147 thoughts on “Best Christmas Movies Statistically Speaking”

1. Yo ho ho! Good find Bruce, you should link that page here. 🙂

   An interesting read. I see Bob blew his top and posted his counterargument in 4 epic posts. Good stuff Bob and I sympathise with what you say. But who’s to say Xmas movies have to be happy and gay?

   Gremlins, for instance, is considered a classic Xmas movie by many, it’s very festive, lots of snow, xmas trees, xmas presents, and there’s even a santa claus (attacked by vicious gremlins).

   ‘It’s a Wonderful Life’ is arguably the most famous Xmas movie of them all, but the 2nd half of the film is quite depressing, with our hero contemplating suicide! Hardly full of xmas cheer. But it does end with one of the happiest endings in cinema history. The ending to Die Hard is happy too! Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow! 🙂

   Check out this Xmas movie trailer –

   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Wi28Vsi_ZU

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   1. https://www.ultimatemovierankings.com/2019/12/december-10th-data-proves-die-hard-is-a-xmas-movie/

      Meet Me in St Louis is also considered one of the great Xmas movies but the festive season only plays a small albeit important part of the main story and again it’s not particularly happy.

      Charles Dickens A Christmas Carol, the most famous Xmas story of them all includes ghosts and a frightful spectre as the Ghost of Christmas yet to come. Probably gave youngsters nightmares watching the various movie versions.

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

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      1. HI STEVE

         Nobody is saying that unpleasant plot lines preclude a movie from being a Christmas one: it’s the context and treatment that are the things that count.

         For example Scrooge does come to exemplify the Christmas spirit albeit via the ghosts; and anyway Meet Me in Manchester holds out the ‘happy ever after’ belief that “next year all our troubles will be far away.” and Christmas and its continuity ARE the catalytic agents in the movie.

         There are no bad language or the glorifying of violence and the nasty ‘tough guy’ characters in either of those movies. Conversely lock up your daughters when Billy Bob Thornton is around!

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         1. STEVE: As you and WH keep giving us examples of movies you have deluded yourselves -or have been hyped into thinking-are Christmas movies, I thought it was only fair that one of us provided YOU with a couple of specific examples of what he/she thinks is a movie that embodies the Christmas spirit of community and good will.

            Part 2 seeks to do that, at least from my perspective, and you will note that in the write-ups there is no mention of –

            1/Violent, destructive action heroes using wall-to-wall profanities and not even displaying the common decency of going to the loo in private.
            2/Slashers in Santa suits carrying around blood-stained axes
            3/Drunken sex-crazed Santas.

            For the past 30 years and more we have been provided with wall-to-wall movies featuring loud, coarse action-hero extroverts making mega bucks in repetitive franchises, so that given that you and WH seem to generally like diversity in the movies you watch I am surprised that at Christmas time you both allow the hype to obsess you with Willis and Dire Hard and that you don’t try to seek out something different -something for YOU – as I do.

            Even It’s a Wonderful life doesn’t hold the appeal for me that it once did; and I’m watching a Christmas movie at the moment about a teacher organising a Christmas gala for his high school, which just might be right up our own Teach’s street.

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            1. ONCE UPON A CHRISTMAS MIRACLE 2018 – 77% Rated
               Cultural Impact. User Review This holiday romance is based on the incredible story about organ donor Chris Dempsey and recipient Heather Krueger, who were brought into one another’s lives by a transplant surgery that led to a miraculous romance at Christmas time. I FINALLY found a great one. I absolutely loved it and at the end found out it was based on a true story which makes it even better. I also loved all of the actors – casting was great.

               A CHRISTMAS KISS 2011 – 62% Rated
               Cultural Impact: User Review: I really got into this Christmas movie. A young woman with bad luck with romance feels she’ll never meet a great guy. She meets guy in elevator where they share a magical kiss who later turns out to be her boss’ boyfriend.

