Seasons greetings! This week’s pick is a comedy holiday classic from the successful National Lampoon’s Vacation series. Chevy Chase stars as Clark W. Griswold in National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation.

This third installment of the series follows the Griswolds and Clark’s quest for the best family Christmas. The film’s opening sequence follows the family into the wilderness in the ultimate quest for the perfect Christmas tree. As Clark and the fam enter a clearing a beam of light falls on the perfect tree.

Like the two previous films, Clark’s expectations exceed the rest of the family’s and he is completely oblivious to everything. As they gather around the tree, Rusty asks if Clark brought a saw. Clark’s toothy smile turns to an immediate frown as he realizes his first mistake. In the last scene the tree is strapped to the roof of the car, completely torn from the ground, roots and all. Ridiculous yet brilliant.

As the in-laws and assorted family members arrive at Clark’s home for Christmas, things begin to go horribly awry, especially when cousin Eddie (Quaid) and his family arrive unexpectedly. Greatest line ever when Eddie asks Clark if he’s surprised to see him “Eddie if I woke up tomorrow with my head sewn to the carpet I wouldn’t be more surprised than I am right now.”

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Greetings War Movie Monday fans. This week’s pick is the 1970 20th Century Fox classic Tora! Tora! Tora! which depicts the attack on Pearl Harbor on Sunday December 7, 1941 as seen through the eyes of both the American and Japanese Forces. The attack on Pearl Harbor was what hurtled a shocked and outraged America into the chaos of World War II.

The film was made at a time in which a lot of the information was becoming available to the general public who were still unaware of the political back story which led up to the attack. The film was primarily casted with B-list talent as to not draw attention away from the story.

The cast includes Martin Balsam (Adm. Husband E. Kimmel, Cmd-in-Chief, U.S. Pacific Fleet), Joseph Cotten (Sec. of War Henry L. Stimson), E.G. Marshall (Col. Rufus Bratton), Soh Yamamura (Adm. Isoroku Yamamoto, Cmd-in-Chief, Imperial Navy), James Whitmore (Vice Adm. William “Bull” Halsey), George Macready (Sec. of State Cordell Hull), and Jason Robards (Lt. Gen. Walter Short, Cmd-in-Chief, U.S. Army Forces Hawaii).

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This Week’s pick is yet again another World War II classic, the 1969 John Guillerman (King Kong 1976) film The Bridge At Remagen which stars George Segal (Lt. Phil Hartman), Ben Gazzara (Sgt. Angelo), Robert Vaughn (Major Paul Krueger), Bradford Dillman (Major Barnes) and screen great E.G. Marshall as General Shinner.

The film opens in March of 1945 as the American 9th Armored Div began to push elements of the retreating German army back towards the Rhine River. The German high command wants all the bridges over the Rhine destroyed in order to halt the advance of the allies from reaching the heart of Germany.

But one high ranking officer, General Von Brock (Peter Van Eyck) enlists the help of Major Paul Krueger (Vaughn) to keep one bridge, the bridge at Remagen up in order to allow the German 15th Army and its seventy-five thousand men to retreat and avoid capture. Krueger accepts the mission believing that a large force stationed at the bridge will stop the advancing Americans.

The Americans however want the bridge destroyed, but in the end keep it up as a way to help shorten the war. Both the Germans and Americans don’t realize it yet, but Remagen will become one of the last decisive battles of the war in Europe.

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