Coming Home (1978)
10/10
Probably the 2nd best Vietnam War movie behind "Apocalypse Now" (and certainly Hal Ashby's best movie ever).
13 July 2005
"Coming Home" was the first Vietnam War movie that dealt with the soldiers' plight sympathetically. Sally Hyde (Jane Fonda) is volunteering at the Veterans' Hospital in Los Angeles while her husband Bob (Bruce Dern) serves in Vietnam. In the process of working in the hospital, Sally sees how the hospital is unprepared to treat the people who are coming back from the war. When paraplegic veteran Luke Martin (Jon Voight) demands better treatment, rather than listen to him, they tranquilize him so that they won't have to deal with him. Over time, Sally and Luke fall in love. When Bob returns from Vietnam, he is completely damaged emotionally. The final scene shows the overall state of the world as a result of the Vietnam War.

Whenever I hear the Rolling Stones' song "Out of Time", it reminds me of "Coming Home". One thing that you get to see in the movie is how, when Sally and Bob are having sex, she is clearly not enjoying it; when Sally and Luke are having sex, she clearly is enjoying it. Fonda and Voight won well-deserved Oscars for their roles, and if you ask me, the movie should have won Best Picture. A solid masterpiece.
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