by Christmas Comes to Willow Creek was a made-for-TV Christmas movie from 1987. And it stars Bo and Luke Duke (well, the actors anyway) driving a big rig full of presents to Alaska. Can you think of any Christmas movie that sounds cooler than this? Well, with the exception of Rocky IV.
Somehow I went almost all of my life without knowledge of this movie’s existence. Then a couple of years ago I was browsing through a TV Guide from 1987 and saw an ad for it. That ad stopped me in my tracks. I immediately went on a hunt for the movie. It wasn’t on YouTube or any streaming service, and I couldn’t even rent it from Amazon. So I turned to some pirate services and I found it. They say the best things in life are worth waiting for, and in this case, they may be right. I thoroughly enjoyed it when I finally got to watch it.
In Christmas Comes to Willow Creek, you’ve got two brothers who are estranged because one ran away with the other’s wife. But they both drive for the same trucking company, and the owner of that company loves them both and wants to see them re-build their relationship. So he does what any good boss would do in that situation, and sets them up to make a run together. And it’s not just any run, it’s a run to Alaska with a truck full of toys for all of the kids in a small town there.
The trip is full of arguing between the brothers, but as they find themselves in more and more tight situations, they start airing out their problems with each other and start growing closer again. Oh, and they experience a true Christmas miracle along the way.
Looking at the time this came out, it seems logical that this was the first project that either John Schneider or Tom Wopat worked on after wrapping up their hit TV series The Dukes of Hazzard. And it caught both of them at a great time. The dynamic of their characters in this is unique. While Tom Wopat’s character seems very much in line with his Luke Duke character, John Schneider’s character is a 180 degree flip from Bo Duke…at least at the beginning of the film. But that just adds to the allure of this movie. It may seem cheesy at times, but at the end of the day, I was certainly glad I discovered it and it has worked its way into my Christmas movie rotation.
How could I not like this movie? It’s got the Duke boys as the stars. There’s big rigs involved, and it’s a Christmas movie. It’s a recipe that seems like it was cooked up just for me. But I think you fans and followers here at Retro Ramblings will enjoy it too. I’m embedding the YouTube version of it here to make it easy for you to find and check out.
3.5 stars
I remember watching this one night when I was 16, back home from my first job at a department store at Christmastime, with the tree lit up. Didn’t get to see it again until a year or two ago, and it was good, 80s, but enjoyable. Nostalgia helped.