One Magic Christmas

Dir: Phillip Borsos

1985

*****

Phillip Borsos’ One Magic Christmas is one of the seasons most overlooked classics. It is everything you could want from a Christmas movie and so much more. Christmas films come in various different categories but excluding Christmas themed horrors and the made-for-TV rubbish that is churned out year in year out, they are usually serious drama (with a few moments of comedy thrown in) or they are fantasy. Borsos’ One Magic Christmas is the only seasonal film I can think of that balances both, perfectly. Phillip Borsos was a great director, One Magic Christmas was the first film of his that he himself had written and I can’t help but think that when he died in 1995 at the age of 41 we lost a film maker who would go on to make some important movies. That said, One Magic Christmas is an important film to me and to many others. It is also hated. I’m a bit humbug personally, although I do enjoy many of the aspects of Christmas. I just can’t stand the over-enthusiasm of the whole thing, not in adults anyway. It is something that can make Christmas just that little bit harder for people, when it should be a time when we look after each other. I believe this is largely forgotten and I find the most Christmassy of people to be the biggest hypocrites of all. I digress. One Magic Christmas doesn’t shy away from how tough the time of year can be and it is convincing in doing so. The story begins with St Nicholas sending a message to an angel called Gideon asking him to help a family in need. Gideon is Harry Dean Stanton, sitting up a tree playing the harmonica. It is safe to say I was sold on the film from there on. Ginny Grainger (Mary Steenburgen) is the mother of two children, Cal (Robbie Magwood) and Abbie (Elisabeth Harnois). Her husband, Jack (Gary Basaraba), has been out of work since June, and they have to move out of the company house on New Year’s Day. Jack fixes bikes as a hobby in the basement and hopes to give one to his children's poor friend, Molly Monaghan, for Christmas. Although he would like to open a bike shop of his own, doing so would use up all their savings, which Ginny sees as a foolish move. In order to make ends meet, she works as a cashier at a grocery store – a job she hates, largely thanks to her inexperienced manager. One night, Abbie goes across the street to the mailbox to send a letter to Santa Claus. After she mails it, Gideon retrieves it from the mailbox and returns it to her saying that her mother should mail it. She agrees, and as she's crossing the street to return home, a car barrels down the road towards her. Gideon stops the impending accident and allows Abbie to cross the street without incident. The next day, the Graingers visit Jack's grandfather, Caleb. He gives the children presents: Cal a Christmas book and Abbie a snow globe of the North Pole. That night Gideon visits Abbie in her room only to learn that Ginny did not mail Abbie's letter to Santa Claus. Gideon warns Abbie that some things are going to happen tomorrow and not to be afraid. Meanwhile, Ginny and Jack are in the kitchen talking about their finances. He reiterates his desire to open a bike shop, but she feels that he should find a new job, as the time to start turning a profit from a business would be too long. Frustrated, he storms out of the house to go for a walk. She races after him to try to work things out. Ominously, all the Christmas lights begin turning off all around her, signifying that the last of the Christmas spirit has been drained from her. The following day is Christmas Eve and Ginny gets a ride to work from a friend. While at a gas station, she sees a man named Harry Dickens trying to sell some of his possessions in order to support himself and his son, with little success. She shrugs off the situation and goes on with her day. Meanwhile, Jack, along with the children, goes to the bank to take some money out of their savings to do some Christmas shopping. He tells them to wait in the car, but Abbie leaves to visit Ginny at the grocery store she works at across the street. Abbie informs Ginny that Jack is at the bank which causes her to storm out to stop him, only to have her boss, Herbie Conklin, see her leave and fire her. She returns Abbie to the car and enters the bank only to discover that Harry is holding it up. Jack attempts to quell the situation, but Harry impulsively shoots, and Jack collapses onto the ground. A sobbing Ginny cradles her dead husband on the ground. In a panic, Harry flees the bank and steals Jack's car with Cal and Abbie still inside. Ginny chases after him in his abandoned car, but it runs out of gas before she can catch up with him. He comes to a bridge where the police have set up a road block and tries to swerve around it, but skids off the bridge, plummeting to his death into the icy river below. Distraught, Ginny returns home to an empty house and weeps in the bathroom. However, Caleb soon comes to the house to inform her that the kids have been found standing on the side of the road. The police believe that Harry dropped them off before the crash, when in reality Gideon rescued them from the river. When they return home, Ginny informs them that Jack has been murdered by Harry and is never coming home. Later that night, Abbie runs away to the town's Christmas tree in hopes of finding Gideon to ask him to bring back her dad. Gideon tells her that he can't fix things like that and that the only person who can bring him back is Santa Claus himself. Gideon takes Abbie to the North Pole to meet him. He informs her that he too cannot fix what has happened nor can he bring the Christmas spirit back to Ginny, but Abbie can. He then takes her through his factory (which is run by "ordinary, nice people," not elves) and retrieves an old letter that Ginny had written when she was a child. He tells her that it may hold the key to helping her mother. Gideon returns Abbie to her house and she gives her mother the letter. She reads it and finally realizes the true meaning of Christmas: to celebrate what you have and not what you want. She walks outside to the mailbox and mails Abbie's letter. Just then, all the Christmas lights in the neighborhood come back on, Jack reappears, and Ginny hugs him much to his confusion as he is only returning from his short walk the previous night. The day’s events never happened. The next day, Ginny relives the events of that Christmas Eve with a much different attitude. She gets her boss to concede to let her take the day off so she can spend time with family. At the gas station she buys a camp stove from Harry who thanks her and wishes her a "Merry Christmas". That evening, she attends the tree lighting in the village square, happily joining the participants in singing O Christmas Tree. Later, she writes a check to Jack for the bike shop and the family delivers one to Molly. As she is about to fall asleep, she hears something downstairs and finds Santa putting presents under the tree. He then stops and looks at her and says, "Merry Christmas, Ginny." She smiles and with tear-filled eyes, finally says the words she has been unable to speak for so long: "Merry Christmas!" It is fair to say that the story is utterly ridiculous (not to mention harrowing) but really no more ridiculous and emotionally manipulative as any other Christmas film. The generosity shown on the last day is what it is all about in the end, as it is subtle and real. The whole film addresses the very real struggle of people while also celebrating genuine magic when it happens and seeing it in the ordinary things. Sure, Abbie is transported to the North Pole and Harry Dean Stanton does magic tricks, but the real wonder of the film is when Ginny buys something she doesn’t want from someone who has nothing. It is over the top and gritty at the same time, a real one off for sure. I have heaps of warm nostalgic feelings for the film but I do wonder whether the sad truth of the matter is that people don’t want their kids to go talking to older men in long dark coats in the middle of the street or to see someone’s dad being shot at Christmas. The message, I fear, has been overlooked. Go hard or go home is what I say, why watch endless streams of watered-down made-for-TV rubbish when you can get your Christmas fix in one face-slapping hit? It’s Santa Claus the movie but with vigour and cahoonas. It has Harry Dean Stanton sitting up a tree playing the harmonica for goodness sake, what more could you want?