Chase
The trees are up, the decorations have been hung and the Santa Claus Parade is behind us. It’s official: the Christmas season is here.
Which also means we’re about to be bombarded by non-stop Yuletide music and the same classic films repeated endlessly on television.
While I was preparing a list a few weeks ago for our Friday Metro Movies section of the top Christmas films of all time, my mind drifted (as it often does in the middle of assignments) to a more specific holiday list devoted to the films men seem to watch over and over again when December rolls around.
There’s the 1951 version of A Christmas Carol starring Alistair Sim, Dickens’ classic tale of the miser Scrooge who is reminded of his actions by the ghosts of past, present and future.
There’s It’s A Wonderful Life, director Frank Capra’s look at the character George Bailey (Jimmy Stewart) and his attempted suicide on Christmas Eve. He’s saved by the guardian angel Clarence (Henry Travers) and realizes the value of his rich group of family and friends.
But my pick for the best Christmas film for guys would have to be National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation starring Chevy Chase as the hopeless Clark Griswold, whose only wish for the holidays is to stage the ultimate family Christmas.
Besides the fact that it’s one of the funniest films of all time — even after seeing the film at least 20 times, the “I’d piss my pants and forget who I was for a half an hour” line gets even funnier with each viewing — it’s also one of the most relatable.
Who hasn’t seen their dad pull Christmas lights out of a box only to find a tangled mess of bulbs and wires, curse it mercilessly and then blame the manufacturer for not designing tangle-free products before heading to the nearest Home Depot to buy new ones?
Of course it’s only a movie, but what makes it one of the holiday’s best is that many of us who celebrate Christmas have lived one of its scenes in some form or another.
Eccentric, crabby grandparents, free-loading in-laws, a miserly boss who gives a thumbs-down to the annual Christmas bonus, the perfect day that never materializes — the movie has it all.
So pass the egg nog and enjoy … and pray that your Christmas looks nothing like this one!
