mark.waltz
Little motivation guides this tale of father and son being reunited and the conflicting in their relationship. Henry Winkler gets the award for Daddy Dearest, the most selfish, the most opportunistic and perhaps the biggest sleaze-ball in all of 1930's New Orleans. Sent away from his beloved cousin (the much older Julie Harris in a minute long cameo), he is reunited with his big jerk of a father who manipulates wealthy older women into marriage, treats them like dirt under his fingernails. Shocked by seeing his father for who he is, he still tries to keep the hope alive that his parents will get back together. Desperately trying to get in the good graces of New Orleans matriarch Katharine Hepburn so he can bilk her niece Swoosie Kurtz out of her fortune, even using his son as sympathy bait.A seemingly rushed screenplay is the weak link between this and Truman Capote's short story, a follow-up to "A Christmas Memory". Hepburn really has nothing juicy to do other than be imperious, and of course later soften for no apparent reason. Kurtz is excellent but it is virtually impossible to like Winkler for any reason. Hepburn made three films released in 1994 and this one turned out to be her last film after a 60+ year career. The most touching relationship here is between the two young boys, one white and one black. I can't really find anything to recommend in this film because there's a lack of believable motivation and the Christmas theme is actually angry in tone. Stick with Capote's other short stories. This one is depressing without a cure.
Esmollin
Truman Capote's story rises above some mediocre acting. I love his writing so I watched this. I didn't enjoy it as much as his Thanksgiving story, but it had its moments.I felt Winkler was badly cast. He seems like a New Yorker among Southerners, not sure if this was on purpose. Katherine Hepburn is fine despite her failing health.The boy was not a brat, as some reviewers have said. He is a troubled boy who Misses his mother and wants to know where she is. Sadly, his father does not tell him the truth, and this causes him to wish to be back with his aunt. Julie Harris is wonderful as his aunt. All in all, it's worth watching if you can overlook some of the performances.
bkoganbing
Some of Truman Capote's childhood memories are the basis for One Christmas in which a film legend took her final curtain call.Young T.J. Lowther all of 10 years old has been living in the custody of his aunt Julie Harris in rural Alabama. Harris is a kind and loving, but way too overprotective of the lad. But one holiday season during the Great Depression the boy gets a chance to spend some time with his father Henry Winkler. Winkler is a self described promoter and entrepreneur, but is actually just a conman who lives high on the hog on other people's money. That's a profession that had even less respectability during the Depression. He's busy trying to promote an air race, and not an honest one.The boy's very naiveté has an effect on Winkler and all around him, including the women and its women he usually is trying to fleece. He goes after them young and old with the vigor and zest of Zero Mostel as Max Bialystock from The Producers. One of them is Swoosie Kurtz who falls for Winkler and even her formidable dowager aunt Katharine Hepburn is affected by him.Winkler and Kurtz are the stars, but as befitting a film legend, first billing goes to Katharine Hepburn. We barely see any of Hepburn in the first 2/3 of the movie. It's only in the last third when she nearly runs a runaway Lowther down and brings him to her home to explain some of the facts of life to him. No, not those facts of life. Poor Kate was really showing the tremors of Parkinson's Disease, but trooper that she was made it through the film. It was a nice farewell performance.I wonder what memories young Mr. Lowther now approaching 30 has of working with two acting legends, Katharine Hepburn and Julie Harris. One Christmas isn't all warm and fuzzy like Miracle On 34th Street or A Wonderful Life. Still it's a more realistic type of coming of age at Christmas story in which the whole cast acquits themselves well.
CatRodriguez
I mostly hate x-mas season on TV, 'cause there are thousands of ridiculous movies about it. However, this is an exception: it's intelligently made, with good performances (Katharine Hepburn, want more?) and, although it handles feelings and sensibility (just like a Christmas story), it gets away from common places and cliches. Don't miss it next x-mas!
AD
