Rolling Thunder

Major, I sure do hate to face all them people.

Then put your glasses on, John.

- Welcome home, Major Rane. - Good to be back.

Meet Mrs. Murphy.

Hello, Mrs. Murphy, nice to meet you.

Meet Colonel Burlingame.

Welcome home, meet Mrs. Burlingame.

- Thank you. - Welcome home.

- Meet Colonel Maxwell. - Welcome home, Major.

Major McConnell, sir.

- Welcome home. - Good to meet you.

Major Rane, I'm sure the crowd would like to hear you say a few words.

Good to be back.

We knew all along

that everyone back home from the President on down,

was behind us 100 percent.

It was God and faith in our families that kept us going.

Speaking for myself,

I'd like to say that the whole experience has made a better man,

a better officer, and a better American out of me.

Thank you very much.

Very well clone, very well clone, I wish you a lot of luck.

Thank you, sir.

Major, uh, Mrs. Rane and your son are right over this way.

Good to see you, Charley.

Hi, Daddy.

- Hello, Son, how are you? - Fine.

Oh, honey, oh.

Oh, baby, it's so good having you back.

Look who all came to see you.

There's your dad.

Oh, God, we've been looking forward to this day.

Doesn't he look great?

Yeah, oh, I'm so glad you're home.

Aw, welcome home. - Look at his patches, Pa.

- Hello, boy. - Hi, Daddy.

- Doesn't he look good? - Glad my boy's home.

Glad to see you, Son.

Major Rane, how do feel about being back after seven years?

No questions right now, if you don't mind, please.

Major do you feel any bitterness toward the people in the anti-war movement?

I don't think this is time for that, if you don't mind.

Gentlemen, please...

Is it true that you were starved and tortured?

Colonel Maxwell, can you comment...

Charley, I was so nervous that, uh,

Cliff came by to drive us out.

You remember Cliff?

- How ya doin', Cliff? - Real good, Charley.

God damn, it's good to see you.

- Good to see you too again. - Jesus Christ, you're lookin' good.

Hey, let's get you outta here, okay?

Oh, excuse me.

Hey, runt, not over there.

Come on, get in back with your daddy.

Come on, runt, let's move it.

Come on.

Major.

We'll, we made it, John.

We're home.

Take care of yourself, now, you're gonna be fine.

Oh, yeah.

You ever get out to El Paso, Major...

Hey, I'll be there.

Take care.

Aren't you glad your daddy's home?

Sure.

Remember what Dr. Maxwell said.

It'll take a little while for you two to get to know each other,

but you will.

Why is he staying out in the work shed?

Just 'cause it's small and quiet out there.

Charley, come in.

Hi.

That's a real pretty shotgun you got me for a present, thank you.

Cliff took me down to his special police gun store to get it.

He helped me pick it out.

Says it's as good as they come.

Sleep tight.

Well, that was real nice of Cliff.

Maybe you and I can go out and take a little target practice with it.

- What do you say? - Okay.

We'll do it.

Why don't you get some sleep

and I'll talk to you in the morning, huh?

Where'd you find that?

In the living room.

Mom said it was yours.

It's all right, I just didn't know you had it.

I carried that around with me for a long time.

See, where I was, uh,

we didn't get to see the American flag very often.

In jail?

Jail, well, I guess so, yeah.

I made that myself.

I'd collect little pieces of thread and cloth and-

Well, it took a long time.

But I made it.

Every morning

all the men in my compound would come in and salute it.

That little thing?

Yeah, that little thing.

Sometimes we'd even whisper the "Star Spangled Banner."

Do you remember me?

I mean, what I looked like when I was a baby?

Sure, of course I do.

Every last detail.

Why don't you take that as a present from me?

Thanks.

You don't remember me, do you?

Well, there's no reason why you should.

When I left, you were only about that big.

About 18 months old.

But you knew your daddy then, Mark.

You knew me.

Last thing I remember,

just before I was gettin' on the plane to go overseas,

was your little legs toddling up toward me saying, "Daddy, Daddy."

You were some tough little guy.

Now, why don't you get some sleep, Son?

Good night, Daddy.

Did you leave the night-light on?

Can't sleep without it.

Seems a little confused.

Yeah, he's been that way for weeks.

Had a 104 degree fever for three days...

vomiting and diarrhea.

Dr. Maxwell says it's nothing organic.

It's just nerves, that's all.

A problem that POW families have.

Among others.

You didn't change the house much, did you?

Didn't change a thing.

You had all that back pay.

I didn't touch a penny of it.

As soon as I found out you were alive...

Alive?

Well, in the prison camp,

whatever you call it.

Anyway, I was workin'.

I decided just to leave it in the bank for you to do wanted with it.

That's real nice to hear.

I, uh-I got you a present.

A special one.

I hope you remember.

Mounds, huh?

Yeah.

Remember how you used to eat 'em when we first went together?

I told you that your teeth were gonna fall out.

I had one of those in my flight jacket the day I went down.

I tried to save it.

I took a little bite out of it every day for six months.

Oh, Charley.

You've changed your hair.

Yeah, about a hundred times in the last three weeks.

And you're not wearing a brassiere.

Nobody wears 'em anymore.

Didn't they tell you that?

No.

They told us about miniskirts,

but, uh, I never thought we'd get to see one.

Well I have one, you want me to try it on?

No.

You don't have to do that.

Charley,

I've, uh...

I've been with another man.

Well, aren't you gonna say anything?

Just gonna sit there?

Oh, Charley, I didn't know

when you were coming back or if you ever would.

I'll tell ya, the men around here don't respect anything.

If I told you all the guys that called me up.

A lot of your friends from the base, I didn't even look at 'em.

And then, Cliff.

He and Peggy split and, uh,

she took the kids to California.

And Cliff started comin' over, playing with Mark

and fixin' things up around the house.

He didn't make a pass at me.

I mean, he didn't even do it at all, Charley.

I knew what he wanted but...

he never did anything about it.

And then it just seemed like the two of us just had to.

I knew, we all knew.

Couldn't a been any other way.

Cliff asked me to marry him, Charley.

And I... I said I would.

I don't think I'm up for any more of this.

Why don't you go to bed?

We'll work this all out.

What are you going to do?

I'm just gonna sit here.

I can't sleep.

Those pills you gave me don't work anymore.

Well, after seven years, uh,

it's gonna take some time to readjust.

I had everything worked out.

But nothing's goin' the way I planned.

My wife wants a divorce, but I suppose you already knew that.