{"id":36449,"date":"2021-12-24T08:38:34","date_gmt":"2021-12-24T13:38:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/?p=36449"},"modified":"2021-12-24T08:40:23","modified_gmt":"2021-12-24T13:40:23","slug":"the-10-best-non-holiday-christmas-films","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/2021\/12\/24\/the-10-best-non-holiday-christmas-films\/","title":{"rendered":"The 10 Best Non-Holiday Christmas Films"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>I know, I know, the annual onslaught of Christmas movies is upon us. Whether it involves those syrupy love stories that pollute certain cable channels or the usual round-up of holiday-themed productions, there are certain films that only show up during December and then vanish for the other 11 months.<br \/>\n<!--more--><\/p>\n<p>However, there are plenty of memorable films where Christmas is a peripheral aspect of the story but not the central focus of attention. If you don\u2019t want to watch the zillionth remake of \u201cA Christmas Carol\u201d or the zillionth rerun of \u201cIt\u2019s a Wonderful Life,\u201d here are some non-holiday Christmas films for your viewing pleasure.<\/p>\n<p><strong>\u201cDaffy\u2019s Duck Hunt\u201d (1949):<\/strong> This Looney Tunes cartoon finds Daffy Duck trying to outsmart Porky Pig (who plans to have him for dinner) and Porky\u2019s too-loyal dog by emerging from a freezer chest dressed as Santa Claus and singing \u201cJingle Bells.\u201d The ruse almost works \u2013 Porky spies a calendar that reminds him that it is April \u2013 but this brief insertion of Christmas merriment into the slapstick is among the funniest gags in the Looney Tunes series.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/uL146EhQfks\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><strong>\u201cDie Hard\u201d (1988):<\/strong> It seems that the online media has this debate every year \u2013 does Nakatomi Plaza have the same holiday season relevance as Santa\u2019s workshop? Considering the film premiered in July 1988, one could assume it was never conceived as a Christmas film. But is Christmas really Christmas without Hans Gruber falling to his death?<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/_ORHxqIpKiU\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><strong>\u201cInvasion U.S.A.\u201d (1985):<\/strong> Santa Claus isn\u2019t the only bearded hero of the season \u2013 don\u2019t forget the ultimate kick-ass 80s icon Chuck Norris saving the land of the free from some nasty Latin American guerrillas. The film\u2019s action sequence in a Christmas season shopping mall is a peak of Norris\u2019 canon \u2013 not to mention the Cannon Releasing\u2019s canon.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/4PcE-gNqFfU\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><strong>\u201cLady in the Lake\u201d (1947):<\/strong> This adaptation of Raymond Chandler\u2019s novel takes place during the Christmas season, but there is little merriment in this grim film noir mystery with tough-guy private-eye Philip Marlowe investigating a disappearance and murder. The film is less remembered today for its holiday trimmings and recalled for the odd experiment by leading man and director Robert Montgomery in having the film framed almost entirely from Marlowe\u2019s point of view, with the character only being visible through mirror reflections.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/m0k5GSZ7P5E\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><strong>\u201cLethal Weapon\u201d (1987):<\/strong> Another violent action film that takes place during the holidays, this franchise-inspiring offering has a Christmas tree farm and a climactic fistfight on a holiday-decored lawn between Mel Gibson and Gary Busey.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/gmHVnwCbJfk\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><strong>\u201cThe Lion in Winter\u201d (1968):<\/strong> The Christmas gathering of a severely dysfunctional English royal family is the setting for this award-honored gem. And while the holiday itself is given the briefest of considerations, James Golden\u2019s harshly cerebral adaptation of his play and the extraordinary performances by Peter O\u2019Toole as the beleaguered King Henry II and Katharine Hepburn as his scheming consort Eleanor of Aquitaine makes this a film suitable for any time of the year.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/lFa4qhpGokw\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><strong>\u201cMame\u201d (1974):<\/strong> There are plenty of films that include a Christmas segment within its march through the seasons, but none are as brilliantly bizarre as this musical with Lucille Ball singing (if you can call it that) \u201cWe Need a Little Christmas.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/-UL9rVtRvRI\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><strong>\u201cMr. Arkadin\u201d (1955):<\/strong> The search for the last surviving member of a once-notorious crime gang amid Munich\u2019s Christmas season frames the convoluted plot of this Orson Welles film. Leave it to Welles to turn Christmas into a thoroughly unsentimental yet wickedly funny setting \u2013 especially with Akim Tamiroff\u2019s low-rent crook agreeing to evade assassination by demanding for a goose liver dinner in exchange for his cooperation.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/jjefG4U9KIg\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><strong>\u201cRoad to Utopia\u201d (1946):<\/strong> This wonderfully surreal entry in the Road Pictures finds Alaska-based Bob Hope and Bing Crosby crossing paths with a sled-driving Santa Claus. I won\u2019t give away the specifics of the scene for the benefit of those who\u2019ve never seen the film \u2013 but I know those who are familiar with it will happily recall the great sight gag that wraps the segment.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/2wmQqUfgFbQ\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><strong>\u201cWee Wee Monsieur\u201d (1938):<\/strong> The Three Stooges are members of the French Foreign Legion who rescue their commander from Arabian kidnappers by disguising themselves as Santa Claus, complete with a sled and a reindeer. This bizarre strategy would be repeated by the knockabout trio a decade later in \u201cMalice in the Palace\u201d \u2013 and, mercifully, the Stooges didn\u2019t stop to dwell on presenting a Trinity-style aspect to Santa Claus\u2019 standing as a godlike figure to children and children-at-heart.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/dwWkOR7p-JU\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I know, I know, the annual onslaught of Christmas movies is upon us. Whether it involves those syrupy love stories that pollute certain cable channels or the usual round-up of holiday-themed productions, there are certain films that only show up during December and then vanish for the other 11 months.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":19,"featured_media":36450,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[2403,1352,200,203,2523,282,1839,1266,651,1477,2872,2873,1742],"class_list":["post-36449","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-list-junkies","tag-bing-crosby","tag-bob-hope","tag-christmas","tag-chuck-norris","tag-daffy-duck","tag-die-hard","tag-katharine-hepburn","tag-lucille-ball","tag-mel-gibson","tag-orson-welles","tag-peter-otoole","tag-robert-montgomery","tag-three-stooges"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36449","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/19"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36449"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36449\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":36453,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36449\/revisions\/36453"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/36450"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36449"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36449"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36449"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}