There's No Place Like Home for the Holidays in A Hobo's Christmas

The other night was a snowy November evening. Though Thanksgiving was still a week away, it felt like the perfect time to officially break out the Christmas movies, so when a friend proposed one of her favorites, A Hobo's Christmas, Mom and I readily agreed. Neither of us had heard of the 1987 made-for-TV movie before, so we were especially keen to give this unfamiliar story a shot.

Will Mackenzie, who has worked primarily in television, directed this feel-good film about Chance (Barnard Hughes), a hobo who, after 25 years riding the rails and avoiding direct contact with his son Charlie (Gerald McRaney), decides it's time to try to heal the rift. Chance pulls into Salt Lake City with his traveling buddies and convinces them to stay on with him at the local mission while he tries to reconnect with Charlie for Christmas and bond with the grandchildren he's never met.

Above all else, this is a father-son story, and Hughes and McRaney play their parts marvelously. Hughes, who I was pleased to recognize as the kindly but addled Father Maurice in Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit, is enchanting as the weathered traveler who's always glad to help a stranger but has too long run from those he loves most. Meanwhile, Major Dad veteran McRaney (who also played John Denver's stern father in Take Me Home: The John Denver Story) turns in another solid performance as a caring but distant paternal figure.

Charlie works long hours, so he's not home with the kids as much as he would like, nor does the widower trust himself to fall completely in love again, though all signs seem to indicate he has found a new soulmate in the lovely Laurie (Wendy Crewson), who has been offered a hard-to-resist job in another state. But it's Chance who really gets under Charlie's skin, and all those years of bottled-up bitterness spew forth in unexpected ways, especially as he watches young Kathy (Jamie Sorrentini) and Bobby (Harley Cross) fall in love with the grandfather who doesn't seem capable of staying in one place for any length of time.

The production values on the movie aren't all that great, but that's generally to be expected of a made-for-TV movie, so I wasn't distracted by a few rather clumsy exterior shots. The children's performances aren't exactly noteworthy, but they play well off of Hughes, and it's in the moments of grandfatherly storytelling that we get the best sense of who this man really is. While they don't come into the movie that much, Chance's roving buddies are fun characters, each with tales of his own to tell. Cantankerous Cincinnati Harold (William Hickey) is the most prominent of these; his Scroogish behavior from the beginning suggests that a transformative subplot may be in store for him.

It may not be as well-known as the specials that get replayed year after year, but this movie captures the spirit of the season better than many I've seen. A Hobo's Christmas is a quiet, simple film emphasizing the idea that it's never too late to make a new beginning, and there's no better time to try it than Christmas.

A Very Merry Cricket Prolongs the Goodwill of A Cricket in Times Square

If you're lucky enough to strike gold with a children's movie or series, it stands to reason that a sequel or a Christmas special are likely future possibilities. It didn't take Chuck Jones long to follow his adaptation of George Selden's A Cricket in Times Square with A Very Merry Cricket, in which feisty Tucker Mouse (Mel Blanc) and gentle Harry Cat (Les Tremayne), fed up with the materialistic rabble of a New York Christmas, decide to pay a visit to their dear friend Chester C. Cricket (Tremayne) in hopes that he can return with them and remind the frazzled New Yorkers that Christmas should be a time of peace, joy and brotherhood.

There is just as much music in this second cricket cartoon as in the first. More, actually, because Chester's wings are not the only music makers. Harry and Tucker have a chance to sing, and even Chester occasionally uses his voice for tuneful purposes for a change. Because this is a Christmas special, there are snippets of several traditional Christmas songs, sometimes with altered lyrics. Chester also slyly adapts Three Blind Mice to fool a lanky alley cat (Blanc) who intends to make supper out of Tucker, and Tucker launches into a tirade against human consumerism that sounds suspiciously like My Fair Lady's A Hymn to Him.

And while watching this Christmassy sequel, it's inevitable to draw comparisons with How the Grinch Stole Christmas, perhaps the most famous Chuck Jones special of them all. In some ways, wise-cracking Tucker is a lot like the grouchy Grinch. He observes all the holiday hullabaloo with disgust, recalling the Grinch's agitated objections to all the "noise, noise, noise, NOISE!" In Dr. Seuss's story, the Grinch catches the Christmas spirit when he hears the Whos singing, devoid of their traditional trimmings. In A Very Merry Cricket, it takes the song of one sincere insect to spread the Christmas spirit to every citizen of a chaotic city.

Like many of Jones' productions, it has a message that it hammers over the heads of the viewers, but the heavy-handedness doesn't bother me this time around. We're treated to scene after scene of cacophony as shoppers shove each other and traffic blares and hideous animatronic Santas boom out stilted Christmas greetings. How different Chester's stirring wingsong sounds from all that clatter!

But along with the message of "Peace on Earth, goodwill to men," there are also several action-packed escape sequences: Tucker from a very persistent Connecticut cat, Harry from a belligerent Connecticut dog, Chester from relentless New York feet. Not to mention a fantastic toboggan ride inspiring Tucker to sing, "Oh, what fun it is to ride on a one-cat open sleigh!"

It's not quite as classic as How the Grinch Stole Christmas, but fans of the first Chester, Tucker and Harry cartoon should find A Very Merry Cricket to be very merry indeed.