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The Waltons' nearly 10-year run on network television grew out of the popular, 1971 made-for-TV movie The Homecoming, which was derived from a Depression-era, rustic setting ("Walton's Mountain"), and characters based on Earl Hamner Jr.'s autobiographical novel Spencer's Mountain--itself the source for a very nice 1963 feature film starring Henry Fonda and Maureen O'Hara.That's a lot of entertainment sprouting from Hamner's prose. But something about his seminal story of family values, rugged independence, and big dreams amidst a hardscrabble existence captured the hearts of American audiences, many of whom personally recalled severe economic adversity in the 1930s.

The Waltons: The Complete First Season collects those initial episodes from the series building on the strengths of the Homecoming pilot, which introduced the extended Walton clan led by a strong-willed mill owner, John (Andrew Duggan), and his equally resolute wife, Olivia (Patricia Neal). The Waltons recast those key roles (as well as a few others) with Ralph Waite and Michael Learned (yup, a female), but Richard Thomas carried over as oldest child John-Boy Walton, an aspiring writer whose cusp-of-manhood view informs the series. Will Geer (Seconds) replaced Edgar Bergen as Grandpa Walton, Ellen Corby remained as Grandma, and John and Olivia's large brood (seven kids in all) were filled out by largely unknown, young actors. The episodes, still delightful and touching, strong on production values and unusually tight and polished for primetime drama, tended to focus on creator Hamner's pet themes of self-sacrifice and heroic effort when the going got tough.

Year 1 highlights include "The Carnival," in which the impoverished Waltons, who can't pay for tickets to see a circus performance, end up sheltering stranded carney folk. "The Typewriter" is a classic about John-Boy "borrowing" a museum's antique typewriter, only to have his sister Mary Ellen (Judy Norton) sell it as junk. "The Sinner" concerns the arrival of a fundamentalist minister on Walton's Mountain, finding comfort in the words of religious iconoclast John Walton after the clergyman makes a fool of himself with moonshine. That's Hamner himself providing touches of narration. During the long run of the multiple-award-winning The Waltons, there were many changes in casting and storylines. But this boxed set reveals a fine series in its pristine state.

Year 2 still finds the original cast complete and the show humming along nicely on nostalgia for an earlier America, specifically the Depression-era 1930s, a time of sacrifice and family unity as The Waltons portrays it. The characters we came to know so well in season 1 continue to live in a spirit of cooperation and generosity, and with hope that a younger generation of Waltons will prosper and dream new dreams for everyone. The 24 episodes included in this boxed set feature a number of very strong stories, including a handful of classics, all immersed in the series' typically old-Hollywood production values. (Several season 2 shows were directed by Waltons star Ralph Waite.) Among the best is the premiere, "The Journey," in which the ever-noble, college-bound John-Boy (Richard Thomas) passes on a school dance and an important date to take an aging neighbor, Maggie Mackenzie (Linda Watkins), on a special, final journey. "The Separation" finds Grandpa (Will Geer) and Grandma (Ellen Corby) Walton feuding--even living apart--after the former crafts a secret plan to raise money to pay the family's electricity bill. (Their reconciliation is one of the series' most enjoyable and tender moments.) The memorable "The Thanksgiving Story" is a nail-biter in which John-Boy, facing a hopeful future as he awaits college and a visit from his girlfriend, endures a head injury in the family mill and must undergo surgery. Finally, "The Honeymoon" sees John (Waite) and Olivia (Michael Learned) finally taking their honeymoon after 19 years of marriage and seven kids. Throughout all the major storylines is a constant buzz of subplots concerning John-Boy's younger siblings--their joys and disappointments, first loves, accomplishments and relationships with one another. The Waltons never slows down, but it is capable of revealing the most delicate of feelings within shared or private moments. --Tom Keogh ... Read more

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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 ... Read more

Reviews (32)

Pilot for The Waltons
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.

A Real Holiday Treat!
"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!

Now how about "the Waltons" first 5 seasons on DVD?
"The Homecoming: A Christmas Story" from 1971 (serving as a pilot for "the Waltons" series) is one of the best holiday films I've ever seen, and perhaps it doesn't get much replay because it's overshadowed by the memory of the subsequent series, but "The Homecoming" [with Patrica Neal & Andrew Duggan in the roles of the parents, played by different actors in the series--thought the kids and grandma are the same] is just a fine, understated poignant little gem, very early 70s in its melancholy mood (although it's set, naturally, in the Depression era 1930s).

Hopefully, the DVD hasn't been badly cut the way the tape release was, for some reason.

