Season 2 Episode: 5 The Best Christmas Film Ever...

In this episode of The Flip Side, the host Troy and his wife Stephanie dive into the holiday spirit by discussing the unique charm of holiday films. They contrast the timeless classic 'It's a Wonderful Life' with the humorous and chaotic 'National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation.' The discussion is enriched with trivia, favorite moments, and insightful connections between these two cherished films. They also explore the heartwarming themes of family, togetherness, and the holiday spirit that both movies encapsulate, making them enduring favorites across generations. Additionally, the episode includes a fun segment on how to make 'Clarence’s Mulled Wine,' inspired by 'It's a Wonderful Life.'

Transcript

00:00 The Sound of the Holidays

00:47 Exploring Holiday Film Magic

01:49 Introducing Our Special Guest

02:50 Clarence's Mold Wine Recipe

03:12 Diving into 'It's a Wonderful Life'

08:37 Behind the Scenes and Fun Facts

13:21 Iconic Moments and Characters

25:53 Comparing Holiday Classics

26:49 National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation

31:21 Heartfelt Moments in Christmas Films

31:57 Cousin Eddie's Memorable Scenes

33:05 Clark's Hilarious Antics

35:13 The Griswold Family's Holiday Chaos

40:00 The Boss Kidnapping Incident

43:50 Comparing Holiday Classics

47:17 Honorable Mentions and Final Thoughts

++++++++++++++Transcription

  Do you hear that? That is the sound of the holidays. The excitement is in the air. A time for us to revisit timeless classics and discover new favorites.  Picture a cozy living room, adorned with twinkling lights, the aroma of perhaps your family's of baked cookies, wafting through the air in families, gathering to share laughter and joy presence on the tree.

And of course your favorite holiday music playing,  but most importantly, what holiday film are you going to decide to watch together to put you and your loved ones into the holiday spirit?  Holiday films have always had a unique ability. Whether it's the adventure of a young boy left home alone, or the lessons of love and redemption of a Christmas carol,  so many of these holiday films remind us of the importance of togetherness, generosity, and the spirit of the season.

Join us as we explore what makes these films so special across generations.  Today, we're going to discuss the contrasting styles of old and new holiday movies, from the charming black and white classics to the vibrant contemporary stories filled with these diverse characters. Let's reflect about our favorite films, the memorable quotes that resonate with us, And the cherished traditions that these movies conjure up. 

So grab a cup of hot cocoa or perhaps something else in hand. We invite you to reflect on your own holiday film experiences and share the magic that continues to bring warmth to our hearts during this festive time of the year. 

Hello, welcome to the flip side where in this episode we are going to explore the magic of holiday films. But before we introduce the films of yesteryear and yesterday, let me introduce our guest today.  Very special to me. Um, this is my wife, Miss Stephanie. We shall call her. Hello.  Hi. Yes. Thank you so much.

It's so great to be here. Thank you for inviting me.  Stephanie also works behind the scene on the flip side. If you are familiar with our social media, She helps out with that in her design, making us look good or make me look good. You do most of the time anyway.  So I got her to join  me on this very special holiday episode.

So welcome. Yeah, thank you. It's so fun to be on this side of the mic, I guess, to put it that way. So today we're going to discuss what makes a film a holiday favorite and why people love them. And of course, you know the formats, but before we get started talking about the films,  you are going to introduce the cocktail for us.

Yes. So this is called Clarence's  Mold Wine.  Can I do a spoiler alert and tell them what the film is that I'm talking about so that it makes sense? Yeah. Go right ahead. Okay.  The film that I'll be talking about of yesteryear is It's a Wonderful Life. So if you're familiar with that movie, then you know, Clarence.

is the sort of in training angel that comes on the scene and there is just a hilarious scene where he's at a bar and he's asked what do you want to drink you know quick make it snappy let's go and wasn't it like dragon something or dragon's breath or something yeah you know what i'm not sure exactly what it was called but he definitely says the line that he He wants mulled wine, heavy on the cinnamon, and light on the cloves.

To which the bartender says, Hey look mister, we serve hard drinks in here for men who want to get drunk fast. So anyway, we wanted to do um, sort of a shout out to Clarence and his funny bar order and create our own mulled wine in his name. Okay, explain the recipe. How does one make mulled wine? I assume there is wine in it. 

Mulled, I mean, does not sound, you know, very appealing. Yes, but go ahead. Convince us. Okay, so I think the mulled part of it just  the spices. So what you d of dry red wine. So we ju bottle of merlot, you hea know, put it in a pot ove it up along with an orang 

And then in our case, we didn't have star anise, so we used a teaspoon of fennel seeds to substitute, a fourth a cup of honey.  And so you're heating all of that up. Don't let it boil. It just takes about 10 minutes. And then right before you serve it, you can add in a fourth a cup of brandy if you want to give it some extra heat.

