A miserable conman and his partner pose as Santa and his Little Helper to rob department stores on Christmas Eve. But they run into problems when the conman befriends a troubled kid.
Fueled by cheap whiskey, greed and hatred, Willie teams up once again with his angry little sidekick, Marcus, to knock off a Chicago charity on Christmas Eve.
About the obscure country-blues musician and idiosyncratic visual artist Howard "Louie Bluie" Armstrong, member of the last known black string band in America.
Starting from childhood attempts at illustration, the protagonist pursues his true obsession to art school. But as he learns how the art world really works, he finds that he must adapt his vision to the reality that confronts him.
Director:
Terry Zwigoff
Stars:
Max Minghella,
Sophia Myles,
John Malkovich
Willie T. Stokes is a convicted con man who's led a miserable life. He drinks heavily and constantly embarrasses himself publicly. He only works once a year dressed as Santa. But then come Christmas Eve, he and his pint-sized helper dwarf Marcus stage elaborate robberies and take their department stores for everything they got. This time around, Willie gets distracted by large women, a bartender who is attracted to Santas, and a kid who's convinced he's the real deal. However, Marcus must once again put up with Willie's heavy drinking and a series of incidents that constantly shoot themselves in the foot. Will Willie and Marcus make it to next Christmas? Or will this be the year the dynamic duo finally face justice?Written by
halo1k
Keanu Reeves were considered for the role of Willie. See more »
Goofs
When Willy is drilling the first safe, he has a cut on his right cheek; the same cut he gets towards the end of the movie. After he gets the money out in the beginning, the cut disappears. See more »
Quotes
[first lines]
Willie:
Hey, can I get another drink down here?
See more »
Crazy Credits
The producers of Stolichnaya Vodka caution viewers to consume alcoholic beverages responsibly and lawfully and not to consume such beverages in an abusive or irresponsible manner. See more »
Alternate Versions
The director's cut of 'Bad Santa' has these changes:
The jingling bells heard on the Dimension Films logo are omitted.
Willie's voice-over at the beginning of the film is not heard.
The scene in which Willie and Marcus are at the bar after the first robbery, as well as the scene of Willie at the Miami Beach are both deleted, and it cuts straight to Willie's apartment instead.
The scene of Willie throwing the alarm clock and bottles is slightly longer, with him saying an additional "fuck you" and throwing another bottle.
Much of David Kitay's original score is removed and replaced with classical music.
When Marcus is berating Willie, his line is changed to "You blow this, we're broke for the whole fucking year!"
There's a longer and more vulgar conversation between Marcus and Willie in the mall parking lot on the first night.
The pinball scene with the underage girl is the same as on the unrated cut.
There's a longer and more vulgar argument between Marcus and Willie regarding the pinball scene.
There are some alternate scenes when Marcus discovers the BMW, and when beer containers spill out of the car, Marcus yells, "You cocksucker!" Also, there is an alternate shot of Marcus yelling, "Ever hear of the open bottle law?" He then adds, "You dumb, dip-shit motherfucker!"
The scene of Chipeska telling Gin about Willie having sex in the dressing room is removed.
All scenes of The Kid's advent calendar are removed.
The food court scene is the same as the unrated version.
The scene of Lois taking notes on what she wants Marcus to steal is extended.
The scene of Willie destroying the decorations is longer, with him saying "fucking spic" before punching the donkey decoration.
All scenes of Willie trying to teach The Kid to stand up for himself, including the boxing scene, are removed.
The car death scene is the same as on the unrated version.
An alternate car chase scene. Also, Willie does not say, "This is Christmas, and the kid's getting his fucking present."
The ending scene is changed to The Kid scrubbing Willie's blood off the front porch.
I avoided this flic when it first came out due to the reviews which concentrated on the 'cynicism'and 'edgyness' of the effort. It is crude.It is rude.And is is filled with enough 4-letter words to be its own zone of bad taste. Know what else? Billy Bob Thorton is masterful as is the rest of the cast.There are no 'heroes',but Billy Bob is not exactly an anti-hero either.He portrays a broken,dysfunctional loser who holds nothing in contempt so much as himself.Desiring nothing so much as extinction,he rambles through life hating EVERYTHING. But it's Christmas,and even for losers third,fourth,fifth,or 50th chances sometimes show up.Watching Billy Bob's character 'grow-up'during the film is surprisingly heartwarming.For a broken man,he does the best he can once he allows himself to 'give-a-damm'. See this for his performance(and the rest of the cast),and be surprised.
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I avoided this flic when it first came out due to the reviews which concentrated on the 'cynicism'and 'edgyness' of the effort. It is crude.It is rude.And is is filled with enough 4-letter words to be its own zone of bad taste. Know what else? Billy Bob Thorton is masterful as is the rest of the cast.There are no 'heroes',but Billy Bob is not exactly an anti-hero either.He portrays a broken,dysfunctional loser who holds nothing in contempt so much as himself.Desiring nothing so much as extinction,he rambles through life hating EVERYTHING. But it's Christmas,and even for losers third,fourth,fifth,or 50th chances sometimes show up.Watching Billy Bob's character 'grow-up'during the film is surprisingly heartwarming.For a broken man,he does the best he can once he allows himself to 'give-a-damm'. See this for his performance(and the rest of the cast),and be surprised.