               The girl makes designs for her boss who is helping her boyfriend make a Christmas design for his house. I don’t want to give too much away, but I was glued to this movie! This movie was very cute her boss [Elisabeth Rohm] was someone you love to hate! The movie wasn’t too predictable and it had some really precious moments in it. Sweet movie you don’t want to miss for Christmastime

               CHRISTMAS IN HOMESTEAD 2016 -66% Rated
               Cultural Impact. User Review: Beautiful people in a great romance. When a famous movie star travels to a small town and falls in love with a single dad, will it work out or will their different backgrounds get in the way? As she gets a taste of small-town life, she discovers the true meaning of Christmas. In Christmas in Homestead, the incredibly beautiful Taylor Cole and the handsome and sensitive Michael Rady are paired up together. They have great chemistry together, and from their first scenes together, it’s easy to root for them.

   2. HI STEVE: Thanks for your comments. As always you make a good case and I would expect nothing less from you. There are of course many ways in which one can argue the case for Dire Hard, Lethal Weapon, Bad Santa and Black Christmas being Christmas movies. However here are just a few of my own further reservations and observations in the matter.

      1/The creator’s concept that something is a Christmas movie. That only equates to the movie being a Christmas one if you agree with the creator’s concept of Christmas itself.

      2/McClane for example is a foul-tongued aggressive character who wreaks havoc and violence wherever he goes, is unpleasant to other people, and goes to the loo openly in front of others. If you do not draw the line against such a character being classified as falling within the essence of the Christmas spirit where DO you draw the line?

      3/Jesus had to resist temptation from the Devil, was crucified and cried out “Father, Father, why hast thou forsaken me?” But all of that was within the context of, if you believe The Bible, His coming to earth to suffer so that mankind could be saved-ie within the spirit of Christianity which Christmas nowadays is supposed to celebrate.

      4/Accordingly that It’s a Wonderful Life’s George Temple contemplated suicide in his own moments of weakness and darkness does not detract from the good that George did for others, without wrecking half of the world to do it, which is supposed to be what Christianity and by extension Christmas is all about.

      5/On the other hand McClane ‘saving the world’ is all about what a tough specimen HE is: ie McClane movies celebrate the macho aggressive image in movies with ‘saving the world’ an excuse for gratuitous violence. It is such distinctions, including the swearing, that made the Duke frown at being equated with Clint Eastwood.

      5/Suppose a producer does a series of under-the-counter porn movies and they are all commercially successfully. He then decides that throughout his new movie his performers will get into Santa outfits at a Christmas party, eat turkey and then do their pornographic things, including frolicking naughtily in the snow, and chasing one another up and down chimneys with dishonourable intent, has the porn movie become a Christmas movie?

      6/In short Dire Hard is an excellent action thriller and Willis is as usual highly watchable; but for me the whole enterprise is devoid of any Christmas ethos. Dire Hard could have been more or less the same movie if not linked to Christmas – the plot is formalistic ; but Christmas itself was the focal point of White Christmas; Judy’s Meet Me in Manchester was all about Christmas and its spirit being eternal -“Next year all our troubles will be far away. So have yourself a merry little Christmas now”; and Clarence WAS an angel!

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2. LET’s SETTLE THIS ONCE AND FOR ALL – sound to me more than the edict of a dictator rather than something offered up for reasoned debate.

   I don’t believe that Dire Hard is a Christmas movie but there many respectable arguments put forward by those who think differently from me; it’s just that I don’t subscribe to them. However the 3 criterion in the article that WH has offered us are to my mind weak at best:

   1/CREATIVE: I feel that this one borders on nonsensical: there are creatively many bad Christmas movies, but that doesn’t make them any the less suitably festive any more than a technically terrible action movie means that it is not an action movie. Similarly an excellent script etc do not in themselves determine whether a movie is Christmas or not Christmas.

   2/COMMERCIALISM: Mel Gibson has publicly ‘outed’ the use of a Christmas setting as a gimmick by producers to sell movies in the festive season. Some professional observers have bought into that deception by being willing to classify even any movie, regardless of content, released in or around Christmas as a Xmas movie. Such pandering seems to support the philosophical observation that “Every power structure while it exists creates a social order in its own image.”

   However nobody has been more interested in making money than the former Mr and Mrs Gimme More [aka Bruce Willis and Demi Moore] and Willis’ strong commercial instincts apparently tell him that films like Dire Hard are really just money-making vehicles in fake Christmas wrappings; that’s why in my view he so emphatically proclaims his own movie as non-Christmas. In short he agrees with Mel.

