Scrooged (1988)
Written by: Mitch Glazer & Michael O'Donoghue
Based on the novella "A Christmas Carol" by Charles Dickens.
Starring: Bill Murray (Frank Cross), Karen Allen (Claire Phillips), The late John Forsythe (Lew Hayward), John Glover (Brice Cummings), Bobcat Goldthwait (Elliot Loudermilk), David Johansen (Ghost of Christmas Past), Carol Kane (Ghost of Christmas Present), Alfre Woodard (Grace Cooley), John Murray (James Cross), Robert Goulet (Himself), Buddy Hackett (Scrooge), John Houseman (Himself), Lee Majors (Himself), Mary Lou Retton (Herself), Anne Ramsey (Women in Shelter), and Chaz Conner (Ghost of Christmas Future).
The opening sequence is in the North pole, Santa Claus's homestead. The elves getting ready for the big night, December 25, Christmas. Suddenly, light flashes, the homestead is bombarded by unknown blasts coming from afar; An unseen enemy. Santa and his wife run for safety towards the back of the gift room, where all the elves and Claus himself goes to just in case of an attack. A back-wall that opens up, the very place where only the strong go to. A large weapons depot, ranging from assault rifles to handguns. The elves and the jolly crew take there weapons serious. Just when you thought Christmas was in dire straights, a hero helps the jolly crew the ones assaulting the Christmas givers. His name is Lee Majors, this agent of the government shoots down the bad guys as he positions himself inside the homestead. The sequence ends, the screen goes into a Majors dialog, a new action movie starring Lee majors, coming soon to the silver screen is seen on the mini TV screens inside the executive chambers of Frank Cross (Bill Murray), where his other employees and fellow executives had just watched a horrid commercial, just in time for Christmas Eve.
judging by the beginning of the film you would think of it as an action film, but rest assured it is not. This comedy drama always has an ace up its sleeve. That being said i will go into the core of the review; what makes 80's film liked, what nostalgic hold does it have on audiences.
The characters in the film, like some 80's movies transform the main characters, not like the auto-bots but a personal transformation. Frank Cross (Bill Murry) a well developed character is a grumpy, hateful, selfish individual that absolutely hates Christmas. comparing Scrooge/Cross is simple, Cross is an embodiment of evil. Scrooge, yes was selfish, but Cross went for the throat; i guess that's one of the reasons why? i like this film so much, because it shows us what we can become, a manifestation of greed, and evil if not checked. What better than Bill Murray, and Carol Kane (Ghost of Christmas Present) to show us the funny side to the Dickens tale. The manifestations are done well with Cross (Murray), he presents a man who doesn't care about Christmas, really nobody at all. the main difference between Cross and Scrooge is that one had some desire to do good, the other really didn't care if his employee jumped off the bridge.
I guess the transformation and the connections between Clarie (Karen Allen) and Frank Cross (Murray) was written to perfection.
"Oh, well, that's a really nice attitude on Christmas Eve!" (Clarie Phillips)
Clarie is instrumental in Frank's character evolution, because without her his character would not have changed, even with the ghosts. The connection will always be Clarie, the romantic relationship those two had in the pasts is the key. The setting to the story evolves from that point, yes you could mention his past as a boy. But, Clarie is the emotion, that light side of the force, even Dark Vader had something good within him. Vader had Luke his son, Cross had Claire his girlfriend, an example of the mixed emotion deep inside. So we can agree that something lost within challenges the main character to do right, and in this case Cross had many challenges which he failed.
What is it about the 80's that folks love? I believe that answer is in the transformation process, almost all 80's films have an underline plot,a heartfelt moment. Sixteen Candles, The Breakfast Club,Say anything, Can't Buy Me Love. All of these films had moments that brought the transformation about. In the Breakfast Club all the characters understood what they needed to do, all of them were in someways connected to each other. Why? else would even the geek, the quite girl, Allison Reynolds (Ally Sheedy) get along with all the other kids. The connections were all there, the transformations started in those firsts scenes. Here are just three film transformations of the 80's.
- The main characters must be different from the opening of the film, they must learn, evolve as they progress throughout the film in order to understand what is about to happen in their lives. A complete struggle within the main characters lives must occur.
- The main character must find or have a Robin, a secondary character that oversees the main character actions, thoughts, put him or her in check if need be.
- The transformation must occur at the right time, timing is everything or the main character will miss his or hers chance to evolve, learn what has happened, the surroundings are different, why? the main character will under go all of these changes in order to make a true unique 80's film.
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