Bruce Dern received what is to date his only Academy Award nomination in 1979 for his role as Bob Hyde, a careerist Marine dutifully shipping out to Vietnam, while his wife Sally (Jane Fonda) finds purpose volunteering at a veterans hospital. Drawn to embittered paraplegic Luke Martin (Jon Voight), Sally has to choose between a man who believes in war and another disillusioned by his experiences.

Both of Dern’s co-stars won Oscars for their performances here, while Dern lost out on the Best Supporting Actor to Christopher Walken in The Deer Hunter, named Best Picture that year. Coming Home is a more sincere, realistic response to the war than Cimino’s epic, and a key film of the era.

Screening as part of Bruce Dern Season (December 14th – 22nd). 

Bruce Dern’s latest feature, Nebraska, directed by Alexander Payne, is opening on December 6th.