It may seem strange, on Valentine’s Day, to share a scene that I love from a Christmas movie. Well, we’re all about being strange here at the Shattered Lens!
Add to that, George and Mary share one of the greatest romances ever put on the big screen. It may be a Christmas movie but it’s also a love story.
So, for your viewing pleasure, here’s how it all started…
Seven days…
We found out tonight that the great Sir John Hurt passed away at the age of 77.
For some their memory of him was in the role of the Elephant Man. For the younger set it might be as Hellboy’s adopted father Professor Broom. Some might even remember him as Chancellor Sutler from V for Vendetta. They were all great roles, but my very first memory of him is from a film that helped shaped my love for horror and sci-fi. It was a film that was influenced the impressionable mind of a pre-teen.
This film is and will always be Ridley Scott’s haunted house in space sci-fi horror film, Alien.
Sir John Hurt as the doomed crew-member Kane would make such an impact in my impressionable mind as a child not when he first appears on-screen, but when the titular creature makes it’s first appearance in what I can only describe as an explosive birthing scene.
Rest In Peace good sir.
RIP, Debbie Reynolds.
Here one final holiday scene that I love. I present to you the ending of the greatest psycho Santa movie ever made, 1980’s Christmas Evil! Needless to say, if you haven’t seen Christmas Evil, the scene below counts as a spoiler.
If you have seen Christmas Evil then you know that, even though it’s about a possibly psychotic gentleman who thinks that he’s Santa Claus, it’s also a surprisingly sweet-natured and sincere little Christmas horror film.
And the ending, to me, is simply holiday perfection. Even the grindhouse can occasionally can get in the Christmas spirit!
Here you go. Merry Christmas, everyone.
For the past week, we’ve been sharing some of our favorite holiday scenes! Myself, I shared two scenes from It’s A Wonderful Life and Miracle on 34th Street. However, I just recently realized that we hadn’t shared any scenes from a film that has, particularly in this year, emerged as a holiday favorite!
So, without further ado, enjoy this scene from Die Hard!
Here’s hoping that everyone had a Merry Christmas!
How many times did you watch A Christmas Story today?
At this very moment, NBC is broadcasting the classic 1946 film, It’s A Wonderful Life! They show it every Christmas Eve and every year, I watch.
Why?
Because I love this movie so much that I could watch it a million times and then a million times more! There is no movie that makes me happier than It’s A Wonderful Life. There is no movie that brings tears to my mismatched eyes as quickly as It’s A Wonderful Life. I love this film so much that I even watch it outside of December. If I’m depressed, this is the movie that I’m going to watch.
And who can blame me? The scene below is one that I love but, to be honest, there’s not a single scene in It’s A Wonderful Life that I don’t love. I even love those scenes with old Sam Wainwright going, “Hee haw!” Sam may have been a jackass but he was a good guy underneath it all.
(Plus, he made a fortune in plastics! Money can excuse all sorts of obnoxious behavior!)
As for the scene below, it’s the final ten minutes of It’s A Wonderful Life. To me, nothing exemplifies the joy of the holidays better than Jimmy Stewart running down the snow-filled streets of Bedford Falls and shouting “Merry Christmas” to everyone, even mean old Mr. Potter. (“And a happy new year to you — IN JAIL!”) This is a great scene and wonderfully acted by James Stewart, Donna Reed, Lionel Barrymore, Ward Bond, and everyone else in the film!
And here it is!
Again, Happy Festivus!
This scene is from The Strike episode of Seinfeld. Believe it or not, it is based on a true story. Scriptwriter Dan O’Keefe, who wrote this episode, grew up celebrating Festivus, a holiday that was created by his father. In the real Festivus, the aluminum pole was replaced by a clock that O’Keefe’s father would put in a bag and nail to a wall. To quote O’Keefe:
“The real symbol of the holiday was a clock that my dad put in a bag and nailed to the wall every year…I don’t know why, I don’t know what it means, he would never tell me. He would always say, ‘That’s not for you to know.'”
Enjoy!
“What’s this?”
This is one of my favorite songs from one of my favorite Christmas movies.
Through the Shattered Lens 