The Sunday Times - UK (2021-12-19)

FILM

after Alan Rickman and his

gang take over Nakatomi

Plaza in Los Angeles. Willis

and Rickman spar like the

old world confronting the

new. “Another orphan of a

bankrupt culture who thinks

he’s John Wayne,” Rickman

says with a sneer. “Actually,

I was always partial to Roy

Rogers myself,” Willis

responds. A witty

deconstruction of old action

movies that set the standard

for many summers to come.

4

ET: The Extra-

Terrestrial

(Wednesday,

Dec 22, ITV,

11.30am)

Steven Spielberg’s great

romance, admittedly between

a boy and a rubbery alien,

but as Jack Lemmon said at

the end of Some Like It Hot:

“Nobody’s perfect.” The

acting is pitch-perfect;

Melissa Mathison’s screenplay

is a haiku-like masterpiece of

emotional economy; and

Spielberg directs as if passing

on the best-kept secret from

his childhood. His first

masterpiece.

result is close to kitsch, with

Maurice Jarre’s score the

fondant icing on the cake,

but Christie glows, Sharif

smoulders, and the ice palace

where their romance reaches

its conclusion is one of the

most haunting sets in the

history of movies.

3

Die Hard

(Wednesday,

Dec 22, ITV,

10.45pm)

One of the greatest action

movies of the 1980s, with

Bruce Willis — in his

increasingly dirtied vest —

making it up as he goes along

MY CLASSIC CHRISTMAS

Christmas is the time for

classic films. You want films

that feel like carols — timeless,

memorable, that everyone

can join in with. Classics that

repay a second, third or even

fourth viewing because

there’s always something new

to notice.

Yet who determines what is

a classic? Who draws up the

list? Every year the team at

Sight & Sound poll film critics

for their favourite movies of

all time, and most recently

Vertigo displaced Citizen Kane

for the coveted top spot. The

Library of Congress in

Washington has something

called the National Film

Registry, which recently

admitted The Blues Brothers,

Grease, A Clockwork Orange

and The Dark Knight on to

their list of classics worthy of

preservation.

But there’s an easier,

quicker way to see which films

Future and fans of North by

Northwest, playing at the same

time, but the Zemeckis film is

also playing on December 28

on ITV2. A Christmas miracle.

1

Wallace and Gromit:

The Wrong Trousers

(Tuesday, Dec 21,

BBC1, 4.45pm; not

Scotland)

In which our heroes take on

the Moriarty-like evil of a

penguin nemesis, build a pair

of automated labour-saving

pants, and save the day with

an electric train set, its rails

whipped into place in the

nick of time: one of the best

sight gags in cinema since

Fatty Arbuckle lit a match

from a passing train in

Out West.

2

Doctor Zhivago

(Tuesday, Dec 21,

BBC2, 1.50pm)

David Lean’s epic

of romance and revolution,

with Omar Sharif as the

soulful doctor who pursues

Julie Christie’s Lara, a

shopkeeper’s daughter

married to Tom Courtenay’s

Russian revolutionary. The

TOM

SHONE

are bedding down for the

long haul in the national

subconscious: try looking at

what’s shown on the box

over Christmas.

These are films we watch

together. Few things

recommend a viewing of

Casablanca or All About Eve

more than the evenings

drawing in. Yes, the audience

is captive, immobilised by too

much Christmas pudding, and

climbing the walls to get away

from Aunt Jean. But with our

Christmas film canon,

familiarity breeds content.

So here is my list of classics

to watch over the holiday

period, drawn from The

Sunday Times television

listings with a red pen, much

as I used to do with my sister

when we were kids, crouched

over our copy of the extra-

thick Radio Times, sorting out

any scheduling clashes

between White Christmas and

It’s a Wonderful Life with the

sombre, constructive air of

Neville Chamberlain.

Christmas Eve is a bit jammed

this year: I fear for the

fisticuffs that may result

between fans of Back to the

How many have you seen? Tom Shone, our film critic, picks ten all-time greats

38 19 December 2021