With a title like Scrooged (1988), it should be apparent before seeing it what you are about to watch.  If not, then know it is a modern take on Charles Dickens’ Christmas classic, A Christmas Carol (1843).  It is a virtually inescapable tale this time of year, and Scrooged makes the third version I have viewed since I began the endeavor of only giving you seasonally appropriate films between Thanksgiving and December 25^th.  If you are familiar with my work here on The Legionnaire, it will probably not surprise you that this was my first screening.  I recall seeing its art on the jacket of the video home system (VHS) tape that you would see on the shelves of various movie rental businesses.  Why I never gave it a try, especially since it stars Bill Murray, I cannot tell you.  If nothing else, you can point to my familiarity with the story it mirrors.  How different could it be?  There are some subtle similarities and variances, but for a while I thought I was looking at a horror flick.  It brings the sotry back to Earth in the most special way possible by the end, but it was bleak for a while.

Speaking of bleak, and differences with the source material, Scrooged begins in the North Pole.  As part of a rundown of Christmas programming for the fictional television network IBC, they are planning a movie where Lee Majors (as himself) saves Santa Claus (Al “Red Dog” Weber) and his elves from a terrorist attack.  It is a horrible idea, as are the rest of the show proposals, but the station’s executive, Frank Cross (Bill Murray), will not listen to complaints.  The worst comes when he puts forward an apocalyptic commercial designed to scare people into watching their live production of A Christmas Carol, with Buddy Hackett (as himself) as Ebenezer Scrooge and Olympic gymnast Mary Lou Retton (as herself) as “Tiny Tim” Cratchit.  When Eliot Loudermilk (Bobcat Goldthwait) raises an objection, Frank immediately fires the timid underling, and on Christmas Eve.  Not long thereafter, the president of the company, Preston Rhinelander (Robert Mitchum), comes to Frank’s office.  Preston informs his executive that a new voice is coming to “help” Frank, though Frank assumes he is being replaced.  This person is Brice Cummings (John Glover), and Frank’s fears that this so-called consultant is there to take his job are not unwarranted.  Thus, Frank orders his secretary, Grace Cooley (Alfre Woodard), to work late into the night despite needing to pick up her mute son, Calvin Cooley (Nicholas Phillips), to take him to a doctor’s appointment.  Meanwhile, Frank goes to an award’s ceremony where he claims to be charitable, but then forgets his trophy in the cab when he gets back to the office.  In short, he is stressed, but there is no relief for him.  While pouring himself a drink, the corpse of his old boss, Lew Heyward (John Forsythe), bursts into the room to warn his former employee that he will be visited by three ghosts in the hopes that Frank changes his ways.  It turns into a near death experience with Lew’s bony arm throwing Frank out of the window many stories up.  It is an illusion, and Frank comes to behind his desk.  Upon understanding it was not real, an unseen force calls Claire Phillips (Karen Allen), his ex-girlfriend with whom he has not spoken in fifteen years.  The next day, she visits him on the set of A Christmas Carol.  While he is happy to see her, it is evident to her that he has not changed much since they last saw one another.  He is also seeing more things that are not there, causing him to act erratically.  He carries this behavior into his lunch meeting with Brice and Preston, eventually leaving the restaurant after making a scene.  The cab he hails to get away is driven by the Ghost of Christmas Past (David Johansen).  This first spirit shows Frank his childhood spent parked in front of the television, with a father (Brian Doyle-Murray) who cares more about what his son can provide, and a mother (Lisa Mende) who is caring but has other places to be.  It is unhappy, and then Frank is taken through his early relationship with Claire.  There was genuine love between them, but eventually work became the thing about which Frank cared most, and she leaves him.  Frank returns to the present after this and hysterically wanders off the studio premises again, ending up at the homeless shelter where Claire works.  He is now wanting to rekindle things with her, but she has her duties to consider.  His dismissiveness of the importance of her job does not go over well with her, and soon he is being visited by the Ghost of Christmas Present (Carol Kane).  She is a rather violent fairy, unafraid to physically assault Frank when he is not paying attention.  Together, they see the joy of Christmas in the Cooley family, and with his brother, James Cross (John Murray).  In witnessing the love James has for Frank even though Frank barely thinks of his sibling touches Frank.  Soon thereafter it is back to the set, and Frank is gently chased off by Brice, who senses that he will be getting Frank’s position before too long.  Frank goes upstairs and this time it is time he meets the gruesome Ghost of Christmas Future, but not before having to dealing with a deranged, shotgun toting Eliot.  This last spirit shows Frank how Calvin is in a psychiatric institution, a cold-hearted Claire shunning poor children, and, worst of all, his casket about to be incinerated.  The horror elements are enhanced here, displaying Frank thrashing around the inside of the wooden box and begging to live.  With this, he returns to face the rampaging Eliot.  Instead, he overwhelms the ex-employee with kindness, and together they take over the production of A Christmas Carol.  With Eliot guarding the controls, Frank goes on live television to talk about the lessons he has learned and the true meaning of Christmas.  Claire arrives as he is finishing and they finally make-up on-screen.

As I said in the introduction, Scrooged redeemed itself in the final few minutes.  Up until then, there is some questionable material, not to mention the presence of a disgruntled ex-employee shooting up his former workplace.  Such sequences are not so funny in 2023 as they might have been to some in 1988.  Yet, when Frank stands before the cameras after storming the set of A Christmas Carol, he has some of the best lines about Christmas that I have heard in cinema, and I have seen a lot of these movies.  A lot.  Granted, these words are delivered in the voice of a madman.  It also does not speak directly to the birth of Jesus, as usual, but it comes kind of close.  He begins by saying that Christmas is a time when we can be the peoble they are meant to be.  This is great because the coming of our Savior was the fulfillment of mankind’s deepest, unspoken wish.  It ransomed us from sin, and claimed us as the children of God.  Of course, Frank is referring to a general spirit of giving that he says is what the holiday is all about, but Jesus was the ultimate gift.  Frank goes deeper with this concept, though, calling it a miracle, and this is where it edges onto actual Christian belief.  Becoming who you are meant to be through the act of giving is described as a miracle.  In hearing this description, I related it to how some talk about their conversion experience.  When you accept Jesus into your heart, when you receive that ultimate gift in other words, it is something that you will want every day.  Indeed, this is a close paraphrase of the words Frank uses in talking about this miracle.

Thus, in spite of some bumps along the way, Scrooged gets to a good message by the end.  Throughout, it has Murray’s trademark humor, which is consistently good.  Thus, it is a film I would recommend.  Remarkably, I have been doing more recommending than I expected when I began this endeavor the day after Thanksgiving.  I am sure this run will end soon, probably tomorrow, but I will enjoy it in the meantime.