Flint (Hoyt Axton) and his lost love (Barbara Mandrell)
Time for another post in my annual orgy of entries on various versions of A Christmas Carol known as my Christmas Carol-a-Thon.
SKINFLINT (1979) – Skinflint is known to me and my fellow Carol-Geeks as “the country- western version”. This made-for- tv musical is so chock- full of stars that the Country Music Hall of Fame actually offers screenings of this film every year between Thanksgiving and Christmas. I’m serious.
My late mother was, unfortunately for me when I was a teenager, a country music fan so, strange as it may seem, I actually know who the singers in this flick are. This version of the Carol is set in fictional Flint City, Tennessee, a town dominated by the financial pull of banker Cyrus Flint, played by Hoyt Axton.
Naturally Cyrus Flint is the Scrooge stand- in and Axton is supported by plenty of other figures cast for their singing ability, not their thespian skill. Stuttering Mel Tillis plays Dennis Pritchett, the Bob Cratchit character, Lynn Anderson plays his wife and Larry Gatlin (of the Gatlin Brothers and yes, it’s hellish actually knowing things like that) portrays Flint’s nephew, called Roger instead of Fred. Continue reading
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