Reviewed by Colin Jacobson (December 12, 2021)
Back in 1961, Earl Hamner Jr. put out a book called Spencer’s Mountain based on his own childhood in a poor, rural setting. That inspired a 1963 movie of the same title.
However, Hamner’s tale gained its most enduring life in December 1971 when the property moved to the small screen via a TV movie called The Homecoming: A Christmas Story. In this version, the Spencer family got renamed the Waltons, and a phenomenon launched.
After Homecoming, The Waltons became a weekly TV staple in September 1972 and it lasted nine seasons. Some TV movies occurred afterwards, and the property gets something of a “reboot” with 2021’s The Waltons’ Homecoming, a new take on the 1971 production.
Set in rural Virginia circa 1933, we meet the Walton family. Son John-Boy (Logan Shroyer) wants to become a writer, while patriarch John (Ben Lawson) finds himself forced to spend lots of time away from the clan due to his work.
This leaves a family Christmas in peril. While John struggles to make it back to Walton Mountain, the rest of the Waltons finds themselves involved in some internal conflict.
Because I grew up in the 1970s, I remember well the popularity of The Waltons, but I don’t recall that I ever actually watched it. I don’t think it appealed to my parents, and given the subject matter, it didn’t seem like something that would engage a young kid.
Given the series’ popularity in the 1970s, I hesitate that state that this 2021 “reboot” acts as my first formal experience with the characters – but it might. Whatever the case, I certainly haven’t seen anything Waltons related in decades, if ever.
I present this backstory to ensure that my thoughts about Homecoming don’t get viewed as “old man yells at cloud” territory. Because I maintain zero attachment to The Waltons, the 2021 movie couldn’t rape my childhood.
As these disclaimers imply, I took little pleasure from Homecoming. And by “little pleasure”, I mean “no pleasure”, for the movie gave us a stiff, contrived stab at manufactured nostalgia.
Not that a warm ‘n’ fuzzy view of the past can’t work, and I don’t entirely mind its soft take on the past. In the world of Homecoming, 1930s rural Blacks and whites got along just fine, and an allegedly dirt poor family seems to enjoy nice new clothes, modern amenities and appealing furnishings.
I get that no one watches a Waltons production for a sense of gritty realism. Still, the lack of believability seems tougher to swallow circa 2021 than it would’ve in the more innocent days of the 1970s, and Homecoming’s golden-tinted view of its world feels contrived.
Perhaps I’d care less if Homecoming offered at least a sliver of actual drama. Unfortunately, the “plot” comes across as wafer thin.
After all Homecoming gives us a story that revolves around the question of whether or not Papa Walton will make it home in time for Christmas. Call me a cynic, but I find it difficult to lean into this tale, as I can’t conjure a whole lot of reason to care.
The movie’s other nods toward “drama” seem completely trivial as well. This all feels like glitzy fantasy of rural life during the Depression, and nary an actual moment of drama or intrigue result.
It doesn’t help that the actors overplay their roles to the hilt. Homecoming often feels like a filmed version of a stage production, as the performers tend to emote far too much for a TV flick.
Homecoming also lacks much of a period feel. In particular, the kids come across as way too “modern” to match the 1930s setting.
Was the original Waltons any more reality-based? Perhaps not, but I suspect it connected better to the source, if just due to chronological proximity.
It troubles me to realize this, but the original Waltons came only about 40 years after the events it depicted. This makes it as close to its source as a show about the early 1980s would be to today.
This meant that clearly a lot of people involved with the 1970s show remembered the Depression, whereas it seems safe to assume that literally no one on Homecoming’s crew bears memories of 1933. Not that people need to live through an event to depict it, but it feels like Homecoming offers a reproduction of a nostalgic vibe without much consideration of the history involved
Over-baked and too schmaltzy, The Waltons’ Homecoming brings a toothless attempt at a Christmas story. 80 minutes of sunny dullness, nothing interesting takes place here.
