Moviefone Editorial

Tag: jack lemmon

Best Thanksgiving Movies of All Time, Ranked

2018’s ‘The Oath’. Photo: Roadside Attractions.

Everyone has a favorite Christmas movie, right? Whether it’s ‘A Christmas Story,’ ‘Elf’ or even ‘Die Hard,’ Christmas movies play ad nauseam on television throughout the month of December.
4972
But where are all the Thanksgiving Day films?

In honor of the annual holiday, Moviefone is counting down the top twenty Thanksgiving Day themed movies of all time!

Now, to qualify for this list the film must either take place at Thanksgiving or involve the holiday in some way, and we are only counting theatrical releases, so sorry ‘A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving.’

Let’s begin!

Related Article: Every Halloween Movie, Ranked From Terrible to Terrifying

20) ‘The Blind Side ‘ (1997)

2009’s ‘The Blind Side’. Photo: Warner Bros. Pictures.

The story of Michael Oher (Quinton Aaron), a homeless and traumatized boy who became an All American football player and first round NFL draft pick with the help of a caring woman (Sandra Bullock) and her family.
37685

19) ‘Pilgrim‘ (2019)

In an attempt to remind her family of their privilege and help them bond, Ms. Anna Barker (Courtney Henggeler) invites Pilgrim reenactors to stay with them over Thanksgiving. When the “actors” refuse to break character, the Barker family learns that there is such a thing as too much gratitude.
qZBmUkkD95pU4tw1mYRXb2

18) ‘Black Friday‘ (2021)

A group of toy store employees must protect each other from a horde of parasite infected shoppers.
PI301LOrdBLrsNMJRGrcJ

17) ‘The Thanksgiving Movie‘ (2020)

Join Butterball the turkey and Missy the Dodo as they come to the rescue of Thanksgiving and embark on an unforgettable, clock-racing countdown to a holiday dinner. It’s a Thanksgiving Movie for the ages.
u9nGPD7IAcmUoXKTBvyF07

16) ‘Sweet November‘ (2001)

Nelson (Keanu Reeves)is a man devoted to his advertising career in San Francisco. One day, while taking a driving test at the DMV, he meets Sara (Charlize Theron). She is very different from the other women in his life. Nelson causes her to miss out on taking the test and later that day she tracks him down. One thing leads to another and Nelson ends up living with her through a November that will change his life forever.
9076

15) ‘Scent of a Woman‘ (1992)

1992’s ‘Scent of a Woman’. Photo: Universal Pictures.

Charlie Simms (Chris O’Donnell) is a student at a private preparatory school who comes from a poor family. To earn the money for his flight home to Gresham, Oregon for Christmas, Charlie takes a job over Thanksgiving looking after retired U.S. Army officer Lieutenant Colonel Frank Slade (Al Pacino), a cantankerous middle-aged man who lives with his niece and her family.
7545

14) ‘Son in Law‘ (1993)

Country girl Rebecca (Carla Gugino) has spent most of her life on a farm in South Dakota, and, when she goes away to college in Los Angeles, Rebecca immediately feels out of place in the daunting urban setting. She is befriended by a savvy party animal named Crawl (Pauley Shore), who convinces the ambivalent Rebecca to stay in the city. When Thanksgiving break rolls around, Rebecca, no longer an innocent farm girl, invites Crawl back to South Dakota, where he pretends to be her fiancé.
8230

13) ‘Prisoners‘ (2013)

Keller Dover (Hugh Jackman) faces a parent’s worst nightmare when his 6-year-old daughter, Anna, and her friend go missing. The only lead is an old motorhome that had been parked on their street. The head of the investigation, Detective Loki (Jake Gyllenhaal), arrests the driver, but a lack of evidence forces Loki to release his only suspect. Dover, knowing that his daughter’s life is at stake, decides that he has no choice but to take matters into his own hands.
58759

12) ‘The Wiz‘ (1978)

Dorothy Gale (Diana Ross), a shy kindergarten teacher, is swept away to the magic land of Oz where she embarks on a quest to return home.
11800

11) ‘Pieces of April‘ (2003)

Quirky and rebellious April Burns (Katie Holmes) lives with her boyfriend (Derek Luke) in a low-rent New York City apartment miles away from her emotionally distant family. But when she discovers that her mother (Patricia Clarkson) has a fatal form of breast cancer, she invites the clan to her place for Thanksgiving. While her father (Oliver Platt) struggles to drive her family into the city, April — an inexperienced cook — runs into kitchen trouble and must ask a neighbor for help.
15575

10) ‘Home for the Holidays‘ (1995)

1995’s ‘Home for the Holidays’. Photo: Paramount Pictures.

