Hotchka Movies by the Decade feature #22 :: December 23•29

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer

For a week that includes Christmas Day, there aren’t any holiday specific films released this week. What there are are a majority of films all trying to get attention before the end of the year to be considered for Academy Awards nominations. And for many of the films, the Oscars took notice, handing out award to several of these end of the year releases. Let’s stroll the red carpet and see which films succeeded in their quest for Oscar gold!

1920

December 26 – Outside the Law

Cast: Priscilla Dean, Wheeler Oakman, Lon Chaney, Ralph Lewis, E. Alyn Warren, Stanley Goethals, Melbourne MacDowell, Wilton Taylor
Director: Tod Browning
Studio: Universal Film Manufacturing Company
Trivia: Browning remade the film in 1930 with Edward G. Robinson in the Chaney role. This was the second Browning/Chaney collaboration. One of a few Browning films that is not in the horror genre. The original, longer release print of the film had been considered lost but a print was located in 1975, which was a 1926 re-release from Universal after Chaney and Browning had moved to MGM and achieved greater stardom. Anna May Wong appears in an uncredited role.

December 26 – Prairie Trails

Cast: Tom Mix, Charles K. French, Kathleen O’Connor, Robert Walker, Gloria Hope, Sid Jordan, Harry Dunkinson, William Elmer
Director: George Marshall
Studio: Fox Films
Trivia: The film is considered lost.

December 26 – The Rookie’s Return

Cast: Douglas MacLean, Doris May, Frank Currier, Leo White, Kathleen Key, Elinor Hancock, William Courtright, Frank Clark, Aggie Herring, Wallace Beery
Director: Jack Nelson
Studio: Thomas H. Ince Corporation, Famous Players-Lasky Corporation, distributed by Paramount Pictures
Trivia: A copy of the film is held by the Library of Congress.

December 26 – Silk Hosiery

Cast: Enid Bennett, Geoffrey Webb, Marie Pavis, Donald MacDonald, Derek Ghent, Otto Hoffman, Joan Standing, Verne Winter, Harold Holland, Bonnie Hill, Sylvia Brooks, Rose Dione
Director: Fred Niblo
Studio: Paramount Pictures
Trivia: Nitrate prints are said to exist with the Library of Congress and the UCLA Film and Television Archive.

December 26 – The Testing Block

Cast: William S. Hart, Eva Novak, J. Gordon Russell, Florence Carpenter, Richard Headrick, Ira McFadden
Director: Lambert Hillyer
Studio: William S. Hart Productions, distributed by Paramount Pictures
Trivia: A print of the film is held by the Library of Congress. To celebrate the film’s 100th anniversary, a scan of the print was screened at the Capitola Community Center on January 26, 2020 in Capitola, CA, where much of the film was shot. After the screening, the film was uploaded online as the film is in the public domain.

December 27 – Cinderella’s Twin

Cast: Viola Dana, Wallace MacDonald, Ruth Stonehouse, Cecil Foster, Edward Connelly, Victory Bateman, Gertrude Short, Irene Hunt, Edward Cecil, Calvert Carter
Director: Dallas M. Fitzgerald
Studio: Metro Pictures
Trivia: The film is considered lost.

1930

December 29 – Reaching for the Moon

Cast: Douglas Fairbanks, Bebe Daniels, Edward Everett Horton, Claud Allister, Jack Mulhall, Walter Walker, June MacCloy, Helen Jerome Eddy, Bing Crosby, Larry Steers
Director: Edmund Goulding
Studio: United Artists
Trivia: The film was released with a 91 minute running time. Most surviving versions run 62 minutes, but a 74-minute version aired on the AMC network in 1998, and the DVD version runs 72 minutes. The film’s working title was Lucky Break. Fairbanks also starred in a silent movie titled Reaching for the Moon in 1917 but the films are unrelated. The film was intended to be a musical with songs by Irving Berlin, but Berlin found the director difficult to work with and the studio realized that the public’s interest in musicals had already waned by 1930 so four of the five songs were jettisoned. The only song that remained was ‘When the Folks High-Up Do the Mean Low Down’ sung by Bing Crosby. Even with the musical aspects removed, the film’s budget still topped out at about a million dollars, a huge sum for the time which almost guaranteed the film would not turn a profit.

