Prancer

Prancer is a 1989 Christmas fantasy drama film directed by John Hancock, written by Greg Taylor, and starring Rebecca Harrell, Sam Elliott, Cloris Leachman, Abe Vigoda, Michael Constantine, Rutanya Alda, John Joseph Duda, and Ariana Richards. It is set in Three Oaks, Michigan, where town exteriors were filmed. Filming also occurred at the Old Republic House in New Carlisle, Indiana, La Porte, Indiana, and at Starved Rock State Park in Utica, Illinois. The film was followed by a direct-to-video sequel, Prancer Returns, released by USA Home Entertainment in 2001. In 2022, Universal Pictures Home Entertainment released a remake, Prancer: A Christmas Tale. Plot Eight-year-old Jessica Riggs and her older brother, Steve, are being raised by their widowed father, grieving and cantankerous John. Their apple farm has fallen on hard times. John is temporarily being helped by his sister, Sarah. While walking home after a school Christmas pageant, Jessica and her ex-best friend, Carol, witness a plastic reindeer fall from a Christmas decoration hung above the main street in town. She concludes it was Prancer from the order given in the poem A Visit from St. Nicholas (a.k.a. The Night Before Christmas).