Synopsis:

Coming Home in a Body Bag - Part 2 delves into the harrowing aftermath experienced by Vietnam veterans upon their return to a country that had seemingly forgotten them. Once hailed as heroes, these men are now met with indifference, scorn, and neglect. Struggling with the trauma of combat, they find themselves cast aside—discarded by a society eager to move on from the horrors of war. This chapter shifts its focus to the personal struggles of these veterans as they grapple with PTSD, physical injuries, and the emotional scars of having fought for a country that no longer recognizes their sacrifice. Their bonds forged in the fires of battle are now tested by a different kind of war—one of alienation, addiction, and survival in a world that has turned its back on them. The film examines the stark contrast between the patriotism that sent them to war and the cruel reality they face upon returning. It’s a powerful commentary on the human cost of conflict, the betrayal felt by those who served, and the long road to redemption that many never find. Coming Home in a Body Bag Part 2 not only honors their service but highlights the social and moral failures of a nation unprepared to care for its wounded warriors, making it an essential continuation of the story of brotherhood, sacrifice, and the cost of survival.

Intentions:

After the overwhelmingly positive response to Part 1, I felt inspired to continue the series, as referenced in True Romance. With Part 2, I wanted to shift the tone entirely, focusing on the Vietnam veterans returning home to a country that greeted them with hostility and neglect despite their sacrifice. The aim was to shed light on their struggles to reintegrate into a society that had moved on, while showcasing the diverse challenges each soldier faced. Initially, I hadn’t planned to include a love story, but with so much pain and horror being depicted, I felt it was important to give at least one soldier a glimpse of hope amidst his battles. Additionally, I wanted to emphasize the struggles of women—mothers, wives, and girlfriends—who were also profoundly affected by the war and its aftermath. Their perspective is often overlooked, but their pain is no less significant.

Change List:

