Maybe I'll Come Home In The Spring (1971)

A disillusioned young runaway teen (Sally Field) returns to her middle class home after spending a year away at a "hippie" commune. But things haven't changed at all and she finds herself between a rock and a hard place. Directed by Joseph Sargent (TAKING OF PELHAM 123), this made for TV film is one tough little cookie of a movie and takes no prisoners. The film doesn't see the alternative lifestyle of the hippie community as an answer and it portrays them as lazy thieving parasites eating out of garbage cans, promiscuous sex and drug taking. But the "squares" are portrayed as uptight monsters, boozing and wife swapping and refusing to even understand their kids. See what I mean by between a rock and a hard place? The telefilm doesn't give us any pat answers or any hope for that matter. Everyone points to SYBIL as the beginning of Field's maturity as an actress but really, she already shows her acting chops here. Perhaps not fully developed but clearly ready. The cinematography by Russell Metty (ALL THAT HEAVEN ALLOWS) is a far cry from his work with Sirk. Plain and rather ugly but I take that as an intentional reflection of the conventional and restrictive lifestyle it portrays. With Eleanor Parker and Jackie Cooper as the parents, David Carradine and Lane Bradford.