But why then hasn't "The Waltons" series been released? Contrary to smug, collective recollection, "The Waltons" was far better (and MUCH less sappy) than some people may think-- and the first 5 seasons were arguably the best. [And if they can release "Little House" on DVD, which really WAS a sad, sappy offensive piece of tripe, there is no reason the Emmy-laden "Waltons" shouldn't make it to our DVD shelves!]

An Excellent 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.

The very first Walton's tv-movie before the tv series began.
It all started with the Earl Hammer Jr. Novel. Then the motion picture Spencer's Mountain (1963) was released. In 1971, a teleplay by Earl Hammer Jr. was made into a tv-movie, The Homecoming--A Christmas Story (1971). In the cast is Academy Award Winner Patricia Neal (as "Olivia Walton"), Richard Thomas (as "John-Boy Walton), Edgar Bergen (without Charlie McCarthy, as "Grandpa Zebb Walton"), Ellen Corby (as "Grandma Walton"), Jon Walmsley (as "Jason"), Judy Norton-Taylor (as "Mary Ellen"), Mary Beth McDonough (as "Erin"), Eric Scott (as "Ben"), David W. Harper (as "Jim-Bob), Kami Cotler (as "Elizabeth") and Andrew Duggan (as "John Walton). Olivia Walton has heard on the radio of a bus crash. She fears her husband and father to all the children was on that bus or is somewhere. She sends John-Boy, who wants to be a writer, out in the cold of the Christmas Eve night to find his father with the help of a neighbor. This tv-movie inspired CBS (Columbia Broadcasting System) to make the hgighly-acclaimed tv series The Waltons. All the children, including Richard Thomas, and Ellen Corby as the grandmother continued their roles in the tv series for many years and six reunion movies thereafter. ... Read more

Reviews (36)

a grim little entry
This book is a lovely piece of painful truth. As I go through each of Bellow's novels one thing that stands out progressively is the assured confidence that grows and grows each time we cross through similar terrain. This is not to say that he repeats himself--certainly not as the on-going philosophy matures through both personal life experience and a further understanding of human nature. Seize the day is, as usual, extremely well-written but with this short novel I believe that Bellow began crossing into that phase of maturity that makes an author ever-lasting and forces his vision upon the world at large. It is no wonder that when Bellow won his Nobel Prize twenty years after the publication of this book that it was singled out for special notice. Basically your middle-class everyman is portrayed (with, of course, the particularities related to Bellow himself to give the human reactions more sincerity) at one of those mid-life boiling points when the decisions made will effect everything that comes later. You read along with a similar urgancy, rooting yet never hoping, aware that many of Tommy Wilhem's mistakes are similar to your own and breathlessly hoping to find an answer to your own questions.

Four books into Mr. Bellow's career I am now convinced that all the high-handed praise is, for once, truly justified. This guy is one of the true American wonders, one of the gods of our literature.

Lard have mercy
"Seize the Day" is a sad little novel about a man, lost in the wilderness of his life, whose struggle "toward the consummation of his heart's ultimate need" can succeed only when he surrenders his composure to his deepest emotions, that secret place in all of us from which we beckon our tears. The one day in which the entire novel takes place completely encapsulates his past, present, and future into the portrait of a man mired in his environment.

The man is 44-year-old Tommy Wilhelm who, like some of Bellow's other fictional protagonists Augie March, Eugene Henderson, and Moses Herzog, is a little piece of the chaos of twentieth-century urban America distilled into a single confused character. Wilhelm is a native New Yorker (although it's obvious his author is not), a failed actor, and an unemployed former sales executive. He is separated from his wife, who is always selfishly demanding from him money that he doesn't have, and his two sons. His only financial support now is from his father, a successful physician who is annoyed by his son's lack of discipline but nevertheless brags about his past accomplishments to anyone who will listen.

Wilhelm has a friend named Dr. Tamkin who professes to be a psychologist, has many various interests but dubious talents, and persuades him to invest his last dollar in lard commodities. Tamkin, a world traveler, has told Wilhelm that he "had attended some of the Egyptian royal family as a psychiatrist," a statement that evokes an image of the biblical Joseph prophesying for the Pharaoh seven years of plenty followed by seven years of famine; but Tamkin's optimistic expectation for lard is all profit, no loss. His philosophy is that the future is not worth the worry; live for the "here-and-now": seize the day. He is undoubtedly a charlatan, but in Wilhelm's eyes he means well.

One of the novel's themes is atonement, which is signified by the reference to Yom Kippur. Wilhelm is not very religious and has not planned to attend a synagogue, but he recognizes the importance of saying Yiskor for his dead mother; his sincere but idle threat to the unknown hoodlums who vandalized the bench next to her grave will not suffice to honor her memory. Ironically, the place where he ultimately atones is the funeral of a man who is evidently not Jewish (open casket, presence of flowers) -- and he weeps with the knowledge that death is all we achieve from life. Seize the day, indeed.

