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YankeeDoodleDan
Reviews
Rudolph and Frosty's Christmas in July (1979)
There was absolutely nothing wrong with this holiday special. Period.
I truly believe that most of the negative reviews are just a result of people jumping on the bandwagon about "the Rankin and Bass special we're not supposed to like." One might ask then, why did it "flop" at the box office? It sounds like it was very poor marketing to have released it in July. Just because the story was set in July does not change the fact that it is a Christmas story in every sense of the word and should be shown at Christmas time. That was a tactical error which caused it to fail, obtain a bad reputation, and now everyone just agrees that it's bad without thinking for themselves. Judged on its content, it's a great story and the complaints against it make little sense. For one thing, it's a major mistake to compare this to the earlier Rankin and Bass specials, as if this movie was somehow made to be in competition with them. It was obviously created to complement them and it does an excellent job of it. Secondly, it is a delightful, heartwarming movie that anyone with a soul should enjoy. Thirdly, the movie does a very clever job of incorporating the many favorite Rankin and Bass specials together and reinforces the idea that it is all in one universe. It provides closure to many aspects of the specials, such as Frosty and Crystal's life and family together, their ongoing friendship with their former advisory Jack Frost, Rudolph's origin, and many other details. It even subtly explains Santa's more idiosyncratic behavior in past specials, such as his grumpiness in Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer and self-pity in Year Without A Santa Clause. He says to Mrs. Santa Clause, "I'm not the easiest man to get along with" and she says, "Only when it gets close to Christmas Eve." It's really a very significant special and it's a shame that it's lost on some. So, folks, watch this delightful Christmas movie, don't be influenced by the hate that others have directed towards it, avoid holding it to crazy standards that no other fantasy movie would be held to, just lighten up, sit back, and enjoy Rudolph and Frosty's Christmas in July with an open mind and a happy heart.
Sticks and Bones (1973)
Fascinating Television Version
First of all, I have to make a few corrections to the previous review. The names "Ozzie, Harriet, David, and Rick" were used in the stage production of "Sticks and Bones", but they had different names in this television version. Also, even in the stage version, the blind son's name was "David" and the younger brother's name was "Ricky". Anyway, in this television adaptation of the play, the parents' names were "Andy" and "Ginger" instead of "Ozzie" and "Harriet." The blind veteran's name was "Daniel" instead of "David", and the younger brother's name was "Bucky" instead of "Ricky." They probably felt that the names of a real life television family would be too controversial for the TV adaptation.
There were also other differences between the stage and television play. Much of the dialogue and scenes were shortened in this television version; the stage play took place entirely within the family home with only the main seven characters being seen, whereas the TV version showed them sometimes outdoors, interacting with others; in addition some scenes were added or removed from one or the other. The scene where Sgt. Major tries to get the mother to take in a blind homeless veteran was NOT in the original stage production. In the stage version, the Asian girl's body was NOT put out in a garbage bag, but rather hidden in the living room.
Despite the slight differences, both plays are basically the same story. A blind veteran comes home, he cannot adjust to life after the war, the family cannot understand, the ghostlike memory of a Vietnamese girl stays with him, and in the end he is driven to attempt suicide by his family, although whether he actually dies remains vague.
I originally saw this TV version of Sticks and Bones in the early 80's on the ARTS channel (before it became the Arts and Entertainment network and when its programming truly was artful). I had not seen or read the stage version previously and I was particularly intrigued by the poetic nature of the plot and dialogue. I found it interesting how the characters' last names were never mentioned. Even when Sgt. Major comes to the door to bring their son home, he asks to speak to "the father", leaving the last name ambiguous. I was pretty young then and such creative, artistic writing was new to me and I was fascinated by it.
For the person who's looking to get a copy of this TV play, all I can say is "good luck and please let me know if you succeed." When I first saw this in the 80's, I failed to record it when it was running, I then tried everything to find a copy, but never could locate one. Even now, in this day of DVD, Internet, and Youtube, I still come up empty. I'm impressed to see that there is any discussion about it here on IMDb. Hopefully, it will eventually find its way out in the open for the general public's viewing. Its Vietnam War theme is not dated, but rather a significant part of history.