Hitchcoc This decade was the greatest for Jane Fonda. She is the pivot point for two men who have experienced the horrors of war. We have one man, her husband, played by Bruce Dern, who has served but is suffering psychologically. The second is paraplegic John Voight who is in a veteran's hospital where she volunteers. This is one of those situations where she needs to come to grips with her own loneliness and her husband's inability to be what he once was. The point, ultimately, is the cost of war--this is indeed an anti-war film. The portrayal of the characters is stunning and the actors are at their best. I remember when I saw this the first time, Jane Fonda was scourge to vets, but many vets were part of the cast here, and it ads verisimilitude. See if you haven't.

Blake Peterson Coming Home is an eclipse of a romantic drama, one in which there are no clear signs of who should be with who or what should happen to who and who deserves what. Its characters are damaged in one way or another; most are trying to figure out what to do with their fragmented lives. Should they do what is considered to be the right thing? Or should they follow their heart and try to avoid causing even more damage as a result? Taking place in 1968, America has become shattered and unintentionally cynical. With the Vietnam War as a backdrop to everyday life, most are sick and tired of living under the societal pretensions of the previous decades; anger is prevalent, but an outreach of peace is too. Sally Hyde (Jane Fonda) has always been a wife first and a person second, so when her husband, Bob (Bruce Dern), goes off to fight in Vietnam, she finds herself uncertain of her priorities. She has never had to work a day in her life, and she's never been looked at as anything other than another man's property.With Bob gone, she finally has the chance to become the independent woman she never thought she could be. Sally, along with her friend Vi (Penelope Milford), decide to volunteer at the local V.A. hospital. There, she meets Luke Martin (Jon Voight), a past acquaintance who is back from Vietnam after an accident leaves him paralyzed from the waist down. Luke is understandably upset with how his life has turned out, and as Sally gets to know him, she not only develops feelings for him, but she also finds herself more aware of the mess the U.S. is in. She still loves her husband, but he has grown increasingly distant after facing violence on such a regular basis. When he comes home, Sally is forced to decide whether to remain a wife or start her life anew.Coming Home isn't a women's picture as its plot might suggest; it's something much closer to the heart and something more important to American history than a drama where romantic triangles run amok. It is one of the most essential films of the 1970s. Painting an unfiltered picture of life after Vietnam, it is by turns humanizing, upsetting, and moving. The characters are completely different people by the end of the film: Sally starts as a quiet housewife and ends as a woman in touch with her surroundings and her personal needs; Luke goes from the mindset of a bitter victim to an impassioned protester; Bob sheds his typical spousal roles and becomes an emotionally impaired disaster. Such transitions are risky, as they may not always ring true in the development of a certain figure. But Coming Home never stops being earnest. It could be moralizing, but like Sally, we are left to make our own decisions.Ashby, a seminal director of the decade, doesn't pick sides, preferring to let his characters go loose and see what paths they set for themselves. Like Robert Altman or John Cassavetes, you can feel his presence, but his presence does not interfere with the naturalness of any given situation. The Stones, Simon & Garfunkel, golden era Beatles, and Jefferson Airplane play at a near constant pace, almost as if Ashby is trying to remind us that times are changing and the world isn't what it used to be. It used to be a place where people only really "made it" if they got married and settled into domestic bliss. But now, with its preference for soft rock and free love, America isn't content to simply settle. Coming Home carries a restless energy; moving forward, not backward, is the only option. Fonda, Voight, and Dern are all outstanding, even if the third act leaps into melodramatic territory and betrays the realism set so effortlessly in the first two. The '70s explored film in a way that no other decade has, and Coming Home serves as one of the most authentic excursions into a culturally relevant topic. It's a life-on-the-home-front picture that makes life on the home front seem just as alien as life on the battlefield.Read more reviews at petersonreviews.com

Syl 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.

TedMichaelMor 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.