Ebenezer Reviews

EBENEZER, a Wild West version of Dickens's classic A Christmas Carol, fails to cast a seasonal spell, mostly because of Jack Palance's cartoonishly virile, one-note interpretation of Scrooge. Hard-drinking penny-pincher Ebenezer (Jack Palance) cheats cowpoke Sam Benson (Rick Schroder) out of the deed to his homestead in a rigged poker game. Sam can now no longer afford to wed Erica (Amy Locane), the impoverished daughter of Ebenezer's late partner, Jacob Marlowe (Richard Halliday). Castigated by Jacob Marlowe's ghost, Ebenezer initially believes he's dreaming, as three more ghosts visit him over the course of an evening to reawaken his conscience. The Spirit of Christmas Past (Michelle Thrush) reviews the basis of Ebenezer's mendacity, beginning with his father's financial ruin. Working for kindly storekeeper Mr. Fezziwig (James Dugan), young adult Ebenezer steals a bank deposit to finance panning for gold out West, marries rancher's daughter Rebecca Gordon (Jocelyn Loewen), and greedily sells off his father-in-law's ranch. The Ghost of Christmas Present (Richard Comar) forces Ebenezer to witness the destitution of Scrooge's former employee Bob Cratchitt (Albert Shultz), whose sickly son Tiny Tim (Joshua Silberg) is expected to die soon. After Sam Benson challenges Ebenezer to a showdown, the Ghost of Christmas Future (Morris Chapdelaine) previews how that gunfight will end in Sam's death. Having seen the repercussions of his actions, Ebenezer makes amends for his penurious ways by returning Sam's land and by giving Erica the saloon he stole from her father. Infused with Christmas charity, he becomes benefactor to the Cratchitt clan. Aside from the novelty value of Scrooge waving a six-shooter, EBENEZER doesn't have much innate validity. Audiences may initially be intrigued at seeing frontier variations of situations and characters from the beloved Christmas fable. But Palance and the filmmakers give too much forcefulness to Ebenezer, who should be a dried-out human being; because Palance can't tone down his incessant vitality, his inevitable redemption doesn't have any resonance. Nor do scripter Donald Martin and director Ken Jubenvill capitalize on the film's western trappings, thus making EBENEZER a feeble western in addition to being a feeble Yuletide tale. Inadvertently, this curiosity piece proves the durability of Charles Dickens's A Christmas Carol by showing how that classic's impeccable construction can endure even a rather unimaginative sagebrush refurbishment. (Violence, profanity, substance abuse.)