Top holiday movies: The big four - Entertainment, Movies - Air Force Times

Top holiday movies: The big four

For millions of movie fans, this quartet has become an integral part of the holidays — the films you go out of your way to watch at least once a season.

‘A Christmas Carol’

Dozens of TV and film versions of the venerable Dickens classic have been made, starring everyone from Alastair Sim to Mr. Magoo.

Many say the 1951 British version starring Sim is the best, but I’ve always been partial to the 1984 American version with George C. Scott and David Warner.

Honorable mention: 1988’s “Scrooged,” the wryly off-kilter Bill Murray adaptation.

‘It’s a Wonderful Life’ (1946)

It doesn’t really get interesting until its final 45 minutes — and doesn’t truly become a “Christmas movie” until its final moments — but director Frank Capra’s nostalgiafest has become an indelible part of the holidays, courtesy of Jimmy Stewart in one of his most greatest Everyman roles and Henry Travers as his guardian angel.

‘A Christmas Story’ (1983)

This irresistible slice of small-town Americana about a little boy (Peter Billingsley) pining for a BB gun for Christmas has vaulted into the top echelon in recent years through annual 24-hour marathon airings over Christmas Eve and Christmas Day on TBS. Try not to watch … I double-dog dare ya!

‘National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation’ (1989)

Ah, the Griswolds: the family that puts the “fun” in holiday dysfunction. Chevy Chase serves up one of the greatest bug-eyed performances of his career in a parade of hilarious holiday disasters, many caused or abetted by Randy Quaid as inbred Cousin Eddie.