Shawn Ryan"It's a Wonderful Life" showed up on NBC last weekend and will again on Dec. 24. The 1946 movie is a familiar sight this time of year (USA is showing it, too).
But have you ever actually seen it?
"It's a Wonderful Life" has moments about as bleak as a movie gets. Suicide. Financial ruin. Public shame. Not warm 'n' fuzzy, let's-all-drink-eggnog-and-sing-carols stuff. In fact, Christmas is barely a part of it and only shows up in a substantial form in the last 20 minutes which, admittedly, is happy and life-affirming.
Christmas movies have mostly been about joy and family and coming together for the holidays, but there are plenty that look at the darker side. So if you're looking for happy, you might want to avoid:
* "Bad Santa." (2003) A drunken, foul-mouthed department-store Santa who's actually a criminal waiting to rob the mall where he works. Why, it's like a big, warm hug. Billy Bob Thornton is about as lousy a human being as you can be without having horns and a tail. The ending winds up a slight bit happier, but it still has someone lying there with bullets in his back. Wow.
* "A Christmas Carol." (All of them) Anyone up for ghosts for the holidays? How about memories that reveal just how lousy your life (and you) has turned out? Sure, Charles Dickens' 1843 novella ends up all huggy and love-for-fellow-man, but remember, the title character has become the year-round name for a hateful and miserly person, so we're not talking sweetness and light.
* "Die Hard." (1988) Maybe the greatest action movie ever made, but did you remember that it takes place at Christmas? Yeah, it's hard to remember that with all the bullet-ridden bodies, exploding helicopters and Alan Rickman's multistory death plunge.
* "Gremlins." (1984) Yippee! A cutesy-pie Christmas present that, if you let it eat after midnight or get water on it, turns into a slimy, mean-spirited lizard thingy. And you give this to a 12-year-old boy? An age when impulse control is basically nonexistent?
* "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer." (1964) Yes, the TV movie that has become a staple of Christmas lore. But have you watched it lately? Rudolph is teased mercilessly by fellow reindeer. He's shunned by his own father, who thinks he's a wuss. So he wanders off into the dark, freezing night, alone and ashamed. And don't even get me started on the Island of Misfit Toys.
* All those horror films: "Silent Night, Deadly Night" or "Silent Night, Bloody Night" or "Jack Frost" (not the Michael Keaton one) or "Black Christmas" or "Santa Claws" or... too many to list here.
Contact Shawn Ryan at sryan@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6327.