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PLEASE NOTE: Michael D's is currently in READ ONLY MODE. Anything submitted will simply not be written to the database.
Lots of stuff is still broken, but at least reviews can now be looked up and read.
Coming Home (1978)

Coming Home (1978)

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Released 18-Jan-2005

Cover Art

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Details At A Glance

General Extras
Category Drama None
Rating Rated MA
Year Of Production 1978
Running Time 126:11 (Case: 122)
RSDL / Flipper Dual Layered Cast & Crew
Start Up Language Select Then Menu
Region Coding 2,4 Directed By Hal Ashby
Studio
Distributor

MGM
Starring Jane Fonda
Jon Voight
Bruce Dern
Penelope Milford
Robert Carradine
Robert Ginty
Mary Gregory
Kathleen Miller
Beeson Carroll
Willie Tyler
Louis Carello
Charles Cyphers
Olivia Cole
Case Amaray-Transparent
RPI $14.95 Music Mick Jagger


Video Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame None English Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s)
German Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s)
French Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s)
Italian Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s)
Spanish Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio 1.85:1
16x9 Enhancement
16x9 Enhanced
Video Format 576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio 1.85:1 Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures No
Subtitles English for the Hearing Impaired
French
Dutch
Swedish
Finnish
Norwegian
Portuguese
Polish
Romanian
Smoking Yes
Annoying Product Placement No
Action In or After Credits No

NOTE: The Profanity Filter is ON. Turn it off here.

Plot Synopsis

   Sally Hyde (Jane Fonda) is a soldier's wife in the early 1970s. Her husband, Bob (Bruce Dern), has just been sent to the Vietnam War. In his absence, and to do her part, she goes to work as a nurse in a veteran's hospital. She meets an old high school friend, Luke Martin, played by the always interesting Jon Voight. Like Sally's husband, Luke also went to Vietnam but came back a paraplegic. Sally begins to fall in love with Luke, who has become an anti-war activist since returning from 'Nam. Sally's life becomes more entangled with the return of her wounded husband who has suffered a mental breakdown due to post traumatic stress. Sally now has to make a crucial decision that will change her life.

    For those looking for an intense drama, you could do a lot worse than Coming Home. Released in the late 1970s alongside the likes of The Deer Hunter and Apocalypse Now, Coming Home capitalised on America's strong anti-Vietnam War sentiment, but unlike the Cimino and Coppola masterpieces this film's focus is primarily on the lives of the disabled veterans who returned home. Through the eyes of Sally Hyde, a volunteer health carer at one of the veteran's hospitals, the audience experiences the pain and bitterness felt by these wounded soldiers, and it is here where the film's strength lies. I have never been fond of Jane Fonda as an actress, but I was pleasantly surprised with her solid performance. I did not always agree with her character's actions, but Fonda made them believable. Jon Voight steals the film with a fabulous example of thespian skill that elevates the film beyond what was potentially a mundane soap opera. Coming Home is definitely not a forgotten classic, but its subject matter and strong performances make it highly watchable.

Don't wish to see plot synopses in the future? Change your configuration.

Transfer Quality

Video

    Coming Home has been presented in its original aspect ratio of 1:85:1. The transfer is also 16x9 enhanced for widescreen televisions.

    The sharpness levels in this transfer range from very good to acceptable. There are minimal instances of image softness, but nothing horrendous. Shadow details were surprisingly strong, with many fine examples of strong blacks and image depth.

    There were sporadic grain issues of minimal duration, but they were never bothersome. There were a number of film artefacts and scratches throughout the transfer, but nothing overly distracting. I detected no low level noise issues.

    Colours were mostly natural, but occasionally the picture did appear washed out. All-in-all, not a bad looking print.

Video Ratings Summary
Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

    Coming Home is presented with five Dolby Digital 2.0 audio tracks. They are: English, French, German, Italian and Spanish. The English track is reviewed here.

    Dialogue remains clear, but is sometimes drowned out by the soundtrack. There doesn't appear to be any audio sync problems. The track is actually very minimalist as the film itself is dialogue intensive.

    The film is littered with chart toppers of the period which suit the material well.

    Surround channel usage is minimal as it should be for this type of material. Only the film's music and background noise are discernable in the rear channels.

    The subwoofer supports both the score and the sound field nicely.

Audio Ratings Summary
Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

Extras

     There are no extras on this DVD.

R4 vs R1

NOTE: To view non-R4 releases, your equipment needs to be multi-zone compatible and usually also NTSC compatible.

   The R1 version of this DVD has:

    The R4 version of this DVD has no extras.

    R1 is the clear winner here.

Summary

   Coming Home is definitely not a forgotten classic, but its subject matter and strong performances make it highly watchable. The disc looks fine, but the soundtrack really needed an overhaul. As for extras, our local product gets stiffed again - we get nothing compared to the R1 Special Edition.

Ratings (out of 5)

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall

© Greg Morfoot (if interested here is my bio)
Wednesday, December 15, 2004
Review Equipment
DVDPioneer DV-535, using Component output
DisplayLG 76cm Widescreen Flatron Television. Calibrated with Video Essentials. This display device is 16x9 capable.
Audio DecoderSony HT-K215. Calibrated with Video Essentials.
AmplificationSony HT-K215
Speakers fronts-paradigm titans, centre &rear Sony - radio parts subbie

Other Reviews NONE