Maybe I'll Come Home in the Spring - 1976

Yeeeeeeah!  I fucking did it boy!  For more of this enthusiasm see my next posting on the Swinging 70's boxset.  Maybe I'll Come Home in the Spring (MICHS) finishes it out as I have determined I remembered enough of Werewolf of Washington to justify not seeing it again.  And you know what, I'll say, FUCK this boxset, I'm stomping on ya, motherfucker.

MICHS is a film on the set much like several of the other movies watched herein.  Imagine Katherine, the story of a plucky young woman coming of age and turning into a drug taking, rebellious youth influenced by hippie culture and the way the world is going.  Take a bit of the happy-go-lucky and edge of darkness that a movie like Young Graduates brought us.  And finally, snag in some of the fucked family dynamic and intricate lines of Death of Richie and you basically have MICHS.

MICHS stars a young Sally Field as Denise, a runaway young woman who comes home after an untold amount of time away from home.  She has had quite a lot happen in her life in her time away, parts of it are told, parts are left to our imagination.  Her hippie boyfriend Flack (David Carradine) is slowly revealed in flashback at about the same time he is making his way to where Denise is now living with her parents.

At her parents, Denise is quickly reminded why she ran away.  Her parents are either absent or overly controlling, concerned with the wrong things, and possibly having difficulties in their marriage.  Denise watches them handle her younger sister Susie poorly, and sees that this was exactly how she used to be treated, and why she ran away.  Mother and father in this case are played very well by Eleanor Parker and Jackie Cooper respectively.  Sister Susie also turns in a great performance, played by Lane Bradbury.  And the made-for-TV affair is directed by veteran and well known director Joseph Sargent.

This all sounds like I'm gushing about it, which I have to say I am.  It's good.  It has some really nicely done sequences and it has an impact.  It's small in scope, it leaves the right amount of things as ambiguous, the ending is impactful, and the whole thing feels very true to life.  I felt like a few things maybe could have had a bit more definition, but overall it's a very well done entry.  The 70's set, in other words, kept on nailing the made for TV drama thing.

I would say this isn't quite as good as Richie or Katherine, but it's still remarkable and solid.  I'll give it 4 stars.