The Christmas Star

1986 "Two kids made a believer out of him."
6.2| 1h34m| en
Details

Horace McNickle (Edward Asner) is a two-time felon serving prison time for counterfeiting. On the week before Christmas, he escapes from prison dressed as Santa Claus due to his uncanny resemblence to St. Nick resulting from his long white beard and heavyset features. McNickle hides out from the police in a nearby suburban neighborhood where he is befriended and helped by two local children who think he is the real Santa Claus. McNickle takes advantage of the kids naive ness to help him get his counterfeit money hidden somewhere in a local department store while he develops kind-hearted feelings for his two con victims that make him slowly understand the true nature of Christmas.

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Reviews

Exoticalot People are voting emotionally.
AnhartLinkin This story has more twists and turns than a second-rate soap opera.
Bergorks If you like to be scared, if you like to laugh, and if you like to learn a thing or two at the movies, this absolutely cannot be missed.
Allissa .Like the great film, it's made with a great deal of visible affection both in front of and behind the camera.
utgard14 Convicted con artist Ed Asner escapes from prison dressed as Santa Claus. He hides out in the basement of an apartment building where two kids live who believe he's the real Santa. He uses them to help recover some money he hid before he went to prison. As he spends time with the kids and their friends, he softens and slowly starts to understand the true meaning of Christmas.Ed Asner is gruff but likable. That pretty much sums up his career. The kids are good, particularly the adorable little blonde girl. Rene Auberjonois is the obligatory Scrooge character. Fred Gwynne's the cop on the case. He's always fun. Susan Tyrrell has one great scene but I wish she was in it more. I'm not entirely sure why Asner's character didn't immediately shave and find a change of clothes to help evade capture but I guess we wouldn't have had a movie then. And how about that prison? They have the dumbest guards imaginable. Dude just literally walked up to the door and asked to be let out. Still, it's a good TV movie with nice humor and sentimental touches. Corny at times but appropriately so. Gets better as it goes along so stick with it.
19460Stratford Disney is releasing this Yuletide classic Sept. 7, 2004. One of the truly great Christmas films. Ed Asner, Fred Gwynne, Rene Auberjenois, and writer/ director Alan Shapiro and his talented crew make this Dickens-esque family perennial a must-see. If you like "A Christmas Carol", "Miracle on 34th St.", you will also love "The Christmas Star". Originally made for Disney's Sunday Night Movie, it has run for years on X- Mas but, unfortunately, was never released on video -- until now. Do yourself a favor and get a copy!
wvmilkman It's a shame that this movie isn't available on DVD (or VHS, for that matter). Thankfully, I did tape it on VHS (commercials & all) when it last aired. Truly a wonderful film, it made remember some of those "warm & fuzzy" feelings that I used to have about Christmas when I was a child. A Disney © production, maybe someday it will be available for purchase...
og_byrne What I love the most about Christmas its that their his lots of old movie like this one on TV. It just finished an hour now and I wanted to write about it before I think of something else. This is a lovely film and it confirmed what I knew since a long time,That Barret Oliver was the greatest child actor their was during the 80's,He his so natural.Even now compare him to Haley Joel Osmend and you can see that Barret was even better. Anyway, the film his simple but it work,after the credit roll you feel happy and full of hope for mankind. It's a shame that they dont do Christmas movie like this anymore.