Top Ten Christmas Movies Of All Time
If you're ever in need of the Christmas spirit in... say, the middle of a sweltering summer, crank the AC and throw one of these on the tube.

And as always, if you're interested in getting any of these movies for yourself, just click on the title to be whisked away to Amazon... (what Christmas gifts they'd make!)

 
  • Christmas in Connecticut (1945)
    Starring Barbara Stanwyck and Dennis Morgan

    A 1945 Warners romantic comedy (not the godawful Turner remade-for-TV turkey.) Barbara Stanwyck plays a Martha Stewart type whose life in print is all a lie. When her boss (Sidney Greenstreet) invites himself to her house for Christmas she has to scare up a husband, a baby and a house in the country in an instant. It's the kind of sweet comedy they don't make any more in this jaded world. It's slick entertainment with no schmaltz and a sharp screenplay with some real heat between Stanwyck and costar Dennis Morgan.
  • A Christmas Story (1983)
    Starring Peter Billingsley and Darren McGavin

    Back to the '30s with Jean Shepard's rememberances of childhood Christmas in Indiana. Darren McGavin is inspired as the rarfin' snarfin' Dad in this sometimes hysterical and sometimes weird Christmas card from a master storyteller. This one scares the hell out my kids and annoys my wife (the "mama's little piggy" scene makes her skin crawl.) but I love it!
  • Die Hard (1988)
    Starring Bruce Willis and Alan Rickman

    What's the Yuletide without a bit of the ultra violence. Bruce Willis spends Christmas Eve holed up in the Nokatomi Plaza facing an army of well armed hoods. Sing along with "Let It Snow" as Bruce delivers the holidays goodies and the bad guys to an early grave.

  • National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation (1989)
    Starring Chevy Chase and Beverly D'Angelo

    Chevy Chase delivers cheap laughs as the bumbling Clark once more. The movie is funny but really rises to the occassion when Chevy freaks out over his Christmas "bonus". And the relatives from hell take a lot of shots too.
  • Radio Days (1992)
    Starring Woody Allen

    More of a Hannukah movie but full of that American holiday spirit that knows no theology. Woody Allen's affectionate memoirs of growing up in Brooklyn in the '40s. It takes place over the holiday season and recreates the shopping and the shows and general excitement of Christmas in the Big City. There's lots of suprises and great characters. One of his more affecting films in my opinion. Rich and rewarding.
  • Remember the Night (1940)
    Starring Barbara Stanwyck and Fred MacMurray

    Barbara Stanwyck again. But this time she's in her tough girl role. She's a shoplifter up before the court in New York City just before Christmas. Through a series of events only '40s writers could dream up she winds up spending the holidays back home with Fred MacMurray, the attorney who prosecuted her. A great romantic comedy with some edge to it. If you've never seen MacMurray in one of his hardbitten wiseacre roles you've never seen him.

    Only available on VHS
  • It's a Wonderful Life (1947)
    Starring Jimmy Stewart and Donna Reed

    Speaking of edge, this Capra fantasy has it in spades. Mistakenly thought of as a fluffy piece of sentimentality this movie has a dark, dark noir edge that throws the humor and romance into high relief. An American classic that deserved being rescued from public domain limbo. James Stewart gives an incredbile, multi-faceted performance that is still daring today. The scenes where he's railing at his family in near hysteria are harrowing. But he never gets away from the core of George Bailey's character, loveable, sacrificing and kind.

  • The Santa Clause (1994)
    Starring Tim Allen and Judge Reinhold

    This is THE Santa Claus movie. My kids love it but there's plenty here for adults. Tim Allen plays a toy compant executive who is reluctantly drafted to be Santa Claus. Fast paced and fun.
  • TALL, DARK AND HANDSOME (1940s?)
    Starring Cesar Romero

    A silly comedy from the 1940s. Gangster Cesar Romero creates a homey holiday atmosphere to impress a "nice" girl that he's not so bad. He hires himself a crowd of lowlifes and street urchins to pose as his own family. The wisemouthed kid in the movie is hysterical.

    Not available via Amazon
  • The Three Godfathers (1948)
    Starring John Wayne

    The only Christmas Western I can think of. One of John Ford's smaller films and a gem. John Wayne plays one of three down on their luck saddletramps who are charged with bringing a baby to safety in the wilds of the Old West. Very much a Birth of Christ parallel. One of Wayne's best performances with Ford behind the camera. Touching and epic at the same time.

    Only available on VHS

 

©2004 by Chuck Dixon. All Rights Reserved. No part of this article may be reproduced without permission.

 

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