
After the death of the oil tycoon Howard 'Red' Stevens, his greedy family is gathered in the office of his lawyer, partner and friend Mr. Theophillis 'Ted' Hamilton and his associated Miss Hastings for the reading of the will. For his reckless and selfish grandson Jason Stevens, who hated him, Red assigns twelve apparently simple tasks called "gifts" - of work, money, friends, learning, problems, family, laughter, dreams, giving, gratitude, a day and love - challenging the playboy Jason to a journey of discoveries. When he meets the leukemic girl Emily and her mother Alexia, Jason changes his perspective of life and money, superseding the expectations of Red, improving and becoming a better man and receiving the ultimate gift from his wise grandfather.
Bill CobbsMr. Theophillis 'Ted' Hamilton
Brian DennehyGus
James GarnerHoward 'Red' Stevens
Mike PniewskiOperative (as Mike Pniewski)
Tim ParatiTow Truck DriverJames Garner (Red Stevens) claims that this will be his final film.
Red Stevens:
You can teach someone what character is. You can tell them "do this! Do that" but at some point, the gifts need input, intuition, dreams. One needs to be the freedom to dream, then act on it. Even if you don't have a dream of your own, you can give dreams to others-help them to fulfill their dreams!
Factual errors: When Jason is kicked out of first class and back into seat 32B in coach he is sitting in an "E" seat.
Composed by Mark McKenzie
Courtesy of Varèse Sarabande Records
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