When Dallas Jenkins, director of "The Chosen" TV series, said he'd cried when reading the original book and was now going to make a brand new cinema version of this Xmas story, and, despite leeriness of too many 10/10 reviews hyperventilating with superlatives, I decided to watch this 1983 TV Movie version to see what the story was all about,
It's a bad-kids-turn-good story in which the original author of both the book and the film script invites readers and viewers to reconsider their own hypocritical attitudes to the down-and-outs and underprivileged children of the world, and consider instead how God looks at sinners and their capacity for redemption in His caring hands, all of which is essentially the gospel message, and all the while using exaggerated humorous relief to make her point.
The story of the worst kids in the world revolves around the unsupervised mostly orphan Herdmen kids who are big bullies, smoking cigars, burning down buildings, starving cats, stealing, blackmailing, cussing, talking dirty, racial slurs, you name it, if they could think of it they did it.
The fact is children's literature has changed a lot 50 years on from 1972 till today in 2023. Values of what is acceptable for 7-10 year olds to read have changed greatly. Many parents would find the 1972 story a shockingly horrible story to read to their young children today.
Elsewhere, as one reviewer points out, the book is also "about the parson, the church ladies, and the church members. They are rendered as mean and small and uncharitable."
As the story progresses, the bad kids, despised by just about everybody in the story, INEXPLICABLY sign up to act in an Xmas Pageant about Jesus' birth, a story none of them is familiar with. They learn the Jesus story is "about a new baby, and his mother and father who were in a lot of trouble-no money, no place to go, no doctor, nobody they knew. And then, arriving from the East some rich friends."
When some of the 'bad' kids see their own life's situation reflected in the Jesus story and identify themselves in the story, the kids seem to become part of some less-than-convincing redemption story that challenge the adults perceptions of them: for example, Imogene Herdmen cries for a change and brother Larry donates a ham, which are not overwhelming tear-inducing narratives that make one want to watch, or read it again and again.
So what did this writer think of this TV version? The 1983 TV Movie version of this story, starring Loretta Swit of M. A. S. H. fame, was in this writer's opinion not only cheesy but poorly done and underwhelming.
Dallas will have his work cut out for him to write a workable script for this story. At the very least he will have to use his talent in writing character backstories to flesh out the main characters and make them more human, sympathetic and credible. What are the likes, dislikes and personalities of each child? What led to them becoming bullies? Moreover, why do the kids want to take part in the play? And finally, this writer wonders if the director can leave us with a really thought-provoking and memorable lesson applicable to our own lives? This writer hopes Dallas can live up to his reputation. This story needs it!
It's a bad-kids-turn-good story in which the original author of both the book and the film script invites readers and viewers to reconsider their own hypocritical attitudes to the down-and-outs and underprivileged children of the world, and consider instead how God looks at sinners and their capacity for redemption in His caring hands, all of which is essentially the gospel message, and all the while using exaggerated humorous relief to make her point.
The story of the worst kids in the world revolves around the unsupervised mostly orphan Herdmen kids who are big bullies, smoking cigars, burning down buildings, starving cats, stealing, blackmailing, cussing, talking dirty, racial slurs, you name it, if they could think of it they did it.
The fact is children's literature has changed a lot 50 years on from 1972 till today in 2023. Values of what is acceptable for 7-10 year olds to read have changed greatly. Many parents would find the 1972 story a shockingly horrible story to read to their young children today.
Elsewhere, as one reviewer points out, the book is also "about the parson, the church ladies, and the church members. They are rendered as mean and small and uncharitable."
As the story progresses, the bad kids, despised by just about everybody in the story, INEXPLICABLY sign up to act in an Xmas Pageant about Jesus' birth, a story none of them is familiar with. They learn the Jesus story is "about a new baby, and his mother and father who were in a lot of trouble-no money, no place to go, no doctor, nobody they knew. And then, arriving from the East some rich friends."
When some of the 'bad' kids see their own life's situation reflected in the Jesus story and identify themselves in the story, the kids seem to become part of some less-than-convincing redemption story that challenge the adults perceptions of them: for example, Imogene Herdmen cries for a change and brother Larry donates a ham, which are not overwhelming tear-inducing narratives that make one want to watch, or read it again and again.
So what did this writer think of this TV version? The 1983 TV Movie version of this story, starring Loretta Swit of M. A. S. H. fame, was in this writer's opinion not only cheesy but poorly done and underwhelming.
Dallas will have his work cut out for him to write a workable script for this story. At the very least he will have to use his talent in writing character backstories to flesh out the main characters and make them more human, sympathetic and credible. What are the likes, dislikes and personalities of each child? What led to them becoming bullies? Moreover, why do the kids want to take part in the play? And finally, this writer wonders if the director can leave us with a really thought-provoking and memorable lesson applicable to our own lives? This writer hopes Dallas can live up to his reputation. This story needs it!