• Insert MRDb Vintage Cassette Fanedit warning • Add R rating - Violence notice. • Add vintage R rating VO • Add the classic countdown • Add MR Sisu grindhouse Trailer. • Use classic Universal Pictures intro • Add “Universal Pictures Presents” text • Add “A Lee Donowitz Production” text • Add “An Oliver Stone Picture” text • Add “Movies Remastered Presents” text. • Insert Apocalypse Now intro. (Martin Sheen literally has a mental breakdown in real life during the filming of this scene and I found it fitting as an opener to set the tone. We never see his character again but this is to show another soldier getting lost in Saigon during this time. • Created a “Coming home in a body bag 2” opening title shot. (The 2 appears like an old 80s action movie). • Insert opening 50s scene from Born on the 4th of July. (I wanted to give a warm intro contrast to the previous scene and hint at nostalgia, while highlighting war never seems to end as the future veterans experience that same treatment later. • Add vintage dusty overlay to 50s footage. • Add “Christopher Walken” to opening credits • Remove “Born on the 4th of July” title • Add “Robert De Niro” to opening credits • Add “John Savage” to opening credits • Add “Meryl Streep” to opening credits • Add “Tom Hanks” to opening credits • Add “Gary Sinise” to opening credits • Add “Robin Wright” to opening credits • Add “Jane Fonda” to opening credits • Add “Jon Voight” to opening credits • Add “Penelope Milford” to opening credits • Add “Tim Robbins” to opening credits • Add “Pruitt Taylor Vince” to opening credits • Add “Elizabeth Pena” to opening credits • Add “Story by Movies Remastered” to opening credits • Add “Robert De Niro” to opening credits • Add “Produced by Lee Donowitz” to opening credits Insert U.S. Army Hospital Saigon scene from Deer Hunter showing the army is willing to discharge Nicky despite his mental state. • Add “U.S. Army Hospital Saigon. 1968” text • Trim down above scene to help pacing. • Insert Bronx Veterans Hospital, 1968 scene from Born on the 4th of July. This scene is to show the pure state of care given to veterans on both sides of the world. Neither of wish are of any standards or respect for what they’ve been through. • Change colourgrade on all scene from Born on the 4th of July moving forward. This is to keep all footage within the same palette throughout the film. • Insert Hospital scene from Forrest Gump where Forrest brings Lt. Dan ice cream. • Change colourgrade of above shot to keep within the film’s palette. • Overlay new “Coming home in a bodybag” logo over forest footage. • Fade out “Adagio for Strings” • Insert and trim down “Good Morning Vietnam” Radio scene for a faster pace intro and cut down on comedy. This scene also introduced Forrest Whitaker’s character who will also later appear in scenes from Platoon. • Add “Brown Eyed Girl by Van Morrison”. This track helps with the transition between scenes and also leads into Forrest getting letters from his brown eyed girl (Jenny). • Insert Hospital scene from Coming Home where Luke is bantering with the nurse about his wife. • Reframe all shots from above scene to fit letterbox resolution. • Trim above scene to help pacing. • Add “American Pie by Don McLean”. This helps to highlight the pain within the soldiers and transitions nicely into the following scene. • Insert Chin-up scene from Born on 4th July with Ron trying to build strength. This scene uses American Pie track, shows Ron’s military mindset that helps his through his recovery and flows well into following scene. • Continue “American Pie” track over Born on 4th July footage of doctor telling Ron he will never walk again or have children. • Insert scene from “Coming Home” where Sally is stumbling through her first day volunteering and making many mistakes. • Reframe above shot to fit with letterbox resolution. • Insert scene from Born on 4th July where Ron is getting any at the TV depicting people burning the American flag. • Insert scene from “Coming Home” where Luke is targeting his frustration at Sally. Making her feel unwelcome despite her best efforts to look after the Veterans. • Insert scene from Born on 4th July where the orderly is lecturing Ron on his views on the War. • Insert Night Hospital scene from “Coming Home” where a soldier is sharing his bad day due to PTSD. • Change colourgrade of above scene to match following night shots in other films for continuity. • Insert evening Hospital scene from “Born on 4th July” with prostitute visiting a soldier and Ron still trying to digest the fact he’ll never walk again. • Transition to Born on 4th July scene audio of a plane flying over to bleed into scene from Forrest Gump. • Insert night Hospital scene from Forrest Gump where Lt. Dan pulls Forrest out of bed in anger and frustration. • Insert Nurse waking up Soldiers to find one has died in his sleep from Born on the 4th July. • Insert Veterans Hospital scene from Deer Hunter. This shows that Michael’s priority of coming home is to see Steve before anyone else. • Cut mention of hunting from above scene to keep pacing and focus on Nicky. • Insert Coming Home scene from Born on the 4th July. This shows the progress of the soldier’s recovery and how happy the neighbourhood is to see Ron return home. • Insert scene from “Coming Home” where Sally is now settled in her volunteer job and the soldiers have warmed to her, including Luke. Notice the “Love it or leave it” sticker in the car window that echoes what Ron said in the previous and upcoming scenes. • Use soundtrack from below shot to transition scenes. • Insert Michael coming home scene from “Deer hunter” and him deliberately missing the party due to anxiety. • Use soundtrack from above shot to transition scenes. • Insert family dinner scene from “Born on the 4th of July” where Ron kicks off to his younger brother who doesn’t believe in the war. • Insert scene where Sally invites Luke to dinner from “Coming Home”. This shows that Luke warming to her has played on her mind and she is now seeing him in a more positive light as his mood is lifting now, he’s being looked after by her and his pain is easing. • Reframe above shots to fit the letterbox resolution. • Change colourgrade to above shots to keep within the films overall colour palette • Remove Luke helping the young man play the guitar. This scene isn’t needed for pacing. • Trim above scene where Sally is helping Luke into the car with ease but this bothers Luke as she’s