Well, folks, it's that time of year when the Hallmark Channel starts vomiting lights and tinsel all over its programming schedule. Theaters start showing "classic" Christmas movies (I even have tickets to see It's a Wonderful Life and White Christmas over the next week). In short, it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas.
Like everyone else, I have favourite holiday films that I like to watch in December. A couple of them--specifically Love Actually and The Holiday--I'll watch any time of year (they are a couple of my standard "Saturday night movies"--long story). I enjoy the classics like Miracle on 34th Street and just about any version of A Christmas Carol. I also enjoy more contemporary (in my lifetime) holiday fare that has become just as classic such as Elf and National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation.
And I know I'm going to touch a few nerves here, but I do consider Die Hard a Christmas movie. The argument that it's not--that the plot has nothing to do with Christmas and that it just happens to take place during the holiday--is a ridiculous one. By that criterion, It's a Wonderful Life isn't a Christmas movie either and I'm pretty sure no one agrees with that. Having said that, and I will touch a few more nerves here, but, frankly, as much as I like Die Hard (and I do), I think Lethal Weapon is actually the better Christmas movie... that's right, I said it. To be fair, I usually try to watch them together as a "double feature" (hopefully this Friday) and there are at least three actors who appeared in both films. I've even been known to enjoy The Long Kiss Goodnight from time to time. Because sometimes you just want to see things get blown up. As someone once said, "Yippy-ki-yay, motherfucker!"
But as I've gotten older, for some odd reason, over the last few years, I've found myself drawn to this week's film. I've watched it multiple times every holiday season for about four years now... maybe even longer. To be honest, I think I lost count.
The strange thing is that the film is notorious for its behind-the-scenes drama. Apparently, star Bill Murray and director Richard Donner (who also, coincidentally directed that other holiday classic, Lethal Weapon) didn't get along on set. When asked by Roger Ebert if he had any disagreements with Donner, Murray said, "Only a few. Every single minute of the day. That could have been a really, really great movie. The script was so good. There's maybe one take in the final cut movie that is mine. We made it so fast. It was like doing a movie live. He kept telling me to do things louder, louder, louder. I think he was deaf."
I don't know why, but this movie really means something to me. So, I have to admit when I hear things like that, it kind of saddens me. I always feel bad when something that's brought me so much pleasure did the opposite for the people who made it. And in spite of that, I keep watching it every holiday season. I personally think that the speech Murray gives at the end of the film is some of the finest acting he's ever done, and it moves me to tears every time I watch it.
The film, a retelling of Charles Dickens's A Christmas Carol (set in 1980s New York) was written by Mitch Glazer and Michael O'Donoghue, both of whom have brief cameos as a party guest and a priest respectively. It co-stars Karen Allen, Robert Mitchum, Alfre Woodard, Bobcat Goldthwait, John Glover, John Forsythe, Michael J. Pollard, Wendie Malick, David Johansen, and Carol Kane. If that weren't enough, Jamie Farr, Robert Goulet, Buddy Hackett, Lee Majors, John Houseman, Mary Lou Retton, and the Solid Gold Dancers all make appearances as themselves. The film also features three of Bill Murray's brothers--one actually playing his brother and another playing his father. The late Richard Donner was also one of those directors who liked working with certain actors repeatedly--look for Donner regulars Mary Ellen Trainor, Steve Kahan, Jack McGee, Damon Hines, and Norm Wilson (all of whom appeared in multiple Lethal Weapon films). Also, in one of those "blink and you'll miss it" cameos, Larry Carlton, David Sanborn, Paul Shaffer, and Miles Davis play street musicians performing perhaps the jazziest rendition of "We Three Kings" I've ever heard.
Despite the drama and the fact that most people probably would not rank it as one of the greatest Christmas movies ever made, this week, I'm still going to recommend 1988's Scrooged.
This is my last "Film of the Week" sermon for 2024. As I said in my "Album of the Week" rant, I hope you all have a wonderful holiday season, whatever holiday you celebrate. Or, if you don't celebrate any holidays, I still wish you a joyous few weeks at the end of the year. After all, why should we revelers have all the fun?
Until next year, stay safe, be good to your neighbours, and please remember that if at first you don't succeed, then skydiving definitely isn't for you.
Yours in peace, love, and rock and roll!
The Reverend Will the Thrill
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