1940

December 25 – Arizona

Cast: Jean Arthur, William Holden, Warren William, Porter Hall, Edgar Buchanan, Paul Harvey, George Chandler, Byron Foulger, Regis Toomey, Paul Lopez, Colin Tapley, Uvaldo Varela, Earl Crawford, Griff Barnett, Ludwig Hardt
Director: Wesley Ruggles
Studio: Columbia Pictures
Trivia: The film received Oscar nominations for Best Original Score and Best Art Direction, Black & White. Based on the 1939 novel by Clarence Budington Kelland. Filming was to take place in 1939 but postponed until the Spring of 1940 due to concerns about World War II in Europe. The shoot required 500 head of cattle, 150 oxen, stray dogs, and 250 extras and crew, all brought to the Sonoran Desert location. Filming was difficult due to the extreme heat, something the studio had not accounted for, putting the film behind schedule and over budget at $2 million, losing the studio $500,000 for which Ruggles was blamed. The location was unused after the shoot, but was revived after WWII and is still in operation today as Old Tucson Studios.

December 26 – The Philadelphia Story

Cast: Cary Grant, Katharine Hepburn, James Stewart, Ruth Hussey, John Howard, Roland Young, John Halliday, Mary Nash, Virginia Weidler, Henry Daniell, Lionel Pape, Rex Evans, David Clyde, Hilda Plowright
Director: George Cukor
Studio: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Trivia: The film opened in New York City on December 26, followed by a nationwide release on January 17, 1941. Based on the 1939 play by Philip Barry written specifically for Hepburn, who backed the play financially and waived a salary in exchange for a percentage of the profits. The play ran for 417 performances, earning over $1 million. Hepburn’s character was inspired by Philadelphia socialite Helen Hope Montgomery Scott. This was Hepburn’s first major hit after a series of flops labeled her ‘box office poison’ (including the now classic Bringing Up Baby). Howard Hughes bought the film rights for Hepburn, who happily accepted as a way to control her screen comeback. She then sold the rights to MGM for $250,000 in exchange for veto rights over producer, director, screenwriter and cast. Unsure about Hepburn’s appeal, MGM purposely cast two A-list male stars to support her. Hepburn wanted Clark Gable and Spencer Tracy but they had other obligations, although Gable and Cukor had not gotten along on Gone With the Wind which resulted in his replacement with Victor Fleming. The film was shot in sex weeks and came in five days under schedule. The film earned six Academy Award nominations, winning two — Best Actor (Stewart) and Best Adapted Screenplay. The film was remade in 1956 as the musical High Society. The film was selected for preservation by the National Film Registry in 1995.

December 27 – The Invisible Woman

Cast: Virginia Bruce, John Barrymore, John Howard, Charles Ruggles, Oskar Homolka, Edward Brophy, Donald MacBride, Charles Lane, Thurston Hall, Margaret Hamilton, Mary Gordon, Anne Nagel, Maria Montez, Shemp Howard, Kathryn Adams, Kitty O’Neil, Eddie Conrad, Kay Leslie, Kay Linaker, Sarah Edwards, Harry C. Bradley, Kernan Cripps
Director: A. Edward Sutherland
Studio: Universal Pictures
Trivia: The third in Universal’s ‘Invisible’ series, this one more a screwball comedy than thriller. Margaret Sullivan was originally cast as the lead as she owed Universal one more film under her contract, but she had accepted the lead in So Ends Our Night for United Artists. Universal issued a restraining order preventing her from working elsewhere unless she agreed to return to Universal to work on two more films. The deal was made and she continued work on the UA film, with Virginia Bruce case in The Invisible Woman. John Barrymore had begun to have problems memorizing his lines and cut up the script and hid the lines behind props on set. The film included the first performance of Maria Montez. The film was Oscar nominated for Photographic Effects and Sound Effects. The film was followed by The Invisible Agent in 1942. A reimagining of the film with Elizabeth Banks was announced in November 2019.

December 27 – Kitty Foyle

Cast: Ginger Rogers, Dennis Morgan, James Craig, Eduardo Ciannelli, Ernest Cossart, Gladys Cooper, Odette Myrtil, Mary Treen, K.T. Stevens, Walter Kingsford, Cecil Cunningham, Nella Walker, Edward Fielding, Kay Linaker, Richard Nichols, Larry Steers
Director: Sam Wood
Studio: RKO Radio Pictures
Trivia: The film, based on the 1939 bestseller by Christopher Morley, carries the subtitle ‘The Natural History of a Woman’. Ginger Rogers won the Best Actress Oscar for the film, and the dress her character wears became a popular style after the movie’s release. Katharine Hepburn had been offered the role but turned it down. The film was RKO’s top performer of 1940. The film was adapted for radio three times with Rogers reprising the role twice. Olivia de Havilland took on the role for a 1947 radio broadcast. The story had also been adapted into a TV soap opera in 1958.

