# Thanksgiving movies **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 26, 2012, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thanksgiving-movies/638933 "2012-10-26T14:03:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![peedin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peedin/32/14095_2.png) [@peedin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/peedin)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2012, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thanksgiving-movies/638933/1 "2012-10-26T14:03:41Z")
Obviously there are tons of Christmas movies. But Thanksgiving seems like the ignored holiday. Are there any movies specific to or centering around Thanksgiving? I am not interested in the Walton’s Thanksgiving movie or the Ed Asner made-for-tv movie about his daughters coming home. I’m thinking more along the lines of 30s/40s/50s released in the theater movies. _Miracle on 34th Street_ opens with the Macy’s parade but that’s the only one I can think of. ---
**Author:** ![Gordon\_Urquhart](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/db5fbb/32.png) [@Gordon\_Urquhart](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gordon_Urquhart)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2012, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thanksgiving-movies/638933/2 "2012-10-26T14:09:37Z")
It’s from 1995, but [Home for the Holidays](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0113321/), with Holly Hunter and Robert Downey Jr., is a very good movie about family gathering together on Thanksgiving. It’s pretty dark in spots, but overall it’s a good comedy. I love using the line, “Where’ve you been – we ate already” whenever my sister’s family drives up for Thanksgiving or Christmas. ---
**Author:** ![Labdad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/439d5e/32.png) [@Labdad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Labdad)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2012, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thanksgiving-movies/638933/3 "2012-10-26T14:19:36Z")
And this is from 2003, but [_Pieces of April_](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0311648/) is a wonderful Thanksgiving movie. ---
**Author:** ![Gordon\_Urquhart](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/db5fbb/32.png) [@Gordon\_Urquhart](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gordon_Urquhart)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2012, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thanksgiving-movies/638933/4 "2012-10-26T14:27:52Z")
It’s been (regretfully) so long since I’ve seen it that I thought John Hughes’ [Planes, Trains & Automobiles](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0093748/) (1987) was about going home for Christmas, but it’s actually Thanksgiving. ---
**Author:** ![zombywoof](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/9e8a1a/32.png) [@zombywoof](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zombywoof)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2012, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thanksgiving-movies/638933/5 "2012-10-26T14:43:43Z")
In the even more recent (2011) [Tower Heist](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0471042/), the robbery takes place during the Macy’s Thanksgiving parade. ---
**Author:** ![Sigmagirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c89c15/32.png) [@Sigmagirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigmagirl)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2012, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thanksgiving-movies/638933/6 "2012-10-26T14:58:00Z")
> [@Labdad](#): > > And this is from 2003, but [_Pieces of April_](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0311648/) is a wonderful Thanksgiving movie. I was trying to think of this name yesterday. Somebody posted a _Cracked_ link on Facebook about how all movies that have black men hooked up with white women are done for the “shock” value except for _Love, Actually_ and _Rachel Getting Married_, and I haven’t seen the second one, but I was racking my brain for . . . that Thanksgiving movie! with Oliver Platt! Where the oven breaks! Good picture. ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2012, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thanksgiving-movies/638933/7 "2012-10-26T15:04:02Z")
Alice’s Restaurant. It’s after Guthrie visits his friend Alice for Thanksgiving, he offers to transport her trash to the dump where… you know. ---
**Author:** ![Dendarii\_Dame](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bbce88/32.png) [@Dendarii\_Dame](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dendarii_Dame)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2012, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thanksgiving-movies/638933/8 "2012-10-26T15:27:30Z")
_For Your Consideration_, one of the Christopher Guest ensemble films, is about a movie originally called _Home for Purim_, which is then changed to _Home for Thanksgiving_. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2012, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thanksgiving-movies/638933/9 "2012-10-26T16:03:47Z")
> [@Dendarii\_Dame](#): > > _For Your Consideration_, one of the Christopher Guest ensemble films, is about a movie originally called _Home for Purim_, which is then changed to _Home for Thanksgiving_. Heh…I came in here to mention this one. The whole process of starting out as a little indie niche movie and everything scaling up in reaction to the buzz they’re getting is great. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2012, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thanksgiving-movies/638933/10 "2012-10-26T16:05:31Z")
