We will have to keep this one a bit focused or else I’ll just go OFF. Santa and I go way back, and I could write thirty pages about him without breaking a sweat.
We are gonna have a brief little history lesson, look at some pictures and a video, and discuss my favorite Santas.
Santa Claus lives up at the North Pole and is in charge of the most important holiday in all of America, err, in all of the world. He keeps track of everyone’s good deeds and wrongdoings, and hands out toys or lumps of coal accordingly. This sounds familiar, yes?
Aside from outside of the grocery store or at the mall, the best place to bump into Santa Claus is on the silver screen. He has been captured and immortalized on film over and over and over again. Some of the portrayals were very good, and some… well, not so good. We are gonna cover a few of these joys and sorrows today as we shine The Spotlight on Santa Claus.
Here is a countdown of my favorite portrayals of the famous elf.
Santa Claus: The Movie – David (The Big Lebowski) Huddleston
Huddleston’s is without question, my all-time favorite portrayal of Jolly Old St. Nicholas himself. This film isn’t bad for what it is, but it isn’t all that earth shattering. What is fantastic is first 30 minutes or so which covers the history and origin story of Santa Claus, and the development of his character from his beginnings as a mere mortal jolly man.
The tale starts up in an undisclosed location, in an undisclosed time, presumably over a thousand years ago. It has nothing to do with religion, religious customs, the zombie Jesus, the north star, none of that stuff, this is a fantasy story. It’s strictly the magic of Christmas kinda thing. Our main character and his wife travel by sleigh, from village to village, despite the awful snow storms, to deliver his hand-made toys to all the children.
They (and their 2 faithful reindeer) are caught in a terrible storm, trapped in the snow, and destined to freeze to death, until something miraculous happens. Out of the whiteness comes a gang of torch-bearing elves, with brightly colored outfits and looooong beards. That one without a beard… yeah, that’s Dudley Moore.
Since this post is about the man in red, I won’t go off talking about the elves (even though they are also the best elves in any Christmas movie ever). These elves take our main character to their magical home in the North Pole, where he learns of his new immortality and position as father to the world’s children. Most important he must assume the role of bringer of toys and Christmas joy. We see him learn to fly; we see him learn to travel; we see the creation of Santa Claus; and we get to watch him grow into who we know as well.
The second half of this film is garbage as the 1980s arrive with bad clothes, bad music, bad acting, and a terribly lame plot. John Lithgow is in it, and he’s always fun, but, you’d still rather drink toilet water than watch it all the way until the end. Lithgow plays some of my favorite villains in the history or film or television, notably on Dexter Season 4. This however is not…. One of the great villain roles of his career. Nevertheless, you won’t even care, because of how magical and awesome Santa Claus is throughout the whole movie. You’ve gotta watch it at least once, anyway.
It’s by far the best Santa Claus. He looks the part, he sounds the part, he just seems the way you always figured he should be. You think I’m kidding? You’ll want to hug him.
The Santa Clause – Tim Allen
My love of characters like Tim “The Tool Man” Taylor and Buzz Lightyear made me really focus a little harder when Tim Allen showed up as old red suit in 1994’s The Santa Clause.
I always kinda loved Tim Allen. The guy just knows how to make me laugh. He was very Home Improvement in this movie, and it worked just fine for him. If it’s not broke…
While I don’t like Allen as Santa nearly as much as David Huddleston, this is altogether a better film. Maybe it’s just that Huddleston was MY Santa Claus, from MY childhood. I was several years older when Tim Allen dawned the suit. Who knows?
Once again, we get to see a mortal man become Santa Claus. In this film, our main character becomes the new Santa Claus, replacing the old one, who has fallen off a roof. He isn’t the original Elf, but like it or not, it’s his job now.
This is much more of a comedy and again we get to see a character develop before our eyes. Great imagery as we watch a big weight gain, and the inability for Santa to stop his beard from growing. No lie, there are loads of fun scenes in this one. The best part about it, however, is the North Pole. The place where Santa lives and the elves work, a “downtown” North Pole if you will… it’s fantastic. It absolutely must have been thought up by an eight year-old. Remember being a child and drawing pictures of what you thought the North Pole might look like? It was that. Just great.
Allen does a good job of being Santa Claus, but really does a GREAT job of becoming Santa Claus. His transition is just as entertaining as can be. Imagine becoming Santa Claus? Yea, I can’t either. I am proud to say I’ve never seen either of the sequels, out of fear they would wreck my enjoyment of the first film.
A Christmas Story – Jeff Gillen
Who’s Jeff Gillen? Who cares. This guy was the scariest Santa Claus in history. He had kids screaming their heads off, and looked DESPERATE to get out the door and find himself a drink. I don’t even much like him, I just can’t get him out of my brain. He’s one of my favorites and I can’t even tell you why.
HO HO HO… What do you want little boy? How about a nice… a nice football? Good, great…. get this kid outta here…
Is it just me… or is this guy just a bit too jacked-up to be working this gig?
Those dreaded words echo in my memories from childhood,“You’ll shoot your eye out, kid.” like the time a kid stepped on my finger with an ice skate and I missed all of Christmas vacation.
With a simple tap on the forehead, down the ladder you went, as did all your dreams of a Red Rider BB Gun. It’s funny and shocking. As a little boy, you’d hope if anyone would have your back, it would be Santa Claus right? Wrong. This guy is your mom’s Santa Claus. No such luck.
All of us at The Big Brown Chair hope you enjoy any holidays you might be celebrating, or just enjoy a nice Tuesday if you aren’t the type to celebrate. We are big fans of Santa Claus and we hope he treats you good, if you are into that kinda thing.
This was close. There are many, many versions of Santa and it was tough to narrow it down to just a few. Honorable mention goes to Billy Bob Thornton for Bad Santa. If you haven’t seen it you’ll need to remedy that problem pronto. It’s super R-rated so keep it away from the kids. It’s fantastic too, and Lauren Graham? Ya, SMOKESHOW. There is a sequel I’ve heard, but alas, I never really bothered with it.
Happy Holidays.
