Coming Home (1978)

A woman whose husband is fighting in Viet Nam 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

The role of Luke Martin was originally offered to Sylvester Stallone.

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Goofs

Bruce Dern plays a Marine Captain. Even in the late 1960s early 70s he wouldn't have had hair and a mustache that long.

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Quotes

Sally Hyde: That never happened to me before.

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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 Gilmore Girls: Like Mother, Like Daughter (2001)

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Soundtracks

Bookends
(1966)
Written by Paul Simon (uncredited)
Performed by Simon & Garfunkel
Columbia Records

User Reviews

One of the best Vietnam films

Sally (Jane Fonda) has a husband fighting in Vietnam and she feels optimistic about American involvement there. However she works at a hospital as a nurse and soon becomes caretaker of a bitter war veteran named Luke (Jon Voight).

At first, she is repelled by him - but over time grows to love him and admires his cause. (Luke feels the Vietnam War is a mistake and that countless innocent lives are being pointlessly lost.) "Coming Home" is the quintessential Vietnam War film - it's anti-war, pessimistic, gritty, depressing, and ultimately sort of whining. Some Vietnam films to go a bit overboard on the "tears for the poor souls" stuff and become very politically correct - "Coming Home" is like this and that might turn some viewers off.

However I thought the plot, characters, directing and writing were all interesting. Hal Ashby ("Shampoo") shows talent behind the camera and Jon Voight and Jane Fonda display chemistry in front of it.

I'm not typically a fan of Voight (or even Fonda to be honest) but they both do a good job here. Voight's final rousing speech to the classroom of students at the movie is simultaneously touching and uplifting. And the love scene is handled with care and doesn't seem gratuitous or unnecessary.

"Coming Home" may have its flaws, but I think it's one of the better "Vietnam movies" to come out of the era. You should see it if you enjoyed "The Deer Hunter" or "Platoon."