We all remember the creepy department store Santa Claus in A Christmas Story putting his boot on Ralphie's forehead—pushing him down the slide and destroying his hopes for a Red Ryder BB gun, all in one fell swoop. A part well-played by Jeff Gillen, nevertheless, this movie Santa Claus understandably gets votes as one of the worst movie Santas ever. I mean, if that kind of Santa was at your local mall, would you take your kid?



Over the years, there have been basically two kinds of silver screen Santas: the kind that give you a warm, fuzzy holiday glow inside and the kind that make you want to bar your chimney on Christmas Eve. For example, here are a few of the Santas we love:

Miracle on 34th Street: The 1947 classic has the most authentic, lovable Kris Kringles ever. Played by Edmund Gwenn, this Santa goes on trial to prove that he's not insane, and eventually proves that yes, Virginia, there really is a Santa Claus—and he stars in Miracle on 34th Street.

Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer: Even though he is somewhat narrow-minded when it comes to physical deformities, the Santa Claus in Rudolf the Red Nosed Reindeer is such a large part of annual Christmas movie-watching for most of us, that we forgive him his faults. And after all, he does a great "Ho, ho, ho, Merry Christmas," and he does see the error of his ways by the end of the movie.

The Santa Clause From Tool Time to the North Pole?: What seemed to us as an unlikely pair-up at first—Tim Allen as Santa Claus—did actually work in the movie The Santa Claus. Allen's portrayal of an accidental Kris Kringle in this 1994 film was so unusual and strangely endearing, that the movie has been made into a trilogy.

The Polar Express: The almost eerily realistic animation of The Polar Express caught our attention in 1994, and the Santa Claus in this movie, voiced by Tom Hanks, deserves a "Best Of" nomination. When he presents the boy in the movie with the first present of Christmas, we see that this Santa is kind, strong, generous and believable—everything a good Santa should be.

And then there are those Santas that we hope will pass our houses right by this Christmas Eve:

Bad Santa: When we think of bad Santas, Billy Bob Thornton definitely comes to mind with his hard-drinking, low-life, thieving Santa character in the appropriately named movie Bad Santa. If this type of Santa ever tries to come down your chimney, call the police.

Santa Claus Conquers the Martians: Yes, you read that right. This movie had it all: evil space invaders and the big guy in the red suit. It's not really the fault of Santa that this 1964 movie was so terrible, but his character makes us feel awkward and sad, since he's always laughing at inappropriate times and gets so disappointed when no one laughs with him. Definitely not a Christmas classic.

Santa Claus Santa Claus: The tree-topper of frightening Santa movies, features a 1959 version of the jolly old elf teaming up with Merlin the Magician to destroy Satan. And what's even stranger is that he doesn't live at the North Pole. He lives on a cloud in outer space. And even more bizarre, his reindeer turn to dust in sunlight like little alien vampire critters wearing jingle bell harnesses.

So if you ever get tired of watching the many holiday season reruns of Miracle on 34th Street, count your holiday blessings that you get to watch the best of the best of all Santa characters. After all, you could be watching Sixties Santa save the world, or cringing at the inappropriate antics of some other truly bad Santa.