# Why so few movies about Thanksgiving? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 25, 2009, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-so-few-movies-about-thanksgiving/518949 "2009-11-25T20:09:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Meeko](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e495f1/32.png) [@Meeko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meeko)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2009, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-so-few-movies-about-thanksgiving/518949/21 "2009-11-26T03:35:50Z")
I found Pieces of April, DVD at Dollar Tree about two weeks ago. I came into this thread to recommend it. I rented it on Netflix, and was on the fence about buying it. For a dollar, I bought, if only to remind myself why I Wanted to buy it. [Go figure.] ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2009, 4:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-so-few-movies-about-thanksgiving/518949/22 "2009-11-26T04:52:52Z")
[Home Sweet Home](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Home_Sweet_Home_(1981_film)) (1981[SIZE=2]) [/SIZE] > [@](#): > > The Bradley family and their friends gather at an isolated country home to celebrate [Thanksgiving](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thanksgiving). But unknown to the Bradleys, they have an uninvited guest. A giggling, PCP-addled, homicidal maniac has escaped from imprisonment to satisfy his pent-up lust for murder. And he has singled out their home for his psychopathic killing spree. One by one, the revelers will be methodically stalked and served up in the butcher’s holiday blood feast. ---
**Author:** ![PlainJain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/5daacb/32.png) [@PlainJain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PlainJain)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2009, 5:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-so-few-movies-about-thanksgiving/518949/23 "2009-11-26T05:41:47Z")
A tad off topic I know, but I noticed the same thing about T-day songs. I’ve always had a dream that if I could write a killer Thanksgiving song I could retire on the royalties. ---
**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:** [November 26, 2009, 5:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-so-few-movies-about-thanksgiving/518949/24 "2009-11-26T05:52:03Z")
The film that’s being made in _For Your Consideration_ ends up being about a Thanksgiving homecoming during WWII (actually, TWO Thanksgiving homecomings during WWII). Of course, it starts out about PURIM homecomings during WWII, but the media hype as it is being made changes things. Okay, _FYC_ isn’t actually a Thanksgiving movie, I guess… ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2009, 6:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-so-few-movies-about-thanksgiving/518949/25 "2009-11-26T06:37:37Z")
Addams Family Values surely counts as a Thanksgiving movie. “Eat Me!” ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2009, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-so-few-movies-about-thanksgiving/518949/26 "2009-11-26T19:14:11Z")
**weirdaaron** nailed it in one. The short answer: there’s no money in it in either today’s or yesterday’s market. Even the movies about Thanksgiving really aren’t about Thanksgiving. They’re about disfunctional families or other events that just happen to use T-day as a device for getting all of these crackpots in one house. ---
**Author:** ![Musky\_Moon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/90db22/32.png) [@Musky\_Moon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musky_Moon)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2009, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-so-few-movies-about-thanksgiving/518949/27 "2009-11-26T23:52:59Z")
Wasn’t there a family drama with Noah Wiley about Thanksgiving? ---
**Author:** ![rowrrbazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rowrrbazzle/32/414_2.png) [@rowrrbazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rowrrbazzle)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2009, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-so-few-movies-about-thanksgiving/518949/28 "2009-11-27T00:15:57Z")
Not a full-length movie, but there’s Truman Capote’s [The Thanksgiving Visitor](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gfkYVO9RgdU). ---
**Author:** ![UltraVires](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecccb3/32.png) [@UltraVires](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UltraVires)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2009, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-so-few-movies-about-thanksgiving/518949/29 "2009-11-27T00:36:13Z")
> [@Giles](#): > > While “Planes, Trains and Automobiles” is indeed about Thanksgiving, it could equally be about Steve Martin’s character trying to get home for Christmas, or for any other family holiday, so that it still has international appeal. That, plus I think the audience would have felt way worse for the characters had they been missing out on Christmas with the family and the young kids at home. Thanksgiving made it out to be that you wanted the guys to get home, but it wouldn’t be tragic if they didn’t. ---
**Author:** ![RachelChristine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/7ab992/32.png) [@RachelChristine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RachelChristine)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2009, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-so-few-movies-about-thanksgiving/518949/30 "2009-11-27T14:37:03Z")
I loved “Mouse on the Mayflower” when I was little. I’d love to share that with my daughter, but it doesn’t appear they show it anymore and it’s not available on DVD. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2009, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-so-few-movies-about-thanksgiving/518949/31 "2009-11-27T15:49:20Z")
