

Runtime:

127 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Jane Fonda had wanted John Schlesinger to direct, but he declined as he felt that the Vietnam experience should be filmed by an American director.

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Goofs

When Sally (Jane Fonda) had Luke Martin (Jon Voight) over for dinner, she takes a pitcher of Margaritas out of the refrigerator which is about half full, without the foam. After she finishes mixing it on the blender, the pitcher is only shy an inch or two from the top.

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Quotes

Capt. Bob Hyde: Say something else *f*ck*. Say - something - else - *f*ck*.
Luke Martin: I'm not the enemy. Maybe the enemy is the f*cking war. But, you don't want to kill anybody here. You have enough ghosts to carry around.

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Crazy Credits

Four members of the film crew are designated as "Friends who did everything".

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Connections

Referenced in Coming Back Home (2002)

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Soundtracks

Strawberry Fields Forever
(1967)
Written by Paul McCartney (uncredited) and John Lennon (uncredited)
Performed by The Beatles (as Beatles)
EMI Records Inc.

User Reviews

Good film, but the Dern character has problems

I agree with most of the comments about the overall quality of the film. It was definitely a teamwork political statement. The soundtrack is stunning,not only in the selection of songs from the period - by far the best film in this respect - but the subtle manner in which they are integrated into the film's soundtrack. The acting is good to excellent - Fonda, Voigt and Carradine in particular.

However, my one complaint is with the Dern character. In this I speak from some personal experience, as a vet with a tour of duty in Nam. This may be quibbling, but...perhaps his contract had a clause prohibiting cutting his hair, but the locks (for a Marine captain) are much too long. He would have received a direct order to get them cut . Also, the close relationship between Dern and the sergeant is out of character. Marine Corps Captains did not hang out with E5 enlisted men. This is even more blatant in the scene after Dern's return from Nam when he goes out drinking and brings home three enlisted Marines. A Marine Corps Captain would not be drinking in uniform with enlisted men on or near the base - let alone bringing them home. I won't go into the problems I have with Dern's apparent and largely unexplained repulsion at what his men did in the field. However, Dern aside, the film itself has a very authentic feel to it and there are unforgettable scenes such as those in the VA hospital and Voigt's final speech to high school students as Tim Buckley's haunting "One I Was" can be heard in the background. In many respects this film is the direct antithesis of Kubrick's "Full Metal Jacket", which while visually authentic suffers from a lack of emotion.