Customer Reviews

Fallen Angel (Hallmark Hall of Fame)

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This is the movie you reach for when you want a heart-warming holiday theme that has more meat to it than fluff. As the movie opens you see a young boy, Terry McQuinn, eager for his father's attention and approval. But his father is so focused on his work as a caretaker for the vacation homes of the wealthy that he has little time to realize how much his motherless son needs care-taking. One of the families for whom he works is coming to their vacation home, Serenity Cottage, for the Christmas holiday and Terry's father has reluctantly allowed him to come along as he prepares the home for their arrival. The Wentworth family shows up while Terry and his father are still at the home--a happy little girl named Katherine, her adoring father, and her seemingly cynical, unhappy mother. The father has a tradition of taking gifts to children in a hospital at Christmas and he invites Terry to go along with him and his daughter to the nearby hospital. It is a very snowy evening and there is an accident which takes a life. Mr. Wentworth blames himself and wanders off, never returning home. Mrs. Wentworth takes her daughter, gets a divorce, and never returns to the vacation home.

As time passes and Terry has grown to be a teenager, the tension between his father and himself has also grown. The final straw is when Mr. McQuinn fails to come to his son's graduation because he is doing some work for one of the wealthy families. He and Terry have bitter words between them and Terry takes off.

Flash forward many years. Terry is a successful attorney in L.A. His father, from whom he is still estranged, dies and Terry returns home to settle his affairs. While there he sees a note his father had made about the current owner wanting Serenity Cottage opened for the holidays. He calls and explains that his father has died, he is just there to tie up the loose ends and will be leaving soon so he can't help them, but will find someone who can. After he learns that the owner is the daughter of the former owner, the little girl that he had known, he stays on and is there to meet Katherine and her very unique daughter. She has forgotten that one visit she made as a child and has no memory of ever having known Terry. He does not tell her otherwise. The story takes some interesting turns from there.

Throughout the movie it deals with some serious issues--dysfunctional families, grief, homelessness, adoption, disabilities, and deception. Of course, there is romance in the air--and also intrigue, as you learn the fate of Katharine's father. The storyline holds your interest and the characters are not one dimensional. The acting is good and the movie is well worth the viewing. I highly recommend it, but if you have young children it might be a little deep for them.

At the time of this writing the price of this movie through the marketplace sellers started around $35. If that doesn't drop you should be able to get it at a Hallmark store for around $20 or from their website for an additional $7 in shipping.

A holiday heart warming must have that shows you that we are all human. And the holidays are no better time to show and tell our loved one that we love and miss them , no to mention need them from time to time. A family friendly movie for everyone .

this is an awesome movie i watch it all the time !!!!! i looked for along time trying to find this on dvd and found that amazon had it

Many of the yearly crop of made for TV holiday movies are light and charming, yet entirely predictable and often just silly. Those claims absolutely cannot be made about "Fallen Angel".

The movie opens with a defining sequence about the relationship between our main character and his father, and includes a traumatic incident which impacts the later story.

The meat of the movie has Gary Sinise returning to his home town to wrap up loose ends upon the death of his father. Only one part of the story from that point on is in any way predictable. Relationships and desires are conflicted, dark secrets come into play, and a charming but often bittersweet seeming drama unfolds. We have a cast of characters who are for the most part an unhappy lot. Events and their lives come together in a display of expert story telling.

I had seen parts of this movie on TV two or three times without ever having gotten to view the complete story. Even having only bits of it, this movie nagged at me for a few years until I finally buckled down, planned ahead, and watched it straight through. Am I ever glad I finally did!

Highly recommended.

another one that parents should watch first to see if it is good for the kids. it is heart warming and no language

This is a great Christmas movie, like the previous review stated-- for the whole family. Great actors, great story with a great ending. Definitely worth adding to my holiday collection. Highly recommended!!

I really enjoy this movie. I look for it every year. It is a good one, no great one for the family to watch. Too bad it is so expensive or I would buy it. I had to think about the actor so I could find the name of the movie.

This is a movie that will touch your heart. You will cry and smile at the end. See this with the whole family!