[\*Mouse on the Mayflower \*DVD](http://moviesfromtheedge.com/mouse-on-the-mayflower-19681968.html) ---
**Author:** ![Caprese](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a9a28c/32.png) [@Caprese](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Caprese)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2009, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-so-few-movies-about-thanksgiving/518949/32 "2009-11-27T15:54:02Z")
> [@Scarlett67](#): > > Here’s my favorite Thanksgiving movie: [What’s Cooking](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0197096/), directed by Gurinder Chadha, who also directed **Bend It Like Beckham**. It follows four families of different ethnicities on Thanksgiving Day. Lots of family stuff and food porn. > > . I thought I was the only one in the world who liked that movie. Sure there was a bit of stereotyping, but not all that bad, and there were many genuine, heartfelt moments, along with some really funny scenes. And yeah, the food! ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2009, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-so-few-movies-about-thanksgiving/518949/33 "2009-11-27T16:08:26Z")
> [@MrDibble](#): > > Addams Family Values surely counts as a Thanksgiving movie. > > “Eat Me!” I came in to mention that… and \*I \*brought a [link](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ccj2BH25c0I&feature=related). ---
**Author:** ![Don\_Draper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b2d939/32.png) [@Don\_Draper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_Draper)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2009, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-so-few-movies-about-thanksgiving/518949/34 "2009-11-27T16:23:40Z")
[Hannah and Her Sisters](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0091167/) - Although the film doesn’t specifically deal with Thanksgiving, several crucial scenes are set at three T-day dinners over the course of several years. (Movie begins, climaxes and ends with T-day dinner party scenes.) ---
**Author:** ![DMark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@DMark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DMark)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2009, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-so-few-movies-about-thanksgiving/518949/35 "2009-11-27T18:36:54Z")
Whereas Christmas is celebrated in many countries, it is also a process - decorating, buying gifts, pre-Christmas parties at schools, offices, homes, etc., plus other traditions lasting over a period of days/weeks leading up to it, Thanksgiving is pretty much a one-shot dinner. As a script writer, there is only so much you can do with a room full of family and relatives and the occasional friends/fiance thrown in - and it has been done in countless television shows. Plus, as others have mentioned, this is a USA holiday that doesn’t really translate well in other markets, so the films won’t really do well. I know a British friend of mine had no idea what Thanksgiving was until he saw Planes, Trains…and was still a bit confused after seeing the film. I know I spent most of my childhood years stuck in a house with dumbass relatives, forced to watch one damned football game after another, and bored out of my mind. I can’t say that Thanksgiving brings me warm and fuzzy feelings, and thus I am not particularly interested in a film based on that holiday. This is not to say there couldn’t, at some point, be a compelling film I might want to see - but as far as Thanksgiving alone as subject material; not interested. ---
**Author:** ![salinqmind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3ec8ea/32.png) [@salinqmind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/salinqmind)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2009, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-so-few-movies-about-thanksgiving/518949/36 "2009-11-27T20:32:20Z")
I’m with you, DMark. I find Thanksgiving the dreariest holiday. All that time, work, and money, all that cooking, and what do you get? A stinking huge corpse of a turkey that nobody actually likes, and the same old faces staring at each other as a football game rages in the background. Oh, I know, I know, we’re all grateful to still be alive and together, etc. But if we took a vote, everyone would prefer pizza or go to the Chinese buffet, and maybe go to a movie. But NO! We MUST knock ourselves out cooking the stinking bird, watch football, and then pack it all up. it’s Thanksgiving, and that’s what we must do. No wonder there are so many dysfunctional family shows and movies. There aren’t that many Thanksgiving movies as stated, but I do like a corny old musical on as background. Yesterday TCM showed Fred Astaire movies all day, but I do like the later gaudy technicolor ones. ---
**Author:** ![Harmonious\_Discord](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/74df32/32.png) [@Harmonious\_Discord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harmonious_Discord)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2009, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-so-few-movies-about-thanksgiving/518949/37 "2009-11-27T20:57:08Z")
> [@PlainJain](#): > > A tad off topic I know, but I noticed the same thing about T-day songs. I’ve always had a dream that if I could write a killer Thanksgiving song I could retire on the royalties. Da Turkey Song by Bananas At Large - They also do Da Turdy Point Buck and other seasonal hunting songs. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-so-few-movies-about-thanksgiving/518949.md?page=1)