The connection between the Natural State and these famous Christmas movies
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. – With Christmas rapidly approaching, there are a lot of ways to get into the spirit including watching classic holiday movies. Some of those films even have ties to the Natural State.
Arkansas has a plethora of talent in the film industry and a few Arkansans have gone on to be part of movies that are included in online database IMDB’s top 100 Christmas movies of all-time list in various roles.
Die Hard
Whether you believe it is a Christmas movie or not, the 1988 film “Die Hard” starring Bruce Willis as a New York City police detective who gets caught up in a terrorist takeover of a skyscraper in Los Angeles is a classic film. It was also written by an Arkansan.
Though the film was based on Roderick Thorp’s novel “Nothing Lasts Forever”, the screenplay was co-written by Little Rock native Jeb Stuart who would later go on to co-write The Fugitive and become creator of the Netflix series Vikings: Valhalla.
A Christmas Story
One of the most popular holiday films of all time is 1983’s “A Christmas Story”. In the film, a young boy named Ralphie attempts to convince his parents to get him a Red Ryder BB gun, believing it would make the perfect Christmas gift.
Ralphie’s mother Mrs. Parker is played by Melinda Dillon, a native of Hope. The Red Ryder BB gun used in the film was also born in Rogers, Arkansas and was created by Daisy Outdoor Products. Also, in a 1994 sequel to the film titled “My Summer Story”, the role of Mrs. Parker was played by Mary Steenburgen, a native of Newport.
Elf
One Christmas movie that many watch during the holiday season is Will Ferrell’s breakout 2003 hit “Elf”. In the movie, Ferrell plays Buddy the Elf, a human raised by Santa’s elves who ends up in New York City on a quest to meet his biological father.
In the film, Mary Steenburgen plays Emily Hobbs, the wife of Buddy’s father Walter who encourages him to bond with Buddy. She has also been in other Christmas films like “Four Christmases” and “One Magic Christmas”.
Bad Santa
In 2003, 19 days after “Elf” hit theaters, another modern Christmas classic was released. The film “Bad Santa” is about a miserable conman who poses as Santa Claus as part of a scheme to rob department stores on Christmas Eve.
The role of the main character, Willie T. Soke, is played by Malvern-native Billy Bob Thornton. Thornton has also been featured in films like “The Ice Harvest” and “Love Actually” which also took place around Christmas time.
Alvin & the Chipmunks – A Chipmunk Christmas
In “A Chipmunk Christmas”, Alvin has been booked for a harmonica solo at Carnegie Hall in New York, but he gave his harmonica away to a sick little boy. The movie features classic Chipmunks Christmas songs like “Jingle Bells” and “The Christmas Song (Christmas Don’t Be Late”. Though there are no specific Arkansas ties to the film, the lead chipmunk Alvin was named after a man from the Natural State.
According to the Encyclopedia of Arkansas, Alvin Silas Bennett, a recording industry executive from Joiner worked for Liberty Records and put out a series of novelty records in 1958. One of them featured Ross Bagdasarian under the pseudonym “David Seville” and was titled “The Chipmunk Song”. The record featured three singers named after company executives Alvin Bennett, Simon Waronker, and Ted Keep.
Other Christmas movies with various ties to the Natural State include “Mr. Christmas”, “Sons of Mistletoe”, “A Miracle Before Christmas”, “Nutcrackers”, as well as the Wes Bentley-led horror film “P2”.
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