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Ask FlickChick: Holiday Movies and More...
Send your movie questions to FlickChick.
Question: I know how much you love holiday movies – joke, joke – so I'm wondering which one you object to least? And don't say Bad Santa – that's not a Christmas movie! Copper
FlickChick: You may laugh, but I actually like It's a Wonderful Life (1946), the original Miracle on 34th Street (1947) and Christmas in Connecticut (1945). And I like them all for the same reason: They're not cute and saccharine – if you've never seen any or all of them, you'd probably be surprised by their sharpness. It's a Wonderful Life, especially, goes to some very dark places. And Christmas in Connecticut is a blast: Barbara Stanwyck plays a magazine columnist who made her reputation writing about how to maintain a perfect household – she's basically the Martha Stewart of her day, and she's always writing about the wonderful meals she makes for her husband and their small child on the family's Connecticut farm. But she's making it all up: She lives in an apartment, the old Hungarian guy who owns the restaurant around the corner cooks for her, and she isn't married or a mother. Her career is threatened when the magazine's publisher (not her editor, who knows the truth) cooks up a heartwarming PR stunt: He wants her to invite a wounded war veteran recently released from the hospital — his human interest story has been all over the papers — to join her family for Christmas dinner.
And just so everyone doesn't think I'm going soft, I also like The Hebrew Hammer (2003), which manages to be rude about Christmas, Hanukkah and Kwanzaa — I've never cared for Andy Dick, but he is unrepentant as evil Santa Damian.
And I'll watch any Christmas-themed horror movie. Most of them are crap, but I love seeing department-store St. Nicks murdered in public restrooms and psychopaths wreaking havoc in Santa suits; they pander to all my most ingrained loathing of the forced gaiety and soft-focus sentimentality of the period between Thanksgiving and New Year's — that's five long weeks that also happen to be my busiest weeks of the year at work because it's when all the studios release all their big-budget, Oscar-contending movies. As soon as every cabdriver in New York adds Dean Martin singing "It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year" to his heavy rotation, I start craving a slay ride. I suppose I should be happy that the remake of Black Christmas (1974) is opening on December 25, but in my heart of hearts I suspect it will be as obvious and uninteresting as director Glen Morgan's 2003 remake of Willard. There we go — now I'm starting to sound like my familiar holiday self!
Remember: Send your movie questions to FlickChick.
Question: I'm trying to locate a copy of a movie that was made in the late 1960s or early '70s. It's about high-school football and Gary Busey stars as a player. I think Larry Hagman is his coach, and his dad puts all kinds of pressure on him, but I'm not sure of the name. I thought it was "Poetry in Motion," but all I find under that title is a DVD of poets reading poetry. The movie was filmed in Northern California and I'd like to surprise a friend with a copy because her husband was an extra and their kids are dying to see it. Becky
FlickChick: You're looking for a 1973 made-for-TV movie called Blood Sport (1973), with a young Gary Busey as a teen athlete whose father (Ben Johnson) pressures him into playing high-school football (Busey himself played in college); his coach is played by Larry Hagman. I've heard people say they were reminded of it by Friday Night Lights (the book and the film) because it dealt with the pressures put on young players by football-loving towns, by parents who live vicariously through their kids, and by coaches who are determined to win at all costs. The bad news is that like many TV-movies of the 1970s and '80s, it's never been commercially available on video or DVD. I haven't even been able to locate a bootleg, but if I were you I'd start scouring sites that specialize in obscure or hard-to-find videos and DVDS. You should also check eBay regularly, but be careful: There's a Jean-Claude Van Damme movie of the same title — and you don't want that one.
Remember: Send your movie questions to FlickChick.
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Nov 15, 2006 4:56 PM
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It's a Wonderful Life has long been my favorite movie and I think you put the hammer on the head why, Maitland: It does indeed go to dark places (Pottersville sequence and Uncle Billy's misplaced money sequence before that). I also liked the various humorous touches: the falling in swiming pool scene and the hydranda sequence afterwards. Since NBC is the only channel that airs it now, I haven't seen it since but I still have an unedited one from AMC and I have a brother-in-law that loves it as much as I do so maybe one day we'll see it together...
