Best Holiday Movies and TV Specials
Just really have to take place during the period from, say, Thanksgiving and New Years' Day, and make the holidays a significant thematic element, in my view.
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- DirectorBilly WilderStarsJack LemmonShirley MacLaineFred MacMurrayA Manhattan insurance clerk tries to rise in his company by letting its executives use his apartment for trysts, but complications and a romance of his own ensue.Because nothing says "Merry Christmas" like picking up some drunk wife of an imprisoned jockey and taking her home on Christmas Eve only to discover the woman you really love has attempted suicide after being spurned by her married lover in the living room of your apartment. Happy Holidays, everyone!
- DirectorAnthony HarveyStarsPeter O'TooleKatharine HepburnAnthony Hopkins1183 A.D.: King Henry II's three sons all want to inherit the throne, but he won't commit to a choice. When he allows his imprisoned wife Eleanor of Aquitaine out for a Christmas visit, they all variously plot to force him into a decision.Well, what would Christmas be without a dysfunctional family getting together to plot and plan their mutually assured destruction? Would not be my family, that much I know.
- DirectorChuck JonesBen WashamStarsBoris KarloffJune ForayDal McKennonA grumpy hermit hatches a plan to steal Christmas from the Whos of Whoville.OK, forget cynicism: the genius of Dr. Seuss meets the genius of Chuck Jones, and gets narrated by Boris Karloff. And a neat little message too. Best of the TV mainstays
- DirectorBilly WilderStarsWilliam HoldenGloria SwansonErich von StroheimA screenwriter develops a dangerous relationship with a faded film star determined to make a triumphant return.The best film on this list, actually, but less of the holiday theme. But a truly memorable New Years Eve sequence.
- DirectorMartin McDonaghStarsColin FarrellBrendan GleesonCiarán HindsAfter a job gone wrong, hitman Ray and his partner await orders from their ruthless boss in Bruges, Belgium, the last place in the world Ray wants to be.Actually, Christmassy not just in the set decoration. Also, a story of sacrifice and redemption. And often inappropriately funny.
- DirectorBill MelendezStarsAnn AltieriChris DoranSally DryerDepressed at the commercialism he sees around him, Charlie Brown tries to find a deeper meaning to Christmas.Yeah, Linus is a killjoy, in a way, but this is charming, one of the true highlights of the golden age of Christmas TV specials.
- DirectorJeremiah S. ChechikStarsChevy ChaseBeverly D'AngeloJuliette LewisThe Griswold family's plans for a big family Christmas predictably turn into a big disaster.Back to cynicism. Relentlessly funny, does not take itself too seriously with its more sappy moments. And a great holiday rant... "Where's the Tylenol?"
- DirectorLarry RoemerStarsBillie Mae RichardsBurl IvesLarry D. MannA young reindeer Rudolph lives at the North Pole. His father is one of Santa's reindeer and it is expected that Rudolph will eventually be one too. However, he has a feature which is a setback and causes him to be ostracized: his red nose.Again, another highlight from the TV Special Golden Age. Nothing modern has ever really come close to the enduring magic of this, or the Grinch or Charlie Brown.
- DirectorBrian Desmond HurstStarsAlastair SimJack WarnerKathleen HarrisonEbenezer Scrooge, a curmudgeonly, miserly businessman, has no time for sentimentality and largely views Christmas as a waste of time. However, this Christmas Eve, he will be visited by three spirits who will show him the error of his ways.A lot of versions of this, but I like Sim as Scrooge best.
- DirectorBilly WilderStarsWilliam HoldenDon TaylorOtto PremingerAfter two Americans are killed while escaping from a German P.O.W. camp in World War II, the barracks black marketeer, J.J. Sefton, is suspected of being an informer.Winds up with a Christmas celebration. Low on the Holidayness, though. Great movie.
- DirectorRonald NeameStarsAlbert FinneyAlec GuinnessEdith EvansA musical retelling of Charles Dickens' classic novel about an old bitter miser taken on a journey of self-redemption, courtesy of several mysterious Christmas apparitions.I admit a weakness to watching Tom the Street Vendor dancing on Scrooge's coffin and singing "Thank you very much...."
- DirectorPeter GodfreyStarsBarbara StanwyckDennis MorganSydney GreenstreetA food writer who has lied about being the perfect housewife must try to cover her deception when her boss and a returning war hero invite themselves to her home for a traditional family Christmas.A screwball Christmas. I love screwball.
- DirectorVincente MinnelliStarsJudy GarlandMargaret O'BrienMary AstorYoung love and childish fears highlight a year in the life of a turn-of-the-century family.Nowadays people don't "get" how sad "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" actually is. Because it is in essence saying, "enjoy this one kid because from now on they are going to SUCK."
- DirectorErnst LubitschStarsMargaret SullavanJames StewartFrank MorganTwo employees at a gift shop can barely stand each other, without realizing that they are falling in love through the post as each other's anonymous pen pal.The best James Stewart Christmas movie. Yes, them's fightin' words.
- DirectorJoe DanteStarsZach GalliganPhoebe CatesHoyt AxtonA young man inadvertently breaks three important rules concerning his new pet and unleashes a horde of malevolently mischievous monsters on a small town.'The worst thing that ever happened to me was on Christmas. Oh, God. It was so horrible. It was Christmas Eve. I was 9 years old...And that's how I found out there was no Santa Claus.' Brilliant.
- DirectorAbe LevitowStarsJim BackusMorey AmsterdamJack CassidyThis musical adaptation of the classic tale by Charles Dickens stars Magoo as the cold-hearted old miser, Ebenezer Scrooge.First version of it I ever saw.
- DirectorGeorge SeatonStarsEdmund GwennMaureen O'HaraJohn PayneAfter a divorced New York mother hires a nice old man to play Santa Claus at Macy's, she is startled by his claim to be the genuine article. When his sanity is questioned, a lawyer defends him in court by arguing that he's not mistaken.Much better than the remake. Some fantasies work better in black and white. It seems so... fake in color. Yes, I know it IS fake, but it should not seem that way.
- DirectorRichard CurtisStarsHugh GrantMartine McCutcheonLiam NeesonFollows the lives of eight very different couples in dealing with their love lives in various loosely interrelated tales all set during a frantic month before Christmas in London, England.Turn in your Man Card, Mr. Lime! Actually, this makes it primarily for the incomparable Emma Thompson's heart-breaking stoic turn. God, she is great.
- DirectorTed DemmeStarsDenis LearyJudy DavisKevin SpaceyA cat burglar is forced to take a bickering, dysfunctional family hostage on Christmas Eve.
- DirectorMichael CurtizStarsHumphrey BogartPeter UstinovAldo RayThree Devil's Island escapees hide out in the house of a kindly merchant and repay his kindness by helping him and his family out of several crises.
- DirectorBob ClarkStarsPeter BillingsleyMelinda DillonDarren McGavinIn the 1940s, a young boy named Ralphie Parker attempts to convince his parents, teacher, and Santa Claus that a Red Ryder Range 200 Shot BB gun really is the perfect Christmas gift.Well, I have come to grips with it over the years. Nicely nostalgic and more cute than funny.