Dear readers, we here at 908 South have decided that tis the season to talk about "Holiday Movies" and since CT left the definition up to me I'm going broad with it. Mostly because I have put this day off long enough. It is time I tell you about what is probably one of my favorite things in the whole world. It is an old film, still perfect today as it was in 1968 when it was gifted to the world. That film, that slice of pure wit and perfection, is The Lion in Winter.
I will be blunt about this one point right up front; they made another version with Glenn Close and Patrick Stewart, and while I love the actors themselves none of them are Katherine Hepburn and they really shouldn't have bothered. If it's not the 1968 version, I don't want it polluting my sight. Harsh? Yes it is. But the original version featured a young Anthony Hopkins and Timothy Dalton and a young Nigel Terry. It was a who's who of British Actors who were going places. And Katherine Hepburn at her best. She goes from defeated and depressed to conniving and triumphant in the blink of an eye.
We of course also have to talk about the script. Writer James Goldman (who also wrote the play that film was adapted from) took the basic idea of the Christmas court during the last part of King Henry the Second's reign and turned it into a five-way power struggle over who will rule England and how. Every line is clever while also enriching the plot and the characters. The future King of England changes over and over again, like a monarchical game of musical chairs while the audience is left wondering if anyone in this family feels any love for another member.
I know some of you are thinking, "How is this a Christmas movie?" well... Technically it isn't. But it takes place at Christmas and the theme of a family arguing incessantly in a way that never quite resolves really reminds me of many Holiday experiences in my family. I don't think a movie should have to end with everyone opening presents and sharing a probably spiked cup of egg nog in order to qualify as a holiday film. Sometimes the biggest part of your holidays is going to be fighting with your family. God Bless Us. Everyone but Uncle Jerry, who knows what he did.
Happy (Holiday) Watching,
Little C
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