Legs no less!

December 25, 2010 6:53 PM

Two Christmases previously, but still a classic: Francis Coppola's and William Burroughs's The Junky's Christmas. Now on YouTube in four parts: 1 2 3 4

A slightly different version accompanied by Kurt Cobain:
The Priest, They Called Him.

posted by clarknova (10 comments total)

Rather, The Priest, They Called Him.
posted by clarknova at 6:54 PM on December 25, 2010

No xmas for John Quays.
posted by UbuRoivas at 7:01 PM on December 25, 2010 [1 favorite]

I had skipped watching this before, and hadn't read the original. It's good. Merry Christmas.
posted by Xoebe at 7:41 PM on December 25, 2010

clarknova I love you. And i mean that more than you could ever know.
posted by Splunge at 8:30 PM on December 25, 2010

Why is #1 not a link? Am I missing something?
posted by NoMich at 8:35 PM on December 25, 2010

This is one of my favorite Christmas movies, and one of the most genuinely moving (sitting comfortably alongside the Grinch, A Wonderful Life and Tokyo Godfathers). What a wonderful thing to see today.

A part of me feels bad for doing it--The Junky's Christmas truly does capture the essence of "the Christmas spirit," of self sacrificing compassion for other human beings--but Gus Van Sant's film of Burroughs' Thanksgiving Prayer makes a good contrast.

The light shining through the muck is certainly a great deal easier to see in the former, though.
posted by byanyothername at 8:44 PM on December 25, 2010

Why is #1 not a link? Am I missing something?

I was a bit distracted when forming the post.

clarknova I love you. And i mean that more than you could ever know.

Merry endogenous opiates to all, and to all a good nod.
posted by clarknova at 8:51 PM on December 25, 2010

byanyothername: Every great Christmas story has the themes of poverty, loneliness, redemption, and the reward of unexpected grace for a selfless gift. These tie together all the holiday tales we hold dear.

Thanksgiving Prayer is one of his better "routines". Right up there with Twilight's Last Gleaming.
posted by clarknova at 9:19 PM on December 25, 2010

a decade of so.. probably longer not that I think about it, a photo LP of this routine was released with Uncle Bill reciting and Kurt Cobain playing guitar and generally riffing throughout. I am... generally, not a fan of Cobain's, but I still pull this out from time to time and enjoy it. Pretty sure it's on the Spare Ass Annie album as well, which is generally pretty "fun".
All told I actually have a shocking amount of Burroughs's stuff.
posted by edgeways at 10:17 PM on December 25, 2010

Speaking of Heroin and Xmas... I love This Mitchell and Webb skit. It's a classic, IMO.
posted by symbioid at 8:01 AM on December 26, 2010