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   1. 3/CULTURAL: Here I perceive the cart going before the horse in that the massive hype generated by a marketplace determined to join in the exploitation of Christ’s birthday will ensure that there is a bogus creation of the desired cultural effect and a delusional acceptance by many of the latter. In the festive season routine thriller, action and slasher movies are usually guaranteed to impress if placed in Christmas settings and benefit from glossy visuals and big stars.

      If the latter are present it is only natural that many of their fans will bite and reciprocate as the producers intend; and that those fans will get into heated arguments to protect their own prejudices, drawing comfort from exploitation articles such as that now offered by WH. Indeed in my perception our own very good-natured Work Horse himself with his strong personal values exudes the Christmas spirit all the year round; but it is understandable that he is anxious for Dire Hard to be recognised as a Christmas movie so that he can get Willis into these charts.

      We had an example of WH allowing his normal sense of proportion and fair play and rational approach to desert him when he built up a case in his own mind to justify crediting Bruce Willis with 2016’s Split in which Brucie hardly appeared. Conversely Steve recently produced an officially-published poll which showed a majority against the kind of action films which we are discussing being regarded as Christmas movies.

      NOTES (1) No matter how determined the likes of WH are to classify Dire Hard as a Christmas movie it was initially released in JULY [1988] but only in recent times has it been exploited around Christmas time. Perhaps if it was renamed Christmas in July after the Dick Powell movie we could then accept Dire Hard as a Christmas movie!

      (2) Alternatively. Director Edward Dmytryk once famous said “There’s room for only one Christ figure when Monty Clift’s in a movie.” As Christmas is supposed to be a celebration of Christ’s birthday and nothing whatsoever to do with John McClane and Martin Riggs, maybe a Christmas should henceforth be classified as one, and only one, that features Montgomery Clift.

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      1. Primarily a good genuine Christmas movie should in my own opinion reflect the spirit and character of Christ Himself and the caring ethos that He stood for. How though could even Dan forge a realistic link between Christ and Billie Bob Thornton’s alcoholic sex addict in Bad Santa?; a movie whose posters actually trashed the ethos of Santa himself with the tagline “He doesn’t care if you’re naughty or nice.”

         I personally strongly liked Willis and Mel Gibson in their heydays and admired many of their movies and I enjoyed the early Dire Hard/Lethal Weapon flicks; but at the heels of the hunt although on the side of the “good guys” McClane and Riggs are two foul-mouthed killing machines. Now, the pair ARE for my money highly entertaining characters and I always rooted for them to win – as action heroes; but compare and contrast if you will their personas with that of Jesus as described in the Bible and hymns. For example-

         “Lamb of God, I look to thee,
         Thou shalt my example be;
         Thou art gentle, meek and mild;
         Thou wast once a little child.-
         Among the poor and meek and lowly
         Lived on earth our saviour holy!”

         I always conclude that it is possible that if Christ came back to us today many of those exploiting Christmas in the movie marketplace and elsewhere might well be among the first to want Him tried and punished all over again by the authorities. After all He did drive the moneylenders out of a place of religious worship. What would He think of the exploitation of his birthday in ‘Christmas’ movies?

         “Do you remember when you walked among men?
         Well Jesus you know, if you’re looking below, it’s worse now than then,
         Pushing and shoving crowding my mind.
         So for my sake, teach me to take one day at a time.”

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         1. GENERAL

            1/I think the authors argue against themselves by highlighting the fact, as I have done, that Dire Hard opened in July. I see that factor as the makers not starting out with the idea of the film being a Christmas one but later realizing that it could be exploited as one. That blows out of the water arguments about creative intention and demonstrates that at the heels of the hunt making money was the primary aim.

            2/There are a number of other inconsistencies apparent. For example the highlighting of the number of times Christmas is mentioned but not doing any numerical count of ‘un-Christmassy’ swear words.

            3/To me the definitive Christmas movie depends on the true essence of the plot. Here I contrast for example-

            (1) It’s a Wonderful Life where the essence of the story is the self-sacrifice of Stewart’s character for others [as Christ did]so that Bailey gives up opportunities of personal advancement in his own life. McClane walking on glass is macho exhibitionism by a ‘strong man’ and cannot be equated with the personal sacrifices of a ‘small man’ like George Bailey.

