Oh my goodness, we finally made it! The Top 10! We’re almost done. Honestly, probably should have just done a Top 10. It would have saved me a lot of time. But then I think of all the joy and entertainment I would have deprived you of, and I just couldn’t forgive myself if I had taken that away.

It’s a Wonderful Life: the ultimate Christmas movie. Or is it? Let’s get philosophical for a second. What makes a Christmas movie? Is it how much of the movie takes place around the holiday? Is it the use of Christmas imagery in the background? Is it Christmas music playing throughout the film? If it’s any of these that make a Christmas movie, then It’s a Wonderful Life is hardly one at all. Less than half the runtime takes place during the holiday season. Outside of a tree, a wreath and some street decoration that we barely see, there is no other Christmas imagery in the film. The only two holiday songs in the film are “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing” and “Auld Lang Syne” (which is really more for New Year’s, anyway), and they’re both at the very end. Bookending the film around Christmas does not a Christmas movie make. And so, if these are the contributing factors, Die Hard is more of a Christmas movie than It’s a Wonderful Life, and it’s not even close.

However, what about the “Spirit of Christmas”? You know, that desire that people seem to get around the season to experience “peace on Earth and good will toward men”. It’s the “Spirit of Christmas” that makes Mr. Bogardus give his building up for the use of a Catholic school. It’s the “Spirit of Christmas” that makes the Grinch return the presents to Whoville. It’s the “Spirit of Christmas” that transforms Ebenezer Scrooge into a kind-hearted, generous and loving man who “knew how to keep Christmas well, if any man alive possessed the knowledge.” And it’s the “Spirit of Christmas” that makes George Bailey realize that life is worth living, even in the bad times, and makes the people of Bedford Falls pool their money together to help someone (temporarily) poorer than they are. The impact the “Spirit of Christmas” has on the ending of the film outweighs the broad timeline it covers and then some. It also helps that the short story It’s a Wonderful Life is based on is heavily inspired by A Christmas Carol. Therefore, It’s a Wonderful Life may not be the ultimate Christmas movie, since A Christmas Carol exists (in many iterations), but it’s certainly in the running. And besides that, it’s not just a great Christmas movie, it’s just a great movie in general.

On Christmas Eve, 1945, in Bedford Falls, George Bailey is at the end of his rope. Luckily for him, his friends and family are praying for him, and those in Heaven are listening. They intend to send Clarence Odbody, a guardian angel, second class, to help George and earn Clarence his wings. Clarence is given a crash-course on George Bailey’s life in flashbacks. At 12, George rescues his brother, Harry, from drowning, but in doing so, he goes deaf in his left ear. He also save Mr. Gower, the pharmacist he works for, from poisoning a customer due to neglect over the loss of his son in the war. Later, George decides he’s going to take an international trip and see the world before college. Before he leaves, he visits the school’s year end dance, where he is reintroduced to Mary Hatch – a woman who has loved George since they were kids. George learns after the party that his dad has died suddenly, and he postpones his trip to settle the family business, a building and loan company. Mr. Potter, the crusty old man who owns half the town and has shares in the business, seeks to dissolve it, but the other shareholders agree to keep it running…if George takes over. George does and gives his traveling and college money to Harry on the promise that Harry comes and takes over for George when he graduates. However, when Harry comes back, he’s married and has a job offer from his father-in-law. George resigns himself to stay at the business. He and Mary get married, but on their wedding day, there’s a run on the bank, and so they use their honeymoon money to keep the company solvent. George does well with the company by building a housing project that’s better than Potter’s slums. He’s doing so well that Potter tries to entice George to work for him to no effect.

On Christmas Eve, George’s uncle Billy, who works with him at the building and loan but is rather absent-minded, goes to the bank to deposit $8,000 for the business. However, he spends some time taunting Mr. Potter with the news that the town is having a celebration for Harry on his return from fighting in World War II. In doing so, he accidentally leaves the $8,000 with Mr. Potter and scrambles to find it. A bank examiner visits the building and loan and puts everyone on edge, and so they try to retrace Billy’s steps to find the money, but to no avail. At the end of his rope, George gets drunk and contemplates suicide, catching Clarence up to that moment in George’s life. Clarence jumps into the river below before George has a chance to, and therefore rescuing him. When George claims he wishes he had never been born, Clarence gets the idea to show him what that would look like. His family doesn’t know him, including Mary, who never married. Mr. Gower was jailed for manslaughter after poisoning that customer. Uncle Billy was institutionalized after the building and loan failed. And his housing complex is now a cemetery with Harry’s grave in it. When George returns to the bridge where he considered jumping earlier, he begs for his life to go back to the way it was, realizing its value. When he returns home, he learns Mary and Billy have rallied the townspeople to pull money together to cover the missing amount. Clarence gets his wings and George understands he’s not a failure because he has friends.

Bonus Review: It Happened One Night

Prior to taking a more cynical approach to his movies, Frank Capra was mostly known for his screwball comedies – significantly more lighthearted affairs than the dark It’s a Wonderful Life. It Happened One Night, which was released in 1934, basically created the genre, which is a satirical take on the romantic comedy. It went on to influence other screwball comedies, but it also left an impression on the rest of the film world. Laurel and Hardy parodied the famous hitchhiking scene in their film Way Out West, and Clark Gable’s character in the film was a strong inspiration for Bugs Bunny, including his affinity for talking with a carrot in his mouth. When It Happened One Night was released, it was not expected to be a success. Columbia Pictures did not promote it much and even the lead actress, Claudette Colbert, considered it one of the worst movies she ever worked on. However, once it reached middle America, the film took off. Sales went through the roof, and the film remained Columbia’s biggest hit until the 1980s. When awards season came around, It Happened One Night took home the “Big Five”: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Actress, and Best Writing – a feat that has only been duplicated twice with One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest and The Silence of the Lambs. Something about this movie just struck a chord with everyone.

Heiress, Ellie Andrews, elopes with King Westley (that’s his name, not his title) against the wishes of her father, Alexander, who knows Westley just wants to marry her for her fortune. Alexander tries to keep Ellie and King away from each other until he can get the marriage annulled, but Ellie hops on a bus in Florida to get to King in New York. On this bus, she meets Peter Warne, a reporter without a job. He recognizes Ellie and tells her she has a choice: either give him an exclusive story and he will help her get to New York, or don’t and he’ll alert her father. Ellie takes the first option. At first, they hate each other, but their time together creates a loving bond between them. When the bus breaks down, they try hitchhiking, unsuccessfully, until Ellie shows a little bit of leg. The man who picks them up tries to drive away with their luggage, but Peter chases him down and comes back with the car and the luggage. As they approach New York, Ellie confesses her feelings for Peter. Without telling her, Peter leaves to sell his story so he can have the funds to marry Ellie, but since communication is non-existent in these types of movies, Ellie believes he has deserted her. Distraught, she calls her father and begs him to let her marry King properly, even though she now knows she doesn’t love him. Peter comes to Alexander’s home and learns of Ellie’s upcoming wedding. Alexander offers Peter a reward for his inadvertent help in bring Ellie home, but he refuses, only wanting to be reimbursed for expenses on their trip. He even admits that he loves Ellie. At the wedding, as he’s walking Ellie down the aisle, Alexander tells her about what Peter said and tells her that her car is around the back of the building if she changes her mind about the wedding. And as you may have guessed, she does.