My Top 12 Christmas Movies to Watch (or Binge) This Month
One of the things I enjoy in December is reliving Thanksgiving and Christmas memories through films. It’s easy to see myself as a child having Turkey dinner with my family, dealing with crazy relatives, seeing Santa, going to church, enjoying the snow (really) and, of course, opening presents. This year I’ve expanded my list of favorite holiday films to include twelve films that are worth watching . Take any one or all twelve and enjoy them, preferably with someone you love.
#12 • National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation: Not all of the films from National Lampoon have been winners but this 1989 spinoff from the original National Lampoon's Vacation is a lot of fun. Chevy Chase and Beverly D’Angelo return as the Griswold parents, along with new castmembers Juliet Lewis (Audrey) and Johnny Galecki (Rusty). It’s also worth watching Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Nicholas Guest—in almost cameo roles— as the way-too-hipster next door neighbors “Margo and Todd Chester”. Fond memories (or not so fond memories) on the horror of sharing Christmas with the entire family. Good fun.
#11 • A Christmas Carol: There have been many film versions adapted from Charles Dickens’ story, but this 1951 version is my favorite. It features Alastair Sim as Ebenezer Scrooge, Mervyn Johns as Bob Cratchit, and Michael Hordern as Jacob Marley. The story is timeless and worth watching every Christmas. Whether you become tearful or not, it’s a century old story, in a half-century old film, shot in glorious black and white, and it still delivers
#10 • Prancer: This 1989 film features a midwest farmer/single dad, his 9-year old daughter, and a reindeer named Prancer. It has sentimentality but also some first rate realism and charm. Directed by John Hancock, Prancer stars Sam Elliott, Rebecca Harrell, and Cloris Leachman. Roger Ebert's review included this: “[Jessica is] a 9-year-old who still believes in Santa Claus, and uses logic to defend her position: If there isn't a Santa, then maybe there isn't a God, and if there isn't a God, then there isn't a heaven, and, in that case, where did nine-year old Jessica's mother go when she died?” Heavy stuff or heady stuff? Either way, you can handle it and feel good about this unusually good holiday treat.
#9 • Home Alone: Few movie stars have the ability to be both charming and annoying on screen and in real life, and all before the age of 12. Forget the annoying part. Macaulay Culkin helps drive this 1990 film as the young child left home by highly distracted parents. Culkin benefits from the direction of Chris Columbus, the writing of John Hughes, and the comedic performances of Joe Pesci and Daniel Stern. It’s been a quarter century since the film was made yet the basic premise holds up. If it seems like too much work, watch it for Pesci and Stern. The film wouldn’t work without them as the bumbling thieves.
#8 • The Santa Clause: Tim Allen’s turn in this 1994 holiday feature film was a surprisingly good idea. In short, Santa dies on the job, Tim Allen’s character steps in to save the day and discovers that he is now (and forever?) the new Santa Claus. It’s funny with some tugging at the heart. This is the Twinkie of Christmas movies. Enjoy it and don’t think about the calories. The Washington Post had it right: "The Santa Clause would be another formulaic Christmas special without Tim Allen.”
#7 • Elf: I find Will Ferrell to be an above average performer, but his films rarely rise to become a favorite. However, Ferrell as Buddy, the elf, does make Elf succeed as a holiday film worth seeing and, to be honest, to put in your annual Holiday rotation. How the 6’ 3” Ferrell becomes one of Santa’s little helpers is less important than his holiday visit to New York City to find his birth father, played by James Caan. Suffice to say that the movie works and should become one of your regular holiday treats. Elf also stars Bob Newhart, Zooey Deschanel, and Mary Steenburgen.
#6 • Planes, Trains, and Automobiles: No holiday season would be complete without this 1987 film. One of Steve Martin’s better outings, and John Candy is as perfect as he can be. These two travelmates become mutually dependent as they attempt to travel from New York to Chicago by way of Kansas and Missouri in an effort to get home for Thanksgiving. As with most films written and directed by John Hughes, the music is top notch (including Martin’s traumatized rap effort “you’re messin’ with the wrong guy”.) The film is wonderful and it always reminds me of how much the world misses John Candy.
