What holiday movie do you HAVE to watch each Christmas?

[WI_DEM]

Is it "It's A Wonderful Life"? or "A Christmas Carol" or "Holiday Inn" or "A Christmas Story" or "White Christmas..."

For me I love 'em all, but I just have to watch "The Bishop's Wife" with Cary Grant, David Niven and Loretta Young.

[mzteris]

1. A Wish for Wings that Work!

DON't Get COCKY!!

:rofl:

[leftstreet]

2. Falwell Alert: It's CHRISTMAS movie, not HOLIDAY movie!

:bounce:

[SeattleGirl]

3. Several for me

"It's A Wonderful Life" (always decorate the tree while watching that one).

"A Christmas Carol", the black and white version with Alistair Sim.

"Christmas Story". You'll shoot your eye out!

"Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer". Come on, it's a classic!

"A Charlie Brown Christmas". My favorite!

[trof]

4. Christmas Story, hands down.

Love Jean Shepherd's work.

[El Fuego]

8. Me too.

That is one of my Xmas traditions.

[Bzzzz]

23. Me 3...n/t

[mtnester]

5. Christmas Story, Christmas Vacation, Scrooged, Bad Santa and Dutch

gotta see them all.

[Jamastiene]

6. Home Alone and Home Alone 2. Also I have

to see Rudolph every year or I feel like I missed the holidays entirely. I also enjoy watching Homeward Bound and Homeward Bound: San Fransisco every year too. Last but not least, Free Willy seems to just make it into the rotation for some reason too.

[deadparrot]

7. National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation.

Every Black Friday. :)

[Initech]

16. Merry Christmas! Shitter's full!

[grannylib]

22. One of my faves too...along with "If I woke up tomorrow with my head

sewn to the carpet, I couldn't be more surprised."

[Left Is Write]

36. Hallelujah! Holy Shit! Where's the Tylenol?

[CatholicEdHead]

9. Going My Way

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0036872/

[flvegan]

10. "Bad(der) Santa"

It's my new holiday tradition, dammit.

[eeyore]

14. Fuck me Santa! Fuck me Santa!

Agreed.

I went to see that in the theater with my brother and sis in law when it came out. We were all duly shocked and impressed with how bad that Santa really was.

You're not gonna shit right for a week....

[flvegan]

15. Gives "Santa comin' down the chimney" a whole new, er, meaning.

[Initech]

17. You're not gonna shit right for a week!

I freaking love this movie!

[nytemare]

11. "A Wonderful Life", "Charlie Brown Christmas", and now, "Bad Santa"

Quite a mix!

[StellaBlue]

12. It's a Wonderful Life

but I cheated this year and watched it in August... because I had been living in England for four years... what a great dose of Americana!

[mohinoaklawnillinois]

13. I try and catch all of the movies you mentioned above, but

White Christmas and It's A Wonderful Life are must sees.

I've seen each movie at least 40 times, but it just isn't Christmas without either one of them.

[Giant Robot]

18. It's A Wonderful Life

Gotta have a good cry at that one. *Sigh* I am such an emotional Giant Robot.

Oh and A Charlie Brown Christmas and How the Grinch Stole Christmas. I may as well buy those.

[grannylib]

25. Oh man, I forgot the Grinch! How COULD I??? I did buy it a couple of years

ago, along with Charlie Brown. I am SUCH a sucker for the scene where Linus recites the Christmas Gospel. I get really misty at that.

[Initech]

19. Christmas Vacation and Bad Santa are definates for me!

[TallahasseeGrannie]

20. Terminator 2

[grannylib]

21. There are several that we just HAVE to see each year:

Charlie Brown Christmas (and lots of the soundtrack CD too...love Vince Guaraldi)

National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation. Doesn't matter how many times I see it, I just HOWL! "Are you serious, Clark?" has become a common catch-phrase at our house, along with, "Alleluia! Holy shit. Where's the Tylenol?"

Nightmare Before Christmas. My daughter Sarahbellum and I like to sing "Making Christmas, Making Christmas" in tinny, off-key voices as we decorate *lol*

[begin_within]

29. Vince Guaraldi was a genius.

[AlCzervik]

24. I really, really hate "White Christmas" that to me is the least Christmasy

movie ever. Maybe i just secretly hate Bing Crosby or maybe that movie just sucks. I always watch Nightmare before Christmas.

[Metta]

26. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn.

A good novel, an entertaining musical and a wonderful movie. 1945. Dorothy McGuire, James Dunn, Joan Blondell, James Gleason and BS Pulley. Directed by Elia Kazan. Full of grace sacrifice, loss and redemption

[AlCzervik]

27. That is a wonderful movie!

:thumbsup:

[Metta]

31. Up.

:hi: :)

[begin_within]

28. Never understood why "Wonderful Life" is a "Christmas movie." 80% of it

does NOT take place on or near Christmas. Only the last half hour or so does. It's a great movie, but it has little to do with Christmas, actually.

[WI_DEM]

30. That's true

probably because it begins and ends at Christmas?

[CanuckAmok]

49. Actually...

IAWL was a flop at the box office when it premiered.

Severl years later, when TV was the dominant form of visual entertainment, IAWL could be rented for boradcast for really, really cheap, because it had been so unsuccessful.