December 29 – Night Train to Munich

Cast: Margaret Lockwood, Rex Harrison, Paul Henreid, Basil Radford, Naunton Wayne, James Harcourt, Felix Aylmer, Wyndham Goldie, Roland Culver, Eliot Makeham, Raymond Huntley, Austin Trevor, Kenneth Kent, C.V. France, Frederick Valk, Morland Graham, Hugh Griffith, Billy Russell
Director: Carol Reed
Studio: 20th Century Fox
Trivia: The film opened first in the UK on July 26, 1940. Based on the novel Report on a Fugitive by Gordon Wellesley. It was the last of several films Lockwood and Reed made together. The film has been called an ‘ironic remake’ of Hitchcock’s The Lady Vanishes, while publicity at the time erroneously called it a sequel.

1950

Columbia Pictures

December 25 – Born Yesterday

Cast: Judy Holliday, Broderick Crawford, William Holden, Howard St. John, Frank Otto, Larry Oliver, Barbara Brown, Grandon Rhodes, Claire Carleton
Director: George Cukor
Studio: Columbia Pictures
Trivia: Based on the 1946 stage play of the same name by Garson Kanin. While the screenplay was credited to Albert Mannheimer, Cukor was not happy with his work which lacked the play’s value, so he approached Kanin to adapt the script from his play but because of legal issues he did not receive screen credit. Kanin stated that the character of Harry Brock was based on Columbia Pictures head Harry Cohn, with whom Kanin had a testy relationship. Cohn knew of this but didn’t care. The film was selected for preservation by the National Film Registry in 2012. Columbia bought the film rights in 1948 but the project was shelved for months due to casting problems. Cukor was hired in April 1950 but was not the studio’s first choice. The cast rehearsed the script for two weeks then performed it for an audience of Columbia employees six times. Wherever they got laughs, Cukor said there was no need to alter the script. Initial reports said Holliday refused to reprise her stage role for the film, but contemporary reports suggest Kanin convinced Cohn to cast her after seeing her performance in Adam’s Rib, a role that was written specifically for her by Kanin and wife Ruth Gordon. The film was nominated for five Academy Awards and four Golden Globes. Holliday won the Best Actress award from both. Kanin attempted to get a remake made in the 1970s and 1980s with Bette Midler or Whoopi Goldberg, or a musical version with Bernadette Peters or Dolly Parton. A remake finally did happen in 1993 with Melanie Griffith, Don Johnson and John Goodman.

December 25 – Frenchie

Cast: Joel McCrea, Shelley Winters, Paul Kelly, Elsa Lanchester, Marie Windsor, John Russell, John Emery, George Cleveland, Regis Toomey
Director: Louis King
Studio: Universal Pictures
Trivia: Loosely based on Destry Rides Again.

December 25 – Vendetta

Cast: Faith Domergue, George Dolenz, Donald Buka, Joseph Calleia, Robert Warwick, Hugo Haas, Hillary Brooke, Nigel Bruce
Director: Mel Ferrer
Studio: RKO Radio Pictures
Trivia: Based on the 1840 novella Colomba by Prosper Mérimée. Principal photography on the film began in 1946 for United Artists, but was not released until four years later by RKO, which producer Howard Hughes had recently purchased. The film was originally directed by Max Ophüls, who was fired and replace by Preston Sturges, who was fired and replaced by Stuart Heisler, who completed the film. Hughes wanted more changes and brought in Ferrer, the only one to receive screen credit. Hughes also directed some pick-up shots. The screenplay was credited to W.R. Burnett, although many writers included Sturges, who originally brought the project to Hughes, also worked on it. The film is thought to have cost the then astronomical sum of $4 million. It was not a critical or financial success.

December 26 – The Man Who Cheated Himself

Cast: Lee J. Cobb, Jane Wyatt, John Dall, Lisa Howard, Harlan Warde, Tito Vuolo, Charles Arnt, Marjorie Bennett, Alan Wells, Mimi Aguglia, Bud Wolfe, Morgan Farley, Howard Negley, William Gould, Terry Frost, Mario Siletti, Charles Victor
Director: Felix E. Feist
Studio: Jack M. Warner Productions, distributed by 20th Century-Fox
Trivia: The film’s original title was The Gun and was to be distributed by United Artists. The project moved to Fox and was given its new title. It was the first independent production from Jack Warner, and the first Lee J. Cobb film since his success on Broadway in Death of a Salesman.

