what do you consider a Christmas movie?

[Alpo]

Does it just have to be taking place at Christmas? Or does it have to be about Christmas?

 

There's a great movie. 1939, I believe. Bachelor mother. Ginger Rogers works at a department store. And she gets her pink slip at lunch time Christmas Eve. She was just hired for the Christmas rush.

 

So she's out at lunch looking for work, and she sees this woman leaving a baby on the steps at a foundling home, ringing the bell and then running away. The baby almost falls down the steps, so Ginger runs over and catches it and picks it up. And the door opens.

 

Naturally the people of the foundling home assume it's her baby. She's answering questions and then she realizes what the questions are about and she says it's not her kid and she leaves.

 

But she has told them her name and she has told them where she worked and that she had just got let go, so they go down and talk to her boss and explain that because she was fired she had had to give away her baby.

 

They call her in and tell her that the firing was a mistake and she not only was not fired she was getting a $5 a week raise.

 

All this is happening on Christmas Eve. And the run of the movie lasts to the second, maybe the 3rd of January.

 

Is that a Christmas movie?

[Crazy Gun Barney, SASS #2428]

Sure it is.  So is Cobra, Invasion USA, Lethal Weapon, and Die Hard.  All wholesome movies to watch on cold December nights.

[Charlie MacNeil, SASS #48580]

5 minutes ago, Crazy Gun Barney, SASS #2428 said:

Sure it is.  So is Cobra, Invasion USA, Lethal Weapon, and Die Hard.  All wholesome movies to watch on cold December nights.

It just ain't Christmas until you get to watch Hans Gruber fall off the top of the Nakatomi Building!

[Subdeacon Joe]

A Christmas movie needs to take place in the season and that needs to be the reason for the characters being together. It should have one or more of these elements:

Love and family: Many Christmas movies feature themes of love, family bonds, and forgiveness.

Redemption and transformation: Stories often involve characters finding their humanity.

Hope and magic: There is often an element of hope or magic. 

[Marshal Mo Hare, SASS #45984]

AI says there are between 135 and 347 adaptations of A Christmas Carol depending on what you count.

[Rooster Ron Wayne]

A Christmas Story ( 1983 )

 

https://youtu.be/SUnymteHMno?feature=shared

[DocWard]

1 hour ago, Subdeacon Joe said:

A Christmas movie needs to take place in the season and that needs to be the reason for the characters being together. It should have one or more of these elements:

Love and family: Many Christmas movies feature themes of love, family bonds, and forgiveness.

Redemption and transformation: Stories often involve characters finding their humanity.

Hope and magic: There is often an element of hope or magic. 

 

A great summation. Given those parameters, I can definitely make arguments for Die Hard and Lethal Weapon!

[Alpo]

2 hours ago, Subdeacon Joe said:

A Christmas movie needs to take place in the season and that needs to be the reason for the characters being together. It should have one or more of these elements:

Love and family: Many Christmas movies feature themes of love, family bonds, and forgiveness.

Redemption and transformation: Stories often involve characters finding their humanity.

Hope and magic: There is often an element of hope or magic. 

Well that definitely fits bachelor mother. Takes place over Christmas. Ginger ends up with both a son and a husband. And on the wedding night David Niven is going to find out that she's still a virgin - that would be magic, right?

[Dapper Dave]

Violent Night. Great movie, and it is Christmas, (commercial version), centered.

[watab kid]

white christmas , miracle on 34th street , and the christmas story are my preferred watching but i watch the hallmark stuff as well , 

[Alpo]

A Hallmark that I really like is A GRANDPA FOR CHRISTMAS. If you have not seen it, I greatly recommend it.

[Texas Joker]

Die hard is a chanuka movie.

 

Representation of a small force with very limited resources defending against a major sieging force and eventually overcoming.

 

But I agree it's not Christmas until Hans gruber fails his leviosa spell.

[Alpo]

15 minutes ago, Texas Joker said:

But I agree it's not Christmas until Hans gruber fails his leviosa spell.

So that's why he falls? He forgot to say wingardia?

[Texas Joker]

59 minutes ago, Alpo said:

So that's why he falls? He forgot to say wingardia?

Or accio broom? Worked for harry

[T.K.]

The Great Rupert

[watab kid]

ill add the 'home alone' and grich because they were ones my kids exposed me to , 

 

and yes the die hards were defintely on that second list for me 

[Buckshot Bear]

Bad Santa 

[Cyrus Cassidy #45437]

"The Crossing" is about Washington crossing the Delaware on Christmas...so it's a Christmas movie in my book!

[DocWard]

I suppose my favorites are what I would call "the big three."

White Christmas

It's a Wonderful Life

A Christmas Story

 

Of course, I also need to see A Charlie Brown Christmas, and How The Grinch Stole Christmas (the original animated version, narrated by Boris Karloff) for the season to be complete.

 

Edit: How could I forget the George C. Scott version of A Christmas Carol?

[DeaconKC]

I did not know Boris Karloff narrated The Grinch, thanks!

[DocWard]

12 hours ago, DeaconKC said:

I did not know Boris Karloff narrated The Grinch, thanks!

 

Yep, and Thurl Ravenscroft sang "Your a Mean One, Mr. Grinch."

[Abilene Slim SASS 81783]

Satire from the Babylon Bee:

 

https://babylonbee.com/news/large-turnout-for-memorial-for-hans-gruber-who-was-thrown-from-a-building-by-a-police-officer

[watab kid]

On 11/21/2025 at 11:40 PM, Alpo said:

A Hallmark that I really like is A GRANDPA FOR CHRISTMAS. If you have not seen it, I greatly recommend it.

ill check it out , thanks 

[Alpo]

Might still be on YouTube. That's why I downloaded it from, six or seven years back.