In the mid‑1970s Nancy Dowd, a young writer with a background at Smith College and UCLA Film School, was hand‑picked by Jane Fonda to write an anti‑war screenplay about a returning Vietnam veteran titled "Buffalo Ghost." Rather than being shot as Dowd conceived it, the project was reorganized: established screenwriter Waldo Salt (working in the Hal Ashby orbit) and other writers were brought in to rework the material and the film emerged as Coming Home (released 1978). Dowd publicly voiced her displeasure about the outcome — telling The New York Times in a 1977 interview that the new version was "terrible" — a rare and blunt repudiation from a writer about a major film in development. The episode encapsulates a familiar New Hollywood drama where a bankrolled actor–producer (Fonda), a revered director (Hal Ashby) and a veteran screenwriter can effectively reshape a newcomer’s script, leaving the original author sidelined even while industry credit and awards followed. Coming Home ultimately swept major prizes (including performances for Jane Fonda and Jon Voight and an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay credited to Waldo Salt, Robert C. Jones and Nancy Dowd), but Dowd’s public comments — and the underlying dispute over authorship and control — left a lasting mark on her relationship with the industry and on how writers’ contributions were spoken about in that era.
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AI concept artworkArchive Record · 1970s
How Nancy Dowd’s antiwar script 'Buffalo Ghost' was reshaped into Coming Home — and the bitter fallout that followed
Coming Home / Nancy Dowd / 1970s
In the mid‑1970s Nancy Dowd, a young writer with a background at Smith College and UCLA Film School, was hand‑picked by Jane Fonda to write an anti‑war screenplay about a returning Vietnam veteran titled "Buffalo Ghost." Rather than being shot as Dowd conceived it, the project was reorganized: established screenwriter Waldo Salt (working in the Hal Ashby orbit) and other writers were brought in to rework the material and the film emerged as Coming Home (released 1978). Dowd publicly voiced her displeasure about the outcome — telling The New York Times in a 1977 interview that the new version was "terrible" — a rare and blunt repudiation from a writer about a major film in development. The episode encapsulates a familiar New Hollywood drama where a bankrolled actor–producer (Fonda), a revered director (Hal Ashby) and a veteran screenwriter can effectively reshape a newcomer’s script, leaving the original author sidelined even while industry credit and awards followed. Coming Home ultimately swept major prizes (including performances for Jane Fonda and Jon Voight and an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay credited to Waldo Salt, Robert C. Jones and Nancy Dowd), but Dowd’s public comments — and the underlying dispute over authorship and control — left a lasting mark on her relationship with the industry and on how writers’ contributions were spoken about in that era.
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