Hot dog! Merry Christmas!
On today’s special holiday podcast adventure, Adolfo and Mark discuss the 1946 holiday classic: IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE! On today’s discussion:
Mall shopping on the last weekend before Christmas
The NES Classic
The movie that defines all Christmas movies
How the film touches even Adolfo’s cold heart
The miracle that is Mr. Pibb
How the sentimentality is earned
At which point we get teary eyed
“The Greatest Gift” Christmas card
How Cary Grant was all wrong for the role
A mini history of Liberty Films
Capra and Stewart’s favorite film
The secret origin of Jimmy Stewart
The Christmas Tree capital of the world
Why Lionel Barrymore was a perfect choice for Mr. Potter
Mr. Potter = Ebeneezer Scrooge without the redemption
The framing device of the film
Why does Mr. Gower even have a bottle of poison?
Apparently adults are allowed to slap children around in 1946
How many It’s a Wonderful Life references are there in The Simpsons?
A deleted scene where George meets Potter much earlier in life
Jimmy Stewart playing a teenager
Donna Reed’s beautiful introductory shot
“Aw pop, just a little.”
George’s constant sacrifices
Thomas Mitchell’s great adlib
“We’ll wait for ya, baby…”
The one-shot take of Reed and Stewart’s first kiss
Bert and Ernie!
Eyes swimming with tears
How many kids does Martini have?
How James Stewart didn’t want to glorify war on screen
When you finally see George break
A terrifying Santa mask
The innovative new “chemical snow” created for the film
The bridge guy!
The one flaw of the movie!
Not finding your true love means your vision fails
“Merry Christmas you old Building and Loan!”
“To my big brother George, the richest man in town!” ONIONS.
The film’s failure at the box office, with awards and with critics
The ridiculous copyright history
Why Paramount owns the rights even though the film itself is technically in the public domain
The Colorized version
The kick to the gut that was 2016
PLUS REFERENCES TO:
THE BISHOP’S WIFE (1947)
YOU CAN’T TAKE IT WITH YOU (1938)
FORREST GUMP (1994)
BRUCE ALMIGHTY (2003)
HOME ALONE (1990)
HOME ALONE 2: LOST IN NEW YORK (1992)
BACK TO THE FUTURE PART II (1989)
THE BEST YEARS OF OUR LIVES (1946)
JINGLE ALL THE WAY (1996)
THE MUPPET CHRISTMAS CAROL (1992)
SCROOGED (1988)
SCROOGE (1951)
A CHRISTMAS CAROL (1984)
A CHRISTMAS CAROL (1999)
DISNEY’S A CHRISTMAS CAROL (2009)
MIRACLE ON 34th STREET (1947)
SANTA CLAUS (1959)
SANTA CLAUS CONQUERS THE MARTIANS (1964)
A CHRISTMAS STORY (1983)
THE NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS (1993)
BLACK CHRISTMAS (1974)
WHITE CHRISTMAS (1954)
DIE HARD (1988)
BATMAN RETURNS (1992)
GREMLINS (1984)
LINKS:
Can You Survive Home Alone: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5NhijmGTwwo
The Essential Films: essentialfilmspodcast.com
SOCIAL MEDIA
TWITTER: @EssentialFilms, @FPMoviePodcast, @Adolfo_Acosta, @Sportsguy515
FACEBOOK: The Essential Films: https://www.facebook.com/The-Essential-Films-130585803634489/?fref=ts