1960

December 23 – The Grass is Greener

Cast: Cary Grant, Deborah Kerr, Robert Mitchum, Jean Simmons, Moray Watson
Director: Stanley Donen
Studio: Grandon Productions Ltd, distributed by Rank Film Distributors (UK), Universal Pictures (US)
Trivia: Adapted from the play by Hugh Williams and Margaret Vyner, who also wrote the screenplay. Grant initially turned down the role, which was then offered to his friend Rex Harrison. Right before production began, Harrison’s wife fell gravely ill and Grant then stepped in out of respect to his friends and to keep the production running. Originally, Grant was meant to play Delacro with Harrison playing Victor, so Grant agreed to play Victor after Harrison left the production. Charlton Heston and Rock Hudson were approached for the Victor role, both refused, and Mitchum was cast late in the proceedings with no fuss over his third billing. Grant credited Mitchum with saving the film and praised his performance. This was the third of four movies that paired Mitchum and Kerr. Moray Watson was the only original member of the stage cast to appear in the film. The film was a bomb upon its release in the US, but has been reviewed positively and developed a following after showings on cable television.

December 23 – Two Women

Cast: Sophia Loren, Jean-Paul Belmondo, Eleonora Brown, Carlo Ninchi, Raf Vallone, Andrea Checchi, Pupella Maggio, Bruna Cealti, Antonella Della Porta, Mario Frera, Franco Balducci, Luciana Cortellesi, Curt Lowens, Tony Calio, Remo Galavotti
Director: Vittorio De Sica
Studio: Compagnia Cinematografica Champion, Les Films Marceau, Cocinor, Société Générale de Cinématographie, distributed by Titanus (Italy), Cocinor-Marceau (France), Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (international)
Trivia: Based on the novel by Alberto Moravia. The fictional story is based on actual events on 1944 in Rome and rural Lazlo during what Italians call the Marocchinate. With Loren having made several films for Paramount, the studio was expected to produce with George Cukor directing, Anna Magnani as the lead and Loren as her daughter. Cukor and Paramount dropped out, De Sica was hired, then Magnani dropped out, not wanting to play Loren’s mother. Loren took the role even though she was just 26 years old. Loren won the Oscar and the BAFTA for Best Actress. Loren also starred in a 1988 TV remake of the film.

December 28 – Where the Boys Are

Cast: Dolores Hart, Paula Prentiss, Yvette Mimieux, Connie Francis, George Hamilton, Jim Hutton, Rory Harrity, Frank Gorshin, Chill Wills, Barbara Nichols, Carol Byron
Director: Henry Levin
Studio: Euterpe Productions, distributed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Trivia: Based on the 1960 novel of the same name by Glendon Swarthout. The film inspired college students to travel to Fort Lauderdale for their Spring Breaks. The novel’s original title was Unholy Spring. MGM persuaded the author to change the title to Where the Boys Are. Natalie Wood was under consideration to star. Paula Prentiss and Connie Francis made their film debuts. The novel contains a section where the students help raise money to ship arms to Fidel Castro but this was nixed for the movie which was meant to be pure entertainment. A follow-up titled Where the Girls Are with George Hamilton was announced but never produced. TriStar Pictures released what it called a ‘remake’, Where the Boys Are ’84, as its first film. Roger Ebert said it wasn’t a remake, sequel or much of anything.

1970

December 23 – Little Big Man

Cast: Dustin Hoffman, Faye Dunaway, Chief Dan George, Martin Balsam, Richard Mulligan, Jesse Vint, Jack Bannon, Jeff Corey, Jack Mullaney, Aimée Eccles, Kelly Jean Peters, Carole Androsky, Robert Little Star, Cal Bellini, Thayer David, Ruben Moreno, Steve Shemayne, William Hickey, James Anderson
Director: Arthur Penn
Studio: Cinema Center Films, distributed by National General Pictures
Trivia: Based on the 1964 novel by Thomas Berger. The film was selected for preservation by the National Film Registry in 2014. To achieve the hoarse voice of a 121-year-old-man, Hoffman sat in his dressing room and screamed at the top of his lungs for an hour. The old age makeup by Dick Smith included false eyelids that could blink with Hoffman’s real eyelids. There are no shots of Hoffman blinking included in the film. The role of Chief Old Lodge Skins was initially offered to Marlon Brando, Paul Scofield, and Laurence Olivier. Chief Dan George received an Oscar and Golden Globe nomination for Best Supporting Actor. Hoffman received a BAFTA nomination for Best Actor.

