There is a pretty solid chance that you are going to be in a room with a bunch of family this holiday season with time on your hands and nothing but football and food to keep you occupied. Eventually, someone will suggest watching a movie. I want you to be prepared so you don’t have to sit through the same trash you watched last year.
You already know and love your favorite Christmas movies. You and the family have made room for the hits of the season, as well as your own set of personal favorites centered around that most wonderful time of the year. It would be folly for me to offer a list of old standards you already rely on.
Instead of a middle of the road rundown of holiday films, here are ten flicks you could screen this year for your whole holiday crowd. You’re sure to have some extra time over the next week or two with family and friends to take in a flick or two together. Even if you have some impressionable young folks in the room or some tender tots nearby, these are films the whole family can, and should enjoy together.
Here we go.
1.) African Queen (1951)
Featuring charming performances from two of the screen’s greatest all time actors, Katharine Hepburn and Humphrey Bogart, African Queen is a stirring tale of adventure and romance during World War One set on a river deep within the African jungle.
Hepburn and Bogie trade metaphorical punches, and view the wilds of the African continent, all while avoiding the natural dangers around them and the lurking German Army. It’s a dazzlingly adventurous, funny, sweet, and heartfelt romp.
If you enjoyed Raiders Of The Lost Ark, there will be lots here for you to love.
2.) Au Revoir Les Enfants (1987)
This autobiographical gem from French writer-director Louis Malle might be a bit heavy for some of the younger viewers at your holiday gathering. That said, they’ll likely be turned off by the subtitles. Please don’t let that stop you from enjoying this gorgeously moving true tale of a French school during World War Two.
While studying at the Jesuit Academy, our young hero befriends one of three Jewish students being hidden at the school. What transpires in the film is eerily similar to what took place in real life as experienced by Malle himself at age 11.
Combines the coming of age candor of Stand By Me with the reality facing Jews in France during World War Two.
3.) Ball of Fire (1941)
Barbara Stanwyck is the greatest movie star your family has never heard of, or at least knows too little about. She was a massive star in the 30s and 40s and is perhaps the most versatile actress in Hollywood history. Her comedic chops in this screwball classic are second to none.
Stanwyck is the brassy nightclub singer Sugarpuss O’Shea, who has been commissioned by a group of square academics to help them research new slang terms for the dictionary project to which they have been assigned. What follows is a breezy, hilarious, and devilishly witty nugget of Hollywood gold.
This one feels like Pretty Woman, if it were smarter, funnier, and far more charming. And Julia Roberts wishes she was Stanwyck.
4.) Breaking Away (1978)
Here is another coming of age gem. This time, we have traded the French countryside for Bloomington, Indiana. But don’t tell Dave Stoller that. He’s convinced himself that he’s an Italian cyclist capable of winning any race he enters.
This sneakily charming and hilariously funny slice of 1970s Americana provides a crystal clear window into the world of four young men who have no idea how to become adults. For any of us over the age of 19, it’s a sentiment we know all too well. For those of under 19, we can’t wait to find out.
Think Dazed and Confused for the cycling set.
5.) Bridge On The River Kwai (1957)
David Lean’s first great war epic features one of the greatest battles of will ever put to celluloid. Imprisoned British officer, Captain Nicholson, played brilliantly by Alec Guiness squares off with camp commander Saito, brought to exquisite three dimensional reality by the great Japanese actor Sessu Hyakawa. The pair are at loggerheads over the construction of a bridge across the river Kwai.
Nicholson takes great pride in his work despite the fact that he is aiding the war effort of the enemy. Saito finds the British disrespectful and unable to find their own shame in captivity. This massive saga is a war film, jungle adventure story, prison break, and battle of wills. It is brilliant, and unlike any other war picture I have ever seen.
Your granddad will thank you for putting this one on. So will I.
6.) My Life As A Dog (1985)
I wrote at length about this film back in September. It’s one of the great coming of age stories in cinema. With humor, pathos, and heart, director Lasse Halstrom presents a look at one boy’s journey toward adulthood as he grapples with puberty, love, loss, and the uncertainty of the future.
While this film is about the plight of one young boy in Sweden in the 1950s, it is a universal tale of discovery and disappointment. You’ll notice that a number of titles on this list are coming of age films. I find these are often our most universal films in terms of theme, tone and, our own lived experiences.
A quirkier, funnier, more Scandinavian Boyhood.
7.) The Odd Couple (1968)
Jack Lemmon is one of the truly great leading men in our cinema’s vaunted past. However, Lemmon is not your typical leading man. He is soft, fragile even. He is a modern man beset with the modern concerns. Whether playing a big band member in drag on the run from the mob in Some Like It Hot, traipsing the deck of a US cruiser in Mr. Roberts, or driving his roommate Oscar up the wall in Neil Simon’s The Odd Couple, he is a genuinely unique and brilliant performer.
While most folks might be more familiar with the long running TV show that the film was based on, The Odd Couple features Lemmon and Walter Matthau as a pair of bachelors who are forced to share an apartment after their wives kick them out of their respective houses. Hilarious, and even affectionate, this film is a love story of sorts with two friends at the center of it. And it’s blazingly hilarious. Like your sides will hurt from laughing.
Finding an analog for this one is tough. Think maybe I Love You Man meets Grey Gardens?
8.) Paper Moon (1973)
Peter Bogdonavich’s Paper Moon is an ode to old cinema. Made in the early 70’s, the director chose to shoot the film in black and white to lend authenticity to its depression era tale. Five decades on, the choice of black and white gives the film a sense of timelessness and further reinforces its comedic genius.
Ryan O’Neal, who we just lost this last month, is superb as Moze Pray, a con man who sells bibles to unsuspecting widows. However, Moze’s swell business dealings are complicated when he is forced to care for a child he had unknowingly fathered some years earlier. O’Neal’s real-life daughter Tatum, won an Oscar for best supporting actress at just thirteen years of age, the youngest ever Oscar winner.
With a tremendous supporting cast, and some of the most memorable sequences in film history, Paper Moon is a sheer delight. It’s Little Miss Sunshine meets The Grifters.
9.) Rear Window (1954)
My hunch is that you have a number of folks at your holiday party that have never seen an Alfred Hitchcock film in full. That is a war crime against culture, my friends. The only options available to remedy this are either a trip to The Hague or you correct that shit with a holiday viewing of at least one classic by the master of suspense.
You’ve likely seen this one, but it makes for a great group watch. The family can gasp at each turn of events, and you can peruse the leftovers on the buffet and fix yourself another cocktail to return to the room just in time to see Grace Kelly make her grand entrance.
Imagine Woman In The Window, but like, if it was really well done instead of being not good at all.
10.) The Sting (1973)
It’s Paul Newman and Robert Redford. You remember them right? Yeah, Butch and Sundance. We all know you have seen The Sting before, but I’d guess it’s been too long. You have likely forgotten how note perfect the performances and dialogue in the film are. Hell, you may have even forgotten the setup, the mark, and the sting itself.
Surely you have a few folks at your holiday gathering who have missed this somehow. Now is the time to correct that error. The lead pair are superb. The supporting cast is chock-a-block with veteran talent, and the score is a corny delight.
Think depression era Oceans 11 with even better looking dudes.
Well friends, here’s hoping you found at least one idea for your holiday viewing party. Go enjoy some beautiful films with those beautiful people in your life.
Cheers,Matty C
Do you have a favorite film to watch with your family? What lost great would you pick for your holiday get together?
