Scrooged (1988)

A selfish, cynical television executive is haunted by three spirits bearing lessons on Christmas Eve.

Director:

Richard Donner

Writers:

Mitch Glazer, Michael O'Donoghue

Stars:

Bill Murray, Karen Allen, John Forsythe

Nominated for 1 Oscar. Another 1 win & 4 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Bill Murray	...	Frank Cross
Karen Allen	...	Claire Phillips
John Forsythe	...	Lew Hayward
John Glover	...	Brice Cummings
Bobcat Goldthwait	...	Eliot Loudermilk
David Johansen	...	Ghost of Christmas Past
Carol Kane	...	Ghost of Christmas Present
Robert Mitchum	...	Preston Rhinelander
Nicholas Phillips	...	Calvin Cooley
Michael J. Pollard	...	Herman
Alfre Woodard	...	Grace Cooley
Mabel King	...	Gramma
John Murray	...	James Cross
Jamie Farr	...	Jacob Marley
Robert Goulet	...	Robert Goulet

Storyline

Francis Xavier Cross is a cynical, mean spirited television executive, he treats his loyal assistant with contempt. He just sacked a member of staff on Christmas Eve for simply disagreeing with him, and he's alienated himself from his brother who still insists on inviting Frank to Christmas dinner despite him refusing to go every year. However, Frank is forced to learn the true meaning of Christmas when he's visited by three ghosts.

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Plot Keywords:

compassion | ghost | redemption | greed | tv show | 

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Taglines:

Bill Murray is back among the ghosts. Only this time, it's three against one.

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Genres:

Comedy | Drama | Fantasy | Romance

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Certificate:

PG-13

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

23 November 1988 (USA)

Also Known As:

Scrooge: A Christmas Carol

Filming Locations:

Woodside, Queens, New York City, New York, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$32,000,000 (estimated)

Gross USA:

$60,328,558

Company Credits

Production Co:

Paramount Pictures, Mirage Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

101 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Stereo

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The movie, a spoof version and modernized adaptation of "A Christmas Carol" by Charles Dickens, was released one hundred forty-five years after Dickens' source novella had been published.

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Goofs

In 1969, Frank gives Claire a set of Ginsu knives as a gift. Ginsu knives were first sold in 1978 under a different name, and the "Ginsu" name was coined in 1983. In addition, the DVD subtitles misspell it "Gensu."

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Quotes

[after pouring a bucket of water on a waiter he thought was on fire]
Frank Cross: I'm sorry. You know I thought you were Richard Pryor!

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Crazy Credits

Dedicated with Love and Affection to Anne Ramsey Roger M. Rothstein Robert Scaife We miss you...

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Alternate Versions

Following the September 11 attacks, the footage of an airplane blowing up in mid-air in reference to terrorism seen in Frank's violent "Scrooge" promo was edited out of television broadcasts. The entire violent promo is now edited out of television broadcasts.

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Connections

Version of John Grin's Christmas (1986)

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Soundtracks

Silver Bells
Written by Jay Livingston and Ray Evans
Performed by Robert Goulet

User Reviews

Seasonal Murray vehicle has its moments.

The reviews by the critics for this film were terrible. However the general viewer feedback is good. The film has some sappy, overblown moments ie.- the ending. But its all done in good spirits. If your a Bill Murray fan you'll love it. As the morally redundant TV exec Frank Cross, Murray gets far and away the most screen time and his straight faced, dry humour is just perfect for this type of character.

The film is a modern update of 'A Christmas Carol' for anyone who doesn't already know with the aforementioned Murray character Frank Cross replacing the role of Ebeneezer Scrooge. After being initially visited by his now deceased ex-boss(represented rather shockingly as an old decaying, mouse infested corpse still wearing the golf uniform he suffered his life ending heart attack in on the fairway) and on whom he had based his own career (though Frank has gone on to become even more selfish and concerned with the bottom line than even he was) Cross simply dismisses the episode as the result of high level executive pressure. In particular Frank is stressing out about his network's live Christmas eve broadcast which is surprise, surprise a big budget live version of 'A Christmas Carol'. However he is in turn visited by 3 very different versions of the ghosts of Christmas Past, Present and Future to the one's represented in the Dicken's tale , with the possible exception of the final ghost who is much more traditional in representation than the others. The role of Tiny Tim and Bob Cratchet are represented by Cross's long suffering secretary and her young son who is a mute as a result of the trauma of seeing his father murdered several years before. There is a couple of interesting side stories involving Murray rekindling the only real relationship he has ever had with his first love Clare who he decides to recontact amongst all of the madness as well as a confident young new executive who has been brought on board and tries to act as Frank's friend but is clearly planning to usurp him. This attempt is aided by everyone's perception that Frank appears to be suffering some kind of breakdown as he tries to deal with the bizarre impingement on his life by the aforementioned ghosts. Possibly the most entertaining of the story lines not relating directly to the main one involves a naive young board member played by the usually larger than life, but here toned down, Bobcat Goldthwaite who has been fired as a result of innocently questioning a violent promo for the live show which Cross has commissioned. As Frank is dealing with his ghost's Bobcat's character descends into a rather pathetic depression and desperate alcoholism , in the space of a few days, as he tries to come to terms with his unemployment.

I really enjoyed John Glover as the slimy Californian exec who is obviously after Cross's job. It kind of underlines the point that though Cross is nasty at least what you see is what you get. Glover's character is completely 2-faced. The character obviously made an impact on the makers of Gremlins 2 because they cast Glover in an almost identical role in that movie a mere two years later.

Karen Allen as Carol is convincingly sweet and warm as possibly the only person who can truly help redeem Frank but both her and Robert Mitchum as Frank's boss are somewhat underused and in the case of a legendary talent like Mitchum's you almost wonder why he is in it.

Anyway in summation if you like Murray you'll love this. If you don't your enjoyment may suffer but there are still laughs to be had at the send ups of Christmas Network programming ie-. 'Bob Goulet's Cajun Christmas' , 'The Night the Reindeer Died' with Lee Majors and 'Dad Loves Chasing Beaver.' The soundtrack, special effects and make-up are also first rate. However be warned, it is very dark and at times a little sad, particularly in one scene in which Frank re-encounters one of the homeless people he had met earlier at Claire's shelter in a disused boiler room on a typically freezing New York winters night. So if your looking for an uplifting, fun seasonal movie instead of just a good laugh then avoid this. At least up until the end anyway where they all live happily ever after. I would also not be to keen on showing it to very young kids. Its not exactly a horror film but there are enough moments to scare some children and the humour is for the best part more on the adult side.