Category: 1980s

A quality adaptation for the book of the same title, this tells the tale of the strange year when the Herdmans, the worst kids in the whole history of the world, decide to take over the church Christmas pageant. It sadly sits firmly in 1980s made for television production values, otherwise it could possibly be a true Christmas classic. It serves as a reminder that perfection and adherence to every little tradition is not what really makes the holiday special to most of those who celebrate. It also has an adorable young Fairuza Balk providing commentary to those unfamiliar with the characters and location. 

Not having paid for television for awhile, I don’t know if there’s any channels out there that still play this for 24 hours on Christmas Day, but even that level of over-saturation for many years did nothing to deplete the film’s charm. The well-known tale of nine year old Ralphie’s quest for a ‘Red Ryder carbine-action, two hundred shot Range Model air rifle with a compass in the stock and a thing that tells time’ and his various adventures leading up to Christmas day is incredibly relatable to anyone who was ever a kid. There are so many memorable scenes and quotable lines that is firmly placed high on the list of Christmas classics.  

While this is just an episode of the Fraggle Rock television show, I include it as one of my absolute favorite Christmas specials to watch every year. During the winter season, the Fraggles celebrate the Festival of the Bells. While all of the other Fraggles excitedly make preparations, Gobo is having doubts and sets out to find the Great Bell at the center of Fraggle Rock. I’ve never seen another special that isn’t technically about Christmas so effectively encapsulate the reason people honor holidays. Uncle Matt gives a report on the silly creatures while Doc and Sprocket carry out their own celebrations, so the episode is not devoid of actual Christmas celebrating. 

On a stop in Salt Lake City, hobo Bernard Hughes decides attempts a Christmas-time reunion with the son he abandoned many years ago, played by Gerald McRaney. He quickly bonds with the grandchildren he’s never met while his son is understandably more aloof. It’s fairly standard made for television fare, hitting the mild notes of family strife while maintaining its feel good Christmas-ness. I enjoyed the portrayal of closeness in the found family hobo community and also the not often used in film Utah location.  

In some other universe, there’s a cute romantic comedy starring Molly Ringwald and Robert Downey Jr. Sadly I don’t live in that universe because they have fairly good chemistry together. Instead we have Downey as a New York City teacher who is also a pickup artist. We only see him do his pickup schtick a few times before he becomes smitten with Ringwald who after a very quick fling together doesn’t want to give him the time of day. She’s too busy trying to deal with the debts of her gambler alcoholic father, Dennis Hopper. Way too much time in the film is spent with them trying to deal with the loan shark mobsters after her father than on the love affair. I don’t know why so many 1980s films need to throw criminal subplots into the mix, but I don’t know if any of them ever improved a film.