I was discussing with a friend the approaching holiday season, which in my childhood, was kicked off in style on Thanksgiving evening with the network television movie of the week. Remember those? Before my family had a VCR or cable television, geez, before cable television included stations playing marathons of It's a Wonderful Life or Miracle on 34th Street all day/week/month long, we had to tune into the movie of the week and sit through commercials and everything, but it made me happy. It was an event. It was the only time The Empire Strikes Back or Wizard of Oz or Swiss Family Robinson was going to be showing all year.
Over the years, the way we consume media has changed about as radically as the first crude torches carrying fire to the lighted night time streets of my neighborhood and the idea of tuning into network TV at a certain time and sitting through edits and commercials? Sounds barbaric. Nevertheless, I’m a little nostalgic for it this time of year, and perhaps that’s why there are a handful of movies that I feel compelled to take out and view again for the up-teenth time every holiday season.
No, not the same as the holiday fare of my childhood, I’m talking about the new Christmas classics. I have a feeling I’m not alone in considering these my favorite seasonal viewing fodder.
Die Hard. The first one. Need I don a hammy German accent and say more than, “Now I have a machine gun. Ho. Ho. Ho?”
Lethal Weapon. Again, the first. Only. Riggs by the blinking lights of the tree saying we do it my way this time, “We’re gonna get bloody on this one, Rog.”
Godfather and Godfather Part II. For some reason, the scene of Al Pacino and Diane Keaton strolling down the street, arms piled with gifts, still on the optimistic end of life and me, knowing where they’re headed? I don’t know, connects with me this time of year for some reason.
L.A. Confidential. The gorgeous period rendering, the prelude to Bud White punishing a wife-beater by ripping the Christmas lights off of his house, the ‘Bloody Christmas’ riot, the Christmas Eve pot bust captured by Hush-Hush… Mmm, good.
The Ice Harvest. Only John Cusack could make a d-bag like Charlie such a likeable onscreen presence. When he’s in the gas station filling his arms with cheap plastic gifts for his estranged kids on Christmas Eve and the clerk gives him the sarcastic appraisal – “Last of the big spenders.” Charlie asks him if he’s got any kids. When the clerk replies in the negative, Charlie says, “Then shut the f*#@ up.” Nice.
Donnie Brasco. The Christmas scene of Pacino and Johnny Depp exchanging gift envelopes full of cash in that cruddy apartment and then Pacino asking for a loan, ah, it’s touching, hilarious and pathetic all at once and it gets me every time.
Bad Santa. This one has got to be a favorite of those of us who’ve spent time in the trenches during the holy season of retail. Billy Bob Thornton says just about everything we’ve ever wanted to, but held our tongues because we really needed our jobs. Treat your retail salespeople well, folks. Please. As Spongebob sang, “Don’t be a jerk, it’s Christmas.”
For some reason, I tend to go for Gangsters, Westerns, Film Noirs and stately Cop flicks this time of year, more than usual. Count Lumet’s Dog Day Afternoon, Serpico or Before the Devil Knows You're Dead, Welles’ Touch of Evil, Lady from Shanghai or that first one he made that wasn’t too bad on my radar and add to the list anything from Jean Pierre Melville, Martin Scorsese, David Lynch, The Coen Brothers or Sam Peckinpah and plenty from Sergio Leone and Brian De Palma.
What are your favorite “holiday” movies?
Jedidiah Ayres writes fiction and keeps the blog Hardboiled Wonderland.
