70 Fun Facts About Thanksgiving Movies

In Planes, Trains and Automobiles, what does John Candy's character Del Griffith sell for a living?

Del's line of work becomes a running gag, and he even passes the rings off as earrings to raise cash on the road.

Which future star beats Neal Page to a taxi at the start of Planes, Trains and Automobiles?

The uncredited-feeling cameo is a blink-and-miss moment in the opening rush-hour scramble.

In Planes, Trains and Automobiles, Neal and Del's flight to Chicago is diverted to which city?

The diversion is what strands the pair together overnight, forcing them to share a single motel bed.

Roughly how long was the first cut of Planes, Trains and Automobiles before it was trimmed for release?

Hughes's rewrites and the stars' improvisation produced whole subplots that never made the final film, including one where Neal's wife suspects an affair.

In Planes, Trains and Automobiles a cut scene had Neal and Del pass Chicago. Which state patch does the trooper wear?

The cut scene explained why the trip from St. Louis to Chicago somehow took two days.

Whose 'Everytime You Go Away' did John Hughes want for the ending of Planes, Trains and Automobiles?

The singer himself approved and wanted the song included, but his record company said no, so a cover by Blue Room plays over the credits.

Who directed the 1995 Thanksgiving comedy-drama Home for the Holidays?

It was only her second film as director, following Little Man Tate.

In which city does Claudia's dysfunctional family gather for Thanksgiving in Home for the Holidays?

Foster chose the city as the prototype of the American city, calling it dangerous, east coasty and urban, yet hopeful.

How many turkeys were reportedly used to shoot the Thanksgiving dinner scene in Home for the Holidays?

The dinner took more than ten days to film and also consumed 44 pies and 50 gallons of juice standing in for wine.

Which actor plays Claudia's brother Tommy in Home for the Holidays, largely improvising?

Foster's freedom on set reportedly reignited his excitement about making films after a disillusioned stretch.

A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving first aired on CBS two days before the holiday in which year?

It placed third in that week's Nielsen ratings, behind only All in the Family and Sanford & Son.

Which Peanuts character invites herself, Marcie and Franklin to Charlie Brown's house for Thanksgiving?

She later rejects the toast-and-popcorn feast for lacking traditional foods, then has to apologize.

In 2020, A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving moved to streaming exclusively on which service?

The deal required a free three-day window each November, and in 2020 and 2021 the special also aired commercial-free on PBS.

Who composed the music for A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving?

The score was recorded at Wally Heider Studios in late 1973 and finally released in full for the special's 50th anniversary in 2023.

Miracle on 34th Street opens with the Macy's parade Santa in what condition?

Kris Kringle complains to event director Doris Walker, who talks him into taking the sleigh himself.

Miracle on 34th Street's parade scenes were shot live at the real Macy's parade of which year?

Maureen O'Hara recalled a bitterly cold day where every shot could be attempted only once.

In which month of 1947 was Miracle on 34th Street released, on Darryl F. Zanuck's insistence?

Zanuck argued more people went to the movies in warm weather, so the studio hid the Christmas setting in its marketing.

Which actor won Best Supporting Actor for playing Kris Kringle in Miracle on 34th Street?

The role was first turned down by Cecil Kellaway, who happened to be Gwenn's cousin.

In the 2013 animated film Free Birds, what mission do time-travelling Reggie and Jake pursue?

They travel back to 1621, three days before the first Thanksgiving, and end up pitching pizza as the replacement dish.

Which Star Trek actor voices S.T.E.V.E., the egg-shaped time-machine AI in Free Birds?

The film's score was originally to be written by Steve Martin, and one of Martin's demos featured vocals by another Star Trek alum, Leonard Nimoy.

Who plays April Burns, the daughter cooking Thanksgiving for her estranged family in Pieces of April?

Writer-director Peter Hedges believed she took the part because it was so unlike her earlier roles.

On roughly what budget was Pieces of April finally shot, after three larger attempts fell through?

Cast and crew earned $200 and $100 a day respectively, and Hedges was paid $10 to write and another $10 to direct.

Which cast member of Pieces of April earned an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress?

She plays April's mother Joy, who is dying of breast cancer, and swept several critics' association awards that season.

The title Pieces of April comes from a 1972 song by which band?

Composer Stephin Merritt talked Hedges out of using the song at the end and wrote an original closer instead.

