Jingle All the Way (1996)

A married father decides to dream the impossible dream, to get that year's hot toy for his son just before Christmas Day.

Director:

Brian Levant

Writer:

Randy Kornfield

Stars:

Arnold Schwarzenegger, Sinbad, Phil Hartman

2 wins & 1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Arnold Schwarzenegger	...	Howard Langston
Sinbad	...	Myron Larabee
Phil Hartman	...	Ted Maltin
Rita Wilson	...	Liz Langston
Robert Conrad	...	Officer Hummell
Martin Mull	...	D.J.
Jake Lloyd	...	Jamie Langston
James Belushi	...	Mall Santa
E.J. De La Pena	...	Johnny (as E.J. de la Pena)
Laraine Newman	...	First Lady
Justin Chapman	...	Billy
Harvey Korman	...	President
Richard Moll	...	Dementor
Daniel Riordan	...	Turbo Man
Jeff L. Deist	...	T.V. Booster / Puppeteer (as Jeff Deist)

Storyline

Meet Howard Langston, a salesman for a mattress company is constantly busy at his job, and he also constantly disappoints his son, after he misses his son's karate exposition, he tries hard to come up with a way to make it up to him, this is when his son tells Howard that he wants for Christmas is an action figure of his son's television hero, Turbo Man. Unfotunately for Howard, it is Christmas Eve, and every store is sold out of Turbo Man figures, now Howard must travel all over town and compete with everybody else including a mail man named Myron to find a Turbo Man action figure, and to make it to the Wintertainment parade which will feature Turbo Man.

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Plot Keywords:

christmas | karate | toy | parade | neighbor | 

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Taglines:

Two Dads, One Toy, No Prisoners.

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Genres:

Comedy | Family

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG for action violence, mild language and some thematic elements

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

22 November 1996 (USA)

Also Known As:

El regalo prometido

Filming Locations:

7th Place Mall - St. Peter & Wabasha Streets, St. Paul, Minnesota, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$60,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

JPY 65,946,600 (Japan) (13 December 1996)

Gross:

$60,573,641 (USA) (21 February 1997)

Company Credits

Production Co:

1492 Pictures, Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation

Technical Specs

Runtime:

89 min 94 min (director's cut)

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

At one point Myron says, "Jonny Quest" when referring to well-known characters on TV. Robert Patrick voiced one of the characters in the Jonny Quest TV series. Patrick played the T-1000 cyborg in Terminator 2: Judgment Day, alongside Arnold Schwarzenegger.

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Goofs

When Howard first arrives at the Mall of America store for the late Turbo Man dolls, he is going down an escalator. Then, in the next shot, a crowd is shown at a toy store. You can see Howard in the crowd before he even gets there.

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Quotes

DJ: [as Howard tries to break into the radio station; he calls the cops] Yeah, I've got a mad man in my studio and...
[Howard breaks the glass door and charges inside]
DJ: HELP ME!

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Crazy Credits

After the end credits, there is a brief heartwarming family scene, and a question from Liz.

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Connections

Spoofs The Rocketeer (1991)

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Soundtracks

"Christmas All Over Again"
Performed and Written by Tom Petty
Courtesy of Tom Petty

User Reviews

Despite its problems, I thought it was funny

'Jingle All The Way' is a Christmas story about merchandising and family. A lot of people seemed to really hate this movie, but I did not think it was all that bad. Sure, some of the action and the story was not the best, but I thought it did provoke a lot of laughter. The scenes with Arnie at the warehouse filled with Santas and elves was funny, and it had a good ending with the father becoming the hero after all. It does represent the bad of the holiday season with all the merchandising and the over-emphasis on that one particular toy that kids must get for Christmas, and if they do not receive it, then they are outcasts. Despite its problems, I did find it a funny and worthwhile film.