December 23 – Perfect Friday

Cast: Stanley Baker, Ursula Andress, David Warner, Patience Collier, T. P. McKenna, David Waller, Joan Benham, Julian Orchard, Trisha Mortimer, Anne Tirard, Johnny Briggs, Fred Griffiths, Sidney Jennings, Hugh Halliday, Max Faulkner, Carleton Hobbs, Eric Longworth, Brian Peck, Howard Lang, Patrick Jordan, Malcolm Johns, Garfield Morgan, Derek Cox, Barbara Ogilvie, Georgina Simpson
Director: Peter Hall
Studio: Sunnymede Film Productions, distributed by London Screen (UK), Chevron Pictures (USA)
Trivia: The film originally opened in the UK on November 10, 1970.

December 24 – The Aristocats

Voice Cast: Eva Gabor, Phil Harris, Gary Dubin, Liz English, Dean Clark, Roddy Maude-Roxby, Scatman Crothers, Paul Winchell, Lord Tim Hudson, Vito Scotti, Thurl Ravenscroft, Sterling Holloway, Pat Buttram, George Lindsay, Hermione Baddeley, Charles Lane, Nancy Kulp, Ruth Buzzi, Monica Evans, Carole Shelley, Bill Thompson, Peter Renaday
Director: Wolfgang Reitherman
Studio: Walt Disney Productions, distributed by Buena Vista Distribution
Trivia: Disney’s 20th animated feature film. The Aristocats originally began as a two-part live action episode of Walt Disney’s Wonderful World of Color in 1962. After two years of rewrites, Disney suggested it would make a better animated film. The film began development just as The Jungle Book was completing production, and was the last film project to be personally approved by Disney before his death in December 1966. Robert and Richard Sherman composed several songs for the film but only two made it into the finished project. It was the last film the brothers worked on as Disney staff songwriters. Maurice Chevalier came out of retirement to sing the film’s theme song. Louis Armstrong was cast as the voice of Scat the Cat but pulled out due to illness. Desperate for a replacement, as the characters were based on the personalities of the actors, Scatman Crothers was hired and directed to imitate Armstrong. Eighteen months were spent developing the character designs. The film was re-released theatrically in 1980 and 1987. A 3D CG sequel was put into development in 2005, but after John Lasseter was named Disney’s new chief creative officer, all sequels were cancelled in favor of new projects or spin-offs.

December 25 – There Was a Crooked Man

Cast: Kirk Douglas, Henry Fonda, Hume Cronyn, Warren Oates, Burgess Meredith, John Randolph, Lee Grant, Arthur O’Connell, Martin Gabel, Michael Blodgett, C.K. Yang, Alan Hale Jr., Victor French, Claudia McNeil, Bert Freed, Jeanne Cooper, Barbara Rhoades, Gene Evans, Pamela Hensley, J. Edward McKinley, Ann Doran
Director: Joseph L. Mankiewicz
Studio: Warner Bros. Pictures
Trivia: The film premiered in France on September 19, 1970. The film was shot on location at Joshua Tree National Park. Mankiewicz had to direct from a motorized wheelchair for a time after sustaining a slipped disc after an accident at home.

1980

December 25 – Altered States

Cast: William Hurt, Blair Brown, Bob Balaban, Charles Haid, Thaao Penghlis, Drew Barrymore, Megan Jeffers, Dori Brenner, Peter Brandon, George Gaynes, Jack Murdock, John Larroquette
Director: Ken Russell
Studio: Warner Bros. Pictures
Trivia: Based on the novel by playwright and screenwriter Paddy Chayefsky. Both the novel and the film are based in part on John C. Lilly’s sensory deprivation research conducted in isolation tanks under the influence of psychoactive drugs like mescaline, ketamine, and LSD. This was the film debut of William Hurt and Drew Barrymore. Though credited to Sidney Aaron, the screenplay was actually by Chayefsky, who used the pseudonym after disputes with Russell. It was his last screenplay. The film received Oscar nominations for Best Original Score and Best Sound Mixing. After Chayefsky wrote a story treatment, it was suggested he turn it into a novel first, which was published in 1978. He was also granted full creative control over the film which was based at Columbia Pictures at the time. Producer Daniel Melnick resigned from Columbia in October 1978 and was allowed to take Altered States with him. Arthur Penn was the original director and cast most of the roles. Scott Glenn was under consideration for the lead. Penn resigned from the film after a dispute with Chayefsky but the two remained friends. Russell claimed other directors who turned down the job included Steven Spielberg, Stanley Kubrick, Sydney Pollack, Robert Wise, and Orson Welles and he was the 27th choice. The film was still set up at Columbia but moved to Warner Bros. when the budget rose from $9 million to $12.5 million. It came in at just under $15 million, with $4 million going to special effects. The film grossed $19.9 million domestically.

