After we heard about merchants in Seymour planning to transform their downtown into Bedford Falls Saturday in tribute to the Christmas classic “It’s A Wonderful Life,” we got to thinking about holiday movies in general.
So the Valley Indy staff decided to make that the topic for this week’s version of Navel Gazing, and after a detour to briefly talk about this lesser-known, non-Christmas classic from the writer of “A Christmas Story,” we get down to it.
Of course, Ethan had to make studiedly eccentric picks of holiday movies to talk about, such as:
- “The Ref” — a 1994 Ted Demme homage to a highly dysfunctional family Christmas in Connecticut
- “Eyes Wide Shut” — Stanley Kubrick’s final film, a tale of marital doubt set against the backdrop of yule-time New York City
- “The Lion In Winter” — Peter O’Toole. Katharine Hepburn. Anthony Hopkins. Christmas at a royal chateau in medieval Europe. Nuff said.
Eugene’s favorites were more conventional:
- “A Christmas Story” — Is there a film that better captures, through a child’s eyes, the run-up to the holiday? We say no.
- “It’s A Wonderful Life” — Still holds up.
- “Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer” — The claymation classic.
And in terms of more off-the-wall picks:
- “Silent Night, Deadly Night” — Tagline: “He sees you when you’re sleeping.” Right.
- “Die Hard” — Alan Rickman is a better “Die Hard” villain than Jeremy Irons.
Speaking if Rickman, Eugene hates “Love Actually,” one of the bigger, more recent holiday films.
But we both love Will Ferrell’s “Elf,” and that jogged Ethan’s memory of several holiday-themed SNL skits, like this “lost ending” to “It’s A Wonderful Life” and this absurd song-dance from the Fallon/Morgan/Sanz/Kattan era.
And, of course, “Mr. Robinson’s Neighborhood.”
Here are clips from some of the flicks mentioned during this podcast:
Artie Lange In Elf
Peter O’Toole In The Lion In Winter
The Great American Fourth Of July And Other Disasters
Low-Quality Version Of Will Ferrell’s SNL Skit
