147 thoughts on “Best Christmas Movies Statistically Speaking”

1. I watched a rerun of Judy’s Meet Me in Burnley last night, a REAL Christmas movie: not one of those ‘pretend’ Christmas flicks that you and WH go in for, awash with slashers, hookers, perverts, monsters and a constant stream of 4-letter words screamed out at an almost hysterical pitch.

   At the moment there is a feast of made-for-TV Christmas movies being aired on about 3 main movie channels over here. When people in them are seen watching a cinematic Xmas movie it’s usually It’s a Wonderful life or Miracle on 34th Street: nobody seems interested in movies with profane Daddy Christmases; and weirdly the characters who frequent the TV Christmas movies seem to be able to get by each festive season without some guy coming down their chimney dressed as Santa and carrying an axe tipped with dried blood!

   Actually I think I remember the latter kind of poster from your Xmas video last year and I have to concede it was one of my faves – the poster I mean: not the movie. I’ve been browsing through WH’s 2018 Christmas page, in advance of the hoped-for 2019 update [with probably Dire Hard bumped up to No 1] and the Cogerson page along with the Xmas movies I have been watching put me in the mood for seeing again your 2018 Xmas video.

   So bottom line: can you provide me with a link to it?

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   1. Ho ho ho hi Bob, I see you’re already in the festive spirit. Here’s a link to my video featuring movies loosely based around Xmas.

      Hmmm maybe instead of calling the video ‘Christmas Movies’ I should have titled it ‘Movies with a Xmas setting somewhere in the background, vaguely festive’ and subtitled ‘see if you can spot any Xmas trees’. 😉

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OZD6Yu3YmnU

      It’s not worth updating my video, not much has changed, maybe in a year or two, if I’m still doing this. Bruce can always update his page of course, and add more action and horror themed xmas movies. [wink]

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      1. Hang on, isn’t that my Xmas video linked here on Bruce’s Xmas movie page? 🙂

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2. In preparation for my campaign to have Die Hard removed from this page I have been thinking about (1) Conner Schwerdtfeger’s article about Die Hard v Lethal Weapon, a copy of which I conveyed to you in my post of 5 Nov [Part 2] (2) your statement that Mr Gimme More apart, everyone accepted DH as a Christmas movie.

   Regarding (1) I do not have the expertise to engage in such a fine-tuning debate and will leave it to the Big Hitters of the Movie Ratings Heavy Squad – you, Conner, WH [and Joel when he was about]- to continue any argument about the matter.

   Concerning (2) actually I would have considered neither LW or DH as Christmas movies: to me that latter are all about the likes of elves, angels, carols, the Nativity, feelgood themes as in White Christmas and It’s a wonderful Life – and NO swearing! LW and DH are immediately ruled out if even just the latter criterion is applied.

   Possibly nowadays the franchise-orientated openly vulgar Hollywood is, with maybe one or two exceptions, no longer capable of making the traditional harmless Christmas movie so it has to drape the “Christmas” tag round the latest blockbuster film like LW and DH which to my mind are really basically action thrillers set around Christmas time; just as Black Christmas is to me a horror movie that has nothing to do with the perceived Christmas spirit and certainly its slasher central character does not demonstrate much “good will towards all [wo]men”!

   What’s next-this tagline for example?: “MOTHER Christmas is coming down your chimney this year. Ladies don’t hang up your Christmas stockings. Keep them on and don’t go near the bathroom! – Norman Bates is disguised as Santa and is visiting women taking showers around Yuletide!” However 1974’s Black Christmas is a Canadian film and maybe Canucks have their own idea of Christmas cheer!

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   1. Bob you might find this BBC news page on the debate on whether Die Hard is a Xmas movie interesting. One poll at the top of the page seems to agree with you that it’s not a Xmas movie, especially among older people. 🙂

      Lethal Weapon gets a mention at the bottom of the page along with Stallone’s Rocky IV, a Xmas Boxing movie? [Bob winces]

      https://www.bbc.co.uk/bbcthree/article/4729e8ae-ca0b-4d4a-a43a-36e29cc33296

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      1. They say lightning doesn’t strike twice; but maybe it can strike even three times because today you have thrice given me some very welcome U tube footage and a written article to view. Thanks yet again: and you certainly seem to know your way about U Tube and other trivia sites, which must be very useful to you in your capacity of organizing your well-informed posters site.

         I think it’s very much like the debate raging for years about what constitutes a proper country and western song and who are bona fide c & w singers. The musical purists of the art insist that one sound and one sound only deserves to be classed as c & w and that many of the artists hyped up as c & w performers can’t make that particular sound and therefore whilst likeable, pleasant and even talented in their own way they are nevertheless ‘frauds’ in purporting to be country singers. The purists concerned can adequately demonstrate what they mean by the pure country sound.