December 25 – First Family

Cast: Bob Newhart, Madeline Kahn, Gilda Radner, Richard Benjamin, Bob Dishy, Harvey Korman, Fred Willard, Rip Torn, Austin Pendleton, John Hancock, Julius Harris
Director: Buck Henry
Studio: F.F. Associates, distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures
Trivia: The second and last film written and directed by Buck Henry.

1990

December 23 – Come See the Paradise

Cast: Dennis Quaid, Tamlyn Tomita, Sab Shimono, Shizuko Hoshi, Stan Egi, Ronald Yamamoto, Akemi Nishino, Naomi Nakano, Brady Tsurutani, Elizabeth Gilliam, Shyree Mezick, Caroline Junko King, Pruitt Taylor Vince, Colm Meaney, Becky Ann Baker
Director: Alan Parker
Studio: 20th Century Fox
Trivia: A study of 3,000 films released since 1985 identified the film as the most deliberate example of ‘Oscar bait’, a film calculated to draw Oscar nominations. Despite Alan Parker’s previous wins, the Hollywood setting, and a depiction of tragic historical events, the film was snubbed completely by the Oscars. And it failed at the box office.

December 25 – Alice

Cast: Mia Farrow, Rachel Miner, Kristy Graves, Joe Mantegna, William Hurt, Blythe Danner, Laurie Nayber, June Squibb, Holland Taylor, Peggy Miley, Robin Bartlett, Keye Luke, Judy Davis, Alec Baldwin, Bernadette Peters, Cybill Shepherd, Gwen Verdon, Patrick O’Neal, Diane Salinger, Bob Balaban, Caroline Aaron, James Toback, Elle Macpherson, Lisa Marie
Director: Woody Allen
Studio: Orion Pictures
Trivia: Loosely based on Federico Fellini’s 1965 film Juliet of the Spirits. The film’s original title was The Magical Herbs of Dr. Yang. With Allen obsessing over minute details of the film, he checked into the hospital for stress at the end of the shoot. This was Keye Luke’s last film. He died three weeks after its release. Allen received a WGA nomination for Best Original Screenplay. Farrow earned a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy.

Paramount Pictures

December 25 – The Godfather Part III

Cast: Al Pacino, Diane Keaton, Talia Shire, Andy García, Eli Wallach, Joe Mantegna, George Hamilton, Bridget Fonda, Sofia Coppola, Raf Vallone, Franc D’Ambrosio, Donal Donnelly, Richard Bright, Al Martino, Helmut Berger, Don Novello, John Savage, Franco Citti, Mario Donatone, Vittorio Duse, Enzo Robutti, Michele Russo, Robert Cicchini, Rogerio Miranda, Carlos Miranda, Vito Antuofermo
Director: Francis Ford Coppola
Studio: Paramount Pictures, Zoetrope Studios, distributed by Paramount Pictures
Trivia: The film’s original title was intended to be The Death of Michael Corleone, which Paramount rejected. The film premiered in Beverly Hill on December 20, 1990. The film earned seven Oscar nominations including Best Picture. A re-cut version of the film was released in December 2020 with the title Mario Puzo’s The Godfather, Coda: The Death of Michael Corleone, to coincide with the 30th anniversary of the film’s release. Pacino and Keaton both approved the new cut calling it better than the original. Coppola always considered the first two films to tell the complete Corleone saga with the third serving as an epilogue. Coppola accepted Paramount’s offer to make the third film after a dire financial situation caused by the failure of Coppola’s One From the Heart. While Pacino, Keaton and Shire reprised their roles, Robert Duvall refused to take part unless his salary was comparable to Pacino’s. Coppola killed off his character and wrote a new one played by George Hamilton, but said the film feels incomplete without Duvall. The role of Mary was originally to be played by Julia Roberts but she dropped out due to scheduling conflicts. Madonna wanted the role but Coppola felt she was too old. Rebecca Schaeffer was set to audition but was murdered by a stalker. Winona Ryder was cast and dropped out due to nervous exhaustion. The role ultimately went to Coppola’s daughter Sofia, who played Michael Corleone’s infant nephew in the original film. She also appeared as an immigrant child in Part II.

December 25 – Green Card

Cast: Gérard Depardieu, Andie MacDowell, Bebe Neuwirth, Gregg Edelman, Robert Prosky, Lois Smith, Ann Dowd, Larry Wright, Ethan Phillips
Director: Peter Weir
Studio: Touchstone Pictures, Umbrella Entertainment, distributed by Buena Vista Pictures
Trivia: Depardieu won the Golden Globe for Best Actor in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy, and the film won the Globe for Best Picture – Musical or Comedy. It received an Oscar nomination for Best Original Screenplay. The film was written by Peter Weir as a vehicle to introduce Depardieu to a wide English-speaking audience. It was based on The Paper Wedding (French: Les noces de papier), a 1989 made for television Canadian film which starred Genvieve Bujold.

