The Homecoming: A Christmas Story (1971 TV Movie)

Richard Thomas: John-Boy Walton

Photos 

Quotes 

• John : [John-Boy had just received a bunch of tablets from his father]  I wonder how word got all the way to the North Pole that you wanted to be a writer.

  John-Boy : [Near tears]  Well I guess he must be a right smart man.

  John : I don't know a thing about the writing trade, son. But if you wanna take it up, you gotta give it your best.

• John-Boy : CALM DOWN NOW! JUST HOLD IT!

  Olivia : You watch your temper! You're the oldest, you make them mind!

  John-Boy : Well, I am tired of being the oldest! I feel like an old mother duck!

  Olivia : Can't do a thing about that now. You're stuck with it.

  John-Boy : [Quietly, to the kids]  All right next--the next one of you that moves is gonna get a spanking!

• Olivia Walton : We do not accept charity in this house.

  John-Boy Walton : You took that turkey from Charlie Snead.

  Olivia Walton : That's enough out of you, John-Boy.

• Elizabeth : Good night, John Boy.

  John-Boy : Good night, Elizabeth. Good night, Daddy.

  John : Good night, Son. Good night, Mary Ellen.

  Mary Ellen : Good night, Daddy. Good night, Mama.

  Olivia : Good night, Mary Ellen. Good night, Jim Bob.

  Jim Bob : Good night, Mama. Good night, Erin.

  Erin : Good night, Jim Bob. Good night, Ben.

  Ben : Good night, Erin. Good night, everybody.

• Ben : John Boy, did you go crazy when you were 13?

  John-Boy : I didn't have time. I was so busy taking care of YOU CHILDREN!

• Olivia : What were you doing up there?

  John-Boy : Nothing, Mama.

  Olivia : Then what's the door locked for?

  John-Boy : I reckon it just got locked.

  Olivia : A door don't get locked all by itself. Now what were you doing up there behind locked doors?

  John-Boy : Sometimes I like a little privacy, Mama.

• John-Boy : Santa Claus is gonna take one look at that bird poop and he's gonna head right back up the chimney.

• John-Boy : You know what's in that tablet, Mama? All my secret thoughts. What I feel and what I think about. What it's like late at night to hear a whipoorwill call and hear it's mate call back. The rumbling of the midnight train crossing the tressel at Rockfish, or just watching the water go by the creek and knowing some day it will reach the ocean, wondering if I'll ever seen an ocean and what a wonder that would be. You know, Mama, sometimes I hike on over to the highway and I sit and watch the buses go by and the people in them and I'm wondering what they're like and what they say to each other and where they're bound for. Things stay in my mind, I can't forget anything and it all get's bottled up in here and sometimes I feel like a crazy man. I can't rest or sleep or anything until I rush up here and write it down in that tablet. Sometimes I think I really am crazy.

• John-Boy : Is Daddy home yet?

  Olivia : Not yet. Who was that that let you off down by the gate?

  John-Boy : That was Miss Mamie and Miss Emily Baldwin. They gave me a ride home in their pappy's sleigh.

  Olivia : What am I gonna do with you, boy? I send you looking for your daddy and you end up joyriding with two old lady BOOTLEGGERS!

  John-Boy : I wasn't joyriding, Mama. They took me to look for Daddy. We got right far but there a tree down in the road stopped us dead.

• Olivia : What's that you got in your hand?

  John-Boy : It's a present, Mama, from Miss Mamie and Miss Emily.

  Olivia : Bootleg whiskey. Don't those crazy old women know I don't allow whiskey in this house? I've got young children in this house! What sort of example do they think we set here? You take it out yonder and pour it on the ground!

  John-Boy : It's not whiskey, Mama, it's eggnog.

  Olivia : [after pause]  I ought to be ashamed of myself.

• Jim-Bob Walton : What's the matter with Mary Ellen?

  John-Boy : Well, she's just crazy, everybody goes crazy when you're 13.

  Mary Ellen : The world is a big round ball! 8,000 miles smack through the middle! Walton's Mountain is just a tiny speck on it!

• John-Boy : Grandpa, do we got something to show we own Walton's Mountain?

  Grandpa : You can't own a mountain any more than you can own an ocean or a piece of the sky. You hold it in trust. You live on it, you take life from it, and once you're dead, you rest in it.

  John-Boy : I'd just as soon not think about that part.

  Grandpa : You're not ready for it yet.

  John-Boy : Are you?

  Grandpa : Never!

• Grandpa : There's your tree, Boy!

  John-Boy : Woo-hoo! She's a dandy, Grandpa!

  Grandpa : It's the one I've watched grow all the time of its life.

  John-Boy : You sure know how to pick'em!

• Olivia Walton : Is it somethin' you're ashamed of?

  John-Boy Walton : Oh no, Mama.

  Olivia Walton : Then why are you hidin' it?

• Grandpa : This is fought-for land.

  John-Boy : Battles right here?

  Grandpa : More than one: flood, fire, freezing weather, diphtheria, scarlet fever, whooping cough, loneliness, hard times.

  John-Boy : I thought you meant wars.

  Grandpa : Them too.

• Grandpa : It'll never come to that. Franklin D. Roosevelt is gonna put this country on its feet again. You watch my words.

  John-Boy : [Imitating FDR]  My friends, and you are my friends...

  Grandma : Now, you hush with that disrespect! He's your President.

• John-Boy : Nobody ever gave away anything worth keeping, I guess.