Disability Happens ™

by Joe Posner 

The 1970s, on film, was a great era for movie-making. Directors like Lucas, Spielberg, Coppola, and Scorsese, among others, were bringing freshness and energy to the silver screen. Into this mix, came a fresh look at the disabled in movies.

First up, “Butterflies Are Free,” released on July 6, 1972. Directed by Milton Katselas, it was written by Leonard Gershe, based on his stage play, which was in turn inspired by real life blind attorney Harold Krents. It starred Edward Albert, as the blind young singer/songwriter, as well as Goldie Hawn, Eileen Heckart, Paul Michael Glaser and Michael Warren.

Don Baker (Albert), blind from birth, lives alone in a really neat pad in ultra cool ’70s San Francisco. It seems his ex-girlfriend encouraged him to be independent, despite his disability. When he falls in love with Jill Tanner (Hawn), the hippie chick who lives next door, his control freak mom (Heckart) freaks out. The majority of the film details the tug off war of the heart between free spirit girlfriend and ultra hands-on mom, with Baker/Albert the man in the middle.

In a bold move by director, writer and star, Albert plays blind without dark glasses, cane or seeing eye dog. On the down side, the film tries a bit hard to push “blind is cute,” underscored by the handsome, singing and guitar playing Albert. To be fair, this “flaw” in the film seemed much less apparent at the time of the film’s initial release in the ’70s.

Edward Albert received the 1973 Golden Globe Award as Most Promising Newcomer-Male, as well as a Best Actor Oscar nomination. “Butterflies Are Free” is considered the high point of Albert’s career.

By the late ’70s, the “flavor” of disability at the movies had gone from sweet to bittersweet. Case in point: “Coming Home.”

Released on February 15, 1978, “Coming Home,” directed by Hal Ashby, was written by Robert C. Jones, Waldo Salt and Nancy Dowd. It starred Jane Fonda, Jon Voight, Bruce Dern, Penelope Milford and Robert Carradine. Luke Martin (Voight), a former high school football hero, returns from the Vietnam war an angry, bitter paraplegic. At a veteran’s hospital he meets Jane Fonda, a military wife who volunteers her time there.

As Martin/Voight goes through rehabilitation, eventually moving from a hospital bed to a wheelchair, a romantic relationship gradually develops between him and Fonda, whose husband is still serving in Vietnam.

When Fonda’s husband, played by Bruce Dern, returns from the war with a limp, a cane and a REALLY bad attitude, events are set into motion with both tragic and triumphant consequences.

The film’s willingness to explore the sexual needs of the disabled, in an erotic love scene between Voight and Fonda, provided a major breakthrough for Hollywood’s portrayal of the disabled. Though tame by today’s standards, it still packs some heat.

Voight offered a gritty, no holds barred portrayal of a man struggling to come to grips with the toll his disability has had on his body AND his spirit. He won Best Actor at the 1979 Academy Awards, the first, and only, such win in his career.

Category : Disability in Entertainment, Film