The story follows (Henry Winkler), a high-spirited but deeply troubled Vietnam veteran who escapes from a VA hospital in New York City. His mission is seemingly simple but eccentric: he plans to travel across the country to California to start a worm farm for fishing bait with three of his former war buddies.
The film’s power lies in its refusal to romanticize mental illness. Jack suffers from flashbacks, paranoia, and violent outbursts. The audience slowly learns that his entire platoon was killed, leaving him with a crushing case of survivor’s guilt. The final act, which involves disrupting a stranger’s funeral, is jarring, symbolic, and devastatingly sad. heroes -1977 film-