What Is The Big Deal About "A Christmas Story" (1983)?!?

Discussion in 'Visual Arts' started by ky658, Nov 10, 2014.

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  1. MikeInFla

    MikeInFla Glad to be out of Florida

    Location:
    Kalamazoo, MI
    Now, not only can you stay in the house but you can stay next door at The Bumpus House.

    Spend a Night
     
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  2. vinnie

    vinnie Senior Member

    Location:
    New Jersey
    "Sonsa bitchen Bumpuses!!!"
     
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  3. The Dark Elf

    The Dark Elf Curmudgeonly Wordwraith

    Location:
    Michigan
    "Fra-gee-lay, it must be Italian!" It is a classic. Even though I was a kid growing up in the 60s (born in 1960), there is still a lot of that movie that was relatable to my childhood.
     
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  4. Isaac K.

    Isaac K. Forum Resident

    Sorry but I’m allergic to dogs. Just one dog would give me asthma. A pack of dogs and I’d probably die.
     
  5. MikeInFla

    MikeInFla Glad to be out of Florida

    Location:
    Kalamazoo, MI
    It does say no hounds allowed! So it's not a stay with the Bumpus hounds, just a stay at the Bumpus house :)
     
  6. ben_wood

    ben_wood A traveler of both time and space

    All inclusive turkey?
     
  7. Isaac K.

    Isaac K. Forum Resident

    I only remember the Bumpuses being talked about. Do we ever actually see their house in the movie?
     
  8. Jerk The Handle

    Jerk The Handle Electrician

    Location:
    Moonbeam levels
    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    Nice one, John Hughes :righton:
     
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  9. Michael

    Michael I LOVE WIDE S-T-E-R-E-O!

    is this the exact house used in the movie in and out?
     
  10. SonOfAlerik

    SonOfAlerik Forum Resident

    Location:
    Westland, MI USA
    You do in the sequel
     
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  11. bholz

    bholz Forum Resident

    Location:
    USA
    Mine too. Fortunately she only needs to watch it 1 time. I didn't care for it, but I have found some funny bits over the years of viewing it.
     
  12. MikeP5877

    MikeP5877 V/VIII/MCMLXXVII

    Location:
    OH
    I watch it every year. One of my high school teachers was an extra. He is the tall guy on the right with the hat and striped shirt.

    [​IMG]
     
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  13. musicfan37

    musicfan37 Senior Member

    My family will once again be watching this movie sometime in December on DVD. One of my absolute favorite Christmas movies.
     
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  14. mattdm11

    mattdm11 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Cleveland, OH
    I haven't watched this movie in a long time and have no desire to do so ever again. Overplayed beyond belief.
     
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  15. Instant Dharma

    Instant Dharma Dude/man

    Location:
    CoCoCo, Ca
    Love this movie and I think it’s a Classic.

    Darren McGavin makes this film imo
     
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  16. Tim Lookingbill

    Tim Lookingbill Alfalfa Male

    Location:
    New Braunfels, TX
    I don't watch holiday movies any longer but I still think "A Christmas Story" portrays that time period I never grew up in but wished I did most realistically. The cinematography and set design and location shooting of the school and surrounding neighborhood feels like a time machine every time I watch that movie.

    The idiosyncratic looks of all supporting actors especially the kids like Sid Farkus is spot on to what most kids looked like back then and even from the head shots in my 8th grade annual in the early '70's show no signs of the generically pretty people we have today.

    I too had a bar of soap put in my mouth for saying cuss words but it was Dial soap much worse tasting. And when my family watched this movie together I told my mom laughingly I thought I'ld go blind from soap poisoning and then they'ld be sorry about putting soap in my mouth. That'll teach e'm! I still laugh at that scene.

    So really this movie isn't all about the Christmas holidays. It's about family and community relationships and how each were worked out in their own unusual way that wasn't as complicated as it is today with all the movements and social contention.
     
  17. Gems-A-Bems

    Gems-A-Bems Forum Resident

    Location:
    The Duke City
    “Portrays that time period I never grew up in most realistically” has to be one of the funniest things I’ve ever read.

