Today! Because I know what I’m gonna do tomorrow, and the next day, and next year, and the year after that –
It’s a Wonderful Life (1946)
Directed by Frank Capra
Starring James Stewart (x4), Donna Reed, Lionel Barrymore, Thomas Mitchell (x2), Ward Bond (x3), Beulah Bondi, Gloria Grahame (x2), Henry Travers, Frank Faylen (x2), H.B. Warner (x2), Todd Karns, Virginia Patton, Sheldon Leonard, Frank Albertson, Samuel Hinds, Mary Treen, Charles Williams, Lillian Randolph, Charles Lane (x3), Carl “Alfalfa” Switzer (x2)
The movie I’ve seen in a theater the most times (eleven, as of this writing), It’s a Wonderful Life is still the only movie 100% guaranteed to transform me into a weepy, blubbery mess. And it’s not a gradual thing either – I’m in rough shape almost from minute one, when you hear all the townsfolk praying for George. It’s not just my favorite Christmas movie, and my vote for best Christmas movie ever made, it also features the Best Swimming Pool Dance Party in film history, and is the only movie I can think of where a man carries a pie in each hand and one on top of his head at the same time.
Harry Bailey – war hero and posture wizard
Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer is decidedly average. Yes, I’m talking about the Rankin/ Bass, claymation Rudolph, with Hermie the aspiring dentist elf and Yukon the man mountain prospector and the Abominable Snow Monster and all that jazz. It’s really average. Heck, I’d be tempted to go so far as to say it’s not terribly good at all, if it weren’t for Burl Ives as the snowman narrator and the fun songs. But the work as a whole? Not the best.
Knowingly Undersold 