Product Details

• Actors: Katharine Hepburn, Henry Winkler, Swoosie Kurtz, T.J. Lowther, Tonea Stewart
• Directors: Tony Bill
• Writers: Duane Poole, Truman Capote
• Producers: John Davis, John Philip Dayton, Merrill H. Karpf
• Format: Color, NTSC, Closed-captioned, HiFi Sound
• Language: English
• Rated: Unrated
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: Cabin Fever
• VHS Release Date: December 9, 1996
• Run Time: 96 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (22 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 6304142900
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #395,699 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Truman Capote's classic Depression-era short story is well served in One Christmas, an earnest holiday heartwarmer from the folks at Hallmark Entertainment. It's got all the sentiment one would expect from a Hallmark TV movie, but director Tony Bill knows just how to moderate the maudlin and focus on genuine emotions (as he did for his big-screen releases Untamed Heart and A Home of Our Own). Of course it never hurts to have Katharine Hepburn on board for some high-class pedigree: In her final performance the Hollywood legend goes out on a high note, delivering a pivotal scene about living life with no regrets, and she may just as well be describing her own independent spirit. The great Kate plays a wealthy New Orleans socialite whose spinster niece (Swoosie Kurtz, giving the film's best performance) is vulnerable to the gold-digging charms of a con artist (Henry Winkler) whose estranged 8-year-old son (T.J. Lowther, from Clint Eastwood's A Perfect World) has arrived from Alabama with high expectations that his father can't meet. Dashed hopes and cynical behavior threaten to ruin the boy's Christmas, but Bill and his esteemed cast stay true to the well-earned sentiment of Capote's story, arriving at a moment of fatherly redemption that is nicely accented by Van Dyke Parks's understated score. You'd have to be a Scrooge to disapprove. --Jeff Shannon

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

39 of 45 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars "Reality Christmas", December 17, 2003

By 

Mark Ebert (Lancaster OH) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: One Christmas (DVD)

"One Christmas" was a film I happened upon some years ago. I did not know that it had been a story or a play, etc. I viewed it because I was familiar with the talents of the late Kathrine Hepburn and the talented Henry Winkler.

The story is not typical Christmas fare, but it is more real than many of the idylic Christmas movies. It is a tribute to the truth that many people struggle 365 days a year--their imperfections not taking a holiday.

Anyone who enjoys the talents of Winkler/Hepburn will enjoy this film; it is not stellar, not is not neccesarily their best performance, but it is a nice piece of "reality Christmas", if you will.

52 of 65 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Way overrated!!, November 7, 2002

By 

Dubai MovieGuy (Houston, TX United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: One Christmas [VHS] (VHS Tape)

We love Christmas movies but this was probably our biggest disappointment thus far. Expectations were high with the quality of the stars (Hepburn, Winkler) and the writer, but the quality scenes were just too few and far between. I suspect that people who liked the movie loved the book where the characters were presumably better developed and more likeable. Not having read the book, I found that I just didn't like the people on the screen and by the time they finally get into the spirit of Christmas, I just didn't care! Take a pass on this one.

24 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Teacher, December 21, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: One Christmas [VHS] (VHS Tape)

This is a well done version of the Truman Capote story by the same name. As always, the actual story is better, but Henry Winkler comes aross well as a gigolo trying to be dad for Christmas. You can view it with your kids, or use in in school to follow the reading of the story.