The Stars Are Out for Christmas
Rick Retro’s Realm, Project #4: 2025 Christmas Tour – Trending in the late 1980s: Christmas box-office hits driven by big stars.
Project #4: 2025 Christmas Tour – Trending in the late 1980s: Christmas box-office hits driven by big stars.
After visiting the early 1980s in our 2025 Christmas Tour, we then turned to the late 1980s, and three of my reviews previously posted to the text group in 2024 made their Substack debuts. In the early 1980s, the Christmas films we looked at were generally more story-driven, while in the late 1980s, we visited three films that were more star-driven.
First up was Die Hard, the 1988 Bruce Willis hit that turned him from a rising television star into a bona fide big-screen action hero. It was on all ten of the all-time best Christmas movie lists that I checked, so at least among the list-makers, it’s unanimously a Christmas movie. This despite that it was actually a summer hit in its debut year, released in July of 1988!
A+^
Family Suitability
+ ❌2️⃣ Moderate adults-only content. | R
Alignment with Judeo-Christian Values
+ ❎3️⃣ Very Good/Strongly Favorable
Bill Murray was already a star when 1988’s Scrooged debuted. It made eight of ten all-time best Christmas movies lists that I checked. One of my least favorite performances by Murray led one of my least favorite adaptations of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol.
Scrooged (1988)
Scrooged (1988) — A film that tries to get away with putting lipstick on a Christmas pig that’s impersonating a Christmas classic.
C ^
Family Suitability
+ ❌1️⃣ Light adults-only content. | PG-13
Alignment with Judeo-Christian Values
+ ⛔4️⃣ Horrible/Extremely Unfavorable
Our last late 1980s Christmas film was the 1989 Chevy Chase vehicle, National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation. It landed on nine of ten all-time best Christmas movies lists that I checked. Like Murray, Chase was already a star via Saturday Night Live and previous films. Unlike Murray in Scrooged, Chase gave one of his best performances ever in this film, managing over-the-top bumbling slapstick, and remaining a warm-hearted sympathetic character, while simultaneously being a jerk who delivers pointed sarcastic commentary on at least half of the other characters in the film!
National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation (1989)
National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation (1989) — Chevy chases the perfect family Christmas.
A+v
Family Suitability
+ ❌1️⃣ Light adults-only content. | PG-13
Alignment with Judeo-Christian Values
+ ⚠️0️⃣ Tolerable (Not in alignment with Judeo-Christian values, but focuses more on entertaining, not on advocating its viewpoint or pushing an agenda.)
The Substack debut of Retro Review #29: Home Alone (1990), originally scheduled for this afternoon has been postponed. Instead, The Realm Report #9 will be published, giving you a little insight as to why.
Don't forget the popcorn!
⬅️Previous (all sections) | Next (all sections) ➡️