It’s beginning to look a lot like … Christmas movies.
Especially with people stuck at home because of the coronavirus, an awful lot of families will be watching a lot of holiday movies, both good and bad. In recent years, too many people have been trying to qualify their favorite action movies as Christmas movies because they take place in December.
I’m not real big on that one, but we’ll see.
Here are my top 10 favorites — strictly personal.
10. WHITE CHRISTMAS (1954) — This is not the movie that introduces America to Strom Thurmond’s favorite Christmas song. The song “White Christmas” first appeared in 1942’s “Holiday Inn.” This is a nice little movie with Bing Crosby and Danny Kaye as WW2 veterans trying to help their former commander from losing his business.
9. CHRISTMAS IN CONNECTICUT (1945) — One of the first Christmas movies to be released after V-J Day. Barbara Stanwyck is a famous food columnist who can’t cook. She’s put in the position of having to entertain her boss and a returning war hero, hoping she can fool them.
8. THE MUPPET CHRISTMAS CAROL (1992) — The Muppets reimagine the famous Dickens Christmas story with the wonderful Michael Caine and all the usual Muppet stars. It’s not “Citizen Kane,” but it’s a pleasant little film.
7. A CHARLIE BROWN CHRISTMAS (1965) — The only one on the list that was made for television, a movie that became a holiday tradition for three generations of families. Unique in that it includes material about the sadness sometimes connected with the Christmas season.
6. MIRACLE ON 34TH STREET (1947) — One of the most beloved of American Christmas movies, it’s almost as ubiquitous in December as that famous Frank Capra film. It’s also the earliest significant role for 9-year-old Natalie Wood, and no one was ever a more perfect Santa than Edmund Gwenn.
5. BAD SANTA (2003) — Strictly personal, and I’m not sure young children could see it without being traumatized. More than any other role, this is the one that shows why Billy Bob Thornton is an actor worth watching. When asked why his hair fell out so he has to wear a fake beard, he responds, “I loved a woman who wasn’t clean.”
4. NATIONAL LAMPOON’S CHRISTMAS VACATION (1989) — This movie has grown on me over the years. One of my original complaints about it was that the third of the Vacation movies had the third different pair of actors playing the Griswold children. Another was that Chevy Chase is best taken in small doses. But in the end, this is a very good-hearted movie.
3. IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE (1946) — I’m pretty sure this would be in the top two of most people’s lists, and while it isn’t Frank Capra’s best film, it’s certainly his best loved. James Stewart and Donna Reed are the perfect couple in post-war America. And there are very few movies that end with Christmas hymns, but this one works.
2. A CHRISTMAS STORY (1983) — There has never been a better Christmas movie about family in the baby boom years. One of the few movies made from the wonderful Jean Shepherd stories. Don’t bother with the horrible sequel that came along in 2012, but enjoy this one again and again.
So where do we go from here? My own favorite Christmas movie is one that people generally either love or hate. And many people do hate it. I love it. Since the first time I saw it 17 years ago, it has been one of my three favorite movies.
Not just Christmas movies. Movies.
- LOVE ACTUALLY (2003) — It’s the only movie on this list that’s not an American movie, and it’s got almost every British star of modern times in it. My favorite of all the subplots is Jamie and Aurelia, and the best of the throwaway lines in it is “I hate Uncle Jamie” when he makes a spur of the moment decision to go to France.
