A Perfect Christmas Classic for the Whole Family
For Christmas Eve Eve (the day before Christmas Eve) this year I again watched The Homecoming: A Christmas Story, which I have been watching on and off since it first aired in 1971, although I can’t say for sure whether I had watched it since 2013, when I have personal reasons for remembering watching it. Except for one inexplicably misremembered scene I know it almost by heart but it’s one of those movies which is always good no matter how many times you see it.
What can I say about this classic? It’s a perfect film and should never, EVER have been remade. A few years ago some group of fools attempted a remake. It was on a channel I didn’t get so I never saw it but heard it was awful, and they even left out my man Ben! Let’s just forget it ever existed and concentrate on the classic. As a child I identified with the Walton youngsters and love them as an adult.
It almost seems unfair to mention how wonderful Richard Thomas was when everyone in this turned in a spectacular performance. Although some actors differed from the later TV series, the movie was perfectly cast. Things to worry about as an adult never noticed as a child: John-Boy, you should never run with an axe and Grandpa should have told you that! Hope no one had to use that road till daylight where John-Boy had to abandon the car, as it was right in the middle of the road. Hope the Baldwin sisters put out all those candles on the tree before going out in the sleigh. On this viewing I noticed one candle tilting a lot. Putting them all out would take time, and how did they even reach the ones on the higher branches? It’s also good that they kept a horse in fit condition. Was Charlie Snead never seen again because he was in prison, or was he played by a different actor and I don’t remember him? And so on.
In 2013 I read the book and there are a few minor differences, for instance, the names differ as after the movie of Spencer’s Mountain the book names were not allowed to be used. There is one more child, so while picturing all the regular children in their respective roles I had to add Johnny Whitaker as the extra boy as being a proper redheaded child and from the right era of the movie too. In the movie Olivia Walton is violently against having the Baldwin sisters’ recipe in the house where in the book she thanks them for bringing her some as she uses it in one of her cooking recipes. As Earl Hamner Jr., the author, also wrote the screenplay, the film is mostly true to the book. The part where John-Boy talks about writing his feelings gives me strong Ray Bradbury Dandelion Wine vibes. (Sadly, Bradbury rarely wrote about Christmas.)
Inexplicably my favorite scene, or at least the one that always makes me cry, is the one in the black church where the children put on the Christmas pageant. It’s a shame that black characters were mostly left out of the TV series. The other scene that brings me close to tears is John-Boy telling the younger children about the miracle of the animals on Christmas Eve.
The entire movie is just absolutely brilliant. The music and even the lighting give it that nostalgic feel, and this is coming from someone who can’t remember the Depression. This is a perfect holiday classic and should be shown to all eternity.