            (2) The Die Hard series including Die Hard where the essence of the plot is to glorify McClaneas a tough guy who is massively violent and aggressive and to titillate audiences with bad language and [in at least one of the series] a scene of McClane going to the loo in public. Certainly those types of graphics are not ones for watching over the family’s Christmas dinner.

            3/I have already explained how I feel cultural reactions are generated by hype. As the great propogandist Joseph Goebbels would have understood: keep repeating often enough that Die Hard is a Christmas movie and soon many will come to believe that.

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3. HI STEVE: I’ve now had time to view again your 75 entry Christmas video. Most of the posters are very pretty and I will no doubt have commented on many of them and a lot of the stills last year. However the video was well worth a re-visit and here are the ones that most impressed me this time round and overall I have gotten 99% satisfaction from my return visit.

   POSTERS 1/Jack Frost 2/ Silent night Deadly Night 3/Krampus 4/Carrey’s A Christmas Carol 5/Silent Night Evil Night 6/two for Polar Express 7/Bad [saucy!] Santa 8/The Silent Partner 9/A Muppet Christmas 10/Holiday Inn 11/foreign language one for White Christmas 12/two for Edward Scissorhands 13/foreign language one for Dire Hard 14/ two for Miracle on 34th Street 1947.

   STILLS 1/the opening ‘leggy’ one! 2/Attenborough’s Miracle on 34th Street 3/The Grinch 4/A Christmas Carol 5/Love Actually 6/Rise of the Guardians 7/Macaulay Culkin reading Playboy [ my son hated him in his heyday almost as much as my son still hates Laddie today] 8/Gremlins 9/Sir Maurice and The Muppets 10/sexy one for Kiss Kiss Bang Bang 11/lobby card for White Christmas 12/Night Before Christmas 13/1947’s Miracle on 34th Street 14/Sim as Scrooge.

   I’ve mentioned before that the director of Scrooge 1951, Brian Desmond Hurst lived in the same street In Belfast [Ribble Street] as my wife and was born there in 1895, and indeed she too was born there in 1951. A plaque commemorating Brian’s connection with Ribble Street is situated beside the entrance to the Strand cinema about 5 mins away from where I live now and 10 mins away from Ribble Street itself. The Strand is the only one of the old cinemas in Northers Ireland still standing and in use as a movie hall; all other cinemas nowadays of course are in the new multiplexes at shopping complexes etc.

   I’m glad to see you included my 3 fave Christmas movies in your video: White Christmas, Meet Me in Manchester and Mitchum’s Holiday Affair. Despite my Jimmy being its star, I’ve gone off It’s a Wonderful Life a bit today probably because of too many viewings over the years; the Stewart films that I most cherish nowadays are his early 1950s westerns and his Hitch classics Vertigo and Rear Window. Still, my personal preferences aside, Wonderful Life undoubtedly as earned its top spot in your video. Well done again.

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   1. Hi Bob, thanks for re-reviewing my Xmas video, the generous rating is much appreciated. Glad you liked the festive picture gallery.

      Have you wondered how many of the 75 films on the video were genuine, feel-good, in the comfort zone, Xmas movies? Maybe about 50 of them? The rest? Scary and violent? 😉

      So Bob, are you saying that a real Xmas movie should not be dripping with blood, bullets flying in every direction, buildings collapsing, cars exploding and contain a growing body count? Gotcha!

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      1. HI STEVE: Thanks for the reply.

         Unfortunately -or fortunately from your viewpoint- films dripping with blood, and sex, often provide the best posters!

         Also, whilst I would not consider some of the films which are traditionally labelled “Christmas” movies to be proper festive ones, by and large the bright and breezy posters in your video did capture the Yultide spirit so in that respect the content of the movies themselves is academic to your aim of creating a Christmas atmosphere, and of showing us the 75 best films officially declared “Christmas”. By you, as the saying goes, “Job done” – indeed well done.

         Keep safe.

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4. “Cogerson
   November 17, 2019 at 2:51 pm
   So Bob…I was shopping this morning with WoC….and I passed a Christmas movie display…..lots of classic Christmas movies there….Christmas Vacation, Elf, Polar Express, Christmas Story and The Grinch…yet somehow Die Hard was not there…and I thought of you and your Die Hard Christmas bias.