Okay. I like most that stuff. Anise or star anise. I mean, what's that? Yeah, so anise before star anise and fennel seeds They both have a licorice sort of vibe to them So that's why because we didn't have star anise we could use the fennel seeds So you have to see if you can pick up any of that licorice, but it should just be a very small hint  Okay, I'm going to try this  And you you decorated it quite lovely, of course dear  with this orange slice.

Thank you. Yes, so I garnished it with an orange slice 

Yeah, it's spice it's nice it's spice and everything nice just what you want in a holiday drink  It's warm going down, too  Yeah, it's got you know that red wine  Taste you know mouth feel to it, but then you've got that spice like you're having a cup of hot cider Yeah, yeah, it's like apple cider like you said kicked up a notch a little bit  It's like grape juice on steroids  Okay, i'm a fan.

Yeah  Could you do this like in a punch bowl and serve it to everyone? I feel like yeah, totally It might be a little hard to keep it warm  So it maybe is better just left on the pot on the stove Oh, you know what actually it just had this idea crock pot crock pot crock pot it. Yep  instapot  All right, that's nice it's warm It's good.

Thank you, Clarence. Yes. For you, Clarence, wherever you are with your, he got his wings. Okay. So of course, stuff you are familiar with the format. We always do a, this season is movies. So we do a classic, a movie of yes, year, and then compare it to a movie of yesterday.  And this is a holiday episode. So hello, happy holidays, everyone. 

So you go first, since you are the one talking about. The movie of yesteryear, which I feel like I know this one because of the spoiler earlier.  Yes, so I'll be talking about It's a Wonderful Life, and I feel like I'm a semi expert on this movie just because. I've watched it 20, 000 times, 

mostly thanks to my mother because it is her favorite, probably favorite movie of all time, but definitely favorite holiday film. And it's your dad's favorite too, right? So, so he just kind of, um, he just kind of has to Endure it. Yeah, exactly. And I think actually there was even one time my mom went to a holiday party and there was a It's a Wonderful Life quiz.

And you could win prizes if, you know, if you got the answers right. And I believe the story is they eventually told her to stop answering the questions and give someone else a turn.  So because she was the goat of trivia. Yeah, she knew all the answers. So I'm wondering if some of these things we talked about today might be a surprise to my mom.

We'll see. It's a Wonderful Life is a 1946 American Christmas drama directed and produced by Frank Capra. The screenplay was actually crafted by Capra himself and others, and it's based on a short story and booklet called The Greatest Gift, which was a self published story by Philip Van Doren Stern in 1943,  and that story was inspired by Charles Dickens A Christmas Carol.

Filming took place in 1946 and the movie had a limited release on December 20th of 1946, followed by a wide release on January 7th, 1947, which I thought was interesting that the wide release wasn't until after Christmas. Yeah, that's odd. This being a historian, you know, I love history. Yeah. I mean, this isn't the kind of the end of World War II. 

So perhaps that was it, maybe because they're waiting for the rest of the guys to come home? Oh, that, yeah, that could be. I do want to tell you that since you brought that up, so Frank Capra, the director of It's a Wonderful Life, he was actually one of the most celebrated filmmakers of his time, and he was known for really optimistic storytelling and focusing on the triumph of the human soul.

spirit. So some of his notable works were you can't take it with you.  Arsenic and old Lays love that. And Mr. Smith goes to Washington. Also Jimmy Stewart, right? Also starring James Stewart who plays George Bailey in the film. It's a wonderful life. So George Stewart was cast as George Bailey, partly because of his successful collaboration with Frank Capra.

But also, so this goes to what you were saying, Stuart had just returned from serving as a bomber pilot in World War II. And It's a Wonderful Life was his first film after the war, and so Capra believed that the story of redemption and resilience in the face of despair really resonated with Stuart's actual real life. 

So adding to the authenticity of his performance. I don't know if you've in your research came across this, but I heard there's a scene with Jimmy Stewart where he is completely overcome. And I think it's him as adult when he's on the phone and he's talking to someone, perhaps he starts like crying and sobbing.

And Frank, the director did not want to cut. And Jimmy Stewart was actually having a moment of being home.  And it's overcome almost by like grief and what we call it now is like PTSD syndrome. And again, to Capra's credit, of course, trusting Jimmy Stewart with this, but Jimmy Stewart was also, I think, in this holiday classic, working out his own, shall we say, post war, um, experiences. 

Yes. I did not come across that in my research, but that makes a ton of sense. And again, it goes back to the authenticity of his performance. Yeah. So makes sense. The other thing that is sort of surprising about this film is even though it is now iconic, right, it has like an iconic status for us, the film at the box office actually at the time, it did not have success initially.

