This film (along with "Cat Ballou") particularly demonstrates Jane Fonda's greatness as an actress. It does so because she lets herself be "out-acted" by all three of her co-stars.
Jon Voigt as the paraplegic veteran disillusioned by The War and Bruce Dern as the returning officer insanely and ravingly committed to everything military both make the most of their opportunities to display their different forms of craziness. And even Penelope Milford gets to put on her own display of craziness when she dances on the kitchen tabletop in front of the two guys she and Jane brought back to their apartment from a barroom pick-up.
Jane doesn't get to put in this kind of emotionally wrought performance, because her character is really pretty sane and normal, at least compared to Voigt's and Dern's. And if she had tried to ham it up, to match her co-stars' crazed performances, she would have wrecked this movie. As a relatively young actress, in "Cat Ballou," she had to play her character straight while all of her co-stars got to ham it up for laughs, and as a mature actress in "Coming Home" she has to play her character in a relatively subdued fashion while her three co-stars get to ham it up for emotional drama.
Sometimes the "star" has to take a back seat to co-stars, and "Coming Home" is proof that Jane Fonda's no prima donna who would place her own interests above the film's success. Despite the Oscar, I don't see this as one of Jane's most memorable performances, but that's because for the success of the film she necessarily had to allow herself to be "out-acted" by her three co-stars, all of whom were Oscar-nominated with Jon Voigt also winning for Best Actor.
I'd also add that it's a real shame Maggie Smith ("California Suite") beat Penelope Milford for Best Supporting Actress. Bless Maggie Smith as a very great actress, but Penelope Milford's performance here was astonishing.
I do have one major complaint that's so great that I really dislike this movie for that reason alone. That non-stop background music made it darn near impossible for me to catch a lot of the dialog!
Jon Voigt as the paraplegic veteran disillusioned by The War and Bruce Dern as the returning officer insanely and ravingly committed to everything military both make the most of their opportunities to display their different forms of craziness. And even Penelope Milford gets to put on her own display of craziness when she dances on the kitchen tabletop in front of the two guys she and Jane brought back to their apartment from a barroom pick-up.
Jane doesn't get to put in this kind of emotionally wrought performance, because her character is really pretty sane and normal, at least compared to Voigt's and Dern's. And if she had tried to ham it up, to match her co-stars' crazed performances, she would have wrecked this movie. As a relatively young actress, in "Cat Ballou," she had to play her character straight while all of her co-stars got to ham it up for laughs, and as a mature actress in "Coming Home" she has to play her character in a relatively subdued fashion while her three co-stars get to ham it up for emotional drama.
Sometimes the "star" has to take a back seat to co-stars, and "Coming Home" is proof that Jane Fonda's no prima donna who would place her own interests above the film's success. Despite the Oscar, I don't see this as one of Jane's most memorable performances, but that's because for the success of the film she necessarily had to allow herself to be "out-acted" by her three co-stars, all of whom were Oscar-nominated with Jon Voigt also winning for Best Actor.
I'd also add that it's a real shame Maggie Smith ("California Suite") beat Penelope Milford for Best Supporting Actress. Bless Maggie Smith as a very great actress, but Penelope Milford's performance here was astonishing.
I do have one major complaint that's so great that I really dislike this movie for that reason alone. That non-stop background music made it darn near impossible for me to catch a lot of the dialog!