Thanksgiving
A Cinematic Centerpiece
By Damian Bonazzoli

The Thanksgiving holiday is almost synonymous with the phrase “special time with family and friends,” so just think back to all the soap-operas, squabbles, close confines and never-ending “bonding” of your own Thanksgivings past and you’ll see why it’s no surprise that it has inspired many a devastating, hilarious, thought-provoking film.

Hannah and Her Sisters (1986)
More Hollywood-like than many of Woody Allen’s previous films, this cerebral, star-packed comedy has three sisters (Mia Farrow, Barbara Hershey, and Dianne Wiest) gathering each week to bond and commiserate over their personal lives. Hannah (Farrow) is married to Elliot (Michael Caine), who lusts after Lee (Hershey), who lives with a brooding artist (Max Von Sydow). Dianne Wiest, as the third sister, a frustrated artist and actress, is dating the ever-neurotic Woody Allen, Hannah’s ex- husband. Emotional, angst-ridden Thanksgiving dinners open and close the film, revealing a family practically incapacitated by jealousy and tension. Acting Oscars went to Wiest and Caine, and Allen picked up a gold statue for his screenplay.

The House of Yes (1997)
Skeletons are only the beginning of what’s hiding behind closed doors at the Pascal mansion. A cozy family Thanksgiving reveals the very darkest and dirtiest of secrets when Marty Pascal (Josh Hamilton) brings home his fiancée Lesly (Tori Spelling). To begin with, things had never been quite right since the Pascal patriarch left home on Nov. 22, 1963 ~ the very day John F. Kennedy was assassinated. And Marty’s sociopathic twin, Jackie-O (Parker Posey), who’s obsessed with the former first lady, could lose it at any time and erupt into a violent outburst; so that explains why their mother (Geneviève Bujold) has hidden the carving knives. Mrs. Pascal explains to Lesly that Jackie was holding her brother’s, um, “package” when they were born, and she just never seemed to have kicked the habit. And in an attempt to seduce Lesly, younger brother Anthony (Freddie Prinze, Jr.) lets the cat completely out of the bag about the incestuous relationship. House is billed as a screwball comedy ~ and, with the help of incredibly eclectic casting choices, it really works.

Home for the Holidays (1995)
Life really isn’t going well for single mother Claudia (Holly Hunter). She was just fired from her job as a Chicago art restorer and now has to go home to her dysfunctional family for Thanksgiving while her 15-year-old daughter (Claire Danes) stays behind and tries to lose her virginity. Claudia expects the worst from her visit and she’s pretty much on the money. Her father (Charles Durning) is plummeting into senility, her chain-smoking mother (the late Ann Bancroft) is bitter; her aunt (Geraldine Chaplin) has never learned the art of self-censoring, and her yuppie sister (Cynthia Stevenson) and brother-in-law (David Strathairn) are possibly the most annoying couple ever. Fortunately, Claudia’s fabulously gay brother (Robert Downey, Jr.) and his guest (Dylan McDermott) save the weekend from total disaster.

Breathing Room (1996)
This film should come with a warning: Commitment-Challenged Couples Beware! After seeing Breathing Room you may very well wind up not speaking to each other ~ or at least not saying anything nice! In the span of their two-year relationship, Kathy (Susan Floyd) and David (Dan Futterman) have broken up no less than five times. Kathy is already at her wits’ end when David, who has a big problem with commitment and just can’t seem to form the words “I love you,” waits until the last minute to tell her that he has applied for a teaching job in Vietnam. So at Thanksgiving, she proposes that they not speak to each other until Christmas and then decide whether or not they have a future together. As the determining holiday approaches, the couple looks to friends and family for advice.

The Myth of Fingerprints (1997)
Written and directed by Bart Freundlich, Myth takes us behind the scenes at a wealthy, WASPy family Thanksgiving. The four adult children ~ Warren (Noah Wyle), Jake (Michael Vartan), Mia (Julianne Moore) and Leigh (Laurel Holloman) ~ return to home for the holiday after a three-year absence and cause the release of many pent-up emotions. There’s not much action over the course of the weekend, just a landslide of, awkwardness, arguments and angst as the dysfunctional family ~ despite a pristine, Martha-Stewart like backdrop ~ completely unravels.

Nobody’s Fool (1994)
This dark, moody film boast some amazingly subtle-yet-effective performances and a host of well-developed characters. Paul Newman is Sully, an upstate NY construction worker who’s been down on his luck, for most of his life. When the son whom he abandoned as an infant returns for the holidays with his family, Sully gets a chance to redeem himself. Jessica Tandy, in her penultimate screen role, shines as Sully’s landlord and former teacher who, beneath her brusque exterior, maintains a deep attachment to the man.

Planes, Trains and Automobiles (1987)
One of the funniest takes on the “If it can go wrong, it will” law ever, this classic is a wild and crazy ride filled with tons of laughs and amazing actor chemistry. Snobby and slightly prissy businessman Neal Page (Steve Martin) has to endure sitting in coach class with overweight, loud-mouth salesman Del Griffith (John Candy) on a flight home for Thanksgiving. Things go from bad to worse when the plane is grounded and the two share a room in a cheap motel and then a ride in, you guessed it, a succession of trains and automobiles. Their trials and tribulations make even the worst holiday traffic seem like a walk in the park!

The War at Home (1996)
The 1970s were a time when many families like the Colliers were grappling with issues surrounding Vietnam, patriotism, and the generation gap. The War at Home resurrects that troubled decade with a reality that is bound to strike some chords and rekindle some resentment. When Jeremy Collier (Emilio Estevez) returns to his Texas home after a stint in Vietnam, haunted by the killing fields, he discovers that his girlfriend is now living with another man. He seeks refuge in the solitude of his bedroom, listening to Crosby, Stills, and Nash and blaming his father (played by his real-life father Martin Sheen) for what is wrong in his life. We discover that the senior Collier, a staunchly conservative veteran, refused to endorse his son’s escape to Canada. Jeremy’s angst, including that directed at his mother (Kathy Bates), a devoutly Baptist neat-freak, erupts on Thanksgiving into a full-fledged screaming, gun-waving family war. Knowing that Sheen both directed and stars with his real life father lends an additional level of depth to this family study.

Scent of a Woman (1992
Hoo-Ah! Al Pacino was rewarded with an Oscar for his performance as blind Frank Slade, an abrasive, womanizing drunk who needs a “caretaker” when his family leaves him for the long Thanksgiving weekend. The job goes to naïve Charles (Chris O’Donnell), a tormented student who quickly realizes that he is in over his head. Unbeknownst to Charles, Slade, a former Army colonel who lost his sight in a stupid, self-inflicted accident, plans to live out his fantasies during his family’s absence and then kill himself after his final fling of the weekend. He whisks Charles off to The Big Apple, takes a room at the Waldorf Hotel and, with a combination of self-destructiveness and desperation, lets the “good” times roll.