Year: 1987

Director: Richard Donner

Starring: Mel Gibson, Danny Glover, Gary Busey, Mitch Ryan, Tom Atkins, Darlene Love

Of course it’s a Christmas movie: it opens with Jingle Bell rock, includes a scene in a Christmas tree lot and finishes with the family around a tree on Christmas day. And like all good Christmas movies it’s a morality play, with Riggs learning the value of continued existence over suicide and Murtaugh learning not to judge crazy cops by appearances, or to unquestioningly trust old friends. It also has one of the most moving Christmas present selections ever: Riggs gives Murtaugh the bullet he had intended to use to commit suicide. Admittedly, we’re not sure where he’s going to put that or whether he wouldn’t have preferred a nice new pair of socks, but it’s the thought that counts.