#5 • Miracle on 34th Street: On the surface this is a film about a nice old man who calls himself Kris Kringle and claims to be Santa Claus. Threatened with being declared insane, a young lawyer steps in to defend Kringle, arguing in court that he really is Santa Claus. While Kringle’s sanity is the central theme, the real centerpiece of the 1947 film is about a single mom’s journey (and ours) to have faith, and to believe in something that may be difficult or impossible to prove. While that sounds like religion, the faith here is far more about life itself. But it works on both levels. The cast is a who’s who of post WWII Hollywood faces: Maureen O'Hara, John Payne, Edmund Gwenn, Gene Lockhart, Natalie Wood, Granville Sawyer, William Frawley, and Jerome Cowan.
#4 • The Bishop’s Wife: This 1947 film is also about Christmas and faith. But relax, this is not a film that looks or feels anything like a tent-revival. It’s an intelligent story based on a visiting angel named Dudley (Cary Grant) entering the life of protestant minister Henry Brougham (David Niven), who’s marriage to wife Julia (Loretta Young) is tested along the way. There are numerous religious moments but the film is anything but preachy. There are lofty (sometimes heavenly) goals, a couple of sermons, a boys choir, some shopping, lunch at a French restaurant named Michel’s (of course), a few snobs, and some solid citizens. Sit back and simply let yourself get lost inside this film. Rounding out the cast are Elsa Lanchester, Regis Toomey, James Gleason, and Monty Woolley.
#3 • Love Actually: This is a film that, as happens to many of us, I missed when it was theatrically released in 2003. The casting is superb. Bill Nighy as the aging pop/rock star Billy Mack and Hugh Grant as the newly-elected Prime Minister. Colin Firth loses a cheating British girlfriend and manages to find love in Portugal. Love Actually also stars Emma Thompson, Keira Knightley, Liam Neeson, Laura Linney, Billy Bob Thornton and another 20 recognizable faces among the thoughtfully-assembled ensemble cast. There are a dozen criss-crossing relationships that are, surprisingly, a joy to follow. There’s magic in the music, humor, love, and politics, and you’ll learn about the Christmas lobster. It’s worth adding to your holiday viewing.
#2 • It’s A Wonderful Life: Frank Capra presents the life and times of George Bailey and Mary Hatch (James Stewart and Donna Reed). In just over two hours, we are treated to their lives and ours. Like the old nursery rhyme, this 1947 film features tinkers, tailors, soldiers, sailors, doctors, a rich man and more. As Bailey’s life moves forward, he’s forced to reflect on how he’s helped change things for the better, and with an angel’s help, he sees an alternate version of how his absence could change everything and everyone. Like other Capra films, this one is rich in characters and character actors, including Lionel Barrymore, Thomas Mitchell, Henry Travers, Beulah Bondi, Frank Faylen, Ward Bond, Gloria Grahame, and H.B. Warner. And for trivia buffs, there is the perfectly-cast voice of Moroni Olsen as Franklin, the never seen senior angel narrating the film.
#1 • A Christmas Story: This 1983 film narrowly edged out the others for #1 simply because it speaks to me on so many levels. Instead of just seeing the enjoyable chaos surrounding the lives of the Parker family, I can clearly see my own family growing up in Milwaukee; our version was all Wisconsin, not Indiana. Yet like ‘old man Parker’, my father did swear at the furnace (and other things). I did want a BB gun for christmas. We lived in our version of that neighborhood, on that street, in that house and we had our own Bumpus family for neighbors. And there was plenty of innocent “drama” surrounding our lives as Christmas approached, but there was also the sense of family and time together. I love this film. Happily we're taken back to a time when, as Jean Shepherd tells us, “all was right with the world”.
