''Heroes'' is a 1977 American

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super-g ...

directed by

Jeremy Paul Kagan Jeremy Paul Kagan (born December 14, 1945) is an American film and television director, screenwriter, and television producer. Early life Born in Mount Vernon, New York, Kagan received his B.A. from Harvard University in 1967. He went on to at ...

and starring

Henry Winkler Henry Franklin Winkler, OBE (born October 30, 1945), is an American actor, comedian, author, executive producer, and director. After rising to fame as Arthur "Fonzie" Fonzarelli on the American television series ''Happy Days'', Winkler has ...

Sally Field Sally Margaret Field (born November 6, 1946) is an American actress. She has received many awards and nominations, including two Academy Awards, three Primetime Emmy Awards, two Golden Globe Awards, a Screen Actors Guild Award, a Cannes Film F ...

and

Harrison Ford Harrison Ford (born July 13, 1942) is an American actor. His films have grossed more than $5.4billion in North America and more than $9.3billion worldwide, making him the seventh-highest-grossing actor in North America. He is the recipient o ...

(in his first post-''

Star Wars ''Star Wars'' is an American epic film, epic space opera multimedia franchise created by George Lucas, which began with the Star Wars (film), eponymous 1977 film and quickly became a worldwide popular culture, pop-culture Cultural impact of S ...

'' role, but filmed before that movie's release). Winkler plays a Vietnam War vet with PTSD who sets about finding the men from his unit who had served in Vietnam. Field plays his at-first-reluctant girlfriend and Ford plays one of the former soldiers in his unit, now a dysfunctional

stock car Stock car racing is a form of automobile racing run on oval tracks and road courses measuring approximately . It originally used production-model cars, hence the name "stock car", but is now run using cars specifically built for racing. It ori ...

driver in Sedalia,

Missouri Missouri is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it is bordered by eight states (tied for the most with Tennessee ...

, who keeps a stolen

M16 rifle The M16 rifle (officially designated Rifle, Caliber 5.56 mm, M16) is a family of military rifles adapted from the ArmaLite AR-15 rifle for the United States military. The original M16 rifle was a 5.56×45mm automatic rifle with a 20-roun ...

in the trunk of his car.

Plot

Jack Dunne (Winkler), an amnesiac Vietnam veteran most likely suffering from a severe case of

PTSD Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a mental and behavioral disorder that can develop because of exposure to a traumatic event, such as sexual assault, warfare, traffic collisions, child abuse, domestic violence, or other threats on a ...

, escapes a mental ward in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

intent on starting a business as a worm farmer in

Eureka Eureka (often abbreviated as E!, or Σ!) is an intergovernmental organisation for research and development funding and coordination. Eureka is an open platform for international cooperation in innovation. Organisations and companies applying th ...

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

. At the bus station, he accidentally meets Carol Bell (Field), a woman unsure of her engagement to a man toward whom she has confused feelings. Initially annoyed by Jack, Carol gradually warms to him as they set off on a trip through middle America towards Northern California: during the journey she has time to reflect on her impending nuptials as Jack tries to locate his three war buddies hoping to enlist them in his dream to start a worm farm. It becomes clear that the first two friends Jack and Carol locate are in too poor condition to do much work of any kind. When a visit to the parents of the third results in the disclosure that the friend had died in the war, Jack, who knew as much but was in denial, relives the battlefield trauma of his buddy's death. Finally, Carol's compassion and caring enable Jack to come to terms with reality.

Cast

as Jack Dunne *

as Carol Bell *

as Ken Boyd *

Val Avery Val may refer to: Val-a Film * ''Val'' (film), an American documentary about Val Kilmer, directed by Leo Scott and Ting Poo Military equipment * Aichi D3A, a Japanese World War II dive bomber codenamed "Val" by the Allies * AS Val, a So ...

as Bus Driver *

Olivia Cole Olivia Carlena Cole (November 26, 1942 – January 19, 2018) was an American actress, best known for her Emmy Award-winning role in the 1977 miniseries ''Roots''. Early life and education Cole was born in Memphis, Tennessee, the daughter of Ar ...