So it had a production budget of about 3. 2 million.  And it grossed just 3. 3 million, so it failed to reach its break even point of 6. 3 million. It failed to reach it by 3 million.  It was only after, I guess in my research, I've read that when it entered the public domain in 1947, it allowed for more frequent, uh, television broadcasts without the licensing fees.

And so that's when his reputation really grew significantly. Wow. Yeah. Yeah. So the American Film Institute has recognized it as one of the 100 best American films ever made. And it topped its list of the most inspirational American films of all time. If you've seen it, you know the film explores themes like the inherent value of each individual's life, the impact one person can have.

It tells the story of George Bailey. Who is a man who sacrifices his personal dreams really to help others who, uh, you know, and then later in the film, in this moment of despair, he's shown by Clarence, this guardian angel sort of in training, what a world would be like without him.  Which you hinted before.

Is a takeoff of Christmas Carol. Yeah, they kind of parallel each other. Yeah, they definitely do. So, um, so if you're not familiar with the film, which I assume most people are, even if you haven't seen it 20, 000 times, you still, um, just because it's part of pop culture, you are probably very familiar with the film, but just kind of a quick overview.

So George Bailey is a kindhearted man from the small town of Bedford Falls. And he's spent his life putting others before himself because he has these dreams all in his younger years that he's going to travel the world and he's going to do big things. And then it's sort of constantly derailed by his responsibilities to his family, to his community, to the building and loan.

Um, so like a perfect analogy to that is. on his honeymoon. So like he's getting married and they have all this money and they're going to go on their honeymoon and they're finally going to travel and then there's a run on the banks. And you know, he's responsible for his father's business, building and loan.

And so instead of going on his honeymoon, he saves the building and loan with the money that he was supposed to use to go on his honeymoon. And he wanted to travel. He was all about exploring, I believe, with this character, George Bailey. Yeah, exactly. And he sort of just gets stuck in Bedford Falls over and over again.

So on Christmas Eve, which actually I forgot, that's when this crisis happens. So it's on Christmas Eve that he hits this rock bottom after a financial crisis.  So, basically, misplaces 8, 000, and of course, the ugly, heinous Mr. Potter is the one, you know, behind this, who actually, um, Calls for his arrest. Yes, well, and Mr.

Potter, if you remember, he actually is in possession of the 8, 000, so it was misplaced by George's uncle, and Mr. Potter comes across it, and instead of giving it back, yeah, he, um, he's just causing all sorts of hor ruckus. Like, threatening to shut things down and calling for his arrest and things like that.

Exactly. So George hits rock bottom. He's overwhelmed. He's contemplating suicide. He believes the world would be much better off without him.  Because it's about his insurance policy, too, would cover that money if I've Yeah, he has an insurance policy in his pocket and he's worth more dead than alive. And I believe Potter puts that idea in his head.

You're worth more More dead than you are alive. Yes, yep, you're exactly right about that. So he's contemplating suicide, he's gonna potentially jump, and then what happens, Clarence, this in training angel, intervenes and ends up jumping, you know, from the bridge into the water below so that George will save him, and therefore saving George's life.

So, then Clarence goes, shows him what life would be like without George. Um, you know, Bedford Falls would become dark and corrupt. And we see George's impact on so many lives. The life of his brother, who he saved as a child, the, the difference that he's made in the community in which he lives. And so, then George, you know, realizes.

That life is worth living. And I love the theme and the heartwarming sort of finale of all of this. Because when Clarence gives George his life back, so he turns everything into, okay, you can live again.  Nothing about George's circumstances have changed. Nothing. He still doesn't have the 8, 000, he's still gonna get arrested, um, but it's like, so nothing in his external world has changed, but everything on the internal world has changed for him.

His perspective. Yes, exactly. And so now he's running through town shouting Merry Christmas  to everyone and even, you know, the people who are gonna arrest him, or whatever he's just saying. to be alive and to have his friends and his family and his wife. That's one of my favorite scenes is when he's running after he's come out of his dream or whatever you want to call it.

His experience of Pottersville, shall we say? He was like, Merry Christmas. And he was like,  I believe it's Merry Christmas,  Building Saves Our Loan, whatever that building's called. That is so good. Yeah. 

So one of the, the only other thing that I really wanted to say about this in my research that I found sort of fascinating is One of the lesser known facts about the film, there's several of them, but my favorite is it was the first film where there was innovative snow effects.  The film actually pioneered a new method for creating realistic snow on the set.

So I guess prior to It's a Wonderful Life, they would use painted corn flakes,  which were noisy. So yeah, so as you can imagine, so they created and Were they frosted? Yeah, I guess they would be if they're white, right? So instead, they used a mixture of fomite, soap, and water, and that allowed for a quieter, more natural looking snowfall in the film.

Love it. Yeah. Some of the actors in there are pretty famous as well. Not just beside James Stewart. Yes, I will let you talk about that as I do not know famous people like you do.  Lionel Barrymore, who is Potter in the film, is the, I believe, grandfather of Drew Barrymore from my generation, who was also an E.

