The Homecoming: A Christmas Story

One night in December of 1971,I was just a young child of 7 years , enjoying the hope and antisipation of the upcomming Christmas holiday. I was just looking through the channels of my TV set and ran across this movie that had been on for maybe 40 minites or so. just as I tuned in, John Boy had just recked the family truck looking for his Daddy. I continuded watching this show while more and more becomming curiously intersted in this family from the 30s who seemed to be so poor but in turn so very rich in love and closeness of a strong and courageous group of relitives. After the airing of "The Homecomming" that night, I was filled with a feeling of goodness and respect of family that today is almost non exsistant in television. To tell the truth, I think it may never come to that type of programing ever again. I had no idea of what I just witnessed in the beginning program of what would become the best , most highly respected family show to date. This is a TRUE classic, timeless and ever lasting and if you are like me , I know that values shuch as the ones that The Waltons taught us for 10 years after that Dec. night, should make a comback and make it fast!!What happened? can you tell me? Ill tell you all this ,to this day , I still find myself messing around with my kids at night saying, goodnight John boy, goodnight Mary Ellen (although their names are not John Boy nor Mary Ellen) but still I wait for the reply that I heard so many Thursday nights in the 70s at 900pm which is truly music to my ears.... goodnight Daddy!

I was only six years old when I first saw "The Homecoming: A Christmas Story" in December 1971. This is a heartwarming Christmas story of a family waiting for the arrival of their patriarch, John Walton, during the early years of the Great Depression.

The values upon which this nation was built are alive and well in this movie and the highly successful CBS series that followed. While the Waltons are not financially wealthy, they have an abundance of love in their home and community.

Richard Thomas' character "John-Boy" is perhaps one of the best known characters in television history. Patricia Neal is excellent as the loving yet strict disciplinarian mother, Olivia Walton. Judy Norton's portrayal of teenager "Mary Ellen" is quite believable; one moment she seems mature and on the verge of womanhood, and the next moment she is whining and bickering with her siblings (typical teen). Ellen Corby is an excellent supporting actress in her role as Grandma.

In my view, "The Homecoming: A Christmas Story" is one of the best Christmas movies of all time because it is not about Santa, a snowman, nor an abundance of gifts. On the contrary, the Waltons Christmas movie is about family, love, discipline, friendship, responsibility, and the birth of our savior, Jesus Christ, the reason for the season.

I've had this movie in my Christmas movie VHS/DVD collection since the early 1990s. "The Homecoming: A Christmas Story" is in the same category as "It's a Wonderful Life", and I highly recommend this film.

"The Homecoming" is steeped more in nostalgia and familial love and faith rather than empty sentiment. It also contains a very strong Christian message, which stems from the beliefs of its characters, not out of some ham-handed political agenda on the part of its producers.

It's essential for the children to see that there are people like Charlie Sneed (The Robin Hood Bandit) or the Missionary Lady in the world; people who in some way corrupt the meaning of Christmas, in order to realize the blessings they have. Hawthorne, the minister, is flawed, too, of course; he's not exactly doing the Lord's work by making whiskey runs for the old lady bootleggers. But, as he says, you can't feed your kids on faith.

Patricia Neal is the real treasure in this story. She was only 45; a reasonable age for a woman whose 7 children's ages span ten years. In 1965, when she was 39, Neal suffered a near-fatal stroke which left her temporarily paralyzed. She had to learn to talk over again. She had made a screen comeback in 1968 in "The Subject Was Roses," but this film was her *real* homecoming.

I have good memories of seeing this on TV many years ago, and I'm happy to read reports of a DVD. I believe this to be the pilot for The Waltons, either by design or by accident. This is a more realistic portrayal of the Great Depression that is usually shown. It was cleaned up considerably when the TV series was produced. Patricia Neal's character is a woman who knows hardship. Her face registers much pain, and even though she was/is a beautiful woman, that careworn look shows through. Her husband (wonderful Andrew Duggan who only shows up at the very end) is away looking for work, which was fairly typical of the 1930's. And she has too many kids, and they're all living with grandma & grandpa. They will have to accept charity from clueless missionary ladies at Christmas. These people are POOR! Nice to see Edgar Bergen in a rare, late career, character role as Grandpa (not Will Geer). All of the writing shows more edge than the series, even carrying over to the children. I guess that TV children can't get mixed up with moonshiners. It is, perhaps, unfair to compare this to the television series. They clearly are two different animals. Think M*A*S*H, and you'll know what I mean. This should be an annual holiday movie.

This was the pilot for the hit family series the waltons. This clean family entertainment has an touching performance from Richard Thomas as Johnboy.

All the children are the same actors as in the series that followed but ma and Pa are replaced by Michael Learned and Ralph Waite later on. This was a flying start to a brilliant long running Series. If you loved the show this is a must see the pilot!!!