Returning Vietnam veteran Andy Crocker arrives in his small hometown to discover his best friend and business partner has mismanaged their business into bankruptcy and his high school sweetheart has married another man. It is evident his small town has little to offer him except the hard-working life of his father, while the broader world has limited opportunities for a man who left school after the third grade.
***Lee Majors coming home from Vietnam almost ten years before “Coming Home” (the movie)***
Released to TV in 1969, “The Ballad of Andy Crocker” is presumably the first movie to tackle the topic of a Vietnam vet coming home from the war, which didn’t become popular until almost a decade later with films like “Coming Home” (1978).
Lee majors stars as the title character, right after his successes in Charlton Heston’s “Will Penny” (1967) and, of course, The Big Valley. Unfortunately, this flick’s nowhere near as good as “Coming Home.” It’s a sad sack drama highlighted by the late 60’s setting and jaw-dropping beauty of curvy Joey Heatherton (as Lisa). Cutie Jill Haworth is also on hand as a hippie chick in the opening act.
The rest of the cast is also interesting: Motown’s Marvin Gaye plays a fellow soldier, Jimmy Dean a dubious business partner and Pat Hingle the dad. Righteous Brother Bobby Hatfield and Agnes Moorehead (Endora from Bewitched) even show up.
The film runs 1 hour, 13 minutes and looks like it was shot in California.
GRADE: C+