T. So the Barrymore family, quite famous. Who else was in there? Who was the wife? I mean, no offense, wife, She was a looker back in the day.  Yes, absolutely. Donna Reed. That's it. Donna Reed.  Yes, that right. Donna Reed. So actually one of the other interesting facts is that in the scene where she's supposed to throw a rock and break the window of the old Granville house, remember after they get married they end up actually living there.

But when they're young and, and her, Mary is her name, Mary and George are just sort Flirting with each other. Oh, is that after the dance? Yes! With, with the pool that opens? Which I love. Yes, exactly. And then he's talking about lassoing the moon. And she's singing Buffalo Girl. Won't you come out tonight? We love that scene.

I think I've Yeah, I'll, I'll, I'll give you, I'll give you everything you want. I'll give you the moon. I'll lasso it and throw it around and you can swallow it. Exactly. Iconic, right? 

She actually throws a rock to break a window and it's supposed to be like, make a wish or whatever. And so I think what she wished for is that they could actually live in that house together someday. But they had hired a marksman to shoot out the window on cue, but, uh, Donna Reed. Surprised everyone by successfully breaking the window herself because she had been a baseball player in high school.

I knew I liked her for more reasons than  beautiful eyes. I think the person that the dance to is alfalfa from the little rascals. Oh, from Ron. Yeah. I don't know. He's one of the, or non alfalfa. Maybe it was, but I think that's pretty. Pretty cool. What I don't like about this film is the dude that always says hee haw.

Oh, yes. Oh,  that's Sam. That's Sam who's pursuing Mary before her and George end up together. Yeah. I love that scene when they're on the phone. He's trying, I got a deal. It's going to make you guys all rich if you invest in this bar. Yeah. He's like, hee haw, I'm like, dude, stop it.  What are some of your favorite moments of the film?

So some of them we've talked about like the opening of the pool, the turning of the floor into a pool that then opens beneath them. To me back then was pretty spectacular in high technology.  Right. What happened to the pools that open up, you know, like in a dance floor? Yeah. We don't have those anymore. I don't, no, not that I know of.

They did back then. One of them, there's a couple small moments, but I think the metaphor of them makes for huge impact. So one of them is the broken post. So, you know, George in his house, he's repeatedly grabbing this loose. Top of the staircase. Yes. And he's always like, I'm going to fix it. Right. I'm going to fix it.

And it's always this point of frustration with him and it sort of symbolizes, I feel like his modest lifestyle, you know, and the fact that like he never was able to go do the big thing or, or travel the world. He has this like post that, you know, just sort of represents his modest life. And so, but it's so iconic because it's so mundane, right.

This mundane detail of his life. And then by the end of it, it becomes. So cherished to him that he's sort of brought back to life by Clarence like, okay, you can live again And he rushes home and that same thing happens the top of that post comes off and now he's kissing it  You know, I'm so just such a cherished reminder of you know, the the life that he almost lost  I think another moment like that's small but has a big impact is Zuzu's Petals.

Yes. I was gonna, that's probably one of my favorite. Yes. Yeah, so Zuzu's Petals, his daughter, I think it's his youngest daughter, um, she's sick, she's got a flower by her bed, and accidentally, some petals fall off when he's talking to her. Look, Daddy.  Paste it. And she's like, Daddy, fix it. Yeah, Daddy, fix it.

And so he just sticks them in his pocket, right? OK, brand new. And then when Clarence tells him like, OK, you don't want to exist. All right. You never existed. And he's checking. He checks his pocket at one point for Zuzu's petals. And they're not there. Yeah. Yes.  Um, and then, of course, once, you know, he gets his life back, he's returned to his original life.

The petals are back, and he's just overjoyed about these little petals. I like to, when Clarence tells him, okay, you were never born, there was that accident he had when he was a kid to save his brother, and he lost his  hearing, and he's like, oh, I can hear out of this ear, I thought that was pretty neat.

But also, when he was working in the pharmacy. And Clarence explains to him there's that mix up with the guy who lost his son and he put the wrong medicine in the pills and it's poisoning and he saves him or like the guy from doing this, right? Basically criminal activity. Mm hmm. Yes. Um, well it was accidental because the guy was, but he was going to poison all these, these people.

And then because George was there as a kid, he helped save. These kids and oh, yeah, I mean there's powerful stuff like what if you know these moments of and if you weren't around  People perhaps would not have been saved or impacted or yes decisions  Yeah, the difference of one life Which again christmas carol? 

Influence love it Any, uh, final thoughts? Um, well, I am interested for us to have just a quick discussion here when you're done with your movie about, you know, kind of comparing and contrasting them and do we see some similar themes, so I am looking forward to that. Okay, I had an idea pop up in my head, which we'll see.

derived to in a bit. Okay. So this is the time where you ask me, Oh, what movie are you doing? Oh, I'm so sorry about that. Sorry. A newbie here, guys. Newbie. Uh, what film are you talking with us about Troy for the film of yesterday? Thank you for setting me up for that. You didn't have to, you know, the format, but I love it. 

