Lemon Drop Kid - 1951
I read that Bob Hope, who stars in this film, wanted to make a Christmas movie with the staying power of other in-the-process-of-becoming-classic holiday films out of Hollywood, so he got together a Damon Runyon story with himself and Marilyn Maxwell about saving an old folks home in the middle of a plot which includes the tension of the "Lemon Drop Kid" (nicknamed this on account of his consuming lemon drops all the time) on a deadline to pay off some dangerous gangsters he owes $10K to.
Sounds like a great list of ingredients, combining a Runyon tale about Christmas plus old people in need of help and Hope maneuvered into being the hero, but it just doesn't gel. The humor is announced in such a big way that you can almost see subliminal neon "applause" and "laughter" signs blinking. The construction of the tale is out of pace with itself and the laughs are too enunciated and seem to be exaggerated far beyond what any typical Runyon story would contain. It just isn't very good.
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Original page July 18, 2026