Vogue
Whether you go home for Thanksgiving or camp out with your circle of friends, you’ll probably spend at least a couple of hours flipping through the channels or scrolling through Netflix looking for the perfect movie to get into the holiday spirit. While the brilliance of classics like A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving, Miracle on 34th Street, and Trains, Planes & Automobilesshould never be understated, it can often feel like you’re stuck in a vortex of movies you’ve seen before.
But fear not! We’ve gone through the vast, endless selections of movies available to watch on the web and on your TV and created a list of films that you’ve most likely forgotten were set on, around, or at the very least around the idea of Thanksgiving. So, as you settle in for the long weekend of eating and drinking, take a look at these forgotten films below.
You’ve Got Mail
While you never really need an excuse to watch the classic 1998 romantic comedy, this time you’ll have an explicit reason to make all your friends watch it with you: The classic scene between Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan in which Joe Fox comes to the rescue in a Zabar’s cash-only line actually takes place on Thanksgiving. Come for the holiday theme, stay for the story of two business rivals who are unknowingly in love via the earliest version of the web.
The Last Waltz
Martin Scorsese famously captured the Band’s farewell performance at San Francisco’s Winterland Ballroom on Thanksgiving 1976 in perhaps the most iconic concert film ever. Keep an eye out for music legends like the Staple Singers and Bob Dylan, and don’t miss the Band’s Rick Danko taking the time to wish the crowd a happy holiday.
Pieces of April
Set around a Thanksgiving dinner which April (Katie Holmes) sets up for her estranged family after her mother is diagnosed with cancer, the film ticks all the boxes for a good Thanksgiving watch—especially since Patricia Clarkson was nominated for an Oscar for her portrayal of the ailing mother. There’s also a plot line here for everyone: April’s frantic prep and brushes with disaster as her oven fails her; her boyfriend Bobby’s attempts to make a good impression on her parents; and the family themselves, who must make the trip to Manhattan while trying to reconcile their feelings about the past.
Addams Family Values
The sequel to The Addams Family features an incredible plotline in which Christina Ricci’s Wednesday Addams stages an insane reproduction of the story of Thanksgiving at her summer camp. While the play itself goes down in flames (literally!) the all-star cast of Anjelica Huston, Christopher Lloyd, and Joan Cusack will have you grinning on your couch as the turkey digests.
Hannah and Her Sisters
Woody Allen’s classic is centered around two years’ worth of Thanksgivings with a family of artistic, depressed, dramatic New Yorkers. Though the plot operates more like a series of stories than as a concrete narrative, each character is incredibly well developed. Whether you’re watching a hypochondriac television writer attempt to understand the value of his life or a former actress deal with addiction and a change of direction, there are few movies as transporting as this one.
The Ice Storm
This is the only movie on the list that may ring a bell for being about Thanksgiving: Centered on two suburban families who are attempting to celebrate Thanksgiving in 1973, the film demonstrates the extremes of suburban dysfunction through sexual identity, alcohol and drugs, and the human condition. Based on a best-selling Rick Moody novel and directed by the legendary Ang Lee, The Ice Storm has a tremendous cast and contains one of the most memorable and mind-blowing scenes of the past several decades, involving Elijah Wood and electrocution.
Funny People
Don’t be fooled, Judd Apatow’s Seth Rogen—and Adam Sandler—starring film is definitely more of a tearjerker than a laugh-out-loud comedy. The film is centered on a comedian who learns he has late-stage cancer and doesn’t have much time left to live. But the friendship between the two actors is what carries the movie through, and there’s an exceptional scene at a Thanksgiving dinner in which Adam Sandler broaches the subject of getting old and being alone that will make you want to hug all your friends and thank them for being just as important to you as they are.
Scent of a Woman
To pay for his flight home for Christmas, a prep-school boy (Chris O’Donnell) agrees to take care of a blind, alcoholic retired Army Ranger (who happens to be played by Al Pacino, in a role that won him an Academy Award) over Thanksgiving weekend. The latter takes the former on a whirlwind, glamorous tour of New York City that also includes a rather climactic detour to the Thanksgiving table of an estranged family member. Keep tissues handy.
Paul Blart: Mall Cop
The Segway-riding mall cop may not be the most intelligent lead, but in the years since the Kevin James movie was released it has gained a cult following, in part due to a late-blooming meme campaign. That being said, it’s 91 minutes worth of mindless entertainment, and is centered around a busy mall taken hostage on what’s arguably the worst day of the year for a mall cop: Black Friday.
Brokeback Mountain
Though Brokeback Mountain for the most part takes place outside on the plains (and is a movie you definitely don’t want to watch without an arsenal of tissues), one of the most pivotal scenes in the film takes place during Thanksgiving, when Ennis’s ex-wife finally confronts him about his relationship with Jack.
The Blind Side
Speaking of tearjerkers: Sandra Bullock’s 2009 The Blind Side is definitely one you’ll want to sit down and watch with your whole family. Centered on the adoption of a young man and his subsequent rise to football stardom, one of the most touching and frankly bawl-worthy moments of the film is when the sad, lonely child finally starts to feel like part of a family on Thanksgiving and we finally start to see him open up and feel like there’s hope for his future.
Rocky
Yes, that Rocky. The 1976 boxing film is unquestionably one of Sylvester Stallone’s best performances, but if you put aside the whole heavyweight championship plot to the side for a second, there’s an incredible Thanksgiving scene in which a turkey is chucked out the back door, an event that actually leads to a date for the hero of the film.
For Your Consideration
As with any Christopher Guest film, much of the dialogue and plot of this mockumentary is improvised by the cast. When a mediocre film is being produced nobody thinks much of it, but when a rumor kicks off that it’s going to be an Oscar winner, things get turned up to 11 and the cast and crew find themselves in hijinks galore. As for how this all relates to Thanksgiving: the film-within-a-film was originally titled Home for Purim but was subsequently changed to Home for Thanksgiving.