As most who frequent this site know,I am a Hepburn fan. Mainly because her acting style is fun,straight forward and (on the serious side) quite moving and never over the top.
Starting in her mid-60s,Kate started doing television films. All are good to great. There's a difference between her first few and the last few. That being in the '70s she played roles that were not reflections of herself,later they were. I have watched them all and have now come to the conclusion,this one's the tops of her 90's TV lot.
She plays yet another variation of herself,Victoria Brown, but she does that in way that still makes you believe she's "not" Katharine Hepburn but just a strong willed elderly person. She and Ryan O'Neal and cast make a seemingly impossible story,completely believable.
Only in a movie can an elderly woman overtake an escaped convict (that's taken up residence in her attic)pointing a gun at her and then she harbors him and makes him feel at home (although she did try to throw him out,she then feels bad because she's sent him out into the rain.)
Mooney (O'Neal's character) is a nice guy in ways but he's had a terrible abusive childhood,never knew his father and is a grand larceny jewel thief. He escapes from jail with only 6 months to go at the urging of a fellow inmate who's rotten to the core and this guy plays it to the hilt! He even tries to frame Mooney for the shooting of a guard while escaping.
The best way to make the "friendship" between Victoria & Mooney believable to yourself is to simply not let the realities in. If you let yourself believe what your seeing,you will in the end,reward yourself with a funny,dramatic and very touching holiday film.
Otherwise you will over-analyze & critique yourself out of a fun experience.
The greatest fun is watching the reactions of Irish housekeeper Molly,when Victoria starts sending her to the market to satisfy her "unusual cravings"! That and when Victoria's sister in law happens by and meets Mooney,he is passed off as an applicant for a butler named Oscar Scmidlapp(while wearing a Hawaiian shirt no less!) Hilarious!
How ever you come into possession of this movie and get to view it,I can pretty much guarantee,you'll enjoy it as much as I did.
Just let yourself enjoy it,for it's light years better than most TV films tend to be and.... for my time invested,it (along with "One Christmas" )is one of her last great triumphs on film,TV or cinematic. (END)