    Also, I believe it’s Scut, not “Sid”
     
  18. MikeInFla

    MikeInFla Glad to be out of Florida

    Location:
    Kalamazoo, MI
    Another twist here, Bob Clark used Kieran Culkin in the sequel, My Summer Story, which was supposed to be shot immediately after A Christmas Story with the original cast. But since A Christmas Story wasn't a money maker for MGM the sequel plans were scrapped until 1994 and originally titled "It Runs In The Family" but the name was changed it it was released on DVD. My Summer Story is a decent movie, I like it quite a bit but many people do not.

    [​IMG]

    My Summer Story was also shot in the same house as the first movie and the Bumpuses are a little more prominent in the movie (which is about the only thing in the movie I don't like as it is a bit slap stick - which is fine if you are The Stooges). The Bumpus house does not appear in the original movie (interior) and I will have to go back and see if it is in the second. As for A Christmas Story 2 it was not shot on the same sets as the first 2 movies. I haven't seen that one and honestly have no interest in seeing a teenage Ralphie.

    Someone finally posted the movie on YT so give it a look before it is removed if you have time. They actually chose the cast in this movie pretty well. The only returning castmember is Tedde Moore who played Miss Shields. And of course a real treat to the movie is hearing Jean Shepherd do the narration.

     
  19. jimac51

    jimac51 A mythical beast.

    Location:
    Allentown,pa.
    Sure does,but what comes through beyond Shep's telling of these stories is that the family Bob Clark assembled in A Christmas Story truly loves each other. Mom tasting the Lifebuoy,trying to get the little brother to eat and laughing along with her child,even giving the kids time on their own to wander around the department store;there is a lot of love in the story that Shep left out. He was a great storyteller but a troubled human being.
     
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  20. Chris DeVoe

    Chris DeVoe RIP Vickie Mapes Williams (aka Equipoise)

    We saw this in the theater yesterday. AMC brought it back because they have few new films to show (they need to bring back the original Die Hard just to annoy those who deny that it's a Christmas movie.)

    I haven't had a chance to go through all 24 pages of this thread yet, but one thing that really jumped out at me - the Higbee's Christmas parade with the winged monkeys from Wizard of Oz attacking Mickey Mouse! Is The Wizard of Oz a Christmas thing?
     
    Last edited: Nov 22, 2020
  21. MikeInFla

    MikeInFla Glad to be out of Florida

    Location:
    Kalamazoo, MI
    I think it was Bob Clark's way of MGM attacking Disney (MGM owned Wizard at the time this movie was made).
     
  22. MrCJF

    MrCJF Best served with coffee and cake.

    Location:
    United Kingdom
    Read page one then jumped forward to say:

    I have never heard of this movie. This mustbe a US specific phenomena.

    It didn't even make the Mark Kermode Inside Cinema doc about Christmas movies* that took in some oddest looking films I'd never heard of.

    *Die Hard did
     
  23. Hanglow

    Hanglow Forum Resident

    Location:
    Saratoga New York
    Don't fear TBS is showing it next weekend :biglaugh:......Yeah the marathon was a little over the top......

    Hey,....... I can identify with little Ralphie:winkgrin:.......I was a punk kid long before the movie.I wanted and got got the BB gun
    ...Jeez I wasn't even 16 yet!....ahh the good ol days.
    C'mon......nobody stuck their tongue to the frozen lamppost?...yeah right.

    Mom dressed me like this in the winter.....my rubber boots leaked,so I had to put bread bags over my thick wool socks inside the boots.

    [​IMG]
     
  24. Here in the US, A Christmas Story is a beloved holiday film, probably second only to It's A Wonderful Life in popularity. I'd say Mr. Kermode didn't do his homework if he omitted this movie.
     
  25. MrCJF

    MrCJF Best served with coffee and cake.

    Location:
    United Kingdom
    I gave the wrong title, its Mark Kermode's Christmas Cinema Secrets.

    But the last thing I'd say about Kermode is to accuse him of not doing his homework. He is one of the most informed critics I've ever come across.

    I can only assume he ignored this for a reason - there are hundreds of family themed Christmas movies that probably cover the same ground.

    Personally, I'd pick It's A Wonderful Life, Scrooge (with Alistair Sim)or A Muppet Christmas Carol if I was going to have just one.
     
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