MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE.
This picture has nothing to do with the post but it's Nicole Kidman three Christmases ago. Cheers!
Years ago it was decided that we couldn't be celebrating movie anniversaries with utter randomness at the Film Experience so we committed to 10th, 25th, 50th, and 75th, and 100th parties. We stray often, especially if we're busy on "projects" like a Smackdown or what not, so this decision was useless and we'll probably drop it next year. Broader movie culture wouldn't play along anyway, celebrating all sorts of odd anniveraries (17th! 36th!) in order to just keep celebrating the same things over and over again. This is all a long way of getting around to the conceit of this post (GET ON WITH IT) which is
On this Christmas day in showbiz history, what was going on...
100 YEARS AGO
In truth we have no idea what was happening in showbiz on exactly Christmas day in 1921. We do know that the serial The Adventures of Tarzan (1921) starring Elmo Lincoln (the last Tarzan to not have a gym-ready bod) was a big deal that month in movie theaters. And you know about our weird fascination with Tarzan pictures. It was probably on about its fourth chapter during the holiday. Movie serials were hot in the silent era and would advance to the next episode on a weekly basis back then, usually ending on a cliffhanger each time. They remained a popular form for Hollywood for another 30 years but began dying in the 1950s as televisions became more common place in homes. In something of a strange reversal, the most popular movies of the 21st century (superhero franchises) are far more closely related to this dead form of filmmaking than they were to other Hollywood movie forms.
75 YEARS AGO
On Christmas day 1946, the event drama The Razor's Edge hit movie theaters. The film became one of the ten highest grossing films of its year, and was nominated for four Oscars including Best Picture. It won Best Supporting Actress (Anne Baxter) which we discussed at length on a recent episode of the Supporting Actress Smackdown. Two other Best Picture nominees, the Christmas classic It's a Wonderful Life and the childhood drama The Yearling were also newish in movie theaters right then. The Joan Crawford melodrama Humoresque also premiered on this holiday. A good month for Hollywood.
50 YEARS AGO
The big movie in theaters on this holiday in 1971 was not an event picture, but a relatively inexpensive cop drama, Dirty Harry starring Clint Eastwood. It proved so popular that it grossed nearly as much as that year's Bond outing Diamonds are Forever, which was also newish in theaters then. Dirty Harry's popularity was obviously a zeitgeist thing. Violent misanthropic and racist cops were all the rage in 1971. Consider that The French Connection, which had opened two months prior, was an even bigger smash hit. Though it's impossible to imagine a gritty prestige-free procedural as an Oscar champ now, The French Connection would prove to be the year's big Oscar behemoth with five wins including Best Picture.
25 YEARS AGO
On this Christmas day in 1996, The People vs Larry Flynt and Evita (just discussed) both opened in theaters hoping for gold of both varieties: box office and Oscars! They were only modest successes in both departments. This was not the last time that Courtney Love and Madonna would be pitted against each other, either, in the public eye.
10 YEARS AGO
Christmas 2011 brought two Best Picture nominees to movie theaters: the immediately maligned Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close (one in a long line of movies that people only loved for a split second and that split second occurred during last minute releasing and awards season balloting) and Steven Spielberg's epic boy and steed adventure War Horse.
TODAY
Which of these movies will you see this weekend?
Moviegoing isn't what it used to be (*cries*) so the only options near you are probably the franchise trio: The King's Man, Spider-Man No Way Home, and The Matrix Resurrection. But if you're really lucky you might still be able to catch West Side Story or Nightmare Alley. Opening in limited release today in some cities is Parallel Mothers starring Penélope Cruz (in another gorgeous performance!) which we first reviewed at Venice, and The Tragedy of Macbeth starring Oscar obsessions Denzel and Frances (reviewed at NYFF).
In wide release the new options are Michael B Jordan in the lost soldier drama A Journal for Jordan, the sports drama American Underdog with Zachary Levi, and, expanding into wide release, Paul Thomas Anderson's meandering 70s comedy Licorice Pizza about the odd relationship between a directionless twenty-something (Alana Haim) and a 15 year old child star who wants to be her boyfriend (Cooper Hoffman). I'm not besotted (sorry film critic community!) but Bradley Cooper and Harriet Samson Harris are both pure dynamite, as comic treasures go, in their brief performances.
Or, if you're just staying at home this Christmas there's also the divisive political satire Don't Look Up just dropped on Netflix.
Which movie are you catching this weekend?
Which of these Christmases past would you jump in a time machine for?