A CHRISTMAS STORY is my all-time favorite holiday movie. I’ve seen it probably fifty times, but I don’t think I’ve ever actually watched it from the beginning to end in one sitting. Like most people, I catch the annual 24-hour marathon on TNT or TBS or one of those networks with a “T” and see various segments at a time. Usually, by the end of 24-hours I’ve pretty much seen the whole film, albeit disjointed. But there are other Christmas movies I recommend as well.
DIE HARD certainly. A company Christmas party goes bad but like Santa saving the day, Bruce Willis sweeps in and kills a lot of people.
LOVE ACTUALLY – Eight different stories interweave in this delightful romantic comedy (although it's much maligned). You’re bound to be charmed by at least three. And you get Keira Knightley before she felt the need to change her body image.
BACHELOR MOTHER – Okay, this is an obscure one. 1939 starring Ginger Rogers and David Niven. A screwball comedy set in a department store filled with misdirection and confusion. Warning: Ginger doesn’t dance.
BAD SANTA – Very dark comedy starring Billy Bob Thornton as a Santa who robs stores. People either really like it or they loathe it. Sort of like with IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE. The sequel is coming out this year. Can't speak for it.
SANTA CLAUS CONQUERS THE MARTIANS – All you need to know about this 1964 sugar plum is that 8-year-old Pia Zadora plays a Martian child.
ELF – worth it for Bob Newhart alone.
HOME ALONE – A John Hughes classic. The Macaulay Culkin “
AAAAAAA!” movie that is still funny year after year.
STALAG 17 – Most people don’t think of this Billy Wilder classic set in a World War II German Prisoner of War camp as a holiday yarn, but it was set during a Christmas season. And it is a phenomenal movie.
SUSAN SLEPT HERE – This 1954 comedy starring Dick Powell and a very young Debbie Reynolds is one of my favorites because it takes place in my neighborhood and I think you can see my house from Dick Powell’s balcony. I don’t know if the movie’s any good. I’m always just looking out the windows.
There you go. I know it’s a short list, but if I see one more Scrooge reboot or fantasy with Jim Carrey in make-up I think I’ll vomit. Oh, and one final warning: There are a lot of bad Christmas movies and a lot of bad comedy movies but MIXED NUTS might be the very worst of both. It’s the “Aunt Edna’s Fruitcake” of holiday films. What are your favorites... and least favorites?