doing all the work. • Insert scene of Sally returning home with Luke, and the struggles of getting the wheelchair into her home. This scene also highlights both characters nerves as Sally is married but Luke is in desperate need of the love from a beautiful woman. • Insert Lt. Dan finding Forrest in NY • Add “New York City, U.S.A. 1971” text • Add colour displacement and blur to above text to make it fit the old film tone. • Insert party scene from Jacob’s Ladder. This now shows it’s a New Year’s Eve party. • Insert Ron partying at the bar from Born on the 4th of July • Insert NYE party scene from Forrest Gump • Insert after party scene from Forrest Gump • Add echo transition to fade out above scene • Insert scene from “Coming Home” where Sally is on a night out and sees Luke on TV. This shows they split ways after the meal evening as neither party wanted to be unfaithful. • Continue scene between Sally and Luke to show they’ve both been thinking of each other so much that they’re now willing to take their relationship to a new level. • Reframe all above shots to fit letterbox resolution. • Colourgrade above scene to fit film palette • Insert Ron coming home drunk from “Born on 4th of July”. This scene shows the pressure of having a troubled soldier in a quiet neighbourhood. One that welcomed Ron at first but due to his disruptive behavior is now uncomfortable having him around. • Insert hard cut of Michael landing back in Saigon to find Nicky from “Deer Hunter”. • Add “Saigon, Vietnam. 1972” text • Add colour displacement and blur to above text to make it fit the old film tone. • Trim out actual Vietnam footage from above scene. While this footage is present in the original, it’s very jarring compared to film footage. • Remove more original Vietnam footage used in “Deer Hunter” • Cut to Michael arriving with French man on the Boat from “Deer Hunter” • Use TV scene from “Deer Hunter” to transition in to scene from “Jacob’s Ladder” • Insert scene of Jacob flicking through Satanic books from “Jacob’s Ladder” • Remove exiting through Boxing Gym shots for pacing. • Insert Paul’s car blowing up from “Jacob’s Ladder” • Insert Jacob arrive to Hospital on a stretcher. This shows Jacob’s continued hallucinations and gives the audience the same mental state of Jacob as we’re now unaware as to what is real. • Add echo transition to Jacob screams for transition into next scene. • Insert Michael being him and getting on with his day in a hostile neighbourhood. • Insert Mexico scene from “Born on the 4th of July” • Add “Villa Dulce, Mexico. 1972” text. • Add colour displacement and blur to above text to make it fit the old film tone. • Insert Ron having nightmare scene from “Born on 4th of July” • Insert Jacob going through his memory box from “Jacob’s Ladder”. This scene shows more examples of Jacob’s mental state taking a huge turn for the worse. • Transition score into following scene. • Insert Jacob’s flashback scene of his Son being killed by a car from “Jacob’s Ladder”. • Transition score into following scene. • Colourgrade all following scenes to match film pallet • Insert second protest scene from “Born on the 4th of July” • Insert scenes from first protest scene from “Born on the 4th of July”. This helps the protest look huge and slightly harder to handle than presented in the original film. • Insert protest scenes from “Taxi Driver”. This now shows “Michael” with a Mowhark and a changed state of mind after seeing Nicky kill himself. • Insert scenes from first protest scene from “Born on the 4th of July”. • Insert protest scenes from “Taxi Driver” while using audio from above scene. This hints that Michael is up to something as he smiles when the protester shouts “Pull the trigger”. • Rearrange protest shots from above movies to fit with the crowd chaos about to unfold. • Insert scene from Taxi Driver where “Michael” attempts to shot the senator at the protest but being chased by FBI. • Overlay protester screaming from “Born on the 4th of July” scene over “Taxi Driver” scene. • Transition score from taxi Driver into following scene for a seamless transition. • Insert Nixon speaking at the Rally from “Born on the 4th of July”. This shows it’s a political cover-up where veterans voices are being drowned out. • Add echo transition to above scene to help smooth transition. • Colourgrade following “Taxi Driver” night scene to match film pallet • Insert “Michael” returning home to his appeasement with a killer mentality, who just wants to start a fight with a Pimp from “Taxi Driver”. • Remove Jodie Foster close-up from above scene. She doesn’t play any part in this film so it’s pointless showing her cut aways until the guy gets shot. • Trim down shoot out on the stair case from “Taxi Driver” for pacing. • Reframe all shots from “Taxi Driver” to match letterbox resolution. • Transition speech from “Born on the 4th of July” as “Michael” bleeds out on the couch. • Insert night protest from “Born on the 4th of July” that continues the hostility. • Continue to 4 years later scene from “Born on the 4th of July” where Ron’s family are finally proud of him again. • Add “Robert De Niro” text to end credits • Insert shot of Michael to end credits. • Add “John Savage” text to end credits • Insert shot of Steve to end credits. • Add “Christopher Walken” text to end credits • Insert shot of Nicky to end credits. • Add “Tom Hanks” text to end credits • Insert shot of Forrest to end credits. • Add “Gary Sinise” text to end credits • Insert shot of Lt. Dan to end credits. These scenes shows that Forrest reaches his goals to own a Shrimp boat and that Lt. Dan kept his word of being his first mate. • Add “Jane Fonda” text to end credits • Insert shot of Sally to end credits. • Add “Jon Voight” text to end credits • Insert shot of Luke to end credits. • Add “Tim Robbins” text to end credits • Insert shot of Jacob to end credits. • Add “Coming Home in a Body Bag 2” text to credit outro. • Add MR Vintage outro video.

Additional Notes:

Check pinned comments in the MR Discord thread for full details on how to watch this fanedit: https://discord.com/channels/730523754727211109/1076517687653564517

Other Sources:

As this edit is using so many different sources, some have been created for DVD, Blu-ray, Mono, Stereo and 5.1 surround sound. I've tried to make each edit and scene as seamless as possible both audio and colourgrading.

Special Thanks:

Big thanks to the support from the MR Discord community.