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Nov 16, 2006 12:12 AM
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Boy Maitland, you did better than I can. I can't think of a single holiday movie that I really like. I guess Bad Santa comes closest. Oh, Jean Shepherd's A Christmas Story still gives me a laugh or two.
I do remember that when I was growing up in Detroit the afternoon movie host, Bill Kennedy ( a one time character actor who appeared with Jack Palnace in I Died A Thousand Times and who was the "Faster than a speeding bullet" announcer on the George Reeves Adventures Of Superman) used to run The Quiet Man every St. Patrick's Day and The Adventures Of Robin Hood every Thanksgiving.
So I guess I have more great memories of movies I associate with holidays than I do of holiday movies themselves.
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Nov 16, 2006 3:04 AM
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Thanks for the shout-out to The Hebrew Hammer ! Though some scenes are really vulgar, the movie's so hysterical it doesn't matter.
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Nov 16, 2006 12:05 PM
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Another movie that I don't find too saccharine is "The Bishop's Wife" with David Niven, Cary Grant and Loretta Young. It has a strange mixture of things for a Christmas story: screwball comedy, a strained marriage, a lucky coin and divine intervention, but I really enjoy it. I've never seen the modern remake so I don't know if it's as good. Anyone seen it?
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Nov 16, 2006 1:34 PM
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Why would I be surprised that anyone enjoys these well-made, high-quality flicks? It is OK to like things, even if they are popular or supposed to be good for you! Why wouldn't Maitland enjoy a holiday movie if it's well done?
I know this year I will have to see Holiday Inn and It's a Wonderful Life at least once or it won't feel like Christmas!
Regarding Bloodsport (the 1988 Jean-Claude movie is all one word), you do want to see this movie. Not only does it have the great martial arts showdown at the end and a lot of bad acting, it has the most hilarious scene with Jean-Claude dancing. You must see that at least one time before you die. It's a great (really great) choice for a bad movie when you feel like slumming. Kumite! Kumite! Kumite!
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Nov 16, 2006 1:44 PM
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Here our my families favorite holiday movies.
A Christmas Story
Christmas Vacation
Badder Santa ( I enjoy this one particulary when I am in a very grumpy holiday mood)
Elf
Polar Express
How The Grinch Stole Christmas
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Nov 16, 2006 2:01 PM
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Hey, Maitland . . . "Christmas in Connecticut"? One of my top favorites, and one I always have to explain as no one seems to ever have heard of it! I love it and have loved it for years . . . since the days long ago when WGN in Chicago would show it every year . . . true appointment viewing! Even as a very young girl I responded to the idea of business over domesticity, with a mink coat as a true goal, and love as a bonus. It's smart/funny and romantic, with just enough holiday stuff to make it seasonal but not "icky". I have it on VHS and watch it every year as I decorate my tree . . . it's not Christmas without it. And for the record, I always watch "Holiday Inn", "White Christmas" and "Miracle on 34th Street" (the original, thank you very much).
Oh, just a note to whoever handles the TV Guide link to "Connecticut", they have the story wrong . . . she doesn't rent the house and she doesn't have to convince him to marry her. If you're going to summarize a movie, show some respect, please, and get the details correct. There, I feel better now!
Thanks for the holiday movie stuff . . . you made my evening! -- Jenny D
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Nov 16, 2006 6:48 PM
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My favorite holiday movies are
A Christmas Story
It's a Wonderful Life
Miracle on 34th St.
and for the dark moments of the holidays... The Ref with Dennis Leary, Kevin Spacey and Judy Davis.
Lloyd: You know what I'm going to get you next Christmas, Mom? A big wooden cross, so that every time you feel unappreciated for your sacrifices, you can climb on up and nail yourself to it.
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Nov 20, 2006 6:53 AM
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