I believe Nobody's Fool is a Christmas movie. I see in it a strong reference to It's a Wonderful Life, one free of fantasy. The setting, a backwater town along the Hudson River is the same. Sully's main foil is not Carl, but the banker son of his landlady. When Sully is in jail, things go to hell, and Sully learns that his life matters to the people around him, and his community, and he decides he can't run off with Toby because people need him. It's not a perfect reflection of It's a Wonderful Life, but I think that connection does exist.