Good story, but that's all. I don't know how people could think this to be a great movie. Spoilers abound.
The Homecoming, which served as the pilot for The Waltons, stars Patricia Neal as Olivia and Richard Thomas as John-Boy. John has been working some 50 miles away, returning home on weekends, via buses and walking. The entire film takes place on Christmas Eve, 1933, with John being quite late and the family fearing he was in some accident.
A couple of IMDBers have commented that they like this better than the series. I truly don't understand how you can like a movie that lasted 2 hours (with commercials) as much as a series that lasted 9 seasons and had about 200 hours of entertainment for us.
I enjoyed scenes with the children interacting, teasing each other, etc. At one point they are permitted to go to Ike's store where they have been told someone is about to give out gifts to children. Olivia initially is appalled because her family does not accept charity, but agrees, as long as they just look and don't accept any gifts. I didn't understand her thinking. Receiving some token gift at Christmas is not at all the same thing as charity.
This led to one of the most disturbing scenes in the film. A lady missionary informs everyone outside Ike's that she will give presents to whoever comes up reciting a Bible verse. Oddly, it seems none of the children know any, except Mary Ellen. She says verses to a few children, who run up to the lady and repeat it, and get their package.
Ignoring what they promised their mother, Elizabeth goes up and receives a large package for the simple line "Jesus wept," which she also got from Mary Ellen. They unwrap a doll, but it is broken, with the face an ugly thing in pieces. Elizabeth screams, "She's dead!" She drops the doll, is consoled by John-Boy, and they all head home. I was bothered by the woman giving away such a disfigured doll.
Fearing the worst for John, Olivia sends John-Boy to search for John. He winds up borrowing a car and runs out of gas near the community's black church. He sits through services and a short play about the birth at Bethlehem. Then he asks the minister, Hawthorne Dooley for gas.
He doesn't have any, but will take him to the Baldwin's expecting some there. Dooley forces John-Boy to sit and wait while they chat, listen to a record, and sing. All the time, John-Boy is anxious to continue his mission. Between the church and the Baldwins, the story was stuck for nearly 30 minutes. There was no reason John-Boy couldn't have immediately told them about his urgent mission to find his father and asked for gasoline.
Finally, Hawthorne states their need. They say they don't have any gas, but Cut to a scene of the four of them riding along in a horse-drawn sleigh. The ladies are excited about their adventure, but the fun ends when they come to a dead tree lying across the road. With no way around it, they turn around for home.
When John-Boy returns, Olivia confronts him. On learning who brought him home, before he can give one sentence of explanation, she starts yelling at him for being out joy-riding. John-Boy patiently explains. Then Olivia notices a container. He says it's a Christmas present from the Baldwins. She starts screaming at him about how she is a Baptist (as if he didn't know) and she will not allow any bootleg liquor in her house, before he informs her it is non-alcoholic eggnog.
Presently, John arrives with a large bag. The children all rush to the door to hug him. In the strangest part of the whole film, Olivia stands across the room. As he smiles at her, she stares as though he has come home drunk. There isn't a trace of a smile on her face. She doesn't take one step toward him. She demands, "Where have you been?" After explaining about having to walk and hitchhike, they all open presents from the bag.
John-Boy's gift was a stack of writing tablets. Even though he had told his mother about wanting to become a writer that evening as though he had never told anyone about that dream before, somehow John knew his son wanted to be a writer.
Alone later, Olivia says to John, "You must have spent every cent of your paycheck on those presents." He says "almost." She asks what they are going to live on for the next week. He says, "Love." Somehow this didn't bother her, which also made no sense to me.
I was very put off with Olivia being far too hostile to John-Boy two different times.
Another problem I had involved the awkward dialog. When Grandpa is going to go cut down the family Christmas tree—in true Hollywood fashion, this is never done until Christmas Eve—Olivia asks, "Do you want one of my children to go along with you?" "My" does not fit there. Anyone would say "the children." On at least a couple of occasions we hear one of the children saying "my daddy" when the "my" is not needed. One example: Erin asks her mama, "Is my daddy with them?" I cannot believe a child would phrase it that way. You say "my daddy" when talking to friends. She would certainly have said, "Is Daddy with them?" here.
The three younger sons all wore really-long 1970s-style hair, mostly covering their ears and combed way down over their foreheads. Not at all like the 1930s.
I cannot give this a higher rating than a 6. I probably wouldn't rate it that high if I wasn't such a fan of the series.
