 I usually prefer cynical noirish films, but The Great Rupert was a hoot, a great family film that will by no means bore the adults of the family. Even the crappy stop motion animation for the squirrel was a hoot.
Jimmy Durante is a fading vaudevillian whose family is blessed with windfalls of cash raining down on them from a squirrel's nest in rafters of their chilly flat. As the underemployed clan begins to live the good life, & shares the wealth with others who are needy, the police begin to suspect crime.
If not the equal of such Christmas movies as It's a Wonderful Life & Miracle on 42nd Street, this upbeat charmer sure comes close to its more famous cousins.
The Happy Ending was laid on so thick (there must've been ten happy endings rolled up in one) that clearly some author was having one over on audiences who demand happy endings. And "The Shnoz" is never for a moment anything less than great.
copyright © by Paghat the Ratgirl
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