The 5 Best Christmas Movie Fathers
4. Fred Gailey, The Always-Believing Father
I have a feeling that Fred Gailey will be considered the most unexpected pick of the lot. Fred is the always-believing and saintly lawyer from Miracle on 34th Street. He’s not the first person you think of when you picture this movie and he isn’t even a dad. However, Mr. Gailey is actually the most vital piece in the puzzle of this classic Christmas film. Fred lives next door to Doris Walker and her daughter Susan. Doris rejects Christmas, hope, miracles, and the belief in true goodness. She raises her daughter to believe the same. Yet she allows Fred, who believes passionately about all those things, to often watch her daughter. He becomes a surrogate father to little Susan, whose absent birth dad never appears.
When no one else believes, Fred hopes that a sweet man named Kris Kringle is the true Santa Claus. He helps Susan believe and he encourages her to use her imagination and hope. Fred even gets blunt with Doris’ lack of faith when he has to:
Look, Doris, someday you’re going to find that your way of facing this realistic world just doesn’t work. And when you do, don’t overlook those lovely intangibles. You’ll discover those are the only things that are worthwhile.
In the end, Fred proves Kris is Santa and sparks renewed belief in Doris and Susan. We learn Fred will marry Doris and become Susan’s new father.
There are a lot of unsung heroic men who fill a parental role to kids who desperately need it. There are guys who are lifting up hurting families when no one else will believe. There are true gentlemen who become like fathers to kids who so desperately need a dad to encourage them to hope and dream. Fred Gailey was one of those men.
What a great list! It’s always good to see pictures of good fathering in entertainment. Merry Christmas!
A list like this must include John Walton from The Homecoming (the christmas movie that introduced the Walton tv series)
Thanks for sharing this list of examples of great fathers—(I liked that you included the adoptive father, Joseph as an example, although not on film). We all need to be reminded how important fathers are to children as they grow up. Thanks for the insight.
Really? The father from A Christmas Story is not there (played perfectly by Darren McGavin)? I know Jimmy Stewart gets a rave, but he was planning on committing suicide. He doesn’t get a pass because an angel saves him from the ultimate selfish act.
+1 for the ‘old man’
2+ for the ‘Old Man.’
And the funniest – anybody that would buy their 10 year old son a Red Rider BB gun gets top dibs in my book.
+3 for the “Old Man” who worked in profanity like other artists worked in oils or clay.
“Now, I had heard that word at least ten times a day from my old man. He worked in profanity the way other artists might work in oils or clay. It was his true medium; a master. But, I chickened out and said the first name that came to mind.”
Cheers -
I agree with Cliff. I think it’s borderline insulting to forget about Mr. Parker. While Christmas Vacation is funny, it is mostly fascicle, compared to A Christmas Story which is funny but genuine.
You missed The Three Godfathers, the Western allegory referring to the Three Wise Men of the Bible. The John Ford 1948 film starred John Wayne, Pedro Armendariz, and Harry Carey as three men who find a live baby among a massacred family. The men, outlaws, sacrifice their lives to save the baby by bringing it to civilization. Best line in the movie, spoken by the dying character played by Mr. Armendariz:
“Hey, Bob… I just remembered what tomorrow is. Feliz Navidad.”
And Feliz Navidad to readers of PJMedia.com.
+1,000 for The Old Man.
Even now, Mr. Cooper, he is cursing you, working “in profanity the way other artists work in oil or clay.” Clearly, you are a Baptist or a Catholic and not an Oldsmobile man.
Clark Griswold? Good Lord, it’s not even a Christmas movie, it’s the Christmas-setting version of a tired franchise.
That cracked me up Jake! And yes, I am a Baptist:) A Christmas Story is my second favorite Christmas movie, and the dad is super awesome at the end.
The Old Man is a classic. From the excitement in following Ralphie loading the BBs to the ultimate frustration at the Bumpes’ hounds, yet not letting it ruin his family’s day.
I was happy to see Clark there, as I always smile at the end, his entire family singing, dancing and making merriment, and hending with a satisfied smile and…”I did it.”
John McLane, the protective father!
Best Christmas movie? White Christmas. It’s perfect fluff. It’s a musical about doing a musical, where the guy gets the girl and the forgotten retired general gets recognition. Heck even the gay guy gets the girl in White Christmas.
He wove a taspesty of obscenity that’s still hnging out over lake Michigan…
I still like Christmas Vacation the best. It didn’t have much of a point, but it was the funniest Christmas movie ever. Anyone who has had to deal with fighting relatives and holiday hassles can relate to it. Clark Griswold is the classic well-intentioned and idealistic, too idealistic father.
Also, Jingle All the Way is a good Christmas movie, although it had a father who was more of a bad example than a good one. Arnold Schwarzenegger neglected his son all year, then tried really hard to make up for it on Christmas Eve. Sometimes too hard.