***SPOILERS*** ***SPOILERS*** ***SPOILERS*** Probably the most dated of the Vietnam movies of the late 1970s. It's loaded to the brim with every cliché one can think of. The actors are all at least adequate, with Bruce Dern being the most successful. The whole thing might work a ton better if it weren't for the execrable pop music score. I mean, the songs are good, of course, but they're used so poorly. For example, the morning when Dern is shipping off to Vietnam, the lyrics to the song that begins are "it was a time of innocence." I'm disappointed in Ashby. By no means is he a great director, but he made some great movies. He really tries to tug at your heart strings. After one character dies, Ashby closes the next scene by tightening the camera on his guitar because, you know, we have to be told what to feel or we won't feel it. SPOILERS. I think that the love triangle plot is quite good, but, despite a pretty good climactic scene, the ending is just awful. They kill off the husband, and leave Fonda alone for Voight. I think that's morally lazy, skirting the emotional complexities. Skip this and see The Deer Hunter instead. Despite some of the deserved flack that it has gotten in recent years, it's very well made. At the very least, it beats the heck out of Coming Home.
Review of Coming Home
