The Christmas in Jimmy Stewart
Hollywood is producing a biopic of James Stewart, and it is long over due. The film, titled Jimmy, due November 6, 2026, has launched a preview that is gaining lots of attention:
I have not seen this movie. From the previews I can tell already it is overly romanticized and likely fast and loose with all the facts.
I don’t care.
We need Jimmy Stewart. We need his patriotism. We need his heroism. We need his goodness. And we need all the Christmas that is in Jimmy Stewart.
Over our decades of covering all things Christmas on My Merry Christmas we have talked a lot about James Stewart before. We’ve shared his own memories of It’s a Wonderful Life.
We’ve documented his war record and his post-war service that he continued, as a Brigadier General, well into the 1960s.
Few know these things about him because he was a major movie star with multi-generational film credits.
From Mr. Smith Goes to Washington to An American Tail: Fivel Goes West we sometimes forget that no matter his film setting at the end of the day we are not watching an actor, we’re watching a person that we like no matter who he plays.
One of my favorite Jimmy Stewart roles, and I’m certain nearly everyone has one, was his role in The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance. This was Stewart’s first movie with John Wayne and one would think it would be difficult to hold your own when you’re in a western with the king of westerns.
But I love that role not because Stewart had to be brighter than Wayne – he was just himself, which was perfect for that role. And that’s the magic of Jimmy Stewart.
The complicated history of It’s a Wonderful Life, considered not only the best Christmas movie of all time but one of the greatest of all-time films, is centered on the real life story of the lead, James Stewart.
Jimmy purports to tell the story of the life of James Stewart from just after winning an Oscar for The Philadelphia Story through his war service experience and until he took on It’s A Wonderful Life.
It’s a critical period and I’m glad they are telling that story.
But I feel it is important to go back to Stewart’s roots and the period well after It’s a Wonderful Life.
It’s important to not only understand the fully story of one of America’s most beloved cultural icons but also to understand the full circle of Christmas film culture in America.
Jimmy Stewart, you see, has another Christmas film that like It’s a Wonderful Life has become a holiday staple that has taken on its own life long after it’s time. That movie is Mr. Krueger’s Christmas.
The life and history crammed between these two films is necessary, I feel, to really understand the contributions to Christmas Jimmy Stewart made, whether that was ever his intention or not.
While It’s a Wonderful Life maybe drew on the pain that came from Stewart’s war service it is Mr. Krueger’s Christmas that gives us a more personal glimpse into the spiritual side of James Stewart. It is astonishing to think how this actor we all loved poured so much of himself into movies we relate to on very personal levels.
Jimmy Stewart is a long time hero for many of us who love Christmas. So naturally we want to see this movie and also to see it do well.
But, I’m doubious.
I hope they do not do to Stewart what they did to Dickens. He doesn’t need to be sensationalized because he was sensational all on his own. For real. Without padding the facts or taking liberties in order to sell tickets.
Just tell the story, please, just tell the true story. It’s great all by itself.
