31 votes
Horace McNickle (Edward Asner) is a two-time felon serving prison time for counterfeiting. On the week before Christmas, he escapes from prison dressed as Santa Claus due to his uncanny resemblence to St. Nick resulting from his long white beard and heavyset features. McNickle hides out from the police in a nearby suburban neighborhood where he is befriended and helped by two local children who think he is the real Santa Claus. McNickle takes advantage of the kids naive ness to help him get his counterfeit money hidden somewhere in a local department store while he develops kind-hearted feelings for his two con victims that make him slowly understand the true nature of Christmas.

Status: Released
Released Date: 1986-12-14
Runtime: 94 mins
Director: Alan Shapiro
Writer: Carol Dysinger, Alan Shapiro
Spoken language: English
Genres: Drama, Family, TV Movie
Original title: The Christmas Star
Production Companies: Lake Walloon Productions, Walt Disney Television
Production Countries: United States of America

Ed Asner

René Auberjonois

Jim Metzler

Susan Tyrrell

Alan North

Fred Gwynne

Frank C. Turner

Karen Landry

Philip Bruns

Nicolas Van Burek

Vicki Wauchope

Peter Bibby

Lillian Carlson

David Glyn-Jones