Great Character: Frank Cross (“Scrooged”)

In December, guest columnist Jason Cuthbert looks at Christmas Grinch characters. Today: Frank Cross from the 1988 movie Scrooged, written by Mitch Glazer & Michael O’Donoghue, based on a novel by Charles Dickens.

“Edgy” is not usually an adjective used to decorate Christmas movies. But 25 years ago in 1988, the Charles Dickens classic “A Christmas Carol” got a black comedy kick in the stockings from director Richard Donner (“Superman,” “The Goonies”) as well as screenwriters Mitch Glazer (“Great Expectations,” “The Recruit”) and Michael O’Donoghue (“Saturday Night Live,” “Mr. Mike’s Mondo Video”).

Mr. Bah, Humbug, the bitter curmudgeon Ebenezer Scrooge, was reinvented as the suit and champagne 1980’s greed-monger Frank Cross played by The Don of Deadpan — Mr. Bill Murray. After pushing poltergeists back to the afterlife in the 1984 blockbuster Ghostbusters, Bill Murray now found himself surrounded by the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present and Future, who are out to put an attitude adjustment under Frank Cross’s Christmas tree.

Scrooged from IMDB:

A cynically selfish TV executive gets haunted by three spirits bearing lessons on Christmas Eve.

With its PG-13 rating for profanity, terrorists shooting up Santa Clause’s Workshop and bare nipples, Scrooged is not quite your most family-friendly Christmas flick. It’s more geared towards the grown up “kissing under the mistletoe” crowd than the Rankin/Bass stop motion animation “Rudolf the Red-Nosed Reindeer” & “Frosty the Snowman” TV special kiddies.

Bill Murray’s sarcastic wit is given a Christmas Grinch character that is more mean-spirited than his “every man’s ideal drinking buddy” jokesters that he became known for. In Scrooged, you may find yourself laughing at things that your conscience will put you on the naughty list for afterwards.

(Props man tries to attach antlers to a mouse)
PROPS MAN: I can’t get the antlers glued to this little guy. We tried Crazy Glue, but it don’t work.
FRANK CROSS: Did you try staples?

Frank Cross is exactly that…bluntly “frank” with his angrily “cross” petulant treatment of co-workers, family members and basically anyone with a heartbeat.

FRANK CROSS: You’ve got a promo featuring America’s favorite old fart reading a book in front of a fireplace! Now I have to kill all of you!

Frank’s miserable worldview finds it’s way into his work, especially when he gives Christmas TV programming a cryptic advertising touch that would be better suited for Halloween, in a household of violent cannibals.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mvmAa1cYZK4

Frank’s own brother James, played by Bill’s real brother John Murray, is preaching to a sleeping congregation when he tries to put a little love in Frank’s heart, that’s probably two sizes too small.

JAMES CROSS: You know what they say about people who treat other people bad on the way up?
FRANK CROSS: Yeah, you get to treat ’em bad on the way back down too. It’s great, you get two chances to rough ’em up.

There apparently hasn’t been a woman savvy enough or overwhelmingly patient to be able to tame the savage beast inside Frank, enough for him to leave his “Me First” mantra for a more inclusive approach to a social life.

FRANK CROSS: I never liked a girl well enough to give her twelve sharp knives.

As a matter of fact, “giving” is not really on Frank’s to-do list…or his shopping list for that matter. But “taking away” definitely is. Frank’s delight in firing a clearly qualified co-worker on Christmas Eve and reducing Christmas bonuses down to an “Are You Serious?” wash rag are clear indicators of the hollow holes in Frank’s heart that will take the entire movie to fill.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Je4QCA5KCuc

Since Frank Cross lacks Christmas Spirit in his life, Christmas spirits pay him a visit instead. Whether its Frank’s automatic insults, anti-social demeanor or addiction to wickedness — there must be a reason underneath it all. Frank’s inner world is given a grand opening with the supernatural time-traveling cab ride he has with the Ghost of Christmas Past. We, along with Frank, are ushered into Frank’s gloomy childproof childhood and his tunnel-vision career track that put his love life on proverbial lockdown. Overworking his secretary and under-loving his own brother are a few of the other sins that the Christmas ghosts haunt Frank’s almighty ego with.

It’s Frank’s inner war between his resistance to change and his repressed past regrets that add the emotional conflict that keeps this fireball Christmas Scrooge interesting. The return of his past lover Claire (Karen Allen) and the past literally haunting him during his office hours also add hilarious opportunities to run Cross’ crappiness through the ringer, in search of trying to find a soul in there…somewhere. Frank Cross teaches us that If only he could love someone, anyone, more than his career — he too could have a Merry Christmas.

For his devious, dastardly dialogue, his Grinch-In-Corporate-Clothing antics and his stifled feelings of emptiness that come back to haunt him — Frank Cross is a GREAT CHARACTER.

It’s interesting to see Bill Murray play this type of character, one he revisited albeit in a softer way a few years later as Phil in Groundhog Day.

What did you think about the movie? See you in comments to carry on the conversation.

Thanks once again to Jason! You may follow him on Twitter: @A2Jason.

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