9 Un-Orthodox Christmas Movies To Liven Up Your Holiday

7. First Blood (1982)

As much as I love Die Hard, I have to say that I love First Blood a little more. It has a gritty style that Willis' vehicle doesn't have. It also has a little more on its mind than Die Hard. Add a lot of suspense and action and you've got a film that's about as good as an action film can get. The fact that it takes place at Christmas is just the cherry on top. First Blood is more focused on its characters than most action flicks. Director Ted Kotcheff and Sly Stallone do a fantastic job making us emphasize with John Rambo. What's even more remarkable is that they do so immediately, starting with the first scene. We can even (somewhat) identify with Sheriff Teasle (Brian Dennehy), although he's drawn more broadly than Rambo. When he picks up Rambo and drives him out of town, one can sense that Teasle is just doing what he feels is his job. Unfortunately for Teasle (and the rest of the police force, and the National Guard, and the town of Hope), he chose the wrong man to push. He soon finds this out as Rambo wages a one-man war against those who wronged him. In the process, he destroys the town. Surprisingly, however, he kills very few people over the course of the film (I think the body count is only four). Interestingly, although Christmas decorations adorn the town of Hope, not one single character ever mentions the fact that it's the holiday season. This is because the film was never meant to be a Christmas flick. Apparently, the film crew discovered the small town of Hope, British Columbia, Canada, and decided that the town would be perfect for their movie. Rather than asking the town council to remove the holiday decorations, they merely shot the film as if they weren't there. Us movie fans noticed them, however. The film has since gone down in history as one of the most action-packed Christmas movies of all time.