The Homecoming: A Christmas Story aired 50 years ago Dec. 19, as a TV holiday movie. The response from viewers and critics was so strong that the network gave creator Earl Hamner, Jr. the go-ahead for a series, without a pilot. The Waltons joined the 1972-3 CBS lineup and ran nine seasons. After that came six reunion TV movies!

Based on Hamner’s fictionalized novel about his family, The Homecoming takes place Christmas Eve, 1933. John Walton works during the week, miles from his Virginia home, and returns each weekend. As the family prepares for the holiday, the adults anxiously await John’s arrival after hearing news of a bus crash. Finally, mother Olivia sends John-Boy out to look for him. Never fear, all’s well that ends well, but not without some twists along the way.

I watched this Christmas movie as a small town Upper Michigan kid and enjoyed the rural family’s story so much.  I also loved The Waltons when it first aired, but was a bit disappointed when Patricia Neal didn't continue to play Olivia Walton. Michael Learned won three Emmys as Olivia, but I thought she played her as a bit of a stick in the mud. Now, though I still love Neal’s performance, you can see in certain scenes that she's dragging her leg. A weekly series for a nearly a decade would have been too much for the post-stroke star. Here, in The Homecoming, Neal is the heart of the story, and she received an Emmy nomination and a Golden Globe award. As Olivia, Patricia's strong, fierce, earthy, romantic, and sentimental. And I love Neal’s relaxed and raspy Kentucky drawl. 

Richard Thomas’ career was launched as John-Boy Walton, winning an Emmy for Best Actor in a series for 1973, at age 22. His open face and earnest acting felt realistic and was a cut above the typical young TV stars. Also, Thomas was a dreamboat to both sensitive girls and boys.

The rapport between Neal’s staunch mother and Thomas’ dreamer son gives this movie resonance. Olivia is exasperated as to what John-Boy is up to behind locked doors, which leads her to pound on his bedroom door. As the no-nonsense mother, Neal’s changing reactions flicker across her face as Thomas’ son pours his heart out about his dreams as a writer. And Olivia’s firm but loving instructions as she sends John-Boy out to look for his father is also subtly strong. Thomas as John-Boy shines as he steels his courage and sets out to find his daddy, in the local lush’s crate of a car. John-Boy’s thoughts and his eventful evening while he seeks help are heartfelt and gently humorous.

Ellen Corby was an audience favorite as crusty Grandma Walton, and she reminded me of my tough-talking Grandma Alvera. Corby won a total of three Emmys for her role and she was fine from the get-go. Edgar Bergen played Grandpa Walton authoritatively and straightforwardly, and I must say that a little of the later Will Geer went a long way. 

All of the original Walton kids are here and they do a good job playing believable brothers and sisters. Thomas’ John-Boy has many good moments with his on-screen siblings, even when the big brother is tired of playing “mother hen.”

As with the TV series, The Homecoming: A Christmas Story has a great cast of supporting characters. The Baldwin sisters were played here by wonderful veteran actresses Josephine Hutchinson and Dorothy Pickney. The extended scene where John-Boy and the preacher visit the moonshine-making sisters on Christmas Eve is charming and bittersweet. And Cleavon Little is the preacher! From The Waltons to Blazing Saddles, that’s quite a stretch. He’s total charmer here as Hawthorne Dooley, who helps John-Boy polish his people skills, while trying to get gas for the boy’s vehicle. Prolific dramatic/comedic actor William Windom plays the local drunk who is also the Christmas bandit, and he’s terrific as always. David Huddleston is amusing as the sheriff who nabs him. Woodrow Parfrey portrays storekeeper Ike Godsey in a one-off performance. Parfrey was a prolific character actor in TV and movies. I must say that it's a jolt to see Andrew Duggan, who I remember as silvery-haired, turn up at the finale as Pa Walton with fluffy, reddish hair! 

I feel The Homecoming is a bit grittier than The Waltons. The story is simple but filled with feeling, fascinating characters, and based in reality, which reminded me of Truman Capote's classic, A Christmas Memory. I felt a connection with John-Boy as both an aspiring writer and an atypical country boy. One of the sweetest scenes is when Pa Walton gives John-Boy a stack of Red Chief writing tablets for Christmas.

The Homecoming: A Christmas Story is set at the height of the Great Depression, nearly a century ago. This story could be a tonic for our current fraught times—so that modern viewers can see what hard times really looked like.

Here's my look at another rural look back at Christmas, Truman Capote's A Christmas Memory, with the great Geraldine Page: 

https://ricksrealreel.blogspot.com/2018/12/a-christmas-memory-1966.html

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