After losing her job, making out with her soon-to-be former boss, and finding out that her daughter plans to spend Thanksgiving with her boyfriend, Claudia Larson (Holly Hunter) faces spending the holiday with her unhinged family.
1797

9) ‘The Ice Storm‘ (1997)

In the weekend after thanksgiving 1973 the Hood family is skidding out of control. Then an ice storm hits, the worst in a century.
4779

8) ‘Addams Family Values‘ (1993)

Siblings Wednesday (Christina Ricci) and Pugsley Addams (Jimmy Workman) will stop at nothing to get rid of Pubert, the new baby boy adored by parents Gomez (Raul Julia) and Morticia (Anjelica Huston). Things go from bad to worse when the new “black widow” nanny, Debbie Jellinsky (Joan Cusack), launches her plan to add Fester to her collection of dead husbands.
8615

7) ‘Grumpy Old Men‘ (1993)

For decades, next-door neighbors and former friends John (Jack Lemmon) and Max (Walter Matthau) have feuded, trading insults and wicked pranks. When an attractive widow (Ann-Margret) moves in nearby, their bad blood erupts into a high-stakes rivalry full of naughty jokes and adolescent hijinks.
8734

6) ‘Tower Heist‘ (2011)

A luxury condo manager leads a staff of workers to seek payback on the Wall Street swindler who defrauded them. With only days until the billionaire gets away with the perfect crime, the unlikely crew of amateur thieves enlists the help of petty crook Slide to steal the $20 million they’re sure is hidden in the penthouse.
52240

5) ‘Thanksgiving‘ (2023)

‘Thanksgiving’ Parade from TriStar Pictures and Spyglass Media Group, LLC Thanksgiving.

After a Black Friday riot ends in tragedy, a mysterious Thanksgiving-inspired killer terrorizes Plymouth, Massachusetts – the birthplace of the holiday. Picking off residents one by one, what begins as random revenge killings are soon revealed to be part of a larger, sinister holiday plan.
wFnmtkZL9c3kYFF4uTzJQ4 g4u2qrNx

4) ‘Free Birds‘ (2013)

Two turkeys from opposite sides of the tracks must put aside their differences and team up to travel back in time to change the course of history—and get turkey off the holiday menu for good.
61377

3) ‘The Oath‘ (2018)

In a politically-divided United States, a man struggles to make it through the Thanksgiving holiday without destroying his family.
EiFc3vYrtu7y0MnqCpZS15

2) ‘The Last Waltz‘ (1978)

Martin Scorsese‘s documentary intertwines footage from “The Band’s” incredible farewell tour with probing backstage interviews and featured performances by Eric Clapton, Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell, Van Morrison, and other rock legends.

5821

1) ‘Planes, Trains and Automobiles‘ (1987)

1987’s ‘Planes, Trains and Automobiles’. Photo: Paramount Pictures.

An irritable marketing executive, Neal Page (Steve Martin), is heading home to Chicago for Thanksgiving when a number of delays force him to travel with a well meaning but overbearing shower curtain ring salesman, Del Griffith (John Candy).
6993

November 25, 2025
8 Great Movie Presidents And 1 That Wasn’t

Hollywood likes high-stakes stories, so making a movie about a US President immediately fits that bill. We’ve put together a list of eight great movie Presidents that have done everything from balancing budgets to stopping alien invasions. And just by way of comparison, we’ve thrown in one president that maybe wasn’t so great. All of these movies are currently streaming, so pick your favorite movie President and give yourself an Executive Order to watch their movie.

