Holiday Movies

One of the great family traditions around holiday time – right up there with politely avoiding the fruitcake, unraveling the Gordion’s knot of Christmas tree lights and warming yourself by “The Yule Log” on the CW 11 – is popping in a Christmas movie or two. Everyone has his or her favorite. Some of them may even be on this list. But it is our hope here that you might find a new fave to tickle the funny bone, bring a tear to the eye, inspire the mind or warm the heart:

• “Always Remember I Love You” (1990) – This made-for-TV movie is the Holy Grail of holiday films as it is not available either on DVD or Amazon. But if you happen to see it listed on the tube, do not miss it. Stephen Dorff – who recently won acclaim as the disaffected movie star in Sofia Coppola’s “Somewhere” and should’ve had a big career – is extraordinary as a teen who spends one Christmas with the birth parents he was taken from as a baby, without initially revealing to them who he really is. The final revelatory moment is one of the most heartbreaking we’ve ever seen on film. Patty Duke matches Dorff note for emotional note as the birth mother who has never gotten over her loss.

• “The Gathering” (1977) – Another high-quality telefilm, this time about a gruff, self-centered businessman (a superb Ed Asner), with only a few months to live, who enlists his estranged wife (an equally marvelous Maureen Stapleton) in bringing their scattered family together for one last holiday. Like “A Christmas Carol,” it’s a sentimental but timely reminder that it’s never too late for forgiveness and redemption.

• “The Holiday” (2006) – Forget life: “The Holiday” is like a box of chocolates – high in calories, relatively low in nutritional value but oh-so-irresistible. You know a movie is a complete fantasy when the heroines (Cameron Diaz, Kate Winslet) have glamorous jobs that make no real demands on them, live in homes right out of Architectural Digest and Cottage Living and have two near-perfect beaus (Jude Law, Jack Black) who are only concerned with their girlfriends’ feelings, plus a twinkly, elderly neighbor who dispenses sage advice (a charming Eli Wallach). Yet what can we say? This picture had us at “Hello.” (Oh, that’s another movie.)

• “Home Alone” (1990) and “Home Alone 2: Lost in New York” (1992) – This is a case of an instant classic and a not-bad sequel. The original – about an incorrigible youngster (Where have you gone, Macaulay Culkin?) who discovers his true mettle when he’s left to defend the family home single-handedly against bumbling burglars (a change-of-pace Joe Pesci, Daniel Stern) – is just priceless. But it’s hard to beat the opening of “Home Alone,” part deux, in which our hero’s temper gets the better of him during the school’s Christmas concert.

• “It’s a Wonderful Life” (1946) – Remember the year Thirteen/WNET decided to cut the film to fit into its pledge drive and got so many angry letters the station had to apologize and show it uncut and uninterrupted? Thirteen won’t make that mistake again. Quite possibly the most popular holiday movie ever made, with James Stewart heading a first-rate cast in a poignant reminder that no life is insignificant.

• “Miracle on 34th Street” (1947 and 1994) – Another take-your-pick moment. The original, about a department-store Santa (Edmund Gwenn) who just may be the real St. Nick, is a well-loved classic. But the remake, with Richard Attenborough doing the red-suit honors, is a nice contemporary update that nonetheless honors the original.

• “Mr. Magoo’s Christmas Carol” (1962) – We know what you’re thinking: This is one of the greatest versions of the Dickens’ classic? Really? Really. First and foremost, it contains an absolutely top-notch score by Jule Styne, who wrote the music for “Gypsy” and “Funny Girl,” among other memorable musicals. Indeed, it’s worth the price of the DVD just to hear Belle, young Ebeneezer’s spurned fiancée, sing the poignant “Winter Was Warm.’ (She’s voiced by Connecticut’s own Jane Kean, Trixie on the later “Honeymooners.”) Jack Cassidy is another standout as Bob Cratchit, as is Jim Backus’ irrepressibly myopic Magoo. As he would say, “Magoo, you’ve done it again.”

• “National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation” (1989) – For anyone who’s ever hated the holidays – the cooking and decorating disasters, the disappointing gifts, the dreaded shopping, the disgruntled relatives – this is a movie for you. The chuckles build to a crescendo as the hapless Griswold household, headed by Westchester’s Chevy Chase and Beverly D’Angelo, confront an errant squirrel, an AWOL cat, a randy dog, a conflagration and a S.W.A.T. team. As Aunt Bethany exclaims, “Play Ball!”

• “The Nutcracker” – Another twofer: “George Balanchine’s The Nutcracker” (1993) is a film record of the grandfather of all “Nuts,” with Macaulay Culkin (again) as the little Nutcracker Prince transformed by the power of love. This New York City Ballet production is good for kids, though it has many of the challenges you’ll find with dance on film. A better film of “The Nutcracker” is the 1977 version starring Rockland’s Mikhail Baryshnikov and Gelsey Kirkland in a decidedly Freudian interpretation. Save this one for when the kiddies go to bed.

• “White Christmas” (1954) – This Irving Berlin pastiche remains another beloved holiday tradition, and it’s easy to see why. With Bing Crosby and Rosemary Clooney crooning, Vera-Ellen supplying the toe-tapping and Danny Kaye the yucks, it’s a can’t-miss. Some of the best numbers are set in the pre-Christmas Florida opening. It’s hard not to like “Sisters,” with Crosby and Kaye making like Clooney and Vera-Ellen, and the fabulous sequence to “The Best Things Happen While You’re Dancing,” which displays just how talented Kaye and Vera-Ellen were.