The biggest nightmare for an actor isn’t failure, but success that pigeonholes them as a character. While it’s nice to have that recognizable role, such fame becomes a burden when people won’t see you as anything outside of that character. Henry Winkler understood that issue when he was dominating TV as The Fonz on Happy Days. He didn’t graduate from the Yale Drama school to only be remembered for saying, “Aaayyhhh!” He’d had a touch of cinema success with Heroes and The One and Only. But he needed a role that would allow TV audiences to recognize he could do more than wear a leather jacket and sniff out nerds. He found such a stretch in An American Christmas Carol.
This TV movie brings Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol to America’s Great Depression in 1933. Instead of playing Scrooge, Winkler is Benedict Slade, the owner of S&L Finance Co. He celebrates the holiday season by passing out books on have to save to the little kids eager for candy canes. His biggest joy comes in repossessing items from his delinquent clients. He takes the rocking chair and radio from Dorian Harewood (Eightball in Full Metal Jacket). R.H. Thomson (Chloe) is Slade’s glasses wearing toadie that does the dirty work of serving papers. He makes the suggestion that Slade can afford to open the town’s quarry and revitalize the economy. This idea isn’t well received.
That night Slade meets his old business partner. The guy is dead and living in Hell. He wants Slade to repent, but the living partner doesn’t fear damnation. The departed warns that Slade will be visited by three ghosts to change his ways. Slade learns about his life through the past, present and future like Scrooge. Will this new version have him quit being so mean or is that part of the semi-modern twist?
An American Christmas Carol allows Winkler to play Slade from his young years to his elderly present tense. He does a fine job of acting through his old man makeup. A lesser actor would have appeared to be working under a mask. And he proves this isn’t merely The Fonz does Dickens. It’s also relief to know that at 67, Winkler looks so much younger than Slade. This is a superior Christmas special to most of the new TV movies that get run on ABC Family during the holidays. Fans of Winkler or Scrooge need to have this DVD (or Blu-ray) on the pile next the egg nog.
The video is 1.33:1 full frame. The transfer shows off the fine make up job done on Winkler as the older Slade. The audio is Dolby Digital mono. The levels brings out the scratchy nature of the phonograms.
An Interview with Henry Winkler (8:40) is a recent interview with the star of Children’s Hospital. He gives background on what brought him into the project. The script scared him to think of playing Scrooge. The producer had to convince him he could take the challenge.
An American Christmas Carol allowed Henry Winkler to flex his acting skills at the height of the Fonz-mania. This was a rather big TV event for the 1979 holiday season. Winkler’s life-spanning performance holds up.
Shout! Factory presents An American Christmas Carol. Directed by: Eric Till. Screenplay by: Jerome Coopersmith. Starring: Henry Winkler, Dorian Harewood, Susan Hogan, R.H. Thomson and Michael Wincott. Running Time: 96 minutes. Released: October 9, 2012. Available at Amazon.com
