96 reviews

Format: Closed-captioned, Color, Dvd-video, Full Screen, Subtitled, Ntsc
Languages: English (Original Language), English (Subtitled)
Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Region: 1
Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
Number Of Discs: 1
Running Time: 100 Minutes
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 7.5 x 5.4 x 0.6

MPN: PARD843304D
ISBN: 079219540X
UPC: 097368433045
EAN: 9780792195405

Theatrical Release Date: December 19, 1971
Release Date: September 23, 2003
Shipping: Eligible for Super Saver Shipping
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours

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Editorial Reviews:

Product Description
Olivia john-boy and their virginia family spend christmas eve 1933. Pilot for the waltons tv series. Studio: Paramount Home Video Release Date: 09/23/2003 Starring: Patricia Neal Ellen Corby Run time: 120 minutes Rating: Nr Director: Fielder Cook

Amazon.com
A true television classic, The Homecoming was the second movie (after 1963's Spencer's Mountain) based on Earl Hamner's autobiographical writings about love, pride, faith, and survival in rural America during the Great Depression. The Homecoming introduced the Walton family, a 1930s mountain clan living a hardscrabble existence that forces patriarch John Walton (Andrew Duggan) to seek work, far from home, in the city. When John fails to return home, as promised, on Christmas Eve, his iron-willed wife Olivia (Patricia Neal) keeps a lid on their children's worry. Oldest son John-Boy (Richard Thomas), who privately dreams of becoming a writer but worries about disappointing his parents, is dispatched to find his dad. Graceful yet harder-edged than the subsequent TV series The Waltons (which recast several characters and ran for nine years), The Homecoming reveals, albeit understatedly, much about the pain of poverty even as the family draws strength and closeness through endurance. --Tom Keogh

Customer Reviews: Read 91 more reviews...

5 out of 5 stars

The Christmas Spirit November 28, 2008
Willard Onellion (Dallas, TX United States)
I did not see this movie when it first came out. So, I thought I'd get a copy and watch it. I thouroughly enjoy the Waltons TV show, so I was a little surprised to see different people playing Father and Mother Walton and Granpa. But I think they did a good job af portraying the characters. Almost as good as the ones on the show. I really enjoyed the Baldwin sisters in this version as well. Great Christmas movie. I am glad I bought it.

1 out of 5 stars

Some memories are better left alone November 25, 2008
Bradley Poole (Lawrenceburg, KY USA)
0 out of 1 found this review helpful

I remember watching this movie many years ago. At the time, I loved it; waiting with anticipation to see if the father would get home. We love Christmas movies and they are hard to find so I was glad to go back in time with this one. However, I wish I had just left it in my memory. Maybe all those years of watching The Waltons on TV clouded my vision of the movie. The kids are the same and so is Grandma but everyone else is different. There seems to be a lot of yelling in the movie and I remember a kinder group of people. If you enjoyed The Waltons TV show, then you probably won't enjoy this movie. If you're just looking for a Christmas movie that takes you back in time, you may like it. It's just funny how the years can change something for you.

5 out of 5 stars

The Waltons Homecoming DVD October 16, 2008
Mari G. Alvarez (West Sacramento CA)
This movie is a wonderful beginning to a wonderful TV series. The seller was great. I never received the first copy sent so they re-sent another one. I got it today. A+.

5 out of 5 stars

Best Christmas Story, since the first September 10, 2008
M. Hamilton
It is all about family. Watch it every year.

Fantastic acting. Great story. Launched the iconic series.

4 out of 5 stars

The movie that started it all... July 23, 2008
Joanna Mechlinski (CT, USA)
The holiday season during the start of the Great Depression is looking rather bleak for the Walton family -- there's no money for presents, barely enough food, and worst of all, Daddy isn't home. Although he promised to return from his work in time for the festivities, it's now Christmas Eve and there's no sign of him.

Patricia Neal plays the hard-luck, tough mama Olivia (later replaced in the tv series by gentler Michael Learned), trying to hold together a homefront of seven children and her in-laws singlehandedly. Eldest son John-Boy (Richard Thomas) privately yearns to become a writer -- a dream he guards within his soul, lest it be mocked or discouraged as impractical by his poverty-stricken, trade-embracing parents.

In one memorable scene, the entire family -- and especially little Elizabeth -- learns a valuable lesson about charity when a missionary comes to the mountain bearing holiday "gifts."

While some viewers -- myself included -- aren't as fond of this movie as we might have been otherwise because it doesn't include all of the cast we grew to love during the long-running tv series, "The Homecoming" is indeed a classic, heartwarming holiday movie.