Hot dog! Merry Christmas!
On today’s special holiday podcast adventure, Adolfo and Mark discuss the 1946 holiday classic: IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE!
On iTunes NOW
On today’s discussion:
- Mall shopping on the last weekend before Christmas
- The NES Classic
- The movie that defines all Christmas movies
- How the film touches even Adolfo’s cold heart
- The miracle that is Mr. Pibb
- How the sentimentality is earned
- At which point we get teary eyed
- “The Greatest Gift” Christmas card
- How Cary Grant was all wrong for the role
- A mini history of Liberty Films
- Capra and Stewart’s favorite film
- The secret origin of Jimmy Stewart
- The Christmas Tree capital of the world
- Why Lionel Barrymore was a perfect choice for Mr. Potter
- Mr. Potter = Ebeneezer Scrooge without the redemption
- The framing device of the film
- Why does Mr. Gower even have a bottle of poison?
- Apparently adults are allowed to slap children around in 1946
- How many It’s a Wonderful Life references are there in The Simpsons?
- A deleted scene where George meets Potter much earlier in life
- Jimmy Stewart playing a teenager
- Donna Reed’s beautiful introductory shot
- “Aw pop, just a little.”
- George’s constant sacrifices
- Thomas Mitchell’s great adlib
- “We’ll wait for ya, baby…”
- The one-shot take of Reed and Stewart’s first kiss
- Bert and Ernie!
- Eyes swimming with tears
- How many kids does Martini have?
- How James Stewart didn’t want to glorify war on screen
- When you finally see George break
- A terrifying Santa mask
- The innovative new “chemical snow” created for the film
- The bridge guy!
- The one flaw of the movie!
- Not finding your true love means your vision fails
- “Merry Christmas you old Building and Loan!”
- “To my big brother George, the richest man in town!” ONIONS.
- The film’s failure at the box office, with awards and with critics
- The ridiculous copyright history
- Why Paramount owns the rights even though the film itself is technically in the public domain
- The Colorized version
- The kick to the gut that was 2016
PLUS REFERENCES TO:
- THE BISHOP’S WIFE (1947)
- YOU CAN’T TAKE IT WITH YOU (1938)
- FORREST GUMP (1994)
- BRUCE ALMIGHTY (2003)
- HOME ALONE (1990)
- HOME ALONE 2: LOST IN NEW YORK (1992)
- BACK TO THE FUTURE PART II (1989)
- THE BEST YEARS OF OUR LIVES (1946)
- JINGLE ALL THE WAY (1996)
- THE MUPPET CHRISTMAS CAROL (1992)
- SCROOGED (1988)
- SCROOGE (1951)
- A CHRISTMAS CAROL (1984)
- A CHRISTMAS CAROL (1999)
- DISNEY’S A CHRISTMAS CAROL (2009)
- MIRACLE ON 34th STREET (1947)
- SANTA CLAUS (1959)
- SANTA CLAUS CONQUERS THE MARTIANS (1964)
- A CHRISTMAS STORY (1983)
- THE NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS (1993)
- BLACK CHRISTMAS (1974)
- WHITE CHRISTMAS (1954)
- DIE HARD (1988)
- BATMAN RETURNS (1992)
- GREMLINS (1984)
LINKS:
Can You Survive Home Alone
SOCIAL MEDIA
TWITTER: @EssentialFilms, @FPMoviePodcast, @Adolfo_Acosta, @Sportsguy515
FACEBOOK: The Essential Films
