I watched a movie Scrooged, directed by Richard Donner,
released in 1988. It stars Bill Murray, Karen Allen, John Houseman, John
Forsythe, Robert Mitchum and Bob Goldthwaith. It is a modernization of the
story A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens. Francis Cross, played by Bill
Murray, runs a top-rated network, IBC, and is putting on a live version of a
Christmas Carol with an all-star cast. The thing is, he’s a bit of a prick. He
fires one of his employees right before Christmas and is generally a dick to
everyone. He gets the visit from his old boss as a ghost and is soon visited by
the three ghosts. Will he change his ways?
I saw this at Mission Drive-In, a local drive-in that has been refurbished recently, in 1989, as a double feature with the 1989 Batman, directed by Tim Burton. I immediately loved Scrooged even though I was about 11 or 12 at the time. Bill Murray is the perfect choice for the role as he can play such a dick but at the same time you can relate to him when he is visited by the ghosts. I think this is one of his best roles, right up there with Carl Spackler from Caddyshack, Venkman from Ghostbusters, Phil Connors from Groundhog Day, or any other work he has done. He brings such a solid performance, you really get into it. Karen Allen plays his girlfriend Claire and she also brings a realist performance and they have such chemistry together, you can see how Frank and Claire are truly meant to be together in many of the scenes they have together. The direction by Richard Donner is superb as always, getting shots that are very meaningful but not going over the top with close-ups and multiple angles. IT is a very understated direction and it works really well. The score by Danny Elfman brings a bit of chill and fantasy to the movie that is unmatched. It sounds a bit like demented Christmas music through almost the entire film which totally works. Something I didn’t know was that it was written by Mitch Glazer and Michael O'Donoghue, which now explains the dark humor and satirical nature of the corporate world being portrayed as a contrast to Christmas spirit, which plays perfectly.
Something else that is really cool about this movie is that all the Murray brothers are in it; John, Brian Doyle-Murray and Joel Murray, which gives it a real family feel, at least to me. It is a subtle movie about Christmas and what is important, believe it or not, and is not so sweet or bitter that you lose interest or find it comically stupid. All the jokes are on point due to Murray’s delivery both as the comedian and straight man and the story itself, even if it is modernized and done a million times in other version, is one that really should resonate any time of the year.
I saw this at Mission Drive-In, a local drive-in that has been refurbished recently, in 1989, as a double feature with the 1989 Batman, directed by Tim Burton. I immediately loved Scrooged even though I was about 11 or 12 at the time. Bill Murray is the perfect choice for the role as he can play such a dick but at the same time you can relate to him when he is visited by the ghosts. I think this is one of his best roles, right up there with Carl Spackler from Caddyshack, Venkman from Ghostbusters, Phil Connors from Groundhog Day, or any other work he has done. He brings such a solid performance, you really get into it. Karen Allen plays his girlfriend Claire and she also brings a realist performance and they have such chemistry together, you can see how Frank and Claire are truly meant to be together in many of the scenes they have together. The direction by Richard Donner is superb as always, getting shots that are very meaningful but not going over the top with close-ups and multiple angles. IT is a very understated direction and it works really well. The score by Danny Elfman brings a bit of chill and fantasy to the movie that is unmatched. It sounds a bit like demented Christmas music through almost the entire film which totally works. Something I didn’t know was that it was written by Mitch Glazer and Michael O'Donoghue, which now explains the dark humor and satirical nature of the corporate world being portrayed as a contrast to Christmas spirit, which plays perfectly.
Something else that is really cool about this movie is that all the Murray brothers are in it; John, Brian Doyle-Murray and Joel Murray, which gives it a real family feel, at least to me. It is a subtle movie about Christmas and what is important, believe it or not, and is not so sweet or bitter that you lose interest or find it comically stupid. All the jokes are on point due to Murray’s delivery both as the comedian and straight man and the story itself, even if it is modernized and done a million times in other version, is one that really should resonate any time of the year.
If you haven’t seen it, it is totally in your interest to,
if only for Bill Murray.
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