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

O yeah, I love it. I love Christmas music and I love Holiday movies and I can do them any time of the year but I can't do any genre of music or movie too many times in a row (I overload easily) so I try to be judicious in my intake after Thanksgiving

 

I think Shep's other PBS movies may be there on Youtube as well.
And the Sheptalk link I gave a few responses ago has info about all the NYC radio shows.

 

Heck, I want a BB gun this Christmas!
Great movie. I treat my favorite movies like my music. I have stayed away from the major channels/stations who run the classics into the ground. You never hear me say "I'm so tired of seeing/hearing that, that's all they play on..."

 

Cool! me too, wait I have one...a Red Rider from the movie.
Exactly! I got tired of them having control of my favorite Holiday movies, plus the commercials! So, I bought many of my favorites and other Christmas movies...we watch a movie a night during the entire season...I NEVER TIRE of them no matter how many times I watch them.

 

I never saw it until about 3 years ago, and I didn't really go ga-ga over it. But if somebody gives me one of those classy leg lamps, I'll display that thing all year round!

 

music, movies of Christmastime is great for the soul anytime of the year!

 

I never saw this in 1983 in the theater, but every couple years we enjoy watching it because maybe some of your relatives (Favorite ones) aren't around anymore, they lived a simpler time and desired a toy around the Christmas holiday at a period when most household budgets couldn't fit every kids dream on the shopping list! Maybe not "THE" holiday classic, but still a fun film to watch with the family.

 

Yes, you can have that today on Amazon.com

http://www.amazon.com/Christmas-Story-Full-Size-Lamp/dp/B000VWXG0I

 

Yeah...but I don't feel right purchasing it since I didn't enjoy the film. I know it doesn't make sense!

 

My daughter bought herself the full size pink costume (complete with the floppy eared bunny feet staring up at you.)

 

Honestly, the only thing(s) I can recall automatically is the pink bunny suit and the kid getting his tongue stuck to the pole. The wife likes it, she's happy, leaves me be. Life is good!

 

I'm happy for you. we all can't like the same things, now can we?

 

I'm just glad this is now and not back when they only had one TV in the house. I'd be checking into the mental ward after having to watch this movie ALL DAY LONG!!!!

 

hey! you have a cool wife...

 

It's nothing extraordinary. It's just a good family film. That's all.

 

to some yes...but, it hits home to many of us.

 

I liked watching it once and I could relate to that one thing a kid wants for Christmas idea. But I never plan to waste 2 hours of my life to see it again. And the kid playing the lead was rather dorky to say the least. I would not want to be around him with his new BB gun.

 

I loved the film. I especially liked the scene where Ralphie goes nuts and whomps the living crap out of the bully while screaming "frackin' rassin' yackin' sassin" (only they were actual curse words that caused 1940s women run screaming). Hilarious scene.

It's a movie of a certain time: a 1980s film about 1940s nostalgia. I can see where somebody born years later wouldn't get it. I think it's a very warm, funny, touching movie, but it makes more sense if you're aware of author Jean Shepherd's writing and his NYC radio show.

 

The show was partly responsible for the existence of The Wonder Years, so even if I didn't like the movie