> [@Gordon\_Urquhart](#): > > It’s been (regretfully) so long since I’ve seen it that I thought John Hughes’ [Planes, Trains & Automobiles](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0093748/) (1987) was about going home for Christmas, but it’s actually Thanksgiving. I seem to recall someone saying, maybe here on the SDMB, that he had a tradition of watching this movie every Thanksgiving. ---
**Author:** ![Antinor01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecae2f/32.png) [@Antinor01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Antinor01)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2012, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thanksgiving-movies/638933/11 "2012-10-26T16:10:51Z")
Thankskilling. A really, really bad attempt at a horror movie. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2012, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thanksgiving-movies/638933/12 "2012-10-26T17:02:23Z")
_Dutch_, like PT&A, is about people travelling to be somewhere on Thanksgiving, but it’s not really about Thanksgiving. ---
**Author:** ![Tangent](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tangent/32/3098_2.png) [@Tangent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tangent)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2012, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thanksgiving-movies/638933/13 "2012-10-26T17:29:05Z")
_[The Myth of Fingerprints](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0119746/)_, starring Roy Scheider, Julianne Moore, and Noah Wylie. I didn’t care for it much, but it is a Thanksgiving movie. ---
**Author:** ![Tamarin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bc79bd/32.png) [@Tamarin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamarin)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2012, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thanksgiving-movies/638933/14 "2012-10-26T17:45:33Z")
> [@Gordon\_Urquhart](#): > > It’s from 1995, but [Home for the Holidays](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0113321/), with Holly Hunter and Robert Downey Jr., is a very good movie about family gathering together on Thanksgiving. It’s pretty dark in spots, but overall it’s a good comedy. > > I love using the line, “Where’ve you been – we ate already” whenever my sister’s family drives up for Thanksgiving or Christmas. This is our traditional Thanksgiving movie. We also watch the Thanksgiving episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer from season 4 “Pangs.” Anya: I love a ritual sacrifice. Buffy: Not really a one of those. Anya: To commemorate a past event, you kill and eat an animal. It’s a ritual sacrifice. With pie. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2012, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thanksgiving-movies/638933/15 "2012-10-26T17:50:26Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > I seem to recall someone saying, maybe here on the SDMB, that he had a tradition of watching this movie every Thanksgiving. It’s one of my Thanksgiving movie traditions, along with others mentioned here _Pieces of April_ and _Home for the Holidays_. I also watch _The Ice Storm_\* and the _WKRP in Cincinnati_ episode “Turkeys Away.” \*Not always in the mood every year, but I try. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2012, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thanksgiving-movies/638933/16 "2012-10-26T18:02:06Z")
Actually, would the traditional Thanksgiving movie be a Christmas movie? Or Wizard of Oz? ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2012, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thanksgiving-movies/638933/17 "2012-10-26T18:08:54Z")
> [@tdn](#): > > Actually, would the traditional Thanksgiving movie be a Christmas movie? Or Wizard of Oz? If you were lucky enough to get (I think) WOR out of Secaucus when you were a kid, the traditional Thanksgiving movies are from Toho Studios… ---
**Author:** ![TreacherousCretin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treacherouscretin/32/476_2.png) [@TreacherousCretin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TreacherousCretin)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2012, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thanksgiving-movies/638933/18 "2012-10-26T18:28:29Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > I seem to recall someone saying, maybe here on the SDMB, that he had a tradition of watching this movie every Thanksgiving. If it wasn’t me, it is now. ---
**Author:** ![rsat3acr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/a3d4f5/32.png) [@rsat3acr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rsat3acr)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2012, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thanksgiving-movies/638933/19 "2012-10-27T00:59:33Z")
> [@KneadToKnow](#): > > It’s one of my Thanksgiving movie traditions, along with others mentioned here _Pieces of April_ and _Home for the Holidays_. I also watch _The Ice Storm_\* and the _WKRP in Cincinnati_ episode “Turkeys Away.” > \*Not always in the mood every year, but I try. with God as my witness, I thought turkeys could fly. ---
**Author:** ![Hail\_Ants](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/dc4da7/32.png) [@Hail\_Ants](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hail_Ants)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2012, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thanksgiving-movies/638933/20 "2012-10-27T01:05:38Z")
> [@jayjay](#): > > If you were lucky enough to get (I think) WOR out of Secaucus when you were a kid, the traditional Thanksgiving movies are from Toho Studios… Yeah, I grew up with channel 9, but I thought it was the original _ **King Kong** _ that got shown on Thanksgiving. Toho movies (i.e. Godzilla & etc. monster movies) were usually a week long stretch on WABC’s _The 4:30 Movie_… 😃 [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thanksgiving-movies/638933.md?page=2)