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The best and the worst of holiday movies
Charlie Brown and Linus appear in a scene from "A Charlie Brown Christmas." | ABC Photo
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Updated: December 20, 2012 2:36PM
For many people, there are certain holidays films and TV programs that they absolutely have to watch every year.
Then there are those other programs that just grate on the nerves. We asked our staff: Which holiday/Christmas TV special or film is your favorite? And which one do you find annoying?
It was a tradition to spend a night watching “A Flintstones Christmas Carol” on TV growing up, but then the network stopped showing it. I tracked down the DVD and now I make sure to watch it every year. I love Bedrock’s twist on Scrooge’s classic tale. I refuse to watch “A Christmas Story” anymore. We would watch it every year in grade school and now I just hate it. While most people find it nostalgic or funny, I end up cringing whenever I hear anything about lamps shaped like a lady’s leg, “fra-gi-le,” bunny pajamas, shooting your eye out or Red Ryder BB guns. — Heather Leszczewicz, News Editor: Digital and Features
“It’s a Wonderful Life” was nice for the first 15 years, but I am over it even though I love Jimmy Stewart! Although sad, I like “A Charlie Brown Christmas”...I seem to remember, I had a Christmas tree like that once. (sigh) Overall, I dislike the sadness in most Christmas movies. I never watch Christmas movies anymore. For my favorite, however, I am going to go with “The Chronicles of Narnia — The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe,” which also has a sad moment, but the overall message was wonderful in true C. S. Lewis manner. I found the winter scenes absolutely beautiful! — Joan Molitor, Editorial Assistant
The forgotten Capra holiday classic is “Meet John Doe.” My favorite films are the ones that make me cry no matter how many times I see them, and “It’s a Wonderful Life” and “Meet John Doe” are the Christmas double whammy. The best scene is when journalist Barbara Stanwyck struggles with writing a speech and her mom (radiant Spring Byington) gives her the private journal of her late father for some ideas. Cut to Gary Cooper’s John Willoughby hitting it out of the park with an amazing speech. Cut to Stanwyck’s Ann Mitchell looking on, listening to her father’s words coming out of Cooper’s mouth, falling in love with Willoughby, John Doe, dreams of happiness and many more doses of Capracorn. — George M. Wilcox, Sports Writer
Chicago-area children of the 1960s were treated to a pair of primitive stop-motion animated short films every Christmas season, courtesy of WGN-TV’s “Garfield Goose and Friends” show. “Hardrock, Coco and Joe: The Three Little Dwarfs” was a charming, albeit odd, little romp about Santa and a trio of elves that inoculated us all with an earworm of a ditty that has lasted for decades. Just try saying “Oh lee oh laydee, oh laydee i oh” to any middle-aged Chicagoan, and they’re sure to pick it up from there. “Suzy Snowflake,” on the other hand, irritated me to no end, mostly because the delicate little sprite and I shared a name and she was just so twee, twirling and twirling in the air to a saccharine song. Suzy had a dark side as well. She wore a tiered white gown and carried a wand, and while drifting above an eerie, deserted landscape of pine trees and curiously empty village streets, she made a creepy threat to “tap, tap, tap” on my windowpane. — Susan Kane-Parker, Copy Editor: Features
I’m Jewish and not a natural-born American citizen to boot so I find most of the Christmas movies and TV specials annoying. Sorry, America! I don’t begrudge you your tinsel, your mistletoe, your roasting chestnuts, your partridge in a pear tree, but it’s just not part of my heritage so I don’t identify with it. Now shopping, that I identify with. — Anna Tarkov, Staff Writer
One of my favorite Christmas specials is “A Charlie Brown Christmas.” It makes me smile every time when Charlie Brown picks the scraggly Christmas tree because it has character. I’ve always felt all you need to know in life you can learn from the Peanuts. My new favorite Christmas movie is “Arthur Christmas” by the creators of Wallace & Gromit. Santa’s youngest son refuses to give into the stress of the holiday and finds every child in the world special. — Jennifer Kranz, Page Layout Coordinator