From which sitcom set did Sean Hayes call to ask for a part in Pieces of April?

Hedges told him Bobby was written as African-American; Derek Luke, the last to audition, landed that role on the spot.

The Blind Side is based on a 2006 book by which author?

The same writer's Moneyball also became an Oscar-nominated sports film.

In Addams Family Values, Wednesday plays which historical figure in the camp's Thanksgiving play?

She breaks from the script mid-performance and leads the camp's outcasts in burning down the stage.

Which real location stood in for Camp Chippewa in Addams Family Values?

The adjacent Sequoia Lake in California's Sierra Nevada supplied the camp's waterfront.

Addams Family Values' title was Paul Rudnick's jab at a 1992 'family values' speech by which politician?

The speech had blamed the Los Angeles riots on a breakdown of family values.

Who plays Debbie Jellinsky, the serial-killer nanny who marries Uncle Fester in Addams Family Values?

Nathan Lane, who cameos as a police desk sergeant, later played Gomez in the Broadway musical.

Woody Allen's Hannah and Her Sisters is structured around how many Thanksgiving dinners?

The device echoes Ingmar Bergman's Fanny and Alexander, which follows a theatrical family across three successive Christmases.

Which two performers won supporting-acting Oscars for Hannah and Her Sisters?

It was the last film to sweep both supporting categories until The Fighter in 2011.

Which Marx Brothers film pulls Mickey out of his existential crisis in Hannah and Her Sisters?

He wanders into a screening after a botched suicide attempt and decides life is to be enjoyed rather than understood.

Whose real-life New York apartment was used as a filming location for Hannah and Her Sisters?

Farrow later wrote that her mother's chilly reaction to the script made her see how much of their family life Allen had borrowed.

In Scent of a Woman, Charlie minds Frank Slade to afford a plane ticket home to which state?

The scholarship student wants to get back to Gresham for Christmas, and the weekend instead lands him in New York City.

Which actor was offered the role of Lt. Col. Frank Slade in Scent of a Woman but turned it down?

Al Pacino took the part and won his first Academy Award for Best Actor after four earlier losses in the category.

Scent of a Woman was based on an Italian novel already filmed in 1974 by which director?

That earlier film, Profumo di donna, came from Giovanni Arpino's novel Il buio e il miele, meaning Darkness and Honey.

What is the tango Frank and Donna dance to in Scent of a Woman?

The scene was shot in the Pierre Hotel's Cotillion Ballroom, with Thomas Newman handling the film's score.

Rocky's climactic bout against Apollo Creed is set on which holiday?

Apollo makes his entrance dressed as George Washington and then Uncle Sam, and Rocky floors him in the first round for the first knockdown of his career.

Which real boxer was first sought to play Apollo Creed in Rocky before Carl Weathers got the part?

Creed was loosely based on him, and he fought Muhammad Ali three times; Frazier ended up with a cameo instead.

Where do Rocky and Adrian go on their first date, shot after hours because extras were unaffordable?

Rocky bribes a janitor to let them skate on the deserted rink; the original plan was a busy public session with hundreds of extras.

Which Married... with Children star plays the title role in the 1991 Thanksgiving road movie Dutch?

He later mocked the flop on his own sitcom, with Al Bundy griping about being shown the movie Dutch on a flight.

Under what title was Dutch released outside the United States?

Whatever the name, it bombed, grossing under $5 million domestically against a $17 million budget.

Krisha Fairchild, star of the 2015 drama Krisha, is what relation to director Trey Edward Shults?

Most of the cast were Shults's relatives or friends, and the whole thing was shot at his parents' house in nine days.

Which distributor gave Krisha its limited U.S. release in March 2016?

The film had already taken both the Grand Jury and Audience awards at SXSW and screened in Critics' Week at Cannes.

Krisha was partly funded through a Kickstarter campaign that raised how much against a $10,000 goal?

Sixty-four backers chipped in before the campaign closed on July 20, 2014.

The Ice Storm, set over Thanksgiving weekend 1973, was directed by which filmmaker?

He said what drew him to Rick Moody's novel was its climax on the ice and the family's reunion the next morning.

What kind of gathering do the adults attend on the Friday after Thanksgiving in The Ice Storm?

Wives draw a set of car keys from a bowl to decide whose husband they go home with.

