The Christmas Star (1986)
Horace McNickle (Edward Asner) is a two-time felon serving prison time for counterfeiting. On the week before Christmas, he escapes from prison dressed as Santa Claus due to his uncanny resemblence to St. Nick resulting from his long white beard and heavyset features. McNickle hides out from the police in a nearby suburban neighborhood where he is befriended and helped by two local children who think he is the real Santa Claus. McNickle takes advantage of the kids naive ness to help him get his counterfeit money hidden somewhere in a local department store while he develops kind-hearted feelings for his two con victims that make him slowly understand the true nature of Christmas.
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Convicted con artist Ed Asner escapes from prison dressed as Santa Claus. He hides out in the basement of an apartment building where two kids live who believe he's the real Santa. He uses them to help recover some money he hid before he went to prison. As he spends time with the kids and their friends, he softens and slowly starts to understand the true meaning of Christmas.Ed Asner is gruff but likable. That pretty much sums up his career. The kids are good, particularly the adorable little blonde girl. Rene Auberjonois is the obligatory Scrooge character. Fred Gwynne's the cop on the case. He's always fun. Susan Tyrrell has one great scene but I wish she was in it more. I'm not entirely sure why Asner's character didn't immediately shave and find a change of clothes to help evade capture but I guess we wouldn't have had a movie then. And how about that prison? They have the dumbest guards imaginable. Dude just literally walked up to the door and asked to be let out. Still, it's a good TV movie with nice humor and sentimental touches. Corny at times but appropriately so. Gets better as it goes along so stick with it.
Probably one of the most underrated Christmas movies out there. Ed Asner was perfectly cast as a grumpy prisoner, the storyline was a very touching one, and the acting was all-around excellent. Would recommend this to anyone. Only wish I could find a tape or DVD of it somewhere ...
What I love the most about Christmas its that their his lots of old movie like this one on TV. It just finished an hour now and I wanted to write about it before I think of something else. This is a lovely film and it confirmed what I knew since a long time,That Barret Oliver was the greatest child actor their was during the 80's,He his so natural.Even now compare him to Haley Joel Osmend and you can see that Barret was even better. Anyway, the film his simple but it work,after the credit roll you feel happy and full of hope for mankind. It's a shame that they dont do Christmas movie like this anymore.
A very touching story, sometimes a little hoaky, about how the spirit of Christmas can touch even the crustiest old convict(Ed Asner) through the innocence of one litle kid(Barret Oliver) and his neighborhood friends. I was first drawn to it because of the child acting of Barret Oliver, who appeared in D.A.R.Y.L., The Neverending Story, and several other great movies. Luckily I taped it, because I don't think it is available anywhere, but stellar performances by Oliver, Asner and Fred Gwynn enhance this Christmas tale.