Glory Boy

Upon arriving in San Francisco after completing their service in Vietnam, newly discharged soldiers Trubee Pell and Jimmy Pilgrim struggle to adjust to bustling civilian life. Although disturbed by the careless insensitivity he sees around him, Trubee immediately discards his uniform for casual clothing, while Jimmy hopes to use his uniform to attract female company. The young men wander about the city failing to pick up dates, and upon leaving a strip joint come upon their sergeant Martin Flood, still in uniform, viciously beating up a man dressed in drag. Unashamed of his actions, Flood proudly tells Trubee and Jimmy that he intends to re-enlist after the mandatory thirty-day waiting period is up. Despite his unease with Flood, Trubee invites him and Jimmy to accompany him to his father's farm north of the city. Flood readily accepts and although Jimmy has a wife and young child in the city, he also agrees to the visit. After haggling with a salesman, Trubee purchases a used red convertible, which falters several times on the journey north. Arriving at the farm, Trubee is surprised to find it run down and shabby. Trubee's widower father Walter welcomes the men excitedly, impressed by Flood's numerous medals and disappointed to find Trubee in "civvies." Walter nevertheless praises his son for his wartime service, but Trubee dismisses him as old-fashioned. Flood is amused that Walter, a World War II veteran, has such reverence for military life and mocks the older man. Meanwhile, Trubee looks at his childhood home with the eyes of an adult and is troubled when Walter enthusiastically claims that they can restore the dilapidated farm together. Later, Trubee suggests the friends go fishing, but when Jimmy makes a flippant remark to Flood, the sergeant, who despises Jimmy's simple affability and considers him weak, punches him. Alone with Flood at the pond later, Trubee confesses that the hardest experience for him during combat was killing a woman. Flood is practical about the horrors of war, then startles Trubee by tossing a grenade into the pond, killing several trout. At dinner, Jimmy refuses to eat the fish. Annoyed by Walter's conventional manners and continued deferential attitude toward Flood, Trubee uses coarse language to suggest that the men look for women in the nearby town. Slightly drunk, Trubee and Flood depart, leaving Jimmy behind to have an awkward conversation about war with Walter. Meanwhile, when Trubee and Flood are unable to convince the former town prostitute to resume her old career, Flood challenges Trubee to a foot race through town in the nude. The next morning back at the farm, the drunken Trubee and Flood break into Walter's stash of wine in the barn. Jimmy joins the pair, but when he and Flood begin arguing, Flood abruptly brandishes his rifle at him. Water interrupts the tense situation and angrily orders both Flood and Jimmy to leave the farm, but when Trubee drunkenly threatens to leave with his friends, Walter backs down. Frustrated, Flood punches Jimmy again and Trubee insists that he leave Jimmy alone. While Trubee sleeps off the alcohol, Jimmy takes Flood's rifle and drives into San Francisco to look for his wife and child. Discovering his wife with a Marine, Jimmy is angered, but when the Marine beats him up, he retreats. On impulse, Jimmy contacts a young woman who has posted a notice on a local community college board seeking to share expenses with anyone driving to Canada. The young woman, Helen, meets Jimmy, who agrees to drive her north after first stopping back at the Pell farm. When the couple arrives, Flood makes an immediate play for Helen and Jimmy protests warily, only to be knocked down by Flood. Walter is displeased by Helen's presence, but neither he nor Trubee intervenes when Flood again goes after Helen. The girl protests Flood's crude groping, but he slaps her and carries her into another room. Trubee caustically berates Walter for taking no action despite his self-righteous attitude and earlier admiration of Flood. The father and son are startled when Jimmy lurches into the room with Flood's rifle and shoots the sergeant. Frightened by the seriousness of the wound, Walter, Trubee and Jimmy agree on a story to tell the local physician, Dr. Paul, whom they summon to save Flood. That evening, Trubee drives Helen to the bus station and ignores her expressions of interest in him. The next morning, Helen returns to the farm and silently takes up cleaning the house. Hoping to downplay the shooting, Walter contacts the local sheriff, Wes Coleman, and describes the incident as an accident, which Coleman accepts. The next day, Flood revives and remorsefully offers Jimmy an apology, which he angrily refuses. Walter learns from Helen that she does not care for her family and invites her to remain and work on the farm. Over the next several days as Flood recovers, Trubee and Helen become friendly and gradually grow attracted to each other. Trubee reveals how he came to shoot a Vietnamese woman who brandished a gun at him and how the action continues to haunt him. When Flood is able to walk again he offers to pay for a farewell meal before returning to active duty. Jimmy, who has settled into farm life, remains hesitant about Flood's sincerity, but Trubee accepts and volunteers to pick up food and champagne in town. In Trubee's absence, Flood shocks Walter when he scorns Trubee and Helen's budding romance and suggests Walter can have Helen after his son is through with her. When the older man protests, Flood knocks him out, then attacks an unsuspecting Jimmy, before savagely raping Helen. Trubee returns to find Flood waiting for him with his loaded rifle. Discovering the disheveled, traumatized Helen, Trubee is about to attack Flood when the revived Walter intercedes, pointing his old German Mauser rifle at Flood. The men fire simultaneously and both are struck and die. As Helen weeps, Jimmy, who has gone to chop some wood, staggers to the scene while a stunned Trubee stands over his father's body.