At the 1997 Cannes Film Festival, The Ice Storm won which award?

Screenwriter James Schamus took the prize; Sigourney Weaver later won a BAFTA for her supporting role.

In Grumpy Old Men, whose Thanksgiving dinner with new neighbor Ariel triggers John and Max's rivalry?

Chuck dies in his sleep soon afterward, leaving the two feuding retirees to fight over her.

Where were the interior scenes of Grumpy Old Men filmed?

Prince's Minnesota complex hosted the shoot while St. Paul, Faribault and Center City doubled for Wabasha.

In Son in Law, Pauly Shore's character Crawl spends Thanksgiving on a farm in which state?

He blurts out a fake engagement at dinner and ends up being asked to carve the turkey.

The poster for Son in Law parodies which famous painting?

MTV also ran a contest to marry Pauly Shore in Las Vegas that drew 25,000 entrants.

What is Meg Ryan's screen name in You've Got Mail?

Tom Hanks's Joe Fox writes to her as NY152; the story descends from the 1937 Hungarian play Parfumerie, also the source of The Shop Around the Corner.

What is the name of the dog whose owner is revealed as NY152 at the end of You've Got Mail?

The film opened at number one, ahead of The Prince of Egypt, and became Nora Ephron's highest-grossing movie.

Kathleen Kelly's boyfriend Frank Navasky writes a column for which newspaper in You've Got Mail?

Frank's typewriter devotion contrasts with Kathleen's laptop, and his column briefly turns her shop into a cause célèbre.

In Funny People, George Simmons is diagnosed with which illness?

The experimental treatment he is offered has only an 8% success rate, which sends him back to stand-up.

Which Oscar-winning cinematographer, best known for Steven Spielberg's films, shot Funny People?

Judd Apatow also filmed the stars' full stand-up sets with six cameras, though only five to ten minutes made the movie.

Eli Roth's 2023 slasher Thanksgiving grew out of a fake trailer made for which 2007 double feature?

Roth spent more than a decade trying to make a script live up to the two-minute joke trailer.

The killer in Thanksgiving (2023) wears a mask depicting which historical figure?

The killings begin one year after a Black Friday riot at a Plymouth, Massachusetts superstore called RightMart.

Under what title was Eli Roth's 2023 slasher released in India?

The film grossed $46.6 million worldwide against a $15 million budget and hit Netflix in February 2024.

Which Grey's Anatomy star plays the sheriff, Eric Newlon, in Thanksgiving (2023)?

Principal photography took place in Toronto and Hamilton, Ontario, over spring 2023, standing in for Plymouth, Massachusetts.

Who directed the 1969 film Alice's Restaurant, adapted from Arlo Guthrie's Thanksgiving-day song?

Penn lived in Stockbridge, the story's setting, and co-wrote the screenplay shortly after directing Bonnie and Clyde; he earned a Best Director Oscar nomination.

In Alice's Restaurant, Officer Obie, the policeman who arrests Arlo for dumping garbage, is played by whom?

William Obanhein told Newsweek that making himself look like a fool was preferable to having somebody else do it.

In Alice's Restaurant, where do Ray and Alice Brock live and host their Thanksgiving dinner?

The Great Barrington church welcomed friends and bohemian types to 'crash'; Alice opens her restaurant in nearby Stockbridge.

The Humans (2021), set at a Thanksgiving dinner in a Chinatown apartment, was written and directed by whom?

It was his feature debut, adapted from his own Tony-winning 2015 one-act play; A24 released it in theatres and on Showtime.

Which actress plays Aimee Blake in the Thanksgiving drama The Humans?

Jayne Houdyshell reprised her Broadway role as the mother, alongside Richard Jenkins, Steven Yeun and June Squibb.

In Barry Levinson's Avalon, why does Uncle Gabriel storm out of Thanksgiving and start a family feud?

The 1990 film is the third of Levinson's semi-autobiographical 'Baltimore films' and earned four Oscar nominations.

In the 2018 black comedy The Oath, what must Americans sign by Black Friday?

Ike Barinholtz wrote, directed and starred; the family Thanksgiving descends into chaos when two government agents arrive, with Tiffany Haddish as his wife.

In Tower Heist, the crooks strike during the Macy's parade and find gold hidden inside what?

The rare 1963 car, once owned by Steve McQueen, had been reassembled in the apartment with gold under its paint.