         Some years ago over here in Ireland there was a huge row when Australian-born Irish singer Johnny Logan claimed – or at least his management did – that he was a country and western singer whereas the purists hotly disputed that claiming that the sound he was making was an Irish music type one and not a country one. NB: Johnny’s real name was Sean Patrick Michael Sherard but [and here is another Cogerson Coincidence given the new Sterling Hayden page] it was changed to Johnny Logan, he says, after the Hayden screen hero Johnny Guitar.]

         I suppose like those country and western connoisseurs I am purist about what constitutes a Christmas movie: one that comprises the criteria that I explained in my previous post; and not one with hookers and drug-addicts running about alongside action heroes swearing at -and beating the **** out of – everybody.

         Christmas is supposed to be a celebration of Christ’s birthday, and the Bible portrays Him for the most part as a gentle soul, except when He drove the moneylenders out of the temple for example. Within that context I wonder what He would have thought about the producers of DH and LW making fortunes out of His name by offering sex and violence on the screen at Christmas time; and if we take Mel Gibson’s words at face value Christ’s birthday is being used as a “gimmick” by Hollywood producers.

         In short, the axiom seems to be: set the movie around Christmas time, and/or have the acting hambone Stallone run around in the snow training to impart brutality, and it’s a Christmas movie. That approach now seems to be diluted further with some parts of the film industry apparently insisting that if a movie opens in the States around Xmas it is a Christmas movie. It seems that England and Ireland for example are not the true representatives of Christmas that the USA is: a Christmas opening in either country doesn’t count!

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3. WHY LETHAL WEAPON IS A BETTER CHRISTMAS MOVIE THAN DIE HARD By Conner Schwerdtfeger

   The holidays are upon us, which means film buffs have once again started to dust off their favorite yuletide movies ahead of Santa’s arrival. Comparisons between Lethal Weapon and Die Hard have persisted for decades — However, in terms of echoing themes and ideas that have become synonymous with the holiday season, Lethal Weapon is the better film.

   This all boils down to where we find Mel Gibson’s Martin Riggs at the beginning of the movie. It’s the Christmas season; he’s all alone in the wake of his wife’s recent death in a car accident.
   Riggs’ attempted suicide is a shockingly dark moment for a 1980s action movie, but it also provides a near-perfect examination of how some people feel during the holiday season. He’s depressed, he’s drinking too much, and he doesn’t have a family to call his own until he meets the Murtaugh clan.

   That’s specifically what Lethal Weapon is all about: belonging to a family. Amid all of the action, explosions, murdered prostitutes, and heroin-smuggling special forces operatives, Lethal Weapon is all about a lonely and depressed man who finds a sense of belonging in the arms of an adopted new family just in time for Christmas. It’s no mistake that the film ends with Roger inviting Riggs (and his dog, Sam) into the house to share Christmas dinner with his family. Riggs now has a reason to live, and it’s a Christmas miracle.

   On the other hand, Die Hard uses numerous Christmas motifs and references (“Now I have a machine gun. Ho Ho Ho.”) throughout its story, but very few of them feel specifically linked to the message of the film. The use of Christmas Eve as a backdrop helps create a ticking clock and a sense of urgency when the time comes to shut the power down on an entire city grid, but very little of John McClane’s arc as a character feels tied to Christmas itself. In that regard, Christmas feels more like an aesthetic choice for Die Hard than an actual narrative device

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   1. Hi Bob, reading your post I agree that Lethal Weapon is an overlooked Xmas themed action movie, probably because most of it is set outdoors in sunny LA while Die Hard, which is also set in LA, takes place mostly at night ?

      They both feature Xmas songs, Die Hard’s was Let it Snow Let it Snow but I can’t remember the Lethal Weapon song, might be an Elvis xmas song?

      Btw Die Hard 2 is also on my Xmas video, and there is plenty of snow in that one. I think John McClane does say ‘Merry Christmas’ at one point. 🙂

      It’s the 5th of November – Guy Fawkes night, the bang bang bang has started.

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      1. The song from Lethal Weapon is sung by Bobby Helms and is in my own Xmas song collection which I will be playing a number of times over the festive season. I thought that the song provided one of the best openings to a movie that I have seen.

         Jingle bell, jingle bell, jingle bell rock
         Jingle bells swing and jingle bells ring
         Snowin’ and blowin’ up bushels of fun
         Now the jingle hop has begun

         Jingle bell, jingle bell, jingle bell rock
         Jingle bells chime in jingle bell time
         Dancin’ and prancin’ in Jingle Bell Square
         In the frosty air’

         Giddy-up jingle horse, pick up your feet
         Jingle around the clock
         Mix and a-mingle in the jinglin’ feet
         That’s the jingle bell rock

         Jingle bell, jingle bell, jingle bell rock
         Jingle bell chime in jingle bell time
         Dancin’ and prancin’ in Jingle Bell Square
         In the frosty air

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4. HI BRUCE: Please see on the site index page my substantial response to your 12.07 am post.