Wondrous, wistful solemnity
This little treasure lacks clear conflict and struggle between characters, instead elaboration one man's slow and pathetic drowning in life. Beautiful language and symbolism, as well as a look into 1950's New York culture.

A Great Read for Writers
Suffering...we've all had it...or it's coming...is Bellow's theme of this work. I've never read an author who described heartbreak and tears so well as Saul Bellow. My face was red and hot and strained by the time I finished the book--he moved me! Suffering--admitting and recognizing that anguish might be your temporary lot in life--has never been so beautifully penned and honestly told. The more I think of the book, the less I like it for the story, but the more I appreciate its truthfulness in describing how problems can stack higher and higher and higher and nobody will help you.

I think you'll find what the main characters "seizes" after a few days of thinking and observing life on your own.

Read it! It's only 120 pages packed with a lot of insight.

A deep psychological work
This is a story about relationships and alienation. It is a psychological work by Bellow, getting in the head of a man coming to grips with his mid-life failures. It also shows his relationships with a tough love (or just tough?) father, and manipulative friends. As you read it, you struggle between repulsion, sympathy and identification with the lead character.

The book is very accessible and easy to read given the intellectual pedigree of the author. Even still, one is left at the end wondering, "What did I miss?" While the reader may be left perplexed, it is a sign of the depth of material pushed into such a short novel.

I'm left thinking, "It's a good, deep book" - perhaps a more in tune reader would find it a great one. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

Flawed but Fascinating Film
Fact: Michael Moriarty is simply incapable of being boring---even when miscast as he is here and saddled with an absurd New England accent that makes him sound like the Stage Manager in Our Town. In spite of these factors, I found my eyes glued on him for the length of this film---ditto for Blythe Danner, an actress of equal intelligence, sensitivity, and grace who is also miscast. These two youthful performers (the film was made 24 years ago) portray middle-aged suburbanites who, despite the presence of numerous children (one college-aged who looks older than her father)seem to have nothing better to do than ask each other questions like "Have you taken a lover?" Nevertheless, there are fascinating moments here: a couple of love scenes (too short for my money), a touching scene in which the couple announce their impending divorce to their children (if only the camera had been closer to the actors' faces) and a brief but delightful scene with Glenn Close--who looks about 18--making eyes at Mr. Moriarty.

A Tale of Woes; Will They Get Back Together Again? Hope So!!
What do you think of "Too Far To Go" that's about a 20-year marriage splitting up because of their mutual soft-spoken stupidity and cruelty to each other (mostly from her to him?)! Just "too far to go" to reach across to each other. The story held my interest. I kept hoping they would recommit to their marriage. The ending was nice; had you thinking "well maybe", if they each grew up first.

This movie was made in 1978; it's summertime; scenery pleasant. This is a marriage set in the late '50s or '60s). The story was full of "come to me" and "go away", so the viewer is always hoping and groaning for Richard and Joan. You wanted to shake them yell "wake up and be nice to each other again."

What beautiful actors these two were. Joan Maple (Blythe Danner)is so slim and pretty, but cruel in the way she casually torments her husband, Richard (37-year old actor, pretty-boyish faced, Michael Moriarty, playing a husband in his mid-40s). (Ever wish the English language had words that meant masculine beauty?) Richard needed less compulsiveness too. Michael Moriarty was so good playing this seemingly vulnerable, basically uncomplicated, "what's happening to my world" man. In the story, Richard and Joan are missing each other constantly by not tuning in to each other.

I thought it was sweet and very effective to have the flash back scenes during their marriage. Just change the actor's hair, and Richard was 20-years younger man again with that smooth face and boyish grin. In one flash back of their wedding, Joan says, "You didn't kiss me." Nice story; intersting ending! As the judge said after verifying their signatures, "Well then, good luck to you." AND then, Richard forgets "too far to go" and slowly and timidly leans toward Joan to kiss her this time. A neat place and way to end the movie. Truly makes you hope they might have a good chance to "live happily ever after ..." ... Read more

Description

A provocative, emotion-packed drama about race relations in an all-white suburban community, this play depicts the confrontaion between an upper-class white couple and a black couple from Harlem who plan to buy their expensive suburban home. In negotiating the sale, all four parties learn a little more about each other...and a lot about their own latent prejudices. A stellar cast - including Oscar-nominee and 2-time Emmy-winner Cicely Tyson (Sounder), 3-time Emmy-winner Jane Wyatt (Father Knows Best), Andrew Duggan (Rich Man, Poor Man), and Raymond St. Jacques (Roots) - delivers outstanding performances. By Arkady Leokum. ... Read more