Scrooged

Scrooged
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Richard Donner
Produced by	Richard Donner Art Linson
Screenplay by	Mitch Glazer Michael O'Donoghue
Based on	A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens
Starring	Bill Murray Karen Allen John Forsythe Bobcat Goldthwait Carol Kane Robert Mitchum Alfre Woodard
Music by	Danny Elfman
Cinematography	Michael Chapman
Editing by	Fredric Steinkamp William Steinkamp
Studio	Mirage Studios
Distributed by	Paramount Pictures
Release date(s)	November 23, 1988
Running time	101 min.
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$32 million
Box office	$60,328,558

Scrooged is a 1988 American comedy film, a modernization of Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol. The film was produced and directed by Richard Donner, and the cinematography was by Michael Chapman. The screenplay was written by Mitch Glazer and Michael O'Donoghue. The original music score was composed by Danny Elfman.

The cast includes Bill Murray, Karen Allen, Bobcat Goldthwait, John Forsythe, Carol Kane, John Houseman, and Robert Mitchum. Murray's brothers, Brian, John, and Joel also appear in the film.

The film was marketed with references to Ghostbusters which had been a great success four years earlier. In the USA, the tagline was, "Bill Murray is back among the ghosts, only this time, it's three against one."

Plot

Francis Xavier "Frank" Cross (Bill Murray) is a conceited, cynical television programming executive. He has found great success and wealth but only by becoming cold-hearted and cruel. In the opening scenes, he is seen with his brother who is working out in a room with a border that reads "Cross: (n) A thing they nail people to."

His ruthless concentration on his career has cost him his true love, the warm-hearted Claire Phillips (Karen Allen). It has also alienated him from his family, having only an "at arm's length" relationship with his brother James (John Murray), and ruined any chance of his having a happy and fulfilling life. Frank overworks his assistant Grace Cooley (Alfre Woodard), forcing her to constantly break plans with her family and neglect her mute son Calvin. When a disturbing TV commercial that Frank personally produced is criticized by timid yes man Eliot Loudermilk (Bobcat Goldthwait), Frank responds by firing him on Christmas Eve. When Grace pointed out it was Christmas, he replied with thanks for reminding him to cancel Eliot's Christmas bonus.

When Cross is given the task of heading up a live Christmas Eve broadcast of A Christmas Carol, his life begins to mirror the story he's producing. The decomposing corpse of his mentor, media mogul Lew Hayward (John Forsythe)—who had died of a heart attack during a golf game several years earlier—comes back to visit to tell him the error of his ways, and to announce the impending visitation of three Ghosts. Adding to Frank's stress is his boss, Preston Rhinelander (Robert Mitchum) who takes the liberty of hiring him a production assistant, weaselly sycophant Brice Cummings (John Glover) who is transparently after Frank's job.

The Ghost of Christmas Past (David Johansen) appears as a loudmouthed New York City cab driver and takes Frank back to his childhood in 1955, to his late teens in 1968 when he had his first job at the TV station, and his subsequent first meeting with Claire, in 1969 for his anniversary with Claire, and 1971 the year in which he chose his job as "Frisbee the Dog" over Claire. The sequence shows how Frank gradually became the man he is in the present.

The Ghost of Christmas Present (Carol Kane) then appears as a child-like but violent pixie who delights in punching and slapping Frank; she shows him how Grace's family lives in poverty because of his stinginess and how much his brother misses him.

After the second ghost's visit, a deranged and drunken Eliot Loudermilk storms the office with a shotgun and tries to murder Frank for firing him and ruining his life. Frank escapes at the very last minute in an elevator, which also contains The Ghost of Christmas Future, a seven-foot-tall ghoul with a TV screen for a face. The ghost shows Frank a future in which Calvin has ended up in a mental hospital, Claire has become as cold and uncaring as he is, and only James and James' wife attend his cremation.

Suddenly Frank is trapped alive in the casket as its being loaded into the furnace. As he feels his body being burned, Frank finally sees the error of his ways and begs for a second chance. He awakens back in his office, right as the live broadcast is wrapping up. The reformed Frank disarms and rehires a confused Loudermilk at a considerable salary increase, steps in front of the rolling studio cameras (and enlists Loudermilk to hold the control room hostage), and publicly wishes his viewers a Merry Christmas in a manic, but heartfelt monologue about spending Christmas with the people you care about instead of watching TV at home. Calvin urges him to add Tiny Tim's phrase, "God bless us, everyone", finally breaking free of his mute condition. Claire appears in the studio and Frank reconciles with her, sharing a romantic kiss as Grace and the other television workers start to sing "Put a Little Love in Your Heart".

Cast

• Bill Murray as Francis Xavier "Frank" Cross
• Karen Allen as Claire Phillips
• John Forsythe as Lew Hayward
• John Glover as Brice Cummings
• Bobcat Goldthwait as Eliot Loudermilk
• David Johansen as the Ghost of Christmas Past
• Carol Kane as the Ghost of Christmas Present
• Robert Mitchum as Preston Rhinelander
• Nicholas Phillips as Calvin Cooley
• Michael J. Pollard as Herman
• Alfre Woodard as Grace Cooley
• Mabel King as Gramma
• John Murray as James Cross
• Jamie Farr as Jacob Marley
• Buddy Hackett as Ebenezer Scrooge

Cameos

• Robert Goulet as Himself
• John Houseman as Himself
• Lee Majors as Himself
• Mary Lou Retton as Herself
• Miles Davis, Larry Carlton, David Sanborn and Paul Shaffer as street musicians

Reception

Critical response

On Siskel & Ebert & The Movies, Gene Siskel gave it thumbs up while Roger Ebert gave it thumbs down. Currently, the film has a 61% score on Rotten Tomatoes. Al Green and Annie Lennox's version of the song "Put a Little Love in Your Heart", featured in the film, reached #9 in the US, and was a top 40 hit in several countries worldwide.

DVD & Blu-ray

Yule Love It! Edition DVD

Although the DVD had been available for some time, Paramount decided upon a special edition release titled the 'Yule Love It! Edition'. Announced for October 31, 2006, it was recalled for unknown reasons. It was to contain the following special features:

• Widescreen Version Enhanced for 16:9 TVs
• Audio options: Dolby Digital English 5.1 Surround, English 2.0 Surround; French 2.0 Surround
• English Subtitles and closed-captioning for the hearing impaired
• Commentary by Director Richard Donner
• Christmas to Remember
• Updating Ebenezer
• Bringing the Ghosts to Life
• The Look of Scrooged
• On the Set with Bill Murray - Part 1 and Part 2
• ShoWest Message from Bill Murray
• Theatrical Trailer

Blu-ray

The Blu-ray was released on November 1, 2011 with a DTS HD Master Audio 5.1 soundtrack and the film's theatrical trailer.

Soundtrack & Score

Soundtrack

A&M Records released the soundtrack to Scrooged in 1988. It features 9 songs:

• Put A Little Love In Your Heart
• A Wonderful Life
• Sweetest Thing
• The Love You Take
• Get Up N Dance
• We Three Kings Of Orient Are
• Christmas Must Be Tonight
• Brown Eyed Girl
• The Christmas Song (Chestnuts Roasting On An Open Fire)

Score

Danny Elfman's score was released by La-La Land Records late in 2011 (a suite of his score had previously been included on Music For A Darkened Theatre: Vol. 1). Limited to 3000 units, the released contains 34 tracks including source cues used in the film, but not part of the written score.

External links

• Scrooged at the Internet Movie Database
• Scrooged at AllRovi