Comments on: Jimmy Stewart made me cry — twice!

By: JA Benson

JA Benson — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 01:38:40 +0000

It’s a Wonderful LIfe and Mr Krueger’s Christmas both make me cry every year. I am not surprised the scene with the Christ Child was unscripted. What a wonderful testimony. It shows Jimmy Stewart had a personal relationship with his Savior. I met Mr Stewart very briefly in Dallas, TX once. I stood in line with hundreds of people to have him sign copies of a book of poetry he had written. I told him how wonderful his book was and usual gush. He nodded his head and next. Lovely man, Quite elderly at the time, but he just radiated.

By: Witteafval

Witteafval — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 08:41:03 +0000

I can’t think of any movie that has made me cry, but It’s a Wonderful Life has gotten to me emotionally since I was a kid, and it gets worse as I get older.

In case not everyone knew this already, the things Mr.Krueger said to the Christ Child were completely unscripted. The filmmakers had an idea of what would happen in the scene, but what was said came straight from Jimmy Stwart’s heart.

By: Blain

Blain — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 06:17:32 +0000

I love both movies — IAWL is my answer every time someone asks for my favorite movie. I haven’t watched either yet this year, but I will be watching both. I just love all the little touches in both stories, and Stewart’s amazing depth and likeability.

By: Bill Stebbing

Bill Stebbing — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 22:43:53 +0000

What a great film! It is a classic. It is so inspiring that it is not a film one should remake.

By: Travis

Travis — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 22:34:22 +0000

Mr. Krueger’s Christmas is a family tradition in our home. I have to fight my family to sit down with me an watch it every year. But it is worth watching, because I cry every time.

By: Brian Duffin

Brian Duffin — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 21:32:10 +0000

I feel bad for Mr. Krueger up until the snowbirds (persons 65+ who migrate to Phoenix Metro for the winter) and I have to navigate the same roads and grocery aisles as they do. Humbug!

Mr. Krueger should have been required to take a driving test and only use Schwanns to shop for food. Humbug!

By: Ardis Parshall

Ardis Parshall — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 21:20:14 +0000

Love 'em both, and one of the benefits of living alone is that I can bawl all I want when I watch 'em. Next time you have the chance, enjoy the opening scene of IaWL when all of George's friends and family are praying for him, and the senior angel is explaining to the junior angel what is happening. That senior angel is Moroni Olsen.

By: John Mansfield

John Mansfield — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 19:47:08 +0000

A few months back we watched “The Far Country,” one of Stewart’s Anthony Mann westerns, were Stewart plays an unpleasant, selfish cowboy. I realized too late that this was the first Jimmy Stewart performance my sons had ever seen. I guess if I wanted to cement their image of this actor as someone who played SOBs, I could rent “Rope,” but that one would bore them.

By: jjohnsen

jjohnsen — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 18:01:59 +0000

I can’t get into Mr. Krueger, but my family did enjoy watching it after church on Sunday. I actually liked the Motab music videos that are on the same DVD much more.

I did however start crying during the the first ten minutes of UP yesterday, just like I did the first three times we watched it.

By: john f.

john f. — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 18:01:48 +0000

Geoff:

I never had the sense that Mr. Krueger was mentally challenged — just old, lonely, dirt poor and sad (missing his wife who passed away long before him). I agree with you that the scene where he offers thanks to Jesus in his daydream is packed with humility and a proper perspective of gratitude and submission that perhaps only an old man at the end of a mundane and unremarkable life can show us. I really enjoy it as well. Thanks for bringing it up. I still haven’t watched it this season, or It’s a Wonderful Life, for that matter.

Last year I watched Mr. Krueger with my daughters and they really “got it” as well. It was touching when, during the scene where he envisions himself witnessing the birth of Jesus and offering thanks to Jesus, my five-year-old daughter said “Nobody can see Mr. Krueger except Jesus”. I pointed out to her that it wasn’t like that only in his daydream but in his day-to-day life as well. We talked about the other daydreams that Mr. Krueger had and noted how in each one Mr. Krueger imagined himself as someone important, someone that people cared about. this was because it was presumably something that he had not experienced in real life, working as a janitor in an old building (although we do not know that this is what he did for his whole career). My daughters wondered if Mr. Krueger had his own children and, if so, why he was alone on Christmas.

I must say, though, that my daughters were kind of embarassed when Mr. Krueger was talking to Jesus in his daydream, i.e. they were embarassed for him. I think that bit of awkwardness is fully intended in the directing of the film and works well to create a little bit of emotional dissonance that reflects the situation.