Dave Kovic: Dave (1993)

Kevin Kline in ‘Dave’

“Hail to the Chief, he’s the one we all say hail to.” It’s no wonder Dave (Kevin Kline) is singing, since being a dead ringer for the sitting President is a pretty good side gig–especially when the President’s staff approaches you to work for the White House directly. But when the President suffers a stroke, Dave takes over the Oval Office and all the responsibilities that come with it–including being the husband of a very angry wife (Sigourney Weaver). Dave is charming, warm, and totally un-Presidential, so it’s no surprise that everyone ends up loving him.
8060

Thomas Whitmore: Independence Day (1996)

Bill Pullman in ‘Independence Day’

Bill Pullman is the Prez in charge when the world gets invaded by pushy aliens who have a fondness for blowing up landmarks and people holding signs of welcome. He’s more of a rough-and-tumble guy, and even withstands a psychic attack from the aliens in Area 51. But once he knows their plan, he helps mobilize forces against them, and gives an unforgettable speech that is even more badass than how he hops into a fighter jet of his own right after wrapping it up.
2318

James Marshall: Air Force One (1997)

Harrison Ford in ‘Air Force One’

Harrison Ford, at a fancy dinner in Moscow, declares that the United States will not negotiate with terrorists, and that the capture of Russia’s dictator Ivan Radek (Gary Oldman) was just. That’s all it takes for Radek to enact his dastardly plan for his team to take over the President’s plane with himself, his staff, and his family still on it. As a Medal of Honor winner and veteran, Marshall is not one to back down from a fight. And even though the space on a plane is limited, somehow this movie manages to be a riveting cat and mouse game, with Marshall (and the writers of the screenplay) delivering one-liners that land with…well, the force of an explosion on Air Force One (too soon?).
4298

Dwayne Elizondo Mountain Dew Herbert Camacho: Idiocracy (2006)

Terry Crews in ‘Idiocracy’

Say what you will about President Camacho’s intellect, but man, can that guy wear a puffy red white and blue blouse. Terry Crews plays this President leading a troubled, dumb-as-rocks United States as they face a critical food shortage in 2505. Bleak times don’t stop Camacho from wowing the crowd with a State of the Union address, though, that we secretly hope is how they go down in 484 years. Or next year. Whatever.
25980

Mays Gilliam: Head of State (2003)

Chris Rock in ‘Head of State’

Plenty of people can get behind the idea of comedic genius Chris Rock being President–especially in the form of Mays Gilliam, a Washington D.C. alderman who turns hero and Democratic nominee for the highest office in the United States. Of course initially, the Dems thought they had already lost the race and chose Gilliam as a token candidate, but as soon as he starts spouting truths that the people want to hear, his campaign picks up steam, and audiences are left with rousing speeches yelling “That ain’t right!” on their couches.
14031

James Sawyer: White House Down (2013)

Jamie Foxx in ‘White House Down’

In the second Roland Emmerich-directed film on the list (the German fellow has a real thing for American patriotism), Jamie Foxx plays the President that terrorists are actively hunting within the White House walls. Only one man stands between them: the guy from Magic Mike (Channing Tatum). But Sawyer is no shrinking violet: he can scale elevator shafts, handle a rocket launcher, and keep any bad guy’s hands off his Jordans.
10085035

Matt Douglas & Russell Kramer: My Fellow Americans (1996)

James Garner and Jack Lemmon in ‘My Fellow Americans’

Two, two, two Presidents in one! Kramer (Jack Lemmon) and Douglas (James Garner) have a long-standing history of duking it out for the Presidency. As they seem to be entering the twilight of their lives, spending time writing books and doing pointless speaking engagements, Kramer is asked to investigate a series of bribes under code name “Olympia” as a favor. Well, no good deed goes unpunished. The plot keeps thickening and thickening, drawing in Douglas, and threatening both of their lives. The banter is off the charts in this one, as is the convoluted plot that has a surprising ending.
3315

Richard Nixon: Dick (1999)

Dan Hedaya in ‘Dick’

This film explores how Woodward (Will Ferrell) and Bernstein (Bruce McCulloch) “really” got all their inside information during the Watergate Scandal from two teens named Betsy (Kirsten Dunst) and Arlene (Michelle Williams). Every noteworthy event during that period of time in the administration, including Vietnam peace protests and the Nixon-Breznhev accord, were accidentally masterminded by these two girls who just liked walking the President’s dog and accidentally baked marijuana into their cookies. Dan Hedaya plays a great Richard Nixon, but the movie is much more about the two teens that bring him down in the name of what’s right. Since he was known as “Tricky Dick,” we stand by our choice.
6054

