Ho Ho Ho! Santa Claus in film and TV. Jolly? Rocky? Or a whole lot of a road? Which Father Christmas is saintly? Which is ghastly? And which are you not quite sure of?
Santa Claus: The Movie, it’s unfathomably bad, dull, and ugly.
For some reason it’s a classic.
I also dislike Elf.
Cannot stand Will Farrell, so I’ve never bothered with Elf. It looks to be his standard schtick of humor and I’m just not interested.
Tim Allen’s The Santa Clause is an annual favorite, however. Lots of good fun.
Christmas Evil and Ernest Saves Christmas both come to mind immediately, very different interpretations, for sure.
These are the only Santas welcome in my home:
For me, it will always be the classic Miracle on 34th Street.
And not that dumb 1994 remake. Give me that black and white goodness!
Wait, it is? When did that happen? It was the essence of a flop when it came out, and for years afterward
I feel like the we’ve discussed the limits of “man-child” humor before here. In Elf’s defense, I will say that it’s directed by Jon Favreau and the aspects of that style of humor which are normally grating are mitigated by an extremely wholesome undercurrent.
If we want to go with newer ones, I really, really liked Klaus.
I also liked The Christmas Chronicles
I like Elf myself, and it’s become a tradition at my brother’s home to watch that every Christmas.
Miracle of 34th Street - I remember seeing the 70s TV version with Sebastian Cabot and enjoying it, and my dad telling me there was better version (1947), which we watched one holiday season and he was right, I liked it even more.
Course if you want to see the best Santa…
“He’s making a list… pray you’re not on it.” Classic.
My favorites are those old stop-motion cartoons from the 60s, I think.
Santa Claus Is Comin’ to Town
And Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer (although Santa has a smaller part in that one)
Oh man, Rare Exports is a great pick! Any MSTies who haven’t seen this one yet should definitely check it out.
Also, I think Kurt Russell makes a good Santa.
I gotta go with A Christmas Story
Such a classic
Yeah, but you’ll shoot your eye out kid.
Edmund Gwenn loyalist here. I did like Ed Asner in Elf, though. And Mickey Rooney in those Rankin-Bass specials.
HO! HO! HO!
I love it, too.
Not a movie, but Art Carney’s take on Santa Claus in the “Night of the Meek” episode of The Twilight Zone is unforgettable.
You folks are bringing out that top-shelf stuff! Love those movies.
I gotta put it down for Silent Night, Deadly Night while we’re at it.
Y’know, it might be an England thing, but it’s ALWAYS on TV at christmas here, and the Christmas Movie events (Drive ins, cinema clubs that sort of stuff) also put it on and it sells out.
But its a dogpoop movie and I don’t understand why, maybe it’s just really cheap to get the rights to?