‘Santa Claus Conquers the Martians’
Posted on 12/07/2012 4:42:03 PM PST by MNDude
What is your favorite Christmas movie and which do you hate the most?
My favorite, which hardly anyone has even seen, is “The Ref” with Denis Leary, Kevin Spacey, and Judy Davis. It is a dark comedy set during Christmas, with a pretty screwed up family. Being from Conn, my favorite line is “Connecticut is the 5th ring of Hell”. If you like any of Denis Leary’s comedy, it is worth a rental.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0110955/
Worst, “Silent Night, Deadly Night” some slasher movie.
Ayn Rand was highly opinionated and offered her views on many things in venues ranging from lectures, magazine articles and even "The Tonight Show" with Johnny Carson. I've yet to find her thoughts on It's a Wonderful Life. There are plenty of opinion pieces of what others thought she would have thought about the film. One reason may be that during the 50s and early 60s, It's a Wonderful Life, which was not a box office hit, didn't have the widespread recognition that it subsequently got.
My take is that George Bailey is rather like the Eddie Willers character in Rand's Atlas Shurgged, a decent, honorable man but not exceptional. Unlike many, I see Henry F. Potter as a heroic figure in many ways. He overcame being a cripple to become "...the richest man in town" and was, evidently, well respected enough by people of Bedford Falls to run the draft board when WWII broke out. He attempted to bring sound business practices to the Bailey Building and Loan and apparently had most of the board of directors on his side until others intervened to put George in control. The plot device with his outright theft of the $8,000 and subsequent chicanery was designed to cast an otherwise prudent, sober-minded, quite exceptional man in an evil light.
According to the Surveillance of Hollywood FBI Files, in 1947 the FBI detected the taint of Communism in It's a Wonderful Life; what purports to be the original memo is at the cited link. Evidently Capra's film was based upon an earlier Russian work, The Letter. One portion of the FBI memo includes:
...the film represented a rather devious [means?] to discredit bankers by casting Lionel Barrymore as a "scrooge-type" so that he would be the most hated man in the picture. This, according to these sources, is a common trick of the Communists. [...] this picture deliberately maligned the upper class, attempting to show the people who had money were mean and despicable characters.
That said, I suspend my politics for the two-plus hours of the viewing and just enjoy it as a good yarn.
Runner-Up - National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation
*****************************
I like both of those. "Elf" is good, too.
************************
LOL!
**************************
I hate that movie!
‘Santa Claus Conquers the Martians’
The title is "600 Hours of Edward".
Was it a red vest and skirt with white fringe?
Yep! And was I ever cute!
Did you see me?
That was what my cowgirl costume looked like, along with my two silver six shooters and holsters, and red cowboy boots. At that age, I planned to be a cowgirl when I grew up. :)
“Save the neck for me, Clark”
Have to agree about Bad Santa. How can anyone not laugh at that movie? Just the scene with John Ritter and Bernie Mac alone makes it worth watching.
Best: It’s a Wonderful Life (no contest!)
Runners up: National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation
Home Alone
A Christmas Carol
Worst: Any remake of A Christmas Carol featuring a female pop diva playing a modern day Scrooge. Ugh!
That was what my cowgirl costume looked like, along with my two silver six shooters and holsters, and red cowboy boots. At that age, I planned to be a cowgirl when I grew up. :)
__________________________________
WE WERE TWINS!
and that girl with legs clear up to her butt.
_________________________________
Mine reach the ground!
Remarkably, hers did BOTH!
It’s a guy assessment of attractive female pins from back in the 50s. Probably from before you were born. I’m older than dirt!
Talented gal!
yes before I was born.
Best
Soup
Talented gal!
yes before I was born. Or maybe I was toddling on my legs that just learned to reach the ground, lol.
Best
Soup
The best AND worst: “Toys” (Robin Williams)
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.