   Thinking about Die Hard/Willis and the Christmas connection reminded me of a true occurrence that I experienced when in the late 1990s I worked part-time as an office keeper for The Quarry Inn, a large restaurant/bar on the outskirts of Belfast in those days but now an apartment complex.

   Every Christmas the management would throw a free party for the kids of the establishment’s regulars on the large courtyard outside the main building. There would be a Christmas tree, fireworks and towards the end of the proceedings Santa would ride onto the forecourt on a horse with small goody-bags for the kids.

   Often Santa would be one of the regulars and in the year about which I speak the guy concerned was a bit drunk. As he leaned over to give the kids their bags their parents could smell his breath and there were complaints later, especially when one child complained that there wasn’t enough in her goody-bag and Santa retorted “**** off!”

   Ah the dis-service Hollywood and mega stars like Willis have done the world by setting examples that make the use of profanities in everyday real life par for the course!

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5. With Xmas next month and a lot of people no doubt once again ready to whistle in the dark trying to convince themselves about Willis’ Die Hard being a modern era It’s a Wonderful Life, I am giving you notice that I expect from both of you updated Christmas material nearer the time.

   Also I am extending to you both early Christmas greetings in case the pair of you disappear prematurely over the festive season. Steve seems to love continual breaks, and whereas (1) when I first joined this site WH was a bit like the Richard Dreyfus character in Once Around whose father in law complained that Dreyfus always seemed to be around and “I never see him leaving” (2) now the Work Horse is more like the Big Lebowski – “I just dropped in to see what condition my condition was in.”

   With exceptional family commitments during, and/or trying to get cleared up at work for, a holiday period most of the rest of us have to keep our noses to the grindstone even more so coming up to Christmas; but you two seem to be a law onto yourselves. I can live with that for I have come across ‘special’ guys like you pair throughout my life, whom everybody seemed to feel merited exceptional treatment and concessions – the ‘beautiful people’.

   For example a close acquaintance of mine some years ago was married to a woman who had a sister who in turn was married to an Englishman. Although likeable he was in a way a bit of a prat [I’ve lived among them so take it from me Bruce some of them are!!] but the Limey spoke with a toffee-nosed, plummy Gielgud accent and earned megabucks as a senior naval engineer at sea on merchant ships for long periods over the year; so he was considered a great ‘catch’ for the family and the two sisters therefore fawned and fussed over him with the consequence that my friend was “just another guy around here” when the foursome socialized together.

   I don’t like bandying-around other people’s names in public, so we’ll call my friend ‘Bruce’ and his wife ‘W o B’ [and why not!]. Her sister we’ll call ‘Myrna’ because she was always being over-shadowed by her English husband in the way that The Thin Woman was normally consigned to the background when Bill Powell, King Gable or Al Leach were about. As the English guy was perceived as a very special person, we would need to give him a very special alias – how about ‘Joel’?

   One night the four were again socializing at ‘Bruce’s house and ‘W o B’ as hostess was pouring the drinks for everyone all evening. ‘Bruce’ and ‘Joel’ were drinking Scotch and ‘W o B’ poured doubles for them each time and when it came to ‘one for the road’ she poured out one double and emptied what was left in the bottle into the other glass – and then exclaimed to her husband “My goodness ‘Bruce’ there’s only a single left!” Then smiling sweetly at ‘Bruce’ she held the double and the single in front of him and said: “Which one do you think we should we give ‘Joel’ dear?”

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   1. Hey Bob…very funny comment…I guess with Halloween being over…we are into the Xmas season….so go to see our Christmas movie page getting some attention already. Steve only goes on video breaks for a little bit…not thinking I have gone more than 3 days without a new page in over 8 years. We wrote 17 new pages in October…and we are now up to 2 pages in November…not too bad since it is only November 4th.

      I will take being compared to Dreyfuss…even it is in a bad way….lol. Once again…entertaining imagination you have…if only Bill James and his baseball stats were there as well. Good stuff as always.

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   2. Good post Bob. Bruce Willis sides with you in not accepting Die Hard as a Xmas movie, but I’m afraid the entire planet disagrees with both of you, so what chance do you have in petitioning the removal of Die Hard from the Xmas lists? Die Hard nearly hit the number one spot in my Top 75 Xmas Movies Video. [Bob gasps]

      It’s like trying to demote UMR mascot Myrna Loy from ‘Queen of the Box Office’ status to ‘whatsername in those funny William Powell movies’. Futile. 😉

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      1. HI STEVE:

         Thanks for the feedback.

         The petition for removal of Die Hard is what politicians call a “trial balloon”. If it is successful that will encourage me to try to build up pressure for Joel’s posts to be removed from this site.

         Meanwhile part 2 of this post will give WH something to chew on and I just hope it doesn’t spoil his Christmas though I’m still trying to get even with him for imposing on me all the Master’s vitriolic stuff about The Great Mumbler.

         Hope you’re enjoying your break which you richly deserve, so ignore my trying to wind up the Work Horse on the subject.

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