10 movies to be thankful for during the holidays

Thanksgiving traditionally means feasting and family gatherings, but this uniquely American holiday also looms large in our pop culture.

While the turkey roasts, or after the dishes have been cleaned up, many folks migrate to the living room and gather in front of the screen. There’s undoubtedly football on TV at some point, but there’s also time for movies - either streamed, rented or taken from your own shelf of treasured DVDs.

We asked readers to tell us their five favorite films about Thanksgiving. As you might expect, there are a couple of classics on the list, but also a few more modern takes on the holiday.

In addition, we also asked readers via Facebook to name five films they like to watch on Thanksgiving, surrounded by friends and family, and again, we got a mixture of old and new.

So here are our winners, based on our informal balloting:

Movies about Thanksgiving

1. “Miracle on 34th Street,” 1947. A natural first choice, this classic - always thought of as a Christmas movie - actually opens with a scene from the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York on Thanksgiving Day. Cynical single mom Maureen O’Hara, who is in charge of the parade, needs a last-minute replacement for her drunken Santa Claus and drafts distinguished Edmund Gwenn, who believes he’s the real Kris Kringle. Young Natalie Wood plays Maureen’s daughter, who has been brought up not to believe much of anything.

2. “Holiday Inn,” 1942. Considered a Christmas classic, this Irving Berlin musical also sports a song and dance for every major holiday of the year, including Bing Crosby’s humorous delivery of “I’ve Got Plenty to Be Thankful For.” It’s the wrong holiday, but Fred Astaire’s Fourth of July tap dance, with firecrackers, is a gem. And, of course, Bing sings “White Christmas.” Bing has left behind a successful show biz career in New York to run a country inn open only on holidays, until Fred tries to horn in.

3. “Trains, Planes and Automobiles,” 1987. Steve Martin stars as a high-strung exec headed home for Thanksgiving when he haplessly falls in with a talkative, clumsy shower-curtain-ring salesman, played by John Candy. They share three days of harrowing misadventure trying to get from Chicago to New York. At one point, Martin uselessly tells Candy, “You know, everything is not an anecdote.”

4. “Home for the Holidays,” 1995. After losing her job, making out with her soon-to-be former boss and finding out that her daughter plans to spend Thanksgiving with her boyfriend, Claudia Larson (Holly Hunter) faces spending the holiday with her family. Stellar cast includes Robert Downey Jr., Anne Bancroft and Geraldine Chaplin.

5. “Pieces of April,” 2003. Katie Holmes, in her ingénue days, stars as a wayward daughter who invites her dying mother and the rest of her estranged family to her apartment for Thanksgiving dinner. The New York Magazine review of the film reported, “‘Pieces of April’ is built around the tired premise of a dysfunctional family’s Thanksgiving get-together, but - surprise - it’s fresh!”

Movies to watch on Thanksgiving Day

1. “Sound of Music,” 1965. Possibly the ultimate something-for-everybody movie: Julie Andrews stars as the misfit would-be nun Maria, sent to act as governess to the children of cranky Captain Georg von Trapp in pre-World War II Austria. Music by Richard Rodgers, lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II. Plus Nazi villains, cute kids and did we mention Julie Andrews?

2. “Singin’ in the Rain,” 1959. The title tune dates back to 1929, but it truly came alive when Gene Kelly sang it - and danced and splashed to it - in this sparkling musical comedy, with Debbie Reynolds at her wholesome best and a truly brilliant comic turn by Donald O’Connor with “Make ’em Laugh.” The film performed modestly at the box office when released, but was making triumphant comeback appearances at movie houses as late the 1970s. The story follows the fortunes of silent film stars threatened by the advent of “talkies.”

3. “When Harry Met Sally,” 1989. A warm-hearted film with a wicked sense of humor. Billy Crystal and Meg Ryan meet on a cross-county drive, and then encounter each other off and on for the next dozen years. Points in its favor: script by Nora Ephron, direction by Rob Reiner and a soundtrack of standards beautifully presented by Harry Connick Jr.

4. “Meet the Parents,” 2000. Male nurse Greg Focker (Ben Stiller) meets his girlfriend’s parents (Robert DeNiro and Blythe Danner) before proposing and, naturally, does just everything wrong.

5. “For Your Consideration,” 2006. One of a series of comedy films created by Christopher Guest and his informal repertory company of top comic talents, including Eugene Levy, Harry Shearer, Eg Begley Jr., Fred Willard, Michael McKean, Catherine O’Hara and Parker Posey. This time, the story follows an attempt to make a low-budget drama called “Home for Purim,” a Jewish family gathering in the 1940s. When the Hollywood machine gets involved with the project, it shifts sharply toward an “all-American” Thanksgiving.

You can reach staff writer Dan Taylor at 521-5243 or dan.taylor@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @danarts.