“Yule Love It!” The 30th Anniversary of “Scrooged”

By Michael Lyons

Mitch Glazer, co-writer of “Scrooged,” once called Charles Dickens “A Christmas Carol” “...part of our holiday DNA.”

A perfect description.  Only someone who loves the original literary holiday masterpiece could have created a movie like “Scrooged,” a satirical, hysterical, update (at least by ‘80’s standards) of “A Christmas Carol.”  It’s the rare film that combines cutting humor with warmth and makes both work.

This holiday season marks the 30th anniversary of “Scrooged,” which makes it the perfect time to take a trip to “Christmas Past” and re-visit what has become a wickedly warped perennial of the season.

Bill Murray (in his first feature role, at the time, since 1984’s “Ghostbusters”) plays Frank Cross, an incredibly driven television executive who has become obsessed with his big-budget live broadcast of  “A Christmas Carol” that will air internationally with an all-star cast, on Christmas Eve.

Frank is so obsessed that his cynicism toward the world has reached new heights (he thinks nothing of creating a commercial that will scare people into watching his version of “A Christmas Carol” and routinely shouts at any one standing in his way).

This can all only mean that Frank is about to get...Scrooged.  Soon, his deceased boss and mentor (John Forsythe in amazingly creepy make up) comes visiting late at night, Jacob Marley style, to let Frank know he will be visited by three Ghosts.

Does he visit Christmases past, present and future?  Does he learn the true meaning of the season?  Does he change his ways?  

Was Tim Tiny?

All the “Christmas Carol” tropes are there, but it’s guaranteed you’ve never seen them like this before.  With its “Carol within a Carol” story there are a number of knowing winks to the original source material.  Coupled with that, is the setting of TV which allows for some creative pop culture jabs (the opening coming attractions for “The Night The Reindeer” died with Lee Majors and Robert Goulet’s Cajun-themed Christmas special, kick the film off with an appropriate bang of laughter that sets the perfect tone for what’s to follow). 

Bill Murray is in the role he was seemingly placed on this earth to play.  Only comedy’s most lovable curmudgeon could play a modern day Scrooge and get the audience to stay with him through the entire journey to his emotion filled rant that ends the film (rumored to have been improvised by Murray).  When he provides feedback on a TV spot by saying, “Oh my God...does THAT suck,” it’s pure Murray, making a simple line all the funnier.

Supporting Murray is a Cast comprised of a potpourri of Hollywood.  The always amazing Alfre Woodard is Frank’s put upon assistant; Karen Allen is all warmth and charm as Claire, Frank’s estranged girlfriend; Hollywood legend Robert Mitchum is Frank’s bombastic boss; Bobcat Goldthwait is hysterical as an unlucky Bob Cratchit-like employee and John Glover, perfectly slimy as Frank’s rival.

Then, there’s the Cast of the fictional “Scrooge” that Frank is producing: Buddy Hackett as Scrooge, Mary Lou Retton as Tiny Tim, Jamie Farr and Pat McCormick as two of the Ghosts, oh yes, and The Solid Gold Dancers!

Running away with the movie, however, are two supporting players: David Johansen and Carol Kane as the Ghosts of Christmas Past and Present, respectively.  Johansen is all “New Yawk” cool, while Cane steals every scene she is in, as the world’s most demented sugar plum fairy.

Pulling this all together is Richard Donner, Hollywood’s most eclectic and reliable director, who not only pulls off all of the comedy, but also some dynamic, big special effects sequences (Frank trapped in a fiery coffin is absolutely terrifying).

Debuting on November 23, 1988, “Scrooged” has gained quite the following among fans who have quoted and re-quoted the film’s many memorable lines over the past thirty years.

A large part of the reason for the film’s success is the sharp script by Glazer and Michael O’Donaghue that carries the same messages found in Dickens’ original work: “Put a Little Love in Your Heart” as the film sings or knowing how to “...keep Christmas well...” as Dickens said.

This makes “Scrooged” another worthy part of our “holiday DNA.”

Sources:

“A Christmas Carol” by Charles Dickens, Barnes & Noble Books, 2003

Wikipedia