"There comes a season... You can't be a child forever."
A boy, Buddy, who's parents have split and who's mother is an actress in New York, has been dumped in the south at the small-town home of some older cousins, all of whom are unmarried. Buddy brings life to the house and develops a close friendship with one of the older, simpler ladies, Sook. Buddy and Sook undertake many adventures together, including the baking of 31 fruit-cakes which they give as Christmas presents, even mailing them to President and Mrs. Roosevelt and Jean Harlowe! Just before Christmas, one of the older cousins begins to wonder if it is best for Buddy to be living with them...
One of their 'adventures' was buying whiskey from the local manufacturer, "HaHa Jones". "Buddy" had heard all kinds of bad things about him.
Long ago, in times gone past, when my children were small and their world was still small and did not hold as many people as it does now, our yearly tradition was to watch "A Christmas Memory". I would sit with a child on either side of me and we would enjoy this very touching story. It remains etched in all of our memories as one of the best traditions we had. Their mother's world expanded also and included "friends" that we did not know about, so after the divorce all items were split up and some lost forever. One of the items happened to be our copy of "A Christmas Memory". I have come to this site in hopes of finding a copy, the original with Geraldine Paige, I believe. This story shows how things always change and how every person who enters our lives is a teacher in one way or another and how the people who do enter our lives help map the journey that is the path we choose to follow. It also teaches a lesson concerning telling others how we feel about them when we have the opportunity, and not waiting till it's too late. Highly recommended to all, young and old. Share this movie with someone close to you.
A cute relationship in this version of the movie is between "Buddy" and "Rachel", the little neighbor who had her own set of family problems:
One minute they would be rolling on the ground fighting, but the next time it would be thoughtful exchanges:
96 minutes, stereo soundtrack.
Available 11-15-10 at Amazon and at Netflix.
You can click on the above snap for a RealVideo clip.
I tend to agree with the comments from this IMDB viewer:
It's argued that this movie should not have been made because it does not stand up to the original. That's a bunch of hooey if I've ever heard hooey and I have... a bunch of it! Truman Capote's work is not sacred. When turning a story or a novel into a movie there is no law of movie-making that what's on film has to replicate what's originally on paper. If Capote's story was touching enough for one version then why not try to bring that story alive for a new generation of people who might enjoy it? As long as it's a decent production, and this is, there's no reason not to try even if does not live up to the original. Here we have a remake that may not live up to the original but at least this one is on television, at least this one is available to people to watch ... and as a movie all on it's own, as it has been said before, this isn't bad when you don't compare it to anything. And why should it be compared?! Huh? Have an open mind and Patty Duke will delight as Sook and young Eric Lloyd will delight also as the innocent, young Buddy... Thanks to the set decoration I had a really good feel for being in a town somewhere in Virginia.... maybe during the Great Depression.
