I watched a number of episodes of the original series and while I don't remember it, I did watch "The Homecoming" at some point.
This is supposed to be the Depression? Well, I suppose John could have been making a good living before he had to go 90 miles away just to find work. The family home is really nice. So are the clothes. John-Boy even has his own room. No one in this movie looks poor, despite it being the Depression. Now it is true the Waltons don't have much, meaning they seem to be just about out of food until John gets back with his paycheck, and the kids are making do with what they have when playing. And the statement is made that without the library, they don't have a lot of books.
Virginia must not be that far south. The Black people are in the back of John's bus. But one Black man is closer to the front and John sits with him and makes friends with him. Olivia and Rose are good friends even though one is white and one is Black. Why, Olivia and the family have even been invited to the Black church for Christmas Eve. Elizabeth asks why they don't go there all the time, since it's closer. Well, there's a reason, but Olivia creatively finds a way around that. But there must be some reason whites and Blacks don't attend church together. Well, I can see one reason. Black people have all this enthusiasm and (while this movie doesn't show it) white people just sit there bored and dignified. That's the way it was for me, and that's how I prefer it.
Oh, and on the subject of race, who is the police officer who won't let people through when there is a wreck? A Black man, of course. Yes, people are equal in this world.
Some words and expressions didn't exist in 1933 which are used today, which the writers must have thought were fine to use..
Once you get past the lack of realism, the Waltons have the family values we have come to expect. Except they curse like sailors, especially John but I guess that's to be expected from a tough mountain family. This being a family movie, only one word gets used a lot. I heard that word once from Mary Ellen in all the times I watched the TV series, and Rev. Fordwick, practicing his sermon, was not pleased. A couple of other words would have been forbidden on the original series.
Oh, sure, these are not perfect people. Olivia, a fine moral woman, admits she fell for John and her now-deceased parents did not approve.
Mary Ellen is rebellious and she wants out. But before the movie is over, she learns the meaning of family in a way she hadn't before.
The Baldwin Sisters are pretty much what I remember. "Father's Recipe" is not evil. And sheriff, it's legal now. They're good women, really.
Charlie is a character. He knows what he is doing is wrong, but hunting out of season when you give what you shot to those who need it ... how can that be wrong?
The acting is pretty good, I suppose. It's a pleasure to see Bellamy Young, the naughty First Lady and later President from "Scandal", playing a character with morals. And she does it well. I'm pretty sure Patricia Neal was better.
Grandma Walton is quirky, but there was something special about Ellen Corby that's missing here. But I knew her already from other roles, some not fine upstanding citizens. Some of that attitude made Grandma different in earlier versions. This Grandma is okay.
Grandpa is also missing something. Will Geer was such a character. This man is fine, I guess.
John is such a good and perfect man, except for his language. Hard to believe he's not religious.
I was quite pleased to see Marilyn McCoo and her husband Billy Davis Jr. From The Fifth Dimension. I first knew them from a short-lived variety show and her from "Solid Gold", and then I found out who they were. They can still sing quite well, and she looks pretty good still.
It's an enjoyable story and if you can get past the language it's fine for the whole family.