This is a family favorite of my sister and I growing up. We saw this so many times. And it's probably one of the most quotable holiday films amongst my family and probably many other families and friends and people who just love the holiday film. So I picked the holiday classic, National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation.

Christmas Vacation. That's it.  National Lampoon's was a publication. Where they would write stories and articles very famous people like Animal House had National Lampoon's on it  But John Hughes was a writer very famous director  one probably the best directors of the 80s I'll just say he was the best director of the 80s.

He wrote so many stories like 16 candles You've probably heard of that before but he wrote this article about Growing up in Christmas and and it was perhaps gonna be made a movie and he wrote originally came out in 1980 You And he passed it on to his friend, who was a director at the time, named Chris Columbus. 

Chris Columbus was like, yeah, I'll direct it. You know, John, I trust you. Your writing is amazing. Chris Columbus ends up starting to shoot it, and he meets Chevy Chase. Who is the main Clark as well, and there's stories  Chevy Chase is difficult to work with. Oh, so Chris Columbus, I said, he said, I can't do this.

I'm I'm done. And he quits  directing John Hughes is like, I don't know what to do. He actually gives Chris Columbus. This is a cool story. He gives Chris Columbus another film John Hughes had written in the same years is insane called Home Alone. Oh. Chris Columbus goes on to direct Home Alone. Meanwhile, who's going to direct Christmas Vacation?

So they picked this Canadian film director named Jeremiah, uh, is C H E C H I K. How do you pronounce that? Uh, sounds good. Just say it with confidence. Sheshek. Jeremiah Sheshek. And he's known for directing the Binian June, which was with Johnny Depp in 1998. Yeah. The Avengers, which came out in  1998, which was horrible.

But, uh, beside that, it was written, again, I said, by the late, great John Hughes, amazing writer, amazing, so much heartfelt. Moments in this film it started of course Chevy Chase as Clark Griswold Beverly D'Angelo as Ellen Griswold Julia Lewis as Audrey the daughter Johnny Galacki as rusty Randy Quaid as uncle Eddie, of course, and we cannot forget Julia Luis Dreyfus as Margo  who she's famous for Seinfeld Uh, Rusty in this film, he's going to be later known for the, uh, Big Bang Theory.

He's going to be a star in that. And Julie Lewis is going to be also famous in all of her films  as well. So all star cast.  And there's also a lot of Hollywood classic stars who are the parents of Clark and Ellen in this. The film takes place in the city on a big shoulders called Chicago, where he is trying to create the perfect Christmas. 

with his family before everything goes wrong.  And I love this film. It just explores the themes of humor, family, dynamics, and of course, holiday chaos.  So, um, how does the humor play a role in this making the film?  I don't know where to begin. There's so much you can impact. There's so many great moments and quotes.

I'm sure if you are listening right now, you can probably start quoting or thinking about your favorite moments from Christmas Vacation. From the tree, cutting, the decorating of lights, the shopping, cousin Eddie, iconic,  I mean Christmas actor of that character, the cat. R. I. P. The food, Cousin Eddie again, from Clark sipping on eggnog. 

Hey! Yet, I think this movie has some really endearing moments beside the chaos. Uh, one of my favorite is when the family goes shopping one morning. And Clark, he gets stuck in the attic.  You remember that scene? Yes. And it's freezing. That actually is the one that came to my mind as you've been talking.

Yes. The best. And he has to put on all this, like, gloves and the mink and the hat and he finds these old  reel to reel tapes and he starts watching of all this Christmases before. So despite the humor, there are so much, like, heartfelt moments, I feel like, in Christmas occasion. Which is all about what I think what makes a holiday film.

I think it's about family first  It's about some problem of some sort and then it's about resolving that Or the questions like what? is Christmas really about? There's also a scene, an endearing moment, where, uh, Cousin Eddie and Clark are at the store. They're shopping. Cousin Eddie's piling up dog food for snots. 

And remember that? Yes. For the huge dog. Yes. Snot, snot, snot. Down, down. It's best just let him finish, Clark. Okay, another great line, but, but um, then he finds out like Ruby and I forget the son's name of Cousin Eddie. Yeah. They're just like, Oh, we don't have enough money to buy Christmas. We sold the farm and we were living out the trailer and all this stuff.

