Maybe I'll Come Home in the Spring

Wow, I thought I was the only who one was affected by this movie and had some of its scenes stay in my head for 35 years as well. I am referring to Sally Field eating garbage, cutting her hair, the doll house.. those parts must have disturbed me a child and made me remember this for life. I happened upon this on a 6 disc movie compilation, the only other movie I know on it is John Travolta's Boy in the Plastic Bubble. Just seeing this movie again is so amazing since I have had scenes from this movie in my head since I was a kid. This movie is a product of its times and Sally Field is always a pleasure to watch. It's funny how she made two movies, the other Sybil that seem to have disturbed me so much when I was a child. Glad I read these reviews!

I remember seeing this movie when I was very young and there were certain scenes that have stayed with me my entire life. For instance the scene when they are eating other people's garbage and the final scene. So my curiosity got the best of me and I rented this movie from Netflix to see it now as an adult with children (and one grandchild). I wanted to see if it would have the same impact and oddly enough it did.

The acting was relatively good in the movie, the writing a bit weak in certain areas but it had a message and that comes through loud and clear. It actually reminded me a bit of an "After School Special" but that was OK.

It didn't glorify either the parent's side or the "hippie" side. It made you see what was wrong from both ends of the spectrum. Sally Field's did not play a "Gidget" type of part in this movie but I thought she was good.

My real shocker was that David Carradine played her boyfriend. I told my husband this and now he wants to see it for just that reason!

These comments come from the memory of seeing this movie when it was first on television. Although it says the movie was made in 1970, it was more like 72-73 when it was aired.

My experience as a teenager in the United States in the late 60's was similar to this movie although I did not grow up in the suburbs. The Vietnam War protests had split the generations. Our parents, who had survived WW2 were grateful for the suburban homes and cars. We teenagers were not going to fight a useless war. In many homes, this led to a deep rift that lasted for years. It was not unusual for young teens to simply leave home. In many cases, it was at the pushing of the parents. (Now as a parent, I would have died of a broken heart had my teens left). This movie depicts one story of a teenager (Sally Field) who leaves home. She experiences a lot of horrors that cause her to return. But she discovers that although she has changed, the home has not.

I was a senior in high school when I saw this and I loved it. I wrote a term paper comparing/contrasting this to "Pilgrim's Progress" (which we had just studied in my English class) and got an "A" from my "hippie" teacher then. I longed to join the "hippie trail" then but didn't because I felt responsible for my younger siblings stuck in an abusive situation with my alcoholic dad. We only had each other. I used to read bus schedules with the dream of leaving.

Everyone is great in this movie. Sally Fields shows growth as an actress from her "Gidget" and "Flying Nun" days. Plus, it really portrays the frustration her parents feel and the difficulties the whole family had in relating to each other.

The ABC Movie of the Week was still pretty new in 1970 (I think they started in 1969?) and this was not typical for them as it was not a mystery or supernatural thriller. I too saw this as a child and it left an impression on me as it did for the other posters on here. What none of the other posters mentioned however was that one of the things that gave this movie a special touch of reality was that it was filmed on location is a real suburban home! This made some scenes claustrophobic yet intimate as well. (Many of the TV movies were shot on sterile studio sets). So yeah, I guess the house becomes one of the characters in the movie too. I think with a bigger budget and possibly more "adult" themes or nudity or course language ; this would have made a nice theatrical feature. If you like "Maybe I'll Come Home in the Spring" you should check out another movie called "The People Next Door" made the same year. Similar plot yet more gritty and down-beat--it was an "R" rated feature film. As stated above; what a shame that this did not win an Emmy Award that year.