Jingle All the Way

From Christmas Specials Wiki

Directed by:	Brian Levant
Written by:	Randy Kornfield
Release date:	1996
Running time:	1 hour, 43 minutes
Characters:	Arnold Schwarzenegger, Sinbad
Merchandise:	{{{merch}}}

Jingle All The Way is a Holiday Comedy Movie released in 1996. It's Christmas Eve, and Howard Langston (Arnold Schwarzenegger) is determined to get his son Jamie (Jake Lloyd) the year's most popular toy. But everywhere he goes, it's sold out. Soon, Howard finds himself in a crazed battle against time, crowds, and a maniacal postman (Sinbad) who as determined as Howard to find Turbo Man! Will Howard get his hands on the wildly popular, impossible-to-find toy and make his son's Christmas the best ever? Or will he fail and let down his son once again?

[edit] Synopsis

Howard Langston is a hard-working employee at a furniture company, and is stuck doing extra work on the day his son is earning a new belt in Karate. Despite his promise to make it, he runs into trouble with traffic and a sadistic cop from hell and misses the Karate Class. In order to make it up to his son, he promises to get him anything he wants for Christmas. What he wants is the immensely popular "Turbo Man" action figure. Unfortunately, Howard forgot to get that for him earlier, and his wife has informed him that, at this point of the year, they are impossible to find.

Not wanting to disappoint his son again, Howard sets off on a wild chase all over the city to find the doll. At the first store he gets to, he meets Myron Larabee, a Post Office Worker who's looking for the same toy. However, it is soon revealed that this is going to be a "no holds barred" scavenger hunt, with lots of shoving, fighting, arguing, and worse. However, the many stores he hits and the ensuing chaos that ensues at each one ultimately results in nothing. He even resorts to trying to buy a Turbo Man from a group of con Santas, who, unsurprisingly, rip him off, to the point where he ends up fighting the entire gang. When the cops show up to bust the ring, Howard manages to get out of trouble by taking advantage of a Toy Police Badge.

An attempt to call home and explain things to his wife, however, gets Howard chewed out by his own son. Distraught, he seeks solace in a nearby cafe, where he meets Myron again. They share their woe stories, but are interrupted by a radio announcer reporting a chance to call in and win a Turbo Man doll! They quickly barge into the Radio Station, only to be informed that all they can get is a Turbo Man Doll Gift Certificate. The Cops soon arrive, but Howard and Myron escape when Myron threatens the cops with a Mail Bomb (Which turns out to be real, unlike the fake one he tried to use to make the Radio Operator hand over the Turbo Man Doll)

Desperate, he returns home to try to explain what happened, but finds his neighbor Ted (Phil Hartman) (who seems to always be horning in on his wife when he's not around) in HIS house, putting HIS star on HIS tree! Enraged, Howard breaks into Ted's house to steal the Turbo Man doll he got for his son. Unfortunately, he's pinned inside by Carolers at the Front Door and an enraged reindeer at the back. Ultimately, he gets busted, and his wife finally has had enough and storms off. Royally mad now, Howard takes out his frustrations on the reindeer. ("You picked the wrong day.")

Broken, Howard finally decides to keep the one promise he can, and makes his way to the parade anyways. Through a mix-up, he ends up becoming the stand-in for the Turbo Man who's supposed to appear! And best of all, he gets the opportunity to pick a child to give a Special Turbo Man doll to! Who else does he pick but his own son?

However, trouble strikes in the form of Turbo Man's arch-nemesis, Dementor! (Myron) A fierce battle ensues for possession of the doll, but in the end, Turbo Man defeats his archnemesis and saves both the doll AND his son! Jamie is sad that his dad wasn't here to see it... until Turbo Man removes his helmet, revealing his true identity!

Meanwhile, Myron is being hauled off by the police, dismayed by his ultimate failure to retrieve the doll. However, Jamie willingly gives Myron his. After all, who needs the doll when he has the REAL Turbo Man in his own house?

At home, Christmas Eve is finally spent right, as the star is mounted on the tree, and everyone's happy. Howard's wife is so happy that he was willing to do so much to get a present for his son, that it has her wondering what he got for her. The shocked expression on Howard's face tells the whole story. Uh oh...

[edit] Notes

*The plot of the movie is loosely based on the frenzy that followed the introduction of the Cabbage Patch Kids in 1983.