Coming Home

Get ready to get raunchy. This movie should not be called Coming Home; it should be called Coming because--let's face it--that's what you'll be doing while watching. Can I just start with Jon Voight? This is not the Jon Voight that is old and gross and makes cameos in pathetic movies like Tomb Raider. No. This is 1978 Jon Voight. The incredibly cute and hot and sexy Jon Voight. Watch The Champ or Midnight Cowboy or Deliverance to experience this sex god. In Coming, he plays Luke Martin, a returning Vietnam War Veteran who is now in a wheelchair at the V.A. hospital. Jane Fonda plays Sally, a wife of a Captain, Bruce Dern, (don't get excited...he isn't hot 30 years later in Big Love and he isn't hot in this movie in 1978...not at all) who recently goes to Vietnam. Sally, then, starts volunteering at the hospital where, on the first day, she runs into Luke (literally...he spills his catheter bag all over her), an old high school classmate. Can you guess where this is going?

Sally starts spending more and more time with Luke. She gains some independence and starts questioning the moral and political implications of the Vietnam War along with the treatment of the guys at the VA hospital. Most importantly--and I say this with all sincerity--Sally stops straightening her hair. It's important because Luke notices this; he compliments her. And, that's the beginning, my friends. God, is any of this resonating? I want to be transparent and lure you in. Luke is SEXY. Okay, he's obviously totally into Sally. No doubt. But, he's also an anti-Vietnam activist and that passion, that commitment is--let me tell you, fellas--as hot as hell. He's in a wheelchair, which makes his arms strong and--this feels wrong to admit--but, the chair gives him a sort of non-threatening air that is attractive and comfortable. The movie, Murderball (a really great documentary about quadriplegic wheelchair basketball players), references the idea that the men in the wheelchairs get a lot of women because they're more approachable. (I know what you're thinking, and, yeah, they're quadriplegics--not paraplegics. It's all explained in the documentary.)

So, blah blah blah, Sally becomes more of an activist, her husband is figuring out what a mess the war is turning out to be, and we see the effects in the hospital. Now, on to the good part. Sally and Luke finally have sex. And, it's good. (The men in Murderball say it best: "most guys in wheelchairs like to eat pussy.") It's a really graphic scene--not porn, but pretty close. Soft and sweet porn. Luke's totally getting Sally off and he loves it and she doesn't have to do any work. I first watched this movie in high school, and I thought this was what love and sex was all about. I mean, that kind of exposure at that age really made me lust after Vietnam vets in wheelchairs. Too bad I was not in high school in 1978 and I had to come to grips with the fact that Jon Voight had turned into the weirdo dad who goes on Entertainment Tonight to cry about his estranged, super hot daughter, Angelina. Life is so tough for 15 year old girls. Where is the humanity?

So, Coming Home has a lot of good social commentary. Anti-war. Pro-truth. Anti-straightening your hair. But, honestly, you'll just fall in love with the love affair between Sally and Luke. I've seen this movie at different stages in life: high school, college, after college, in a relationship, after a break-up, in a weird limbo dating phase, single, sort of with someone. Let me tell you, Coming Home stands the test of time. Some have complained that it's a little long. Maybe, but it's worth it. And, you can always fast-forward (oh, and pause and rewind at the really, really good parts).