The Homecoming, which served as the pilot for The Waltons, stars Patricia Neal as Olivia and Richard Thomas as John-Boy. John has been working some 50 miles away, returning home on weekends, via buses and walking. The entire film takes place on Christmas Eve, 1933, with John being quite late and the family fearing he was in some accident.
A couple of IMDBers have commented that they like this better than the series. I truly don't understand how you can like a movie that lasted 2 hours (with commercials) as much as a series that lasted 9 seasons and had about 200 hours of entertainment for us.
I enjoyed scenes with the children interacting, teasing each other, etc. At one point they are permitted to go to Ike's store where they have been told someone is about to give out gifts to children. Olivia initially is appalled because her family does not accept charity, but agrees, as long as they just look and don't accept any gifts. I didn't understand her thinking. Receiving some token gift at Christmas is not at all the same thing as charity.
This led to one of the most disturbing scenes in the film. A lady missionary informs everyone outside Ike's that she will give presents to whoever comes up reciting a Bible verse. Oddly, it seems none of the children know any, except Mary Ellen. She says verses to a few children, who run up to the lady and repeat it, and get their package.
Ignoring what they promised their mother, Elizabeth goes up and receives a large package for the simple line "Jesus wept," which she also got from Mary Ellen. They unwrap a doll, but it is broken, with the face an ugly thing in pieces. Elizabeth screams, "She's dead!" She drops the doll, is consoled by John-Boy, and they all head home. I was bothered by the woman giving away such a disfigured doll.
Fearing the worst for John, Olivia sends John-Boy to search for John. He winds up borrowing a car and runs out of gas near the community's black church. He sits through services and a short play about the birth at Bethlehem. Then he asks the minister, Hawthorne Dooley for gas.
He doesn't have any, but will take him to the Baldwin's expecting some there. Dooley forces John-Boy to sit and wait while they chat, listen to a record, and sing. All the time, John-Boy is anxious to continue his mission. Between the church and the Baldwins, the story was stuck for nearly 30 minutes. There was no reason John-Boy couldn't have immediately told them about his urgent mission to find his father and asked for gasoline.
Finally, Hawthorne states their need. They say they don't have any gas, but Cut to a scene of the four of them riding along in a horse-drawn sleigh. The ladies are excited about their adventure, but the fun ends when they come to a dead tree lying across the road. With no way around it, they turn around for home.
When John-Boy returns, Olivia confronts him. On learning who brought him home, before he can give one sentence of explanation, she starts yelling at him for being out joy-riding. John-Boy patiently explains. Then Olivia notices a container. He says it's a Christmas present from the Baldwins. She starts screaming at him about how she is a Baptist (as if he didn't know) and she will not allow any bootleg liquor in her house, before he informs her it is non-alcoholic eggnog.
Presently, John arrives with a large bag. The children all rush to the door to hug him. In the strangest part of the whole film, Olivia stands across the room. As he smiles at her, she stares as though he has come home drunk. There isn't a trace of a smile on her face. She doesn't take one step toward him. She demands, "Where have you been?" After explaining about having to walk and hitchhike, they all open presents from the bag.
John-Boy's gift was a stack of writing tablets. Even though he had told his mother about wanting to become a writer that evening as though he had never told anyone about that dream before, somehow John knew his son wanted to be a writer.
Alone later, Olivia says to John, "You must have spent every cent of your paycheck on those presents." He says "almost." She asks what they are going to live on for the next week. He says, "Love." Somehow this didn't bother her, which also made no sense to me.
I was very put off with Olivia being far too hostile to John-Boy two different times.
Another problem I had involved the awkward dialog. When Grandpa is going to go cut down the family Christmas tree—in true Hollywood fashion, this is never done until Christmas Eve—Olivia asks, "Do you want one of my children to go along with you?" "My" does not fit there. Anyone would say "the children." On at least a couple of occasions we hear one of the children saying "my daddy" when the "my" is not needed. One example: Erin asks her mama, "Is my daddy with them?" I cannot believe a child would phrase it that way. You say "my daddy" when talking to friends. She would certainly have said, "Is Daddy with them?" here.
The three younger sons all wore really-long 1970s-style hair, mostly covering their ears and combed way down over their foreheads. Not at all like the 1930s.
I cannot give this a higher rating than a 6. I probably wouldn't rate it that high if I wasn't such a fan of the series.