An American Christmas Carol - Part Eight 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

[WestVirginiaRebel]

The Spirit Of Disco Future! :-)

[improvalliance]

Christmas Future is Pimptastic!

Fonzie Scrooge: "I find this very distasteful."

In more ways than one Fonzie Scrooge. In more ways than one.

[Garrettk41]

"The future is coming whether you like it or not."

That's something we all need to remember.

[MrOphachew]

@truvianni Exactly, and things are even worse in Flint, Michigan.

[truvianni]

@MrOphachew actually I am American or at least by birth though the truth is I live in Poland and have not been to the states since 94 yet from what I am hearing on the news; things are going badly in the States. Of course I wonder are they as bad as CNN makes them out to be?Oh, well I guess gone are the goods days of progress and Reagan.

[MrOphachew]

@truvianni - Thank You, Obama has caused more problems than he's solved. He's the great black hype and not hope.

[truvianni]

@MrOphachew nothing has changed then as Obama's policies are not doing all that much better to combat today's financial crisis.

[iswtbapmt]

I just don't find that Wrinkler pulled off this role very well. Not as an elderly gentleman that is.

[MrOphachew]

@darrenroskam --The policies and programs enacted by FDR made the Great Depresion worse and made it take longer than it should have.

This movie was a huge anticipated hit when first shone.

[darrenroskam]

2:54 and 3:03

"Credit for Christmas." That's the deal, man. Burn that. The Great Depression was created by bankers and all that suffering was not necessary and left us all crawling to credit afterward.

I thought Fonzie did a good job, too. Not great, but good