Growing up, my family was a traditional, “A Christmas Story,” “How the Grinch Stole Christmas” and “Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer” house, but all that changed in 2003. That year my brother, father and I decided to see “Bad Santa” at the Crestwood movie theaters. We went in with low expectations, but laughed pretty much the entire film at Billy Bob Thornton and his co-stars. It has so many memorable scenes and quotes, many can’t be printed in this paper. Now every Schering Christmas party usually has the unrated DVD playing in the background. — Steve Schering, Staff Writer
When my family came to Glenview to help me move this fall, the first thing we did after unloading the rental truck and painting the walls was visit the “Home Alone” house in Winnetka. The 1990 film is not only a family favorite, it is one of my favorite movies of all time. It’s the only film I can recite lines from and have watched more than a few times. My sister even gave me a miniature “Home Alone” movie poster for Christmas a few years ago. — Ryan Nilsson, Managing Editor/Sports
I think my favorite Christmas movie would have to be “The Muppet Christmas Carol.” The performances, the sets, the music are really wonderful and how could you not love Michael Caine as Scrooge. As a fan of the British series “The Blackadder,” I also enjoyed “Blackadder’s Christmas Carol,” though that has a slightly twisted take on the classic story. One holiday tradition I try to keep is to watch the “Mystery Science Theater 3000” take on “The Santa Claus,” a Mexican children’s movie from the 1960s, which I found so funny at first viewing that, during one scene, I nearly asphyxiated from laughing. — Laura Enright, Editorial Assistant
“One Special Night” stars James Garner and Julie Andrews who meet by chance and due to a blizzard spend the night in a cabin around Christmas. She’s reserved and he’s brusque, but they find much in common. There’s a story after they leave the cabin, too. Simple story, good acting by two pros. — Todd Shields, Staff Writer
“The House Without a Christmas Tree” is a quaint, kitschy little movie set in 1946 about a girl whose father refuses to allow a Christmas tree in their home. Watching this simple, low-budget film each year brings me back to being a kid, when I searched the TV listings to be sure I wouldn’t miss my one chance to see the story of Addie and how she brings Christmas to her curmudgeonly dad. It was never a blockbuster, but this movie was and is an important part of Christmas for me. — Sandy Illian Bosch, Staff Writer
“White Christmas” is my favorite Christmas movie. It stars Bing Crosby, Danny Kaye, Rosemary Clooney and Vera Ellen. Bing sings “White Christmas” a couple of times in it and Vera Ellen and Danny Kaye have some great dance numbers. — Kimberly Fornek, Staff Writer
On Nov. 30, 1977, CBS broadcast a Bing Crosby Christmas special, featuring a duet with David Bowie, singing “Little Drummer Boy.” At the time, it seemed to be the most surreal duet ever performed on television, but not only because of the incongruous pairing. After a couple of minutes, Bowie started a new song, “Peace on Earth,” as Crosby continued singing “Drummer Boy.” It actually blended reasonably well, in counterpoint, but at the time, it was like a duel: A boring train wreck of a duel that you tried to look away from, but couldn’t. Bowie said later that he had gone on the show because his mother liked Crosby. Crosby didn’t say anything. He had died six weeks before the show aired. — Irv Leavitt, Staff Writer
My favorite Christmas flick is 1955’s “We’re No Angels” with Humphrey Bogart, Aldo Ray and Peter Ustinov. It’s the heartwarming holiday tale of three prison escapees who plot to murder a shopkeeper and his family with a venomous pet snake. Actually, they take a shine to the family and the snake ends up dispatching the deservingly evil Basil Rathbone instead. Did I mention it’s a comedy? If nothing else, it’s worth the watch just to see Bogey don an apron to do dishes and sing Christmas carols. — Richard Bird, News Editor
My favorite holiday movie, other than “It’s a Wonderful Life” is the 1984 version of “A Christmas Carol” with George C. Scott as Ebenezer Scrooge. This is also my husband’s favorite version. We watch it every year. Scott’s portrayal of Scrooge is very real, I think, and I love the ending when he wakes up and finds out it is still Christmas Day. All of us should keep the spirit of Christmas within us all year. — Deborah Hoppe, Editorial Assistant
