5 FESTIVE FLICKS
Thanksgiving is a time for family, food and films. Chris Arnold suggests a few.
1 Plane, Trains and Automobiles (1987)
Neal Page (Steve Martin) and Del Griffith (John Candy) just want to get home to Chicago after a blizzard diverts their flight to Wichita, Kan. Anyone who hates travel should avoid this movie at all costs because of the ensuing transportation-related commotion. Martin’s uptight businessman partnered with Candy’s jolly demeanour is the perfect buddy comedy combo.
2 Alice’s Restaurant (1969)
Long before there were movies based on video games, here’s a flick based on an 18-minute song. Songwriter Arlo Guthrie, son of the folk legend Woody Guthrie, stars as himself attempting to dodge the draft while attending college. He gets into some legal trouble and takes off for Massachusetts where he joins his friend Alice, who owns a restaurant, for Thanksgiving dinner. He decides to do her a favour by loading a Volkswagen bus with the trash to take to the dump, but it’s closed due to the holiday. His illegal — and less than green — disposal starts trouble.
3 A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving (1973)
It’s the shortest on the list, but probably the most watched. While Charlie Brown and his sister are getting ready to head to their grandmother’s for dinner, they get a phone call from Peppermint Patty inviting herself over. More and more Peanuts latch on to the guest list until Charlie is left asking for help from Linus. Snoopy and Woodstock are recruited to make a second dinner consisting of toast, popcorn and candy, then eventually cook up their own turkey in the doghouse. Revel in the piano jazz by Vince Guaraldi.
4 Free Birds (2013)
The perspective is flipped as the story of Thanksgiving is told from the bird’s point of view. In this animated movie, a turkey named Reggie is justifiably afraid of the holiday. He is sent back in time to stop the first Thanksgiving from ever featuring his species on the menu. He is greeted by a flock led by Chief Broadbeak and helps scuttle the humans’ plans for a feast. Of course, all plans go poorly and even more time travel is put to use in order to save turkey-kind.
5 Home for the Holidays (1995)
Jodie Foster directs Holly Hunter and Robert Downey Jr. in this story of a single mother who just lost her job and flies back home ... for the holidays. More members arrive in the days before Thanksgiving, including her brother, played by Downey Jr. There’s backyard football, a water hose fight in November and a basted bird that goes airborne. The movie only made US$17.5 million at the box office, but has since developed a cult following.