The film begins around the time of the second Lewis-Schmeling fight in the late 1930s. Antisemetism and other prejudices pull a nice Jewish family out of their everyday routines--and the film ends with a ridiculous scene involving President Roosevelt that made me want to retch--especially since he was far from a friend to the Jewish refugees (despite how he's portrayed in the film). There is another parallel story involving a bully whose father is with the American Bund--and is a much more engaging story.
In 1978, the made for TV movie "Every Day Was Like the Fourth of July" debuted. It was a wonderful slice of life film and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Two years later, a followup film was released with the same characters. However, aside from Dean Jones in the lead, the rest of his family was played by different actors. This is confusing, as, for example, his cute blonde daughter is now younger and with bobbed dark brown hair! They just didn't look at all the same. And, sadly, the film just isn't written as well. In fact, a few times the film made me wince. It's not terrible...but it certainly lacks the appeal of the first film.
By the way, both films are on one DVD and it's worth seeing just for the first film.