as Jane Adcox * Hector Elias as Dr. Elias *

Dennis Burkley Dennis Henry Burkley (September 10, 1945 – July 14, 2013) was an American actor. In a career spanning four decades, he appeared in numerous films and television series. He was best known for his role as Theo in Son in Law. Early life Burkley ...

as Gus *

Tony Burton Anthony Mabron Burton (March 23, 1937 – February 25, 2016) was an American actor and boxer. He was known for his role as Tony "Duke" Evers in the Rocky (film series), ''Rocky'' films. Early life Burton was born in Flint, Michigan. He had a y ...

as Chef * Michael Cavanaugh as Peanuts *

Stuart Margolin Stuart Margolin (January 31, 1940 – December 12, 2022) was an American film, theater, and television actor and director who won two Emmy Awards for playing Evelyn "Angel" Martin on the 1970s television series ''The Rockford Files''. In 1973, h ...

(uncredited) Station Wagon Driver

Production

The film was based on an original autobiographical script by James Carabatsos, a

Vietnam Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making i ...

veteran who also wrote such military-themed films as ''

Heartbreak Ridge ''Heartbreak Ridge'' is a 1986 American war film produced and directed by Clint Eastwood, who also starred in the film. The film also co-stars Marsha Mason, Everett McGill, and Mario Van Peebles, and was released in the United States on Decembe ...

'' and ''

Hamburger Hill ''Hamburger Hill'' is a 1987 American war film set during the Battle of Hamburger Hill, a May 1969 assault during the Vietnam War by the U.S. Army's 3rd Battalion, 187th Infantry, 101st Airborne Division (Airmobile) "Screaming Eagles" on a rid ...

''. He sent it to the agent of Henry Winkler, then hugely popular because of ''Happy Days''. Winkler loved the script and showed it to two producers, Lawrence Turman and David Foster, who wanted to work with him. They presented it as a package to Ned Tanen at Universal who agreed to finance the movie. David Freeman did a rewrite of the film which was shot over 35 days.Winkler Out of Fonz Furrow Kilday, Gregg. ''Los Angeles Times'' 13 Apr 1977: f14.

Reception

The film was difficult to sell owing to its subject matter and the fact Winkler was playing a character so different from the Fonz.

Critical response

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

, ''Heroes'' holds a rating of 27% from 15 reviews. On

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

the film has a weighted average score of 35 out of 100, based on 7 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews". When the movie was released on VHS/DVD, the ending song, "

Carry On Wayward Son "Carry On Wayward Son" is a song by American rock band Kansas, released from the band's fourth studio album '' Leftoverture'' (1976). Written by guitarist Kerry Livgren, the song became the band's first Top 40 single, reaching No. 11 on the US ...

" by

Kansas Kansas () is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its capital is Topeka, and its largest city is Wichita. Kansas is a landlocked state bordered by Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to the ...

- their first Top 20 hit - was replaced by an instrumental song, as the rights to the song had not been obtained. This greatly diminished the emotional impact of the final scene. However, most TV airings still contain the original soundtrack, and, in fact, the inclusion of the Kansas song has allowed "Carry On Wayward Son" to remain popular since its release, being certified Gold in 1990, and frequently still heard on the radio.

Box office

The movie was a box office success, grossing $33.5 million on a $3.1 million budget, and opened at number 1 at the U.S.

box office A box office or ticket office is a place where ticket (admission), tickets are sold to the public for admission to an event. Patrons may perform the transaction at a countertop, through a hole in a wall or window, or at a Wicket gate, wicke ...

Accolades

received a

Golden Globe The Golden Globe Awards are accolades bestowed by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association beginning in January 1944, recognizing excellence in both American and international film and television. Beginning in 2022, there are 105 members of t ...

award nomination for Best Actor in a Drama film. He also received the corresponding BAFTA nomination. It received another BAFTA nomination, for Best Musical Score.

References

External links

* * * {{Jeremy Kagan 1977 films 1977 comedy-drama films American comedy-drama films Anti-war films about the Vietnam War Films scored by Jack Nitzsche Films directed by Jeremy Kagan 1977 directorial debut films Universal Pictures films 1977 comedy films 1977 drama films Films about veterans 1970s English-language films 1970s American films