And so Clark and Ellen then decide to give them a great Christmas.  And Ruby, you know, it had, there's this really cool moment where they're talking about, Oh, Santa Claus. And. Is that's all fooey she's like and he goes no, no, no, he's real. I love that part as well  Hey kids,  I heard on the news that an airline pilot spotted santa sled on his way in from new york 

You serious clark, do you have a funny moment in Christmas vacation. Yeah. I know there are just so many, but so the one that's coming to me at the moment is Chevy Chase's character. Sorry. What's his name in the film? Clark. Oh, Clark. Clark. Or Sparky.  Yes. Sparky. Okay. So, well, in the very beginning, I think it's in the beginning of the film, they are in a car and he's driving and I think maybe they're singing Christmas carols or something and then they somehow end up under a semi truck.

Did you? Yes.  Is that real? Did you happen to? I want to hope that is possible, but probably not because I believe a car cannot fit underneath even a tanker. Yeah. We can try it.  We better not. We better not.  But that was one and then, you know, he's putting up Christmas lights all over the house and just going way overboard.

Right? Just like, stapling Christmas lights every square inch of that house and the roof and he's getting his son to help him and, you know, untangle this huge, you know, big ball bigger than his head, you know, knotted ball of lights and then one time when Clark is He's accidentally stapling his shirt sleeve.

Yes. And his like glove and all that stuff. Yeah. Yes. And now he realizes he's stuck and he's up on this ladder and how's he going to get out of this? And, you know, of course he ends up ripping the sleeve and he falls and the ladder falls and um, yeah, just so much great physical comedy. Yeah. And he's like, Oh, everything's okay out here, right?

Or something like that.  He plays it off. Like there's so many moments where. Someone could have died in this film. Yes, oh my gosh, yes. We know, I mean, spoiler, yeah, the cat does die. That's true. 

Honey,  what is it? Nothing, let's go in and finish our dessert.  That thing had nine lives, she just spent them all. Woo! The tree, oh my word. Yeah, the story is, you know, Clark Griswold wants to give the family the perfect. Holiday experience with his in laws, you know, he buys the tree at the beginning of the film, but also he wants to surprise them with the swimming pool.

Remember that? And he doesn't get his bonus check and he still, he gets like, he gets enrolled in the jelly of the month club. Yes. And he's really pissed off at his boss and that's like another, you know, side story as well, which comes into play. But when his in laws come, they are perfect in this film.

They're so perfect. One is, um, what's her name from? Everybody loves Raymond. Yeah, the mother. She's so, she's so hysterical. Uh, Doris Roberts. She references Smith in it. In R. Smith, which is Ellen's parents. And she is just, oh, she's so good. But, um, and then you got, of course, when Lewis and Bethany arrive.

Lewis is the cigar smoking guy  and Bethany is the one that I think wraps up the cat, right? Oh, thank you. Okay. I couldn't picture who who they were. Are they grandparents on one of the sides? They have to be great grandparents or something or uncle. He calls them uncle. Okay, maybe or something and Bethany  Bethany she has the one the best lines ever When, Clark, is your house on fire? 

You know?  Is your house on fire, Clark? No, Bethany, those are Christmas lights. Don't throw me down, Clark. And then when they want you to say the blessing, and she stands up and starts, yeah. The Pledge of Allegiance. But her, her and herself, The real person this is a bit of trivia and some people might know this already out there But she was the voice of Betty Boop.

No  How many years before would that have been Mean well, she was born in 1908. Okay, and she's part of the like part of the vaudeville and So probably 20s and 30s. Yeah And I mean, she was still doing the voice of Betty Boop in even the year before in the movie Who Framed Roger Rabbit, if you're familiar with that. 

So, she still had it. She was a national treasure back then and still is today because she was so funny. I mean, the squirrel in the Christmas tree is also one of my favorite moments too. Like, there's a squirrel in the house and everyone's like up on the tree. Furniture. Yes. Running away from the squirrel.

But the whole time it's on Clark's back or whatever. Ends up on someone's back. And then there's so many great cousin, Eddie, cousin, it again, man, come on. And then like, there's these side characters. Uh, I mentioned, uh, Juliet Louis Dreyfus,  the next door neighbor, who was this yuppie couple and they had like this, you know, chic sound system.

And then there's this moment where he's on the ledge where you're talking about earlier, he's hanging on and. This icicle,  basically, flies off. Oh, yeah. Breaks their window. Yes. That is in that scene. Breaking up window. It's the warmth of life. Here we go.  Broke, breaks the window. Connection. And then they come home and they're cleaning up.

Why is my carpet all raggedy and broke? And there's that famous line which has become Christmas sweaters. I don't know, Margo.  Like, his name's Todd. Yeah.  And why is the carpet all wet, Todd? I don't know, Margo. So, I mean, some of my great moments from, yeah, the, the sledding. Remember the sledding? And they, they waxed it with the stuff.

Oh, that's right. And zoom! In fire, fire mode. Yeah, and then Randy Quaid does this like,  Gotcha, you know moment. It's hilarious. There's a weird moment. Some people might, but I love it. It's the advent calendar where they would count down the days and they open up each window. That is sort of so cute. I think it's so fun though.

