Welcome Home, Bobby (1986)

Bad Acting and worse Bad Screenplay

The first must-see film of the year.

This movie feels like it was made purely to piss off people who want good shows

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

I remember talking about this movie right after it played on t.v. with a "coming out" teen group that I'd been going to. I was the only one who hated it--I thought the drag scene was horrible and I was offended that the older man (and his buddies) would be portrayed as predators like they were. Creepy all around. The only thing that stood out as a positive was the scene where Bobby's teacher talks with him after school and writes "I am gay" on the board (I think it was the guy who played Tyne Daly's husband in "Cagney and Lacey") and tells him he'll be okay. This was one of the first times I'd seen a "normal", everyday guy as a homosexual. I wish they'd made the movie about him!

It's been almost two decades since I watched the film on CBS-TV one Saturday night, but I remember it vividly. Certainly not the greatest film on the subject of coming out, but it is memorable for many reasons among them: The LOL absurdity: We see Bobby tickling his little brother just before bedtime. In walks dad, shocked and angry at the innocent horseplay. He then says something like, "Don't ever touch him again!" As soon as he leaves the room, Bobby's little brother says to a saddened Bobby, "You can play with me anytime." My friends roared with laughter when I recounted this supposedly touching (oooh, bad pun!) scene.The positive message: It's okay to be gay (if that's what you want to be after watching all of poor Bobby's trails and tribulations). Quite refreshing during the Reagan years when Rock Hudson's death from AIDS shocked the world. In other films dealing with the subject of homosexuality the protagonist suddenly turned straight (as in "Tea and Sympathy') or died a tragic death (e.g. the 1961 film, "The Children's Hour).In our current social/political climate "Welcome Home, Bobby" would be to controversial for network TV. It amazes me that "WH,B" aired in 1986. Were we more open-minded then? Of course I don't recall the film ever in reruns on TV.

Handsome lad takes a computer course and finds the male teacher making warm advances to him. The next thing we know, Bobby is contemplating coming out of the closet, much to the shame and embarrassment of his father. Being a typically rebellious youth, Bobby decides to live up to his father's vision of a 'sissy' by coming to the dinner-table in drag. Only in the movies...

I enjoyed this film a great deal. It raises points about American culture as relates to sexual identity in ways seldom handled. I saw the film as a fairly accurate portrayal of reality of being a possible-gay teenager (something about which I know first-hand).Possibly the best scene in the film is when Bobby comes to family dinner dressed in drag. Not because he likes drag, but because that is what seems to be expected. He gives his father a bit of justified hell.