December 25 – The Russia House

Cast: Sean Connery, Michelle Pfeiffer, Roy Scheider, James Fox, John Mahoney, Michael Kitchen, J. T. Walsh, Ken Russell, David Threlfall, Klaus Maria Brandauer, Mac McDonald, Nicholas Woodeson, Martin Clunes, Ian McNeice, Colin Stinton
Director: Fred Schepisi
Studio: Pathé Entertainment, distributed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Trivia: Based on John le Carré’s 1989 novel of the same name. Filmed mostly on location in Moscow and Leningrad, the second American film to be shot in the Soviet Union. Michelle Pfeiffer was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Drama, but lost to Kathy Bates in Misery.

2000

December 25 – All the Pretty Horses

Cast: Matt Damon, Henry Thomas, Angelina C. Torres, J. D. Young, Sam Shepard, Robert Patrick, Lucas Black, Penélope Cruz, Ruben Blades, Míriam Colón, Lonnie Rodriguez, Raul Malo, Frederick Lopez, Julio Oscar Mechoso, Vincente Ramos, J. D. Garfield, Jo Harvey Allen, Julio C. Cedillo, Marc Miles, Bruce Dern
Director: Billy Bob Thornton
Studio: Miramax Films, distributed by Columbia Pictures
Trivia: Based on Cormac McCarthy’s novel of the same name. The film grossed $18 million worldwide against a $57 million budget. Thornton’s original cut ran over three hours, but Harvey Weinstein demanded a cut of less than two hours. He also replaced the original score by Daniel Lanois with one by Marty Stuart. It has been suggested that the demand to cut the film was payback for Thornton refusing to cut Sling Blade. Damon publicly criticized the edit, saying you can’t remove 35% of a film and expect it to be the same movie. Thornton’s original cut still exists but Lanois still holds the rights to his original score and has refused to license it, making a release of the film impossible. Stuart’s score was nominated for the Golden Globe.

December 25 – An Everlasting Piece

Cast: Barry McEvoy, Brían F. O’Byrne, Anna Friel, Pauline McLynn, Laurence Kinlan, Billy Connolly, Enda Oates
Director: Barry Levinson
Studio: Columbia Pictures, Bayahibe Films, Baltimore Spring/Creek Pictures, distributed by DreamWorks Pictures (United States), Sony Pictures Releasing (International)
Trivia: Barry McEvoy based his screenplay on the adventures of his father as a toupée peddler.

December 25 – Thirteen Days

Cast: Bruce Greenwood, Steven Culp, Kevin Costner, Dylan Baker, Bill Smitrovich, Ed Lauter, Kevin Conway, Len Cariou, Jack McGee, Elya Baskin, Dakin Matthews, James Karen
Director: Roger Donaldson
Studio: Beacon Pictures, distributed by New Line Cinema
Trivia: Based on the 1997 book, The Kennedy Tapes: Inside the White House During the Cuban Missile Crisis, by Ernest R. May and Philip D. Zelikow. The material was used for 1974’s The Missiles of October. The 2000 film contains information that had been declassified since the previous film’s release. Scenes in Cuba were filmed in the Philippines. The Department of Defense allowed production to take place on several bases, and filming also took place on ships from the time period, either still active or preserved as museums. Aircraft from the time were refurbished to appear operational. The film received much criticism for its depiction of Kenneth O’Donnell as a chief motivator of President Kennedy during the Cuban Missile Crisis. Critics attribute that position to Ted Sorenson. Costner traveled to Cuba in 2001 to screen the film for Fidel Castro.

December 27 – Traffic

Cast: Benicio del Toro, Jacob Vargas, Marisol Padilla Sánchez, Tomas Milian, Michael Douglas, Amy Irving, Erika Christensen, Topher Grace, D. W. Moffett, James Brolin, Albert Finney, Steven Bauer, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Dennis Quaid, Clifton Collins, Jr., Don Cheadle, Luis Guzmán, Miguel Ferrer, Peter Riegert, Benjamin Bratt, Viola Davis, John Slattery, James Pickens Jr.
Director: Steven Soderbergh
Studio: Bedford Falls Productions, Laura Bickford Productions, Initial Entertainment Group, distributed by USA Films
Trivia: The film is an adaptation of the 1989 British Channel 4 television series Traffik. While several stories are told in the film and edited together, many of the characters never meet. After 20th Century Fox demanded Harrison Ford have a key role in the film and significant changes be made to the screenplay, Soderbergh shopped the film to other studios. USA Films liked the screenplay as it was and offered Soderbergh more money than Fox. Soderbergh operated the camera himself and gave each story its own distinct color grading so audiences could tell them apart. The film won numerous awards including four Oscars – Best Director, Best Supporting Actor (del Toro), Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Film Editing.

