An American Christmas Carol - Part One of Ten

You could also call this Fonzie Plays Scrooge. Of course were talking about Henry Winkler here and in 1979 and with five years of Happy Days already on his resume, Winkler was cast as the Americanized version of Ebenezer Scrooge. Of course, it wasn't Winkler's first dramatic starring role having already starred in the big screen dramedy Heroes with Sally Field and in the big screen comedy The One and Only. Neither film was particularly boffo at the box office either. The problem with becoming a legendary television icon as Winkler was when he played Fonzie, it's tough for people to see you as anything else no matter how good you may be in another role.

From IMDB:
Based in the depression era, a take on the "Christmas Carol" by Charles Dickens. "Mr Benjamin Slade" as played by Henry Winkler, is the remaining owner of "S&L Finance" after the death of his long time partner Jack Latham (Ken Pogue). Mr Slade and his assistant, "Mr Thatcher" (R.H. Thomson) make their rounds on Christmas eve to repossess items from the townspeople who have been unable to keep up with payments. After a long day of collecting his "valuable merchandise", Mr Slade returns to his business, fires his sensitive assistant and then is confronted by his dead partner and three spirits in the form of the people he repossessed from that day.

And you can pretty much guess the rest of the story. Honestly, this film is much better than it is often given credit for and you seldom hear it mentioned when it comes to versions of A Christmas Carol and the Scrooge story. Aided by heavy makeup, Winkler does well as the cold Slade, but I don't view him quite as successful in portraying Slade's transformation. But as always, that's only my opinion and you may disagree.

So pour you some eggnog and pull up a chair as Dickens is Americanized in this depression era saga.

Category:

Entertainment

Tags:

• Merry Christmas
• Happy Holidays

[LaDracul]

He looked WAY more believable as an elderly man in "Click". Am I right?

[Christmasfellow2008]

Well Certainly. But he was 34 when he did this which meant more make up. He was 51 when he did Click. At least he is finally leaving the stigma of Fonzarelli behind him.

[Nutella55]

Thanks for posting this! I loved this movie & remember seeing it back in the day. I actually had made an audio copy of it way back, so it's so nice to see the video now. Thanks.

[Christmasfellow2008]

Your Welcome.

[PlanoPrincess]

This is my favorite holiday movie!  Henry Winkler is the BEST SCROOGE and I have been looking for this movie for years. Thank you so much for posting it! Merry Christmas!

[MrJorlop]

Well, the usual North American attitude towards knowledge, Pragmatism (the philosophy of men of business). He exposes it when he reposseses the books.

[MrJorlop]

Hey! Did he mention "Silent Cal" (Coolidge), the epitome of the supposed Puritan"virtues" of savings. The governor of Massachusetts that broke the Police strike of 1919, if I remember well.

[MrJorlop]

For me, this is one of the best versions of the story (Americanized, of course) along with Alastair Sim and Alec Guiness version of 1970.

[highnote606]

In this movie, Fonz looks like an old man who had plastic surgery to look even older. Hahahaha.

[truvianni]

@MyMerlin1 true but so is much of the world if one really cares to put any thought in to it

[suzymundy]

I have this movie and love it!! I love Henry Winkler and I love Dorian Harewood!!

[1htsht4u]

@surfer53 I don't see it, I don't see where in the beginning it said just being rich was bad. Do you have a part number and a time marker so your point can be better illustrated? TX

[bitethedevil]

I can't believe Amazon wants $25 for this video and that's cheap compared to other sites!

[westburybaldwin]

@davidhaythornthwaite how rude