I love National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation!
But I think my favorite movie is a made-for-TV movie done back in the 90s called “The Three Kings.” We taped it off the TV; I don’t know if it’s available in DVD or Video. But it should be, and churches should show it!
I’ll try to describe it without being boring.
A mental institution is presenting its traditional Christmas pageant (drama therapy), and the three patients who are playing the Three Kings escape and wander all over Los Angeles trying to find the Christ Child.
The only actor I remember is Lou-Diamond Phillips, who plays a very edgy, kind of scary Caspar. He is on some powerful anti-psychotic drugs, and the doctors are worried that he will become violent if he doesn’t get his meds.
The black King, Balthazar, used to be a paramedic, but the pressure of his job mounted, and when he failed to save the life of a child, he had a nervous breakdown.
The leader of the Kings, Melchoir, is an old man who is supposedly suffering from schizophrenia. But he is so convincing as Melchoir, and does some pretty miraculous things, and seems to know all the details of the Biblical story, that we all wonder if maybe…maybe he really is Melchoir?!
There are some very funny scenes, like when the three Kings take three camels from a used car lot, Honest Abe’s (Abraham, played by the guy that played Mel on Alice). Even though the men have never ridden camels, they mount and ride as naturally as if they have been riding camels all their lives–an example of one of the miracles of their journey.
There are also some very intense scenes between the three Kings, as the meds wear off for Caspar, but Melchoir encourages him to stay brave so that they can find the Christ Child. Balthazar becomes discouraged at times and has flashbacks to the incident where the child died, but Melchoir encourages him and helps him to concentrate on the journey. The older King seems to be almost godlike in his ability to lead his fellow kings to the Christ Child.
The story is tied together by a reporter, played beautifully by Jane Kazmaryk (Lois on Malcom in the Middle). She follows the manhunt for these three escaped mental patients, who are spotted many times, but no one seems to be able to catch them.
In fact, the whole city is cheering for them, wanting them to be left alone by the cops so that they will be able to find the Christ Child. It gets really exciting as Christmas Eve approaches and everyone wonders what will happen to these three Kings.
The graphics in the movie are beautiful. There are several gorgeous shots of the three Kings riding across the hills of L.A., silhouetted against the setting sun.
If you don’t want to know the ending, don’t read on.
On Christmas Eve, the three kings enter a very poor section of the city, and find a crowd surrounding a mother and baby(homeless). The baby has stopped breathing and the mother is screaming for help. Balthazar immediately begins rescusitation, but nothing works, and eventually, he decides to perform an emergency tracheotomy. Of course, the people in the crowd and the reporter are horrified–this isn’t just a whimsical story for them anymore–is this man just an insane loony who will kill the child, or is he…a King?
The child begins to breathe again, and when the mother embraces her baby, Melchoir announces that they have found the Christ Child. The whole crowd, indeed, the whole city watching on TV, cheers for the Three Kings and their miraculous journey.
Caspar and Baltazar seems to be changed for the better after this event in their lives, on their way to healing. But Melchoir–where is he? He has disappeared. Who was he? Was he…?
It’s a great movie that makes me cry even as I’m writing about it. My kids love it, too.
