Comwayon A Disappointing Continuation

SpunkySelfTwitter It’s an especially fun movie from a director and cast who are clearly having a good time allowing themselves to let loose.

Catherina If you're interested in the topic at hand, you should just watch it and judge yourself because the reviews have gone very biased by people that didn't even watch it and just hate (or love) the creator. I liked it, it was well written, narrated, and directed and it was about a topic that interests me.

Celia A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.

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.

Red-Barracuda 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.

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.

FilmCriticLalitRao "Coming Home" is an important film in the history of American cinema directed by Hal Ashby. He was an important cinema author who combined star power with ingenious subject matter.It is a matter of utter shame that films by veteran American independent cinema director Hal Ashby are not much known.This is the reason why he has remained an extremely talented filmmaker whose films have not been properly assessed by viewers.This is a sad thing about a filmmaker whose films always featured famous actors.Many of the films about Vietnam war are overtly dramatic and try to win viewers' sympathies by playing victim's card. "Coming home" is an exception to this rule as its canvass is broader in scope even though it talks about Vietnam war in an indirect manner.There are a couple of angles associated with this film.One of the simplest angles suggests that this is a simple story about a husband, his wife and a third person in her life.However,it is no so simple as it appears.A different serious angle states that people become frustrated when they don't have their loved ones around them. This is partly true about people who work for defense forces.In "Coming Home",there are some good glimpses of life at a military base especially in scenes about peaceful protests led by wheel chair bound Jon Voigt.Jane Fonda is good too in one of the best roles of her career.She shines as a quite soul who becomes involved in everything which happens around her."Coming Home" is great film about war without any bloodshed.It is a film which must be seen more than once in order to comprehend some lives whose foundation is built around hopelessness.