Yeah.  If any of you are looking for any last minute gift ideas for me, I have one. I like Frank Shirley, my boss right here tonight.  I want him brought from his happy holiday slumber over there on melody lane with all the other rich people. And I want to brought right here with a big ribbon on his head.

And I want to look him straight in the eye, and I don't want to tell him what a cheap, lying, no good, rotten But, uh, Christmas vacation, man. So many, like Oh, man, yeah. Do you have a favorite quote?  I think that, so the thing that keeps coming to my head is the end of that film, but I don't want to step on your toes.

Okay. So the end of that step on them sometimes in the morning  or when we're dancing.  So no, we're good dancers. That is true. So the end of that film, his cousin, Eddie. Uh, goes and kidnaps the boss  because Cousin Eddie overhears Clark talk about Frank Shirley, the boss name. Okay. Oh, I'm so glad. Yeah. Frank Shirley.

How horrible it is that he didn't give the Christmas bonus so that Clark could get the swimming pool. And I think Clark says something about wishing that he was right here right now and I would give him a piece of my mind or something like that. Yeah, I went wrapped up in a bow here so I can tell him what I really feel about him.

Yeah, we won't. So Eddie takes it seriously and goes and kidnaps the boss right out of his bed where he's sleeping and brings him wrapped in a bow  back to the house. And so, of course, you know, the police are called and the SWAT team is called. They come through all the windows. Yeah.  Yes. Um, and so the boss ends up saying, um, you know, at the end of all of that, like, like, no, no, you were right.

What I did was, um, really low to just give my employees, you know, the jelly of the month club or whatever. Like, oh, that's low. Everyone is agreeing. And everyone, yeah, even the squad. Yeah. Whatever. It's like, oh yeah, man, that's low.  Which would never happen, but go on. Right. But, and so the, the boss ends up saying something about, you know, whatever it was, whatever bonus it is that you got last year, add, and he's kind of thinking about it. 

Um, 20 percent I think he says 20 percent and then Clark just passes right out. Yeah.  He's like we're going to get the pool, he's like we're going to have everyone come over and we're going to, even you cousin Eddie, he's like, yes, yes. Okay. So that SWAT team, when they come in,  I didn't originally pick up on it, but there's this Shot  in history that I didn't realize happened.

So they all come in they say freeze Yeah. So you got Chevy Chase and Beverly D'Angelo paused. Her hand is on Clark's crotch. Yes. Did you know that? I think you pointed that out to me. I didn't know that until like later in life. Yeah.  I didn't realize that. Yeah, so watch for that if you, if you don't know what we're talking about, go check that out.

You can pause it if you want.  There's the other thing too, when the, uh. Cousin that's, he's putting his poo right into the sewer and they light up. Yes. And then it gets lit and then the Santa thing blasts off. Remember? And they start seeing this stairs. Span of bender blows up. Yes. There's so many.  That's insane.

Mm-hmm . It's insane. Mm-hmm . That's hilarious. But you remember the part where he gets so upset, Clark does. Where he, like, punches Santa in the face and he gets dented in. Oh, yeah. So, during that take, he actually breaks his finger.  He punched it the wrong way. He must have had his thumb inside his fist. Cause that's what'll happen if you have your thumb inside your fist when you punch something, you'll break your thumb.

Yup, you gotta keep your thumb on the outside of your fist. So, we also give great advice for punching on our podcast.  So yeah, those are my tidbits about Christmas vacation. I love this film. I always have to watch it, you know, I mean, I watched it in many scenarios in our life where wherever we're at, I think it was one time we were in.

An Airbnb with the family. And I'm like, I got to watch Christmas vacation. It's on right now. I got to watch all the way through.  Have to. And I think it's more for life is up there as well. Yeah. So the thing that I've been, you know, kind of thinking about, can we go there now where we kind of talk about the both of them?

Let's connect the dots. Yeah. So I guess for me, I was just thinking, you know, one of the main themes of it's a wonderful life and. Christmas vacation is like this, uh, this appreciation that you have for your family and for your loved ones and for your friends. Despite how everyone is not on the same page.

Right, like your life might not be going the way that you want it to go, you know, the way that you would prefer for it to go, but if you can kind of like lean into the gratitude of the, the love and the caring, so like, um, you know, at the end of it's a wonderful life, the entire community comes together and donates Money and you know into that basket at the very end.

Yeah Yeah, and they end up, you know making way more than eight thousand dollars So the community ends up coming through for george bailey And it's so and maybe this is stretching it a little bit, but at the end of christmas vacation You know at uncle eddie everyone's there Everyone's there and uncle eddie.

He was just trying to do the right thing, right? He just he wanted to give clark the christmas  Clark really wanted, which in Eddie's mind, was his boss with a bow on it. And he was willing to go do that, you know,  for the love, what would you do for your family? Yeah. Commit a felon for the love of his cousin. 