Stations began to broadcast it during the Christmas Season because many of their live, self-produced shows went on hiatus for the break. They needed inexpensive programming to fill the gaps, so It's a Wonderful Life was an easy pick; family values, somewhat of a Christmas theme, good star power, and CHEAP to broadcast.

And a tradition was born.

[YellowRubberDuckie]

32. I have to watch Love Actually once a week, but around Christmas...

I watch it twice a day. And I cry. It's really good for the soul.
Duckie

[lavenderdiva]

33. Hey!

WI_DEM!! When I read your 'headline' for this post, and while my computer was pulling up this thread, I was thinking that my favorite holiday movie was 'The Bishop's Wife' with Cary Grant!!! How's that for synchronicity? :hi:

ps. and even though its technically not considered a Christmas movie, I love watching 'Meet Me In St. Louis' with Judy Garland. It has that wonderful Christmas scene where she is singing 'Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas' that gets me every time!!

[Err]

34. A Christmas Story, National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation...

the old-school Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, Bad Santa (now), The Night They Saved Christmas, Charlie Brown Christmas

I love most, if not all, Christmas movie, so my list goes on. :)

[gardenista]

35. A Christmas Story, Rudolph, The Grinch

And we always watch the Pressburger and Powell film, "I Know Where I'm Going". We've probably seen it 5 times now.

[Left Is Write]

37. Aside from the children's specials of my childhood...

I simply MUST watch "A Christmas Carol" on Christmas Eve, preferably the 1938 b/w version starring Reginald Owen and Gene Lockhart.

Christmas Vacation is another must for me, as is It's A Wonderful Life.

[Sanity Claws]

38. The original Miracle on 34th Street

I truly loved it as a kid. I liked the way the lawyer gave the political hack judge a way out of his predicament and to allow him to declare Kris Kringle to be Santa Claus.
Also, the movie refers to Gimbels. (Santa sent mothers to Gimbels to buy skates there because they were better for their little kiddies' feet.) The store is gone about 20 years now. I worked there when I was in college.
Maybe these areDumb reasons to like a movie but they're MY DUMB REASONS!!

[rurallib]

39. Absolutely my favorite also.

There is such a quality and innocence about it.
Also love 'Bells of St. Mary's' and 'Christmas Carol' plus the original 'The Santa Clause' with Tim Allen.

[Sanity Claws]

40. I forgot about the Bells of St. Mary's

That's the one with Ingrid Berman as a nun and Bing Crosby as a priest, right?
In an early scene in the movie, some children in the lower grades wanted to sing Happy Birthday to the baby Jesus. Ingrid Bergman smiled at the innocence of the children.
Yes, that is a good movie. I haven't seen it in years.

[C_eh_N_eh_D_eh]

42. That was my favorite scene, too.

"Okay, Henry, let's play it your way. Let's say you go out there and tell them that you say there's no Santy Claus. It's all over the papers. The kids read it, and they don't hang up their stockin's.

"Now, whaddya suppose happens to all the toys that were supposed to go in those stockin's? Nobody buys 'em. The toy manufacturers are gonna like that. And they're gonna have to lay off a lot of their employees - union employees. Now you got the CIO and the AF-of-L after ya, and they're gonna adore you for it. And they're gonna say it with votes!

"Oh, and the department stores are gonna love you, too. And the Chrismas card makers... and the candy companies.... Oh, Henry, you're gonna be one awful popular guy!

"And what about the Salvation Army? Why, they got a Santy Claus on every corner, and they take in a fortune! But you do it your way, Henry. You go out there and you tell 'em that the New York State Supreme Court rules there's no Santy Claus. Go ahead.

"But if you do, remember this: Next year, you can count on gettin' just two votes - your own, an' that District Attorney's out there!"

Judge shakes his head in a "you're wrong" gesture

"The District Attorney's a Republican."


On Edit: Ah geeze, my memory's going. I was thinking of the wrong scene. The one I've quoted above is still my favorite, though.

[Flying Dream Blues]

41. Christmas Story and It's A Wonderful Life

You're gonna shoot your eye out!

and

Merry Christmas, everybody! God I love that movie!

[Jara sang]

43. The Exorcist

[Malikshah]

44. The Lion in Winter-- A medieval version of putting the "fun" in

dysfunctional families...

My folks and I watch it every year.

"So, what do we hang? They holly, or each other?"

:)

[flordehinojos]

45. years ago one of the TV channels around here showed a movie called,

"A Boy Named Jesus" ... they showed it like three years in a row, then something happened to the spirit of Christmas on the television... none of the Christmas shows were there anymore, and neither was that movie. i've not seen it again...but that movie would be my vote.

[Broken_Hero]

46. for me....

A Christmas Story, Ernest Saves Christmas, and the National Lampoons Xmas, with chevy chase....:) I do like Santa Clause: The movie, but my wife has never heard of it, and i haven't seen it in years...it had dudley moore as a elf...

[drhilarius]

47. "Silent Night, Deadly Night".

Tagline: You've made it through Halloween, now try and survive Christmas.

[CanuckAmok]

48. A Charlie Brown Christmas

And it chokes me up every time.

[mykpart]

50. How The Grinch Stole Christmas - the cartoon version

with Boris Karloff narrating. The original Miracle on 34th Street with Natalie Wood.

[robbedvoter]

51. Scrooged. Murray slays me. (and I am a 'holliday" person)