   So I went to complain to the manager on duty…and he said they….”can’t keep Die Hard on the shelves…especially since it is the greatest Christmas movie of all-time”. Of course this last paragraph is made up…lol. Enjoy your trip.”

   “When the legend’s more exciting than the truth, print the legend!” [The Man who Shot liberty Valance 1962].

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   1. I vote that Die Hard is a Christmas movie. Really enjoyed catching up on the forum button. Hope you enjoy your Turkey Week.

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      1. You are a very wise man Taylor….everybody except Bob and Bruce Willis realize Die Hard is a Christmas movie…lol.

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         1. Confuses say “a minority has a great chance of being correct because on the law of averages the majority is often influenced by herd thinking!”

            Bob he say “the opinion of the star of the movie is good enough for me!”

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5. Thanks for the link. Just watched Sleepless in Manchester. It’s not on any of the lists that I can recall seeing of Christmas movies and in fact its finale is set on Valentine’s Day. However I suppose the Xmas TV movie channels may include it because it starts around Christmas time and has more of the Xmas spirit about it than many of the contrived Christmas-set movies that do get officially listed.

   The script is reasonably clean; even Bill Pullman’s ‘third wheel’ is a feel-good character; and there’s something for most people in it. For example you may recall that a great play is made on Al Leach’s 1957 An Affair to Remember; so The Work Horse could imagine Hanks and Archie have teamed up! [Were McClane and Riggs ever allowed to gate-crash Valentine’s Day-type movies?].

   Looking at how young and fresh Ryan was in that movie it’s sad to think that it’s been over two decades since her last hit: 1998’s You’ve Got Mail, again with Hanks. Since then whilst the hits have continued for HIM and she has appeared in TV productions and numerous documentaries her last normal cinematic release with recorded earnings, Serious Moonlight made way back in 2009, earned just 25,000 dollars in the US.

   Of course as she’s no longer flavour of the month she doesn’t get any WH love these days either; he’s “a feather for any wind that blows”, THAT guy! Anyway take care and keep safe. I’ll let you have a brief comment on your Christmas video when I have gone through the 75 entries on it, though I’m sure I commented on some of them last year.

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   1. So Bob…I was shopping this morning with WoC….and I passed a Christmas movie display…..lots of classic Christmas movies there….Christmas Vacation, Elf, Polar Express, Christmas Story and The Grinch…yet somehow Die Hard was not there…and I thought of you and your Die Hard Christmas bias.

      So I went to complain to the manager on duty…and he said they….”can’t keep Die Hard on the shelves…especially since it is the greatest Christmas movie of all-time”. Of course this last paragraph is made up…lol. Enjoy your trip.

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      1. BRUCE: There is another point that I should have picked you up on in your 2.51 pm post yesterday: how come that when The Master is being critical he is imparting pearls of wisdom, and yet when I offer criticism I am displaying “bias”?

         Today the Sky TV Christmas movies channel over here is showing Bad Santa followed by Dire Hard. Here are the descriptions of the two movies on the announcement cards in the TV menu:

         BAD SANTA: Parental Guidance only. Strong language and sexual scenes. A foul-mouthed safecracker dresses up as a department store Santa to rob the joint

         DIRE HARD: Parental guidance only. Strong language and heavy violence. A tough cop (Bruce Willis) takes on terrorists when they occupy an LA skyscraper.

         Parental guidance only!: it seems that kids can acceptably be excluded from Christmas celebrations these days! Whatever happened to “The Family at Christmas Time”? Do adults not get enough of swearing, sex, violence and feel-bad behaviour on their screens for the rest of the year? Imagine Jimmy Stewart saying “It’s a wonderful ******* life, isn’t it bitch!” [my Jimmy in fact turned down the Peter Finch part in 1977’s Network because of the “exceptional bad language” in that movie. Obviously a man of ‘family’ principles.]

         Whilst the television station obviously subscribes to the inclusion of those two films in Christmas movie lists, I think that if those types of Santas and Christmases had been around in Dickens’ time A Christmas Carol’s Ebenezer Scrooge may well have concluded that he was a model citizen and remained a miser!

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