Product Details

• Actors: Patricia Neal, Richard Thomas, Edgar Bergen, Ellen Corby, Cleavon Little
• Directors: Fielder Cook
• Writers: Earl Hamner Jr.
• Producers: Lee Rich, Robert L. Jacks
• Format: Closed-captioned, Color, HiFi Sound, NTSC
• Rated: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: 20th Century Fox
• VHS Release Date: October 1, 1996
• Run Time: 100 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (187 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 6301805429
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #148,465 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

A true television classic, The Homecoming was the second movie (after 1963's Spencer's Mountain) based on Earl Hamner's autobiographical writings about love, pride, faith, and survival in rural America during the Great Depression. The Homecoming introduced the Walton family, a 1930s mountain clan living a hardscrabble existence that forces patriarch John Walton (Andrew Duggan) to seek work, far from home, in the city. When John fails to return home, as promised, on Christmas Eve, his iron-willed wife Olivia (Patricia Neal) keeps a lid on their children's worry. Oldest son John-Boy (Richard Thomas), who privately dreams of becoming a writer but worries about disappointing his parents, is dispatched to find his dad. Graceful yet harder-edged than the subsequent TV series The Waltons (which recast several characters and ran for nine years), The Homecoming reveals, albeit understatedly, much about the pain of poverty even as the family draws strength and closeness through endurance. --Tom Keogh

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

166 of 174 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Pilot for The Waltons, July 29, 2003

By 

E. Hornaday (Lawrenceville, NJ United States) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Homecoming: A Christmas Story (DVD)

Starring Richard Thomas and Patricia Neal, this made-for-TV-movie was written by Earl Hamner and led to the popular series, "The Waltons." The stories were based on Hamner's childhood.

(Note: This movie features a somewhat different cast than did the series. While the Walton children are the same, many of the other adult roles in this film, except Grandma Walton played by the late Ellen Corby, were recast for the series.)

A homespun tale, the movie focuses on rural life during the Great Depression and the anxiety a family feels one Christmas when their beloved Father is overdue after being forced to travel to the city to find work and earn money for his family's survival.

Each of the characters reacts to his departure in different ways. Ultimately, the oldest son, John-Boy, portrayed by Richard Thomas, takes important steps to manhood and toward his ultimate career as a writer.

This film has a harsher, more real feel than did the series, and tackles such difficult subjects as racial bigotry and the economic underclass.

The great Patricia Neal is spectacular in her portrayal of the mother. Tougher than the portrayal that came later by the gifted Michael Learned, Neal's Olivia Walton is a genuine force of nature who rarely displays her softer side. Life is very difficult, but love is always present in the Walton home.

If you've never seen this movie, you owe it to yourself to view a more unvarnished, less "suburban" rendition of life in this beloved family. A scene in which little Elizabeth, who desperately wants a doll for Christmas, receives one -- with a cracked and broken face -- from a "charity" Missionary only after having to "perform" scriptures, is so raw that it hurts. "It's dead," the little girl sobs into her brother's comforting arms.

This film is anything but dead. There is real life in every panel that reaffirms true family relationships and the Christmas spirit without being heavy-handed. Look also for a gifted supporting performance by the talented William Windom, who plays a Depression-era Robin Hood.

If ever a TV-movie deserved to be released on DVD, this is it.

57 of 58 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An Excellent DVD, January 14, 2004

By 

B. Bomar (Manchester, TN USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Homecoming: A Christmas Story (DVD)

I saw this movie when it was first on in 1971 and have watched it at Christmas most every year since. Years ago it was usually on TV around Christmas and I taped it in the early 80's and have been watching this tape in recent years. This year I purchased the DVD (for only about $11! - I think blank VHS tapes were that much in the early 80's). The quality is outstanding, even when viewed on my 19-inch computer monitor from a couple of feet away. You can clearly see every detail (1933 on the car license plate, prices on the wall in Ike's store, even snow flakes melting on someone's face). Picture quality on most DVDs made from TV shows or TV movies is nowhere near this good. Believe me, this DVD is a real bargain.

48 of 49 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A True Holiday Treasure!, November 27, 2001

By 

David Von Pein (Mooresville, Indiana; USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Homecoming [VHS] (VHS Tape)

"The Homecoming -- A Christmas Story" (full on-screen title) was made in 1971, and was the start of CBS' very successful series, "The Waltons". And what a great way to start! Patricia Neal gives a powerful performance as Olivia Walton, the head of the very large Walton clan.

This entire cast, in fact, seems ideally suited for his/her role in this program. The true feeling and spirit of the holiday shines through in every single scene of The Homecoming Christmas special, with the producers re-creating a quite realistic feeling that it is indeed Christmas 1933, during the height of The Great Depression. The writing, acting, and the atmosphere are all first-rate.

This is one of those programs that deserves to be watched every Christmas Eve, just like clockwork. Who could forget the great scene at the end of the movie, when John (Daddy Walton, played by Andrew Duggan) relays his encounter with Santa Claus. Watching him tell the kids of how Santa's sleigh "...went flying across the sky and landed right on top of this house!!", to me, is one of the best scenes in TV history. Watching that scene, you'd swear those kids were not actors at all -- but just wide-eyed excited kids hanging on Dad's every word. Thank you, Earl Hamner, Jr., for a timeless holiday special!