This is Not a Hallmark Christmas – Christmas in Philadelphia

Ms. Phred and I have a number of holiday movies we revisit each year. I submit for your approval: Trading Places. I admit there is a certain amount of nostalgia due to its locale. I grew up in the Delaware Valley. Philadelphia was the major city nearby, which I visited and attended college in. Mozart’s Marriage of Figaro playing underneath the fantastic opening montage hits me in all of my nostalgic pleasure centers for that formally great city and my fondness for it.

When looking back to the early 80s how we experienced movies was just beginning to fragment. Home video and premium cable were becoming part of the movie viewing ecosystem. I’m pretty sure my first viewing—and for sure, subsequent re-viewings—of the film was on our local premium cable channel, PRISM.

This 1980s retelling of the Prince and the Pauper was directed by a then still bankable John Landis. His only misstep at that point was Twilight Zone: The Movie. I contend the George Miller Nightmare at 20,000 Feet is the only worthy segment in the film. (You can fight me on that.) While Trading Places is a bit long for a comedy – almost two hours – it’s an entertaining time well spent. Upon this year’s viewing I noticed it takes 20 minutes to set up the characters and premise. I suppose we were more patient back then, but even a comedy can benefit from character development and storytelling. Show, don’t tell. Let the performances and character motivations sell the comedy. The holiday season appears throughout the film not just as set dressing. It's in the script, plot events turn around Christmas and New Year’s. So dammit, by Die Hard rules Trading Places is a Christmas film.

It was released in 1983 and stars Eddie Murphy, Dan Aykroyd and Jamie Lee Curtis. It’s interesting to reflect on where they were in their careers at that time. Murphy was riding high on his success on SNL and 48 Hrs. Eddie’s celebrity persona does not yet eclipse what you see on the screen. Dan Aykroyd, while working steadily, was coming off an uneven run of films such as 1941, Neighbors, Twilight Zone: The Movie, Doctor Detroit and the commercially successful, although uneven, The Blues Brothers. No Ghostbusters yet. And Jamie Lee Curtis left the “Scream Queen” roles that defined her early career behind and moved into drama and comedy.

Eddie Murphy turns in a smart, funny and sympathetic performance as Billy Ray Valentine. Billy Ray,“Capricorn!”is pulled from the streets by the Main Line Duke brothers as part of a nature vs. nurture experiment/wager. Dan Aykroyd’s snobby performance as Louis Winthorpe III is all Ivy League, Main Line perfection and his descent into ruin as the other party in the “experiment” is hilarious. And yes, Jamie Lee Curtis turns in a charming performance as the “hooker with the heart of gold.” Is her character that believable? Maybe not, but she takes the opportunity to develop her comedic chops for later films (A Fish Called Wanda and True Lies).

Further down in the credits, there’s the genius casting of Ralph Bellamy and Don Ameche as the scheming Duke brothers. Denholm Elliot provides a dignified performance as, Coleman, the butler who is stuck in the middle of everything and just tries to do his best to support our protagonists the best he can. Perennial 80s baddie Paul Gleason plays the evil fixer, Clarence Beeks. Frank Oz, Jim Belushi, Bo Diddley, Giancarlo Esposito (Billy Ray jailhouse scene), and Steven Stucker from Airplane! make cameo appearances. Al Franken and Tom Davis make an appearance as baggage handlers, proving once again that while they were a team, there was no comedy to be found therein.

The movie certainly has an edge that won’t play well for “modern audiences.” It’s adult. The language is adult. It’s equal parts mature and immature. It has random nudity. The themes are timeless. It’s funny. It’s still funny after 40 years.

Anyway, beef jerky time…