Going Home (1971 film)

Going Home

Theatrical release poster
Directed by Herbert B. Leonard
Produced by Herbert B. Leonard
Screenplay by Lawrence B. Marcus
Starring Robert Mitchum
Brenda Vaccaro
Music by Bill Walker
Cinematography Fred Jackman Jr.
Edited by Sigmund Neufeld Jr.
Production
company
Release dates
1 December 1971
Running time
97 minutes
Country  United States
Language English

Going Home is a 1971 film directed by Herbert B. Leonard. Jan-Michael Vincent was nominated for a Golden Globe award for best supporting actor but lost to Ben Johnson for his work on The Last Picture Show.[1]

Plot

Harry Graham (Mitchum) is a lonely and beaten down man who has recently been released from prison, serving time for murdering his wife many years ago. His son Jimmy (Vincent) is after him seeking justice for his mother's murder. Jimmy tracks Harry down to a run-down seashore community where he is now eking out a living in a trailer park with his girlfriend Jenny (Vaccaro). When Jimmy at last confronts his father face to face, they both know they have to deal with many unresolved emotional barriers in their relationship.

Principal cast

Actor Role
Robert Mitchum Harry K. Graham
Brenda Vaccaro Jenny Benson
Jan-Michael Vincent Jimmy Graham
Sally Kirkland Ann
Josh Mostel Mr. Bonelli
George Mathews Mr. Malloy
Mary Louise Wilson Mrs. Green

Critical reception

Vincent Canby of The New York Times did not care for the film although he praised its intelligence and some of the actors:

Going Home, which opened yesterday at the Victoria and other theaters around town, is an exceedingly nasty movie... Even worse is Mr. Marcus's explanation of why the father, played by Robert Mitchum as if he were a high school football coach, took the knife to his wife in the first place: He was drunk.... Going Home is more objectionable, more pernicious, than other, much dumber movies because it appears to have some surface intelligence... Mitchum has reached that point in his career where he doesn't seem to act as much as inhabit whatever film he's in,... I also liked Brenda Vaccaro as his mistress... Unfortunately, Jan-Michael Vincent is impossible as the son, admittedly an impossible role that requires the actor to be simultaneously appealing and psychotic. He's very handsome and very young and he has a lot to learn about acting, including how to hiccup with conviction.[2]

Roger Ebert of The Chicago Sun-Times did not care for the film and gave it 2 out of 4 stars:

Going Home is a fairly awful melodrama that's worth seeing primarily for the presence of Robert Mitchum. Not that he's especially good. Mitchum can't be described as good or bad in most of his performances. It's just that he's there, the kind of screen presence that draws your attention.... And no mistake about it, Going Home is bad.[3]

See also

References

  1. Golden Globes, USA (1972)
  2. Canby, Vincent (1971-12-02). "Movie Review - Going Home - Mitchum and Brenda Vaccaro Star in 'Going Home' - NYTimes.com". Movies.nytimes.com. Retrieved 2011-04-03.
  3. "Going Home :: rogerebert.com :: Reviews". Rogerebert.suntimes.com. Retrieved 2011-04-08.

External links

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