55. Home For the Holidays (1972)
An elderly man (Walter Brennan) summons his three beautiful daughters, as well as his other daughter Sally Field, to protect him from the new wife he believes is trying to kill him.
As far into melodrama as its possible to lean without having to request permission from Barbara Cartland’s estate, the main selling points here are a fabulous cast, as well as other cast member Sally Field, and some whip-smart dialogue. The four, recently reunited sisters (who all, for some reason, have boys’ names) come under attack by a killer in wellies and a sou’wester, predating my debut feature
The Springwatch Slasher by a good forty years. The deaths are bloodless on account of this being a made-for-TV affair, and it all wafts along at its own, languorous pace. To its immense credit, it stars Jessica Walter as substance abusing middle sister Freddie.
Best bit: This touching exchange, in which Jo (Jill Haworth) is slut-shamed by her Dad, is a great example of the barbed interactions throughout the film.
“I stopped counting the husbands after the third”
“So did I as soon as I found out you didn’t have to marry them to sleep with them”
“As I remember it, you found that out in junior high…”
Weihnachtstische out of ten: