Jingle All the Way

"Two dads, one toy, no prisoners."

1996 1h 29m EN

😐

6.1

MID

🥫

20%

ROTTEN

😬

METACRITIC

⭐

5.8

IMDB

★6.1TMDB · 3,051🥫20%Rotten Tomatoes●34Metacritic★5.8IMDB · 129,007

FamilyAdventureComedy

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

Howard Langston, a salesman for a mattress company, is constantly kept busy at his job, disappointing his son. After he misses his son's karate exposition, Howard vows to make it up to him by buying an action figure of his son's favorite television hero for Christmas. Unfortunately for Howard, it is Christmas Eve, and every store is sold out of Turbo Man. Now, Howard must travel all over town and compete with everybody else to find a Turbo Man action figure.

“Two dads, one toy, no prisoners.”

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Cast

Arnold Schwarzenegger
Howard Langston
Sinbad
Myron Larabee
Phil Hartman
Ted Maltin
Jake Lloyd
Jamie Langston
Rita Wilson
Liz Langston
Robert Conrad
Officer Hummell
Martin Mull
D.J.
Jim Belushi
Mall Santa

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Brian Levant
Writers: Randy Kornfield
Languages: English
Countries: United States of America

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

RUNTIME

Did you know

89 minutes exactly — the "classic feature" runtime most directors aim for.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Mid-budget at $60M — the now-extinct middle tier of Hollywood.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

ERA

Did you know

30 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

CINEMA

Did you know

Part of the "Jingle All the Way Collection" — so the characters or world continue elsewhere.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Brian Levant, shot by Victor J. Kemper. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by David Newman. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Adam Weiss shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

ERA

Did you know

Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sinbad and Phil Hartman carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Brian Levant directs. Victor J. Kemper behind the camera. David Newman scores. Adam Weiss cuts. Runs lean at under 100 minutes. Profitable at the box office. Produced in United States of America. Dialogue in English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

189 minutes exactly — the "classic feature" runtime most directors aim for.
2Mid-budget at $60M — the now-extinct middle tier of Hollywood.
330 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.
4Part of the "Jingle All the Way Collection" — so the characters or world continue elsewhere.
5Directed by Brian Levant, shot by Victor J. Kemper. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
6Original score by David Newman. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
7Editor Adam Weiss shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
8Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sinbad and Phil Hartman carry the top of the cast.
9Marketing tagline: "Two dads, one toy, no prisoners.".
10IMDB entry: tt0116705 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
11Classified under 13 themes, including "husband wife relationship", "holiday", "minnesota", "christmas party".

The technical file

Cinematography: Victor J. Kemper
Original score: David Newman
Editing: Adam Weiss
Production design: Leslie McDonald
Costume design: Jay Hurley
Makeup / hair: Greg Cannom
Runtime: 89 min · 1h 29m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Budget: $60,000,000
Box office: $129,832,389
Return: 216% of budget
Original language: EN
Certification (US): PG
IMDB: Jingle All the Way (1996)
Rotten Tomatoes: 20% 🥫 Rotten
Metacritic: 34/100
IMDB rating: 5.8/10 · 129,007 votes
MPAA: PG

Awards

2 wins & 4 nominations total

Part of

Jingle All the Way Collection

Jingle all the Way is a 1996 American Christmas family comedy film directed by Brian Levant and starring Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sinbad, with Phil Hartman, Rita Wilson, Jake Lloyd, James Belushi and Robert Conrad. The plot focuses on two rival fathers, workaholic Howard Langston (Schwarzenegger) and postal worker Myron Larabee (Sinbad), both desperately trying to retrieve a Turbo-Man action figure for their respective sons on a last minute shopping spree on Christmas Eve. It was announced on February 11th, 2014 that a sequel Jingle All the Way 2 had gone into production in a joint production between WWE Studios and 20th Century Fox. None of the original cast are scheduled to return and instead the lead will be portrayed by comedian Larry the Cable Guy and WWE superstar Santino Marella, but will keep a similar plot as it's predecessor. The sequel will be a straight-to-DVD project and will be directed by Alex Zamm.

Also by

Brian Levant

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Community reviews

What people are saying

Peter89Spencer2020-11-30
★ 9/10
A Christmas classic!
Andre Gonzales2023-07-06
★ 6/10
Your typical Christmas classic. A father waits to long to buy the most popular kids action figure turbo man. He goes out on Christmas eve to try to buy it and to no one's surprise, it is sold out.