December 29 – The Claim

Cast: Peter Mullan, Milla Jovovich, Wes Bentley, Nastassja Kinski, Sarah Polley, Julian Richings, Shirley Henderson, Sean McGinley, Tom McCamus, Karolina Muller, Barry Ward, Duncan Frasier
Director: Michael Winterbottom
Studio: Alliance Atlantis, Arts Council of England, BBC Films, Canal+, Grosvenor Park Productions, Revolution Films, distributed by Pathé (UK), United Artists (USA)
Trivia: Loosely based on the 1886 novel The Mayor of Casterbridge by Thomas Hardy. Though set in 1867, a tower, cables and chairs of a modern ski lift can be seen in the background of one shot.

Lions Gate Films

December 29 – Shadow of the Vampire

Cast: John Malkovich, Willem Dafoe, Cary Elwes, John Aden Gillet, Eddie Izzard, Udo Kier, Catherine McCormack, Ronan Vibert, Nicholas Elliott, Sophie Langevin, Myriam Muller
Director: E. Elias Merhige
Studio: BBC Films, Madman Films, Saturn Films, distributed by Metrodome Distribution (United Kingdom), Lions Gate Films (United States)
Trivia: The film is a fictionalized account of the making of the classic vampire film Nosferatu. The film received Oscar nominations for Best Makeup and Best Supporting Actor (Dafoe). Though several of the major, real life characters in the film are killed, they all lived long after the original film’s production. The film’s working title was Burned to Light, but was changed after Dafoe asked ‘Who’s Ed?’, thinking the title was Burn Ed to Light. Producer Nicolas Cage originally intended to play Max Schreck but cast Dafoe after he expressed interest. Three of the cast had previously appeared in vampire films: Kier played Count Dracula in Blood for Dracula (1974) and Dragonetti in Blade (1998), Elwes played Arthur Holmwood in Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1992), and Dafoe played a minor role in The Hunger (1983).

2010

December 25 – Gulliver’s Travels

Cast: Jack Black, Jason Segel, Emily Blunt, Chris O’Dowd, Billy Connolly, Amanda Peet, Catherine Tate, James Corden, T. J. Miller
Director: Rob Letterman
Studio: Dune Entertainment, Davis Entertainment Company, distributed by 20th Century Fox
Trivia: This was Letterman’s live-action directorial debut. Very loosely based on Part One of the 1726 novel of the same name by Jonathan Swift, though the film takes place in the modern day. The film was originally set to be released on June 4, 2010 but moved to December 25 after Fox announced the film would be converted to 3D. Jack Black received a Razzie nomination for Worst Actor, losing to Ashton Kutcher for Killers and Valentine’s Day. Black was also nominated for a Kids Choice Award as Favorite Movie Actor but lost to Johnny Depp in Alice in Wonderland.

December 29 – Blue Valentine

Cast: Ryan Gosling, Michelle Williams, Faith Wladyka, John Doman, Mike Vogel, Marshall Johnson, Jen Jones, Ben Shenkman, Maryann Plunkett
Director: Derek Cianfrance
Studio: Hunting Lane Films, Silverwood Films, distributed by The Weinstein Company
Trivia: Williams was nominated in the Best Actress category for both the Academy Awards and Golden Globes. Gosling received a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actor (Drama Film). Williams received the script in 2002 when she was 21. Gosling committed to the film four years later. Filming did not begin until 2009 when both actors were 28 because of an inability to find financing for the film. The film was to be filmed in California, but Williams wanted to stay close to home in Brooklyn to be with her daughter after the death of Heath Ledger a year earlier. To prepare for the filming of the breakdown of the marriage of their characters, Williams and Gosling rented a home and lived together as if married, even taking a family portrait at a local Sears with the actress playing their daughter. Cianfrance gave up his entire director’s fee to help finance the movie. Gosling wrote and performed some of his own songs. The film originally received an NC-17 rating due to a scene of oral sexual activity, with Gosling accusing the MPAA of sexism and misogyny since films where the sex act roles were reversed received R ratings. It was appealed and overturned without any cuts.

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