The Christmas Kid (1967)

Jeffrey Hunter plays Joe Novak. His mother dies giving birth to him in an abandoned way station on Christmas day.

Then, when his grief-stricken father turns to drink, he’s adopted by three wise men — the mayor (Louis Carillo), the doctor (Reginald Gilliam) and the judge (Luis Prendes) of the town of Jasper.

Young Joe goes through plenty of growing pains, but proves quite adept with a six-gun and yearns to break free of his mentors.

But that’s before a copper strike turns Jasper into a boom town, luring businessman Mike Culligan (Louis Hayward) there, with a pretty young lady named Marie Lefleur (Perla Cristal) on his arm.

Culligan opens up a saloon and gambling house that creates more than its share of trouble, and he puts the local sheriff on his payroll to make sure the trouble gets glossed over.

Joe’s willing to sell his gun to Culligan, too, in exchange for the freedom to pursue Marie.

Meanwhile, the judge, the doctor and the lawyer look on, wondering what happened to the young man they helped raise, wondering if he’s about to throw away his life like his father before him.

Review:

Rather than a Spaghetti Western, Sidney W. Pink serves up something that looks more like an American Western, made in Spain, with a few international performers involved.

The result is a so-so Western where the Biblical references are plainly obvious at the beginning and end (there’s even a Judas and a sort of crucifixion scene). In the middle, Joe certainly falls prey to temptation, especially when it comes in the form of Marie Lefleur.

Her character is the most interesting in the film. She belongs to Culligan, but he doesn’t mind lending her out when it serves his purpose. As for Hunter, he was 41, and obviously too old for the part he was playing. He’d die just two years later.

Directed by:
Sidney W. Pink

Cast:
Jeffrey Hunter … Joe Novak
Louis Hayward … Mike Culligan
Gustavo Rojo … Louis Carillo
Perla Cristal … Marie Lefleur
Luis Prendes … Judge Perkins
Reginald Gilliam … Dr. Carter
Jack Taylor … John Novak
Fernando Hilbeck .. Jud Walters
Alejandra Nilo … Marika Novak

aka:
Joe Navidad

Score: F. Garica Morcillo

Runtime: 90 min.

Memorable lines:

Louis Carillo, after Mrs. Novak has died in childbirth: “He’s alright. At least you’ve got a fine looking boy. What are you going to call him?”
Joe’s dad: “Cain. He killed his mother.”

Dr. Carter, complaining about the changes in Jasper: “Well, maybe we’ve progressed as far as we can. I can’t think of anything else that could happen to change things around here.”
On cue, Culligan arrives in a carriage with pretty Marie Lefleur, “the Queen of New Orleans,” tucked inside.

Sheriff to Culligan: “See how those horses are dressed? We ain’t never had a hanging in Jasper before so the judge looked up in some books how it’s done high class. No one’s going to say we don’t know how to do things in Jasper.”

Trivia:

Hunter plays a young man in the movie; he was actually 41 when it was filmed. Ironically, Hunter’s father in the film is a drunk. In real life, Hunter had a drinking problem. In fact, he died two year after making this movie after falling down the stairs in his home.

One of three Westerns Sidney W. Pink made in Spain in the mid-1960s. The others were “Finger on the Trigger” (1965) and “The Tall Women” (1966).

According to his obituary, Tab Hunter told an interesting story about this film. He traveled abroad to make “Christmas Kid.” He met Jeffrey Hunter, there to make “The Fickle Finger of Fate.” They decided to switch films, figuring producers wouldn’t know the difference.