A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving. A true classic. Especially here in Minnesota, where it all started. Woodstock and Snoopy save the day, you learn a simple lesson about the pilgrims. And of course, Thanksgiving dinner served up on a ping-pong table. Classic.
Planes, Trains and Automobiles. Steve Martin and John Candy in their prime. Traveling across the country to get home for Thanksgiving. “Those aren’t pillows” is still a classic line from a classic movie. It is a different time. 1987. And a few of the jokes might not be as PC today as they were just before Jeremy Piven made it where it was only PC to wear flannel in PCU. Another classic. But Planes, Trains and Automobiles is on Netflix; PCU isn’t. And PCU isn’t about Thanksgiving.
The Scent of a Woman. Al Pacino as a blind alcoholic colonel who tangos and drives a Ferrari. Prep school kid (Chris O’Donnell with great hair) falls for a girl, shows the utmost integrity and impresses the colonel, who it turns out served on LBJ’s staff. A young Philip Seymour Hoffman and Gabrielle Anwar are also in this movie, which is not on Netflix.
Alice’s Restaurant. Produced in 1969, amidst counter-culture turmoil, this movie follows the wild adventures of Arlo Guthrie, visiting Alice for Thanksgiving, making questionable decisions and having Cool Hand Luke-style issues with authority. It’s quirky, slow, but endearing. Not on Netflix at the moment.
Dutch. Ed O’Neill (Married with Children, Modern Family, etc) is a typical 90s-era construction worker, picking up an unwilling private school kid. The two immediately hate each other and travel across the country just being awful. I like awful, so I like this. Except of course there’s a happy ending. But then, it’s kicking off the holiday season, so why not have a little happy… And it’s on Netflix.
A New World. I’m not sure that Colin Farrell makes a convincing John Smith, but it is good to have a little history lesson in the day to be thankful. Of course, it’s a love story. Complete with Pocahontas, a Native American princess. Not currently on Netflix.
Pocahontas. Disney. Good cartoon for the kids. John Smith can’t hold a candle to the wisdom of the tree spirit. Better than Sleeping Beauty. Good to have the heroine save the day. Aaaand, it’s available on Netflix.
Home for the Holidays. Robert Downey Jr (who was young once), Holly Hunter, Dylan McDermott, Anne Bancroft, Thanksgiving stress, boyfriends, turkey, family drama, more family drama. A great saw-toothed tension structure, good writing, somewhat realistic, and some pretty darn good acting. Although not on Netflix… But if you take Thanksgiving out of the equation, the best stand-alone movie on the list, for sure!
The Blind Side. Sandra Bullock won an Oscar for rescuing a poor, really big, kid from the streets. Of course, it’s an ‘Ole Miss tradition to do so when the kid is an NFL-caliber football player. True story. Thanksgiving is for football. The whole darn weekend. But the movie is not on Netflix, so you’ll have to get it elsewhere if you’re gonna’ watch it while the turkey followed by Wild Turkey is putting you to sleep.
Hannah and Her Sisters. If anyone can make a day off and lots of food suck, it’s Woody Allen. Oooooof course, as with all Woody Allen movies, Woody Allen is in love affairs with the leading ladies,including Mia Farrow and a young Dianne West. Also like all Woody Allen movies, amazing dialog. Not on Netflix.
Honorable Mentions:
- The War at Home
- Avalon
- The Ice Storm
- Rocky finally gets a date with Adrian!
- She’s Gotta Have It
- Pieces of April
- Stagecoach
- Broadway Danny Rose
- The Myth of Fingerprints
- Free Birds
- Addams Family Values
- Grumpy Old Men
- Son in Law
- The Big Chill
- Four Brothers
- You’ve Got Mail
- Annnnnnd of course, ThanksKilling!
