The best thing about "The Christmas Gift" is the scenery in and around Georgetown, Colorado, where it was filmed. John Denver plays a widower dad. He's an architect and takes his daughter on a holiday vacation to scout the small town where his boss can invest a huge chunk of money on real estate development. Instead, he falls for the town and a girl, and it ends happily for the town and everyone but his boss.
Denver is George Billings, Jane Kaczmarek plays Susan Macmillen, and Edward Winter is his boss, Thomas Renfield. The other main characters are Pat Corley as Bud Sawyer, who operates the Busy Bee Taxi company, James T. Callahan as the banker and mayor Robert Truesdale, and Mary Wickes as Henrietta Sawyer.
It would be nice to be able to say more about this film, but it's quite lame. The story is predictable, there's no acting of note, and Denver and Kaczmarek seem wooden most of the time in their roles. And, there's clearly no chemistry or believability in their budding romance. Even with attempts to inject humor, with Bud who owns the Busy Bee Taxi company, this film drags a lot.
There are any number of good Christmas films, dating from the mid-20th century, and including some good comedies and romance films since the late 20th century. This is one of those films where it appears that people who highly favor it wrote comments and reviews, but those who didn't think that much of it just let it go. So, the reviews by themselves present a more skewered picture of the opinions of viewers of this film to date.
As of my writing now, on November 4, 2022, 707 people before me had rated the film. It has an average of 6.5. But of the 22 reviews posted before mine, 13 rated this film 10, 1 rated it a 9, and four rated it an 8. And not another single reviewer rated it below a 6. More than 57% rated it 10, and more than 78 percent rated it 8 or higher. But of all of the 707 who rated the movie to date, less than 29% rated it a 10. That's half the percent of the reviewers who rated it tops. The ratings by the reviewers of this film so far score it far higher than the very best of the Christmas films of all time.
I doubt that many others of those who have seen this film so far and rated it, or that even a small fraction of future viewers will think this film rates up there with the best Christmas movies of all time. "It's a Wonderful Life" of 1946 scores an 8.6 average and as of Christmas 2022, is in 21st place among all IMDb raters to date. It is approaching half a million viewers who have rated the film, but the number that have rated it a 10 so far is just 33%. "Miracle on 34th Street" of 1947 as of now has an average rating of 7.9, with a paltry 19% who rate it 10. "White Christmas" of 1954 in the approaching 2022 Christmas season has an average rating of 7.5, with 25% who rate it a 10. The best Christmas comedies fare no higher with 10 ratings. "It Happened on Fifth Avenue" of 1947 averages 7.6, with 19% rating it a 10. "Christmas in Connecticut" of 1945 averages 7.4, with 16% scoring it a 10. And, "National Lampoon's Chritmas Vacation" of 1989 averages 7.5, with less than 21% rating it a 10.
My 5-star rating is even a stretch for this film. The screenplay and acting just aren't very good, and the plot is so thin. But the scenery, setting and production crafts deserve some recognition.
Denver is George Billings, Jane Kaczmarek plays Susan Macmillen, and Edward Winter is his boss, Thomas Renfield. The other main characters are Pat Corley as Bud Sawyer, who operates the Busy Bee Taxi company, James T. Callahan as the banker and mayor Robert Truesdale, and Mary Wickes as Henrietta Sawyer.
It would be nice to be able to say more about this film, but it's quite lame. The story is predictable, there's no acting of note, and Denver and Kaczmarek seem wooden most of the time in their roles. And, there's clearly no chemistry or believability in their budding romance. Even with attempts to inject humor, with Bud who owns the Busy Bee Taxi company, this film drags a lot.
There are any number of good Christmas films, dating from the mid-20th century, and including some good comedies and romance films since the late 20th century. This is one of those films where it appears that people who highly favor it wrote comments and reviews, but those who didn't think that much of it just let it go. So, the reviews by themselves present a more skewered picture of the opinions of viewers of this film to date.
As of my writing now, on November 4, 2022, 707 people before me had rated the film. It has an average of 6.5. But of the 22 reviews posted before mine, 13 rated this film 10, 1 rated it a 9, and four rated it an 8. And not another single reviewer rated it below a 6. More than 57% rated it 10, and more than 78 percent rated it 8 or higher. But of all of the 707 who rated the movie to date, less than 29% rated it a 10. That's half the percent of the reviewers who rated it tops. The ratings by the reviewers of this film so far score it far higher than the very best of the Christmas films of all time.
I doubt that many others of those who have seen this film so far and rated it, or that even a small fraction of future viewers will think this film rates up there with the best Christmas movies of all time. "It's a Wonderful Life" of 1946 scores an 8.6 average and as of Christmas 2022, is in 21st place among all IMDb raters to date. It is approaching half a million viewers who have rated the film, but the number that have rated it a 10 so far is just 33%. "Miracle on 34th Street" of 1947 as of now has an average rating of 7.9, with a paltry 19% who rate it 10. "White Christmas" of 1954 in the approaching 2022 Christmas season has an average rating of 7.5, with 25% who rate it a 10. The best Christmas comedies fare no higher with 10 ratings. "It Happened on Fifth Avenue" of 1947 averages 7.6, with 19% rating it a 10. "Christmas in Connecticut" of 1945 averages 7.4, with 16% scoring it a 10. And, "National Lampoon's Chritmas Vacation" of 1989 averages 7.5, with less than 21% rating it a 10.
My 5-star rating is even a stretch for this film. The screenplay and acting just aren't very good, and the plot is so thin. But the scenery, setting and production crafts deserve some recognition.