Maybe I'll Come Home in the Spring

A TV movie with excellent acting and a still timely message. Although the clothes and attitudes are dated the basic dilemma of misunderstanding between the generations is as true today as it was when this is made. Sally is strong in the lead, she was working hard at this time to leave Gidget and the Flying Nun behind which would take a few more years when Sybil moved her to the next level of respect, and captures the difficult transition period between teen rebellion and adult responsibility. Eleanor Parker and Jackie Cooper give good performances even though their characters are drawn in one dimensional tones. Not a great movie but a good one from when network TV tried to tackle controversial topics. Added bonus the soundtrack is by Linda Ronstadt, a rare occurrence.

Sally Field as an older teen named Denise who has run away from her upper-middle class home to be with her hippie boyfriend. This no-holds-barred television movie begins with "Dennie" returning home in the middle of the night: she walks up her block, enters her house while her family is asleep, and climbs into her old childhood bed. Why did she leave in the first place? Her parents and younger sister (drawn as neurotics oblivious to their own family dynamic) are a society-party dream but dysfunctional after the guests have gone home. Despite an odd sequence midway through that has Field running down the street drawing ribbons in the air (she's free!), this is a fairly realistic portrait of life in '70s suburbia. The nature of the relationships is interesting, and the uncompromising ending thoughtful. One of the first films (TV-made or otherwise) to rip the lid off suburban/station-wagon living and its false sense of comfort and security. Field, though overwrought on occasion, is very good, and the well-realized piece has been sharply photographed (by crack cinematographer Russell Metty) and edited. Linda Ronstadt performs two songs on the soundtrack, the title track and "Different Day". *** from ****

I, like others, saw this movie during a rebroadcast one afternoon late in 1971. At the time I was in the third grade and apparently impressed enough by this movie to remember it 35 years later. (I especially remembered the scene where Dennie "pretend plays" with her dolls and doll house alone in her bedroom). It turns out this movie was in a bargain bin of DVDs for one dollar and I was finally able to see it again. At the time this movie debuted in 1971, Sally Field had just completed the series "The Flying Nun" which had been canceled. In 1971 TV audiences must've been shocked by this drastic change in character in contrast to the squeaky clean image Ms. Fields had been known for on TV. Audiences in 1971 were not ready to accept her drastic change in character and unfortunately did not recognize her versatility as an actor. I found this movie especially poignant since I had an older teenage brother who left home and went to live with his dad during the same time.

"Maybe I'll Come Home In the Spring" is a first rate TV movie about a then extremely relevant issue with good acting, a good script, and a first rate title song sung by a first rate artist--Linda Ronstadt before she achieved superstar status. Where the movie lags is in its excessive flashbacks and a party scene which is rather ridiculous and unnecessarily dramatic. However, production values and direction are excellent, especially for a TV movie. The movie draws the viewer in immediately and keeps its attention, from its interesting beginning starting with Dennie hitch hiking her way across the country with a narration voice over of her speaking on the telephone as she reestablishes contact with her parents. She gingerly approaches the topic of returning home by casually telling them, "Maybe I'll Come Home in the Spring", hence the movie's title. Poignant, right from the start!

Sally Fields plays Dennie, a young woman who returns home after a hippie sojourn which didn't work out. David Carradine plays "Flack", the hippie boyfriend who deserted her and Eleanor Parker is the super image conscious mother Dennie must confront and learn to communicate with again.

The rest of the movie deals with Dennie's adjustment and reintegration into the family while she reflects on her sojourn. Her major problem is being ignored by her parents and a mother who simply hasn't a clue why she left in the first place and doesn't understand her. Meanwhile, her younger sister begins to romanticize Dennie's hippie sojourn and copies it, in spite of the older sister's attempts to dissuade her and warn her of the negative consequences of doing drugs.

The movie bluntly shows the audience the reality and negative consequences of living the hippie lifestyle, vis a vis Dennie's experience which is shown in a series of quick flashbacks. At the time, the public's perception and romance with the hippie lifestyle was being drastically altered and portrayed quite negatively by the media thanks to the Charles Manson trial which was in full swing at the time.

In fact, the film is definitely bias against the counter culture relying heavily on stereotypes promoted by the media while in fact not all hippies are meth addicts and rummage through the garbage, etc. Many held jobs and contributed to society or held jobs and lived on self supporting communes. One scene which I dislike, told in a flashback shows Dennie's boyfriend, Flack high on Meth and crashing through a window in slow motion not once but THREE times while Field's character cries "Flaaaaaack!"

Having stated that, this movie was remarkably realistic. There is a lot of yelling and screaming and door slamming in it, and many teen agers who lived during that era can probably relate to it, especially those who got fed up and ran away from home. Sally Fields is especially good at these types of brooding, nuanced performances. She was around 24 at the time this was filmed but could easily pass for sixteen in this movie. The viewing public was not ready for this type of drastic change from her squeaky clean "good" girl portrayals to this "bad" girl characterization. It would be another four years before she would have the opportunity to prove to the TV watching public her versatility as an actor playing a schizophrenic with multiple personalities in "Sybil". After that, it would be another four years for her to achieve superstar status in her Oscar winning performance as "Norma Jean". When Ms. Field's stated "You like me, you really like me" she was referring to the public's acceptance of her as a versatile actor who could play various roles, not just the squeaky clean ones but complex, nuanced characters as well.

I recently saw Ms. Fields on the "Ellen" show where she talked about being typecast and how much she wanted to play more diverse and interesting characters, but she simply wasn't offered such roles because of "Gidget". Patty Duke would've been good in this type of roll because she already had a "bad" girl reputation at the time.

I give this movie three stars *** out of five.

I remember watching this made for TV movies back in the early 70's when I was about 11 years old. See, at that time I was too young to be a hippie but was old enough to think hippies were "cool", I liked the hair, clothes, etc. Watching this strange little movie made me rethink that position. Sally Field plays "Dennie", a young woman who has run away from home due to the wildly dysfunctional family she has. Eleanor Parker and Jackie Cooper play her screwed up parents who live in a nice house and drink too much. She has a younger sister who wants to be just like Dennie and to escape the weird family dynamics she too starts doing drugs. The movie is hard to watch at times, there are weird "flashback" scenes of when Dennie and her boyfriend, numbly played by David Carradine,out on the road, doing drugs, making love, protesting the war and eating food left on a table at a drive-in (believe it or not, that scene stuck in my mind for years, yuck-eating some strangers left over garbage!!!!!)The film maker tried too hard to be hip and cool with unusual lighting and a weird scene of Dennie writing "Happy" in the air (that scene is truly surreal and has to be seen to be believed), but the message is overall a good one, that drugs and unhappiness just don't happen to people living in the hood, but also to middle class white people.

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.