February 14, 2021
11 Things You Never Knew About ‘Some Like It Hot’

United Artists

It’s been 60 years since “Some Like It Hot” premiered in theaters, but there are few comedies in Hollywood history that seem to have retained their impact, both culturally and viscerally, like this 1959 film about two musicians in drag hiding from the mob in an all-female band. Billy Wilder had long since proven his mettle as a screenwriter and director by the time of its release, thanks to “Double Indemnity,” “The Lost Weekend,” “Ace In the Hole,” “The Seven Year Itch” and more. But the film’s defiance of convention — made without the notoriously restrictive Motion Picture Production Code seal of approval — made it a delightfully naughty escapade for audiences that has only grown in stature over the years and even became a trailblazer, if not necessarily a nuanced one, for exploring taboo subjects like homosexuality on screen. (It was recently inducted into the Criterion Collection.)

As the film commemorates its 60^th anniversary, Moviefone celebrates Wilder’s achievement with a list of trivia, production details and other factoids from the making and legacy of this comedy classic. Hold on to your blouse!

United Artists

1. When Wilder originally conceived the idea with co-screenwriter I.A.L. Diamond, he originally hoped to cast Frank Sinatra as Jerry/Daphne, the role that went to Jack Lemmon, and Mitzi Gaynor as Sugar, eventually played by Marilyn Monroe.Sinatra apparently lost out on the role after missing a lunch date with Wilder.

2. Al Capone was an inspiration and obvious point of reference for the character of Spats Colombo, the gangster on Joe and Jerry’s heels. Capone gunned down rival gang members in the 1929 Saint Valentine’s Day massacre, an incident that is strikingly similar to the events in the film.

3. Monroe’s contract stipulated that all of her films were shot in color, but Wilder convinced her that black and white would be better for “Some Like It Hot” after seeing color screen tests that made Lemmon and Tony Curtis look green and ghastly when in their drag make-up.

United Artists

4. In order to get comfortable in their costumes, Curtis and Lemmon walked around Goldwyn Studios dressed as women to see how long it would take for them to get noticed. A scene on the train where the duo applies make-up echoes an experience where they used a public mirror and none of the surrounding women complained, convincing them they could fool, or even just pass for women.

5. Curtis and Lemmon hired a male cabaret dancer named Barbette to teach them how to walk in heels. But after a week, Lemmon declined his help after realizing that he wanted to look like a man trying to walk like a woman rather than simply walking like a woman.

6. Curtis proposed that he talk like Cary Grant when playing the “millionaire” role, and Wilder agreed. The results are self-evident in the film, but Grant objected. When he saw the film and Curtis’ impression, he joked, “I don’t talk like that.”

7. Despite his best efforts, Curtis was unable to maintain the falsetto needed to play Josephine for an extended period of time. As a result, Wilder ended up combining some elements of Curtis’ performance with dubbing by actor Paul Frees to give it the consistency that the film needed.

8. Marilyn Monroe’s problems remembering her lines have grown to epic proportions because she was suffering from alcohol and drug addiction. She apparently required 47 takes to correctly say, “It’s me, Sugar.” In another scene where she asks, “@here’s the whiskey?” Wilder allegedly pasted the dialogue in the bottom of each drawer so she couldn’t miss it. (It still supposedly took 59 tries.)

United Artists

9. The now-famous closing line, “Nobody’s perfect,” was originally conceived as a stand-in for whatever Wilder and Diamond could come up with later – which eventually turned out to be nothing. Wilder later wrote his own epitaph inspired by a similar line: “I’m a writer, but then nobody’s perfect.”

10. Produced outside the Motion Picture Production Code, the film’s story plays not only with the idea of cross-dressing but homosexuality. As a result, the film was banned from being shown in Kansas, and the Roman Catholic Church legion of Decency rated it “Morally Objectionable in Part for All.”

11. 49 years after the release of the movie, a California man found a little black dress in his closet and was shocked to discover that Monroe was once sewn into it for the film. Appraisers for “Antiques Roadshow” determined that the eventual value of the hand-me-down was an estimated $250,000.

March 29, 2019