F.T.A. / Coming Home

F.T.A. (aka FREE THE ARMY aka FUN, TRAVEL, ADVENTURE), 1972, Displaced Films, 97 min. Dir. Francine Parker. The years 1971 and 1972 saw stars Jane Fonda and Donald Sutherland lead a kind of mutant USO troupe on a tour of American West Coast military bases as well as outposts in the Pacific. Fonda reportedly referred to the tour as “political vaudeville,” and we see performances of a number of sketches and musical numbers in front of live audiences of the U.S. armed services. There are also a multitude of interviews with soldiers, sailors and marines, soliciting their opinions on the Vietnam conflict.

COMING HOME, 1978, MGM Repertory, 126 min. Dir. Hal Ashby. Jane Fonda is left alone for the first time as her husband, Bruce Dern, is fighting in Vietnam. She falls in love with Jon Voight, a paraplegic vet whom she had known briefly in high school.