airdisc I thought Jack Frost (not the icky-sweet Michael Keaton movie) & its sequel were Mr. Pol’s and my secret!
The baby snowballs are the BEST!
“Daddy!”
“Kill Daddy!”
On a more serious note - I’m also a big fan of A Christmas Story (though the books are better), A Charlie Brown Christmas and the animated Grinch.
Olive, the Other Reindeer is a new favorite and I will admit I have a soft spot for the Heat Miser & Snow Miser…
Any movie that has nothing to do with Christmas in any way, with one exception: Tim Allen in the Santa Clause, and after I get it on video, SC2.
It’s just not Christmas without It’s a Wonderful Life, Miracle on 34th Street (no, I won’t specify which version, since there was only one version of that movie ever made), A Christmas Story (but being a Clevelander, I’m biased), and at least one version of A Christmas Carol (I’m not particular on which one, but my favorite is the Muppet one). Oh, and it’s not a movie, but there has to be a trip to the ballet for The Nutcracker. A Charlie Brown Christmas and How the Grinch stole Christmas are definitely classics, but they didn’t get much airtime when I was growing up, so they’re not quite as significant for me.
Czarcasm, they made a movie of A Wish for Wings that Work??? I must have it! Why didn’t anyone ever tell me?
Scrooged and The Ref.
Is that the one where a child sends a picture of green ornaments on a blue tree, with a song about a blue Christmas?
I like Frosty the Snowman. Always liked the whole thing.
I best remember the words,
` “…he was made of snow but the children know how he came to life one day…”
Nobody gives children any credit.
“The Star Wars Holiday Special (AKA Wookiee Christmas)”
Omigod, YES! That and the two MST3K ones already mentioned and Merry Christmas Charlie Brown. But the Star Wars one can only be enjoyed with large amounts of cider - HARD cider, that is!
There’s a live action one I saw only ONCE way back when I was a kid and I’d love to see it again. Its an English-language opera called “Something and the Three Wise Men.” I can’t remember the title character’s name, but he’s a boy who needs to use a cruch and he and his mom take in the Three Wise Men on their way to visit You Know Who for a night. At the end, the boy offers his crutch as a gift and starts to walk. It was the first English-laguage opera I ever saw and I remember thinking Casper was pretty cool.
If any of you know the name of this opera, please let me know! That would be my first step in finding a copy at Blockbuster or he library.
Patty
Marvel: That’s **Amahl and the Night Visitors.
I listened to a recording of it in 6th grade. Never forgot it. A few years ago I went to a ballet version in which the dancers used sign language (ASL).
They kindof stretched it to make Amahl “dance” while still looking like he is crippled, but they managed to pull it off - and the signs blended in perfectly.
Can’t ditto Blackadder’s CHRISTMAS CAROL (“actually, Christmas has a ‘C’, Mr. Baldrick…and an H… and an R…”) enough. It helps atone for all the really syruppy renditions done on sitcoms and cable channels.
Two more recs:
Truman Capote’s A CHRISTMAS MEMORY- there are two versions- ignore the Patty Duke version like it was a Jehovah’s Witness selling AmWay. The original, starring Geraldine Page and narrated by Capote, will make the biggest straightest man you know cry.
THE LION IN WINTER- Hepburn and O’Toole chewing scenery, a very young Anthony Hopkins seducing a barely legal Timothy Dalton, and it’s all set at Christmas, 1183.
"The Star Wars Holiday Special (AKA Wookiee Christmas)"**
I recently saw this for the first time since it aired. It was transferred from a 25 year old videotape bought at a Trek convention. It was phenomenal- not so much for the first appearance of Boba Fett and Bea Arthur singing as for the original commercials that were left on. It’s so odd seeing toothpaste and shampoo ads that you haven’t even thought of since Jimmy Carter was in office and yet the jingle comes back to you (and of course, Bea Arthur singing is something too…)
I loved Chewbacca’s father and Art Carney as the travelling salesmen who seems to be making time with Mrs. Chewey.
Ahhhh… The Muppet Christmas Carol, I know it well.
Two classic films I haven’t seen mentioned yet:
Holiday Inn
Christmas in Connecticut (1940’s version)
Try watching these two instead of (or in addition to) your favorites this year. They never fail to get a laugh out of me at Christmas.
Don’t watch movies much, but no thanksgiving is complete without listening to Arlo’s “Alice’s Restaurant Masacree”
“Bumbles Bounce!” - Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer
and Frosty the Snowman
Ever notice at the end of Frosty Santa leaves the little girl on the roof. I always thought that was quite rude of him to do. He was also very mean spirited though out the rest of the show as well. Santa was also a bastard to Rudolph before he found a good use for his nose.
EVIL Santa is the funniest Santa! I am still waiting on that Wienie Whistle thing too.
Monty Python’s Life of Brian.
Hey, it’s got the birth of Jesus in it…
National Lamppons Christmas Vacation. High.Lair.Eeee.Ous.
It’s a Wonderful Life. Yeah.
A Charlie Brown Christmas It gets me. More so than Wonderful Life. Snoopy…
An Affair to Remember Cary Grant & Deborah Kerr
I know AtR isn’t a Christmas movie, but that wonderful 4 hankie final scene is set at Christmas, so has always fit into my Christmas movie schedule. I also vote for IAWL and Miracle.
I’m not crazy about Tim Allen…but, “The Santa Clause” was cool,
I really enjoyed that movie when it came out…took the kiddos to see it and have watched it ever since.
I don’t know about the new one.
You know how sequals usually go…ba hum-bug!
Christmas story…I can never get bored of it
The Ref
The Grinch… with Jim Carrey in the only role I can see him in twice.
