Friday Movie Clips: J.T. (1969)

Long considered a lost classic, J.T. is one of the best Christmas movies ever made. It was written by Lily Tomlin's writing partner Jane Wagner, based on her novel, and starring Kevin Hooks, Ja'net DuBois and Broadway veteran Theresa Merritt. It was also a yearly Christmas staple broadcast on CBS from 1969 to 1974 along with A Charlie Brown Christmas and tells the story of young poor ghetto boy who is on the cusp of becoming a teenager, while walking the fine line of choosing which road he'll take on a journey which offers sadly, only two choices: Either remain a "good person" and remain poor, or become a delinquent and remain poor, or worse, become a "bum". That is until he comes across a sickly, one-eyed stray cat which awakens his need to love and care for something seemingly more unfortunate than he is. I strongly identified with Kevin's character not only because it was one of the few realistic movies in which I saw myself (I, too, had a weakness for adopting stray cats and dogs) and looked forward to watching it every year.

There's something about the realism of the acting and attention to detail during this period that's not captured on screen much in today's movies, thanks to CGI effects and obvious artificial-looking studio lightning techniques. For instance, you can tell that most of the movie was shot on location in NYC. There's also one scene in JT's apartment where he's brushing his teeth in the bathroom which is so frighteningly realistic in its bleakness that I was instantly transported back to that era. There's also a scene immediately afterwards in the kitchen with his mother where I could actually smell the grease-stained thickness of several old coats of high gloss paint as well as Ja'net's tired acceptance of her situation.


There is also an inevitable heartbreaking circumstance that devastated me as a kid, but the lesson that came out of it was more fulfilling than any tree stuffed with toys. That was the unique lesson of this movie; some of us had Christmases where there was nothing under the tree. So sometimes, we had to look elsewhere for cheer and spirit, especially when it meant you had to suffer through going outside to play on Christmas morning, only to watch other kids zip up and down the block on shiny new 5-speed bicycles, or ambling over to the apartment of the one close friend who wouldn't give me a hard time about not getting anything and would let me play with his new toys.


The beauty of this movie is that through tragedy, it teaches kids the value of life, work and growing up in a straightforward and realistic manner, while keeping it simple. That's the gift.

And that's what made it such an unusual choice for a holiday movie, and I can see why it disappeared for a long time though, as it pulls no punches in its portrayal of what it's like to be poor, and in many ways, the loneliness of poverty. The payoff is ultimately rewarding, and should be required viewing for today's materialistically-challenged BET generation. Can a lot of them identify with the simple idea that the strength of family and values proves to pull J.T. through his struggles? Will they begin to hope if that's "how he'll get over", to paraphrase the old gospel song? Yeah. I believe so, because I'm just a big ball of hopeful mush deep down inside.

I'd love to see this movie's resurgence on TV One, for instance, but the interesting thing is that it's still so hard to find on DVD.

It has recently resurfaced on You Tube though, thanks to JTClarion, and I'm proud to be able to post it in it's entirety, in five parts. So for those of you who remember it, welcome it back with loving arms. For those who haven't, welcome to the NuOld School, where things still mean something.


UPDATE: I've found a link to J.T. on DVD here.



JT PART ONE



JT PART TWO



JT PART THREE



JT PART FOUR



JT PART FIVE