Eventually he gets what he wants, right? He gets the bonus. And so of course he's happy about that. And the same thing with, with George Bailey, he gets that 8, 000 back. And so of course he's happy with that, but is the moral of the story more around the people? and the connection and the gratitude and the love and the family.

Yeah, from the meal at Christmas vacation, remember how that dry that turkey is?  Yes, it just shrivels or shrinks or whatever, yeah. From the food and oh, there's so many good moments. There was another connection from It's a Wonderful Life to the vacation. The, the post you mentioned before George Bailey Clark memory has that post that is always wobbling as well in their home And remember when he's like going crazy at this point and he has the chainsaw  Because the tree that's right.

He shaves it off. He's like post fix  Which I'm like, oh my word Has to be a reference to it's a wonderful life has to be a little homage to it right there. Mm hmm You What is your earliest memory of watching a holiday film? You remember? And which one it was? You know, I, um, I tend to not have a real great memory.

And so, I, yeah, in all honesty, I couldn't actually tell you. But I know when we were little, we tended to watch, like, the animated, Short, you know, films like Frosty the Snowman and Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer. So those would have been, if not the first, they would have been early on. Okay. Yeah. What about you?

I probably remember Charlie Brown.  Christmas special as well as like all the other shorts, Rudolph as well. Yeah. And then Christmas vacation.  So as we wrap things up, what are your honorable mentions? Maybe a film that you were like, maybe I could have done that. It could be of yesteryear or yesterday, but where some other highly recommended or ones, some of your favorites.

Um, okay, so you're going to cringe because I can't think of the title of it right now, but it's the one that they show 24 hours over Christmas, a Christmas story, Christmas story. Yes, of course. Of course, that one. And then, you know, they remade it with, yeah, with the original character, right? Yeah. We're asking.

Yeah. And so I've only seen the remake one time, but of course I've seen the original, you know, over and over again. So I think that definitely. deserves an honorable mention.  Uh, you're gonna cringe on this one too, but in my, in my, um, Stop making me cringe!  Sorry. It's holiday season! Right, I know, it's right, we shouldn't be cringing, we should be smiling.

Um, in my earlier years, like in my twenties, I really really appreciated the movie Bad Santa. I just thought it was so So funny. I mean, I just rolled, I just laughed so hard. It was just, it's such a funny film, but in watching it now in my 40s, It's, I actually can't do it anymore because it's, there's a lot of cussing  and, and it's just, it's pretty raunchy actually.

And so I've just become much more sensitive to that kind of stuff, I guess, since I've gotten older. So it's actually not a favorite of mine anymore, but I used to love it. Yeah. Yeah. I'm not cringing about bad Santa. Oh, oh good. You want to watch it tonight? Yeah. Okay. What was the, um, I know you liked this one.

Yeah. Yeah. It's a holiday  movie, but it's Adam Sandler's was a crazy night. Yeah. Love that one too. Right. Yeah. So that one is actually about Hanukkah. Yeah. Animated. Very funny. Again, like if you're sensitive to things, it's a, it's slightly run on the raunchy or side, but yeah, just hilarious. So what you're saying is you like raunchy.

Holiday films.  Is that what I'm hearing? Don't, don't tell my mom. She's probably, she's gonna listen to this. She might listen to this. But if we, she could just skip that part, that'd be great. Okay.  Um, my honorable mention, man, Elf. Come on. Oh, sure. Of course. It's adorable. The music's great. It's, and they pay homage to all those, you know, the Rudolph, you know, stop animation characters, which I loved growing up as a kid.

So.  Yeah, that was a tough one. I'm almost with Elf.  I'll be honest. I'm not as a fan of a Christmas story as I was growing up. What changed? As I get older. I don't know.  We'll have to analyze that later. So yeah, I would highly recommend Elf. Another holiday movie. I don't know. Um, White Christmas. Hello. Oh, yes.

Hello. White Christmas, man. Bada bing, bada boom. Bing Crosby. No, Holiday Inn? Do you, that? Is that considered? That is the ultimate holiday film because it has all holidays in it. Okay. Oh, it's all the holidays. That's right. It's not just Christmas. That's right. But that came before White Christmas. Yeah, White Christmas.

It's nostalgic, but there's some great moments of, you know, the train ride and, you know, snow, snow, snow, all that stuff. But,  okay. So as we wrap things up,  we explored the essence of holiday films compared, of course, our two beloved classics, It's Summer for Life  and National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation.

And we consider how these films are going to reflect the values and customs of the holiday seasons. So my challenge to you guys out there, my listeners, Watch both films this holiday season and then share your thoughts with each other and perhaps with us. So happy holidays From the flip side. I'm your host Roy and the mrs Stephanie hello, Stephanie.

Yes. Thank you so much for joining us. All right. Thank you. That is the flip side