Going Home
- IMDb link: 0067146
- IMDb rating: 5.9 (724 votes)
- Genres: Drama
- Director: Herbert B. Leonard
- Cast: Robert Mitchum, Jan-Michael Vincent, Brenda Vaccaro, Jason Bernard and others
- Release year: 1972
- Runtime: 97 minutes
- Country: United States
- Keywords: father son relationship, subjective camera, prologue, montage prologue, crying boy, closeup of an eye, voice over questioning during prologue, scene during opening credits, 6 year old boy, boys' home
Plot:
Nineteen-year-old Jimmy Graham (Jan-Michael Vincent) has grown up to be an angry young man based on his experiences, including not having either his mother or father in his life as he was growing up. When he was six, Jimmy saw his mother, Ann Graham (Sally Kirkland), die before his eyes; she was killed by his father Harry Graham (Robert Mitchum) in a drunken rage. Jimmy's testimony helped put his father away. Jimmy's anger often manifests itself in passive-aggressive behavior. When Jimmy is rejected from joining the military due to medical reasons, he, at a loss, decides to search out Harry, whom he knows has now been paroled. He finds Harry living in a trailer park in a community close to their old Pennsylvania home. Harry is also in a relationship with a woman named Jenny Benson ( Brenda Vaccaro), who also lives in the trailer park in a Winnebago. Jenny knows all about Harry's past. While Harry wants to be whatever Jimmy wants him to be in his life, Jimmy exhibits that passive-aggressiveness toward Harry, being generally cordial to him to his face while doing things behind his back intentionally to hurt him. Partly as Jimmy sticks around longer than he says and as their life is generally going better than expected, Harry, who seems to have owned up to his role in killing Ann, maps out a life for him and Jenny to include Jimmy if he wants. In the process, Jimmy will need to confront both his issues with his father, and the overall anger in his life which is hindering him from finding his own path.