As the holiday season approaches, let’s hold off on the Christmas movies for a couple more weeks. In the meantime, get ready for Turkey Day with one of these classic Thanksgiving films!
1. Planes, Trains and Automobiles (1987)
Steve Martin and John Candy star in this John Hughes comedy about a high-strung advertising executive struggling to travel home to Chicago for Thanksgiving, with an obnoxious but well-meaning shower ring salesman as his only companion.
2. Home for the Holidays (1995)
After losing her job (and making out with her soon to be ex-boss) and learning that her daughter plans to spend Thanksgiving with her boyfriend, Claudia Larson has to face spending Thanksgiving with her family. She wonders if she can survive their crazy antics.
3. Hannah and Her Sisters (1986)
A Woody Allen comedy-drama that begins and ends with Thanksgiving dinner, this film centers around Hannah and her two sisters, Lee and Holly. It follows their lives during the year between the two Thanksgivings, during which Hannah’s husband and ex-husband each fall for one of her sisters!
4. A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving (1973)
A Thanksgiving dinner made up of toast, pretzels, popcorn and jelly beans? Why not! Charlie Brown and the rest of the gang gather in this charming animated film from the ’70s.
5. Grumpy Old Men (1993)
The Odd Couple‘s Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau star in this hilarious comedy about former childhood friends and lifelong next-door neighbors whose old rivalries resurface when a beautiful woman moves in across the street.
6. Pieces of April (2003)
Katie Holmes stars in this film about a wayward daughter who invites her dying mother and the rest of her estranged family to her apartment for Thanksgiving dinner.
7. The House of Yes (1997)
Originally a play, this film stars Parker Posey as a mentally unbalanced young woman who is obsessed with the Kennedy assassination and thinks she’s Jackie Kennedy. She flips into a murderous rage when her brother returns home for Thanksgiving to reveal he’s engaged.
8. The New World (2005)
This retelling of the 1607 encounter between the English and Native Americans at Jamestown features an all-star cast, including Colin Farrell as Captain Smith and Christian Bale as John Rolfe, the two suitors of the famed princess Pocahontas.
9. Scent of a Woman (1992)
This film chronicles the relationship of a blind, retired lieutenant colonel (played by Al Pacino) and an English prep school student named Charlie Simms, and how their lives change over a Thanksgiving weekend.
10. Funny People (2009)
Adam Sandler, Seth Rogen and Leslie Mann star in this comedy/drama about a wealthy but friendless comedian (Adam Sandler) who finds out that he has terminal leukemia. Looking for a friend in his final days, he hires a shy young comic (Seth Rogen) as a joke writer/caregiver, and invites him to Thanksgiving dinner.
11. Pocahontas (1995)
This classic film is Disney’s tale of the love story between the Native American princess Pocahontas and the English Captain John Smith. Full of memorable songs and beautiful animation, it’s a must-see for collegiettes.
12. The Myth of Fingerprints (1997)
A family is torn between the need to air out their dirty laundry and their habit of sweeping things under the rug in this emotional drama about a successful but emotionally frosty New England couple whose four adult children are coming home for Thanksgiving.
13. Nobody’s Fool (1994)
Paul Newman plays a crotchety old man whose long-forgotten son and family have moved back into town to try to rekindle their relationship with him over Thanksgiving.
14. She’s Gotta Have It (1986)
Nola Darling invites her three suitors over for Thanksgiving dinner: the romantic poet, Jamie; the narcissistic model, Greer; and the hip-hop bike messenger, Mars (played by Spike Lee).
15. The Blind Side (2009)
This film chronicles Michael Oher’s incredible life journey from the Memphis streets to a pro football career in the NFL after he is taken in by a well-to-do family and offered a second chance at life.
16. The Ice Storm (1997)
Over Thanksgiving weeked in 1973, during a dangerous ice storm, two neighboring families in suburban Connecticut experiment with the tumultuous political and social climate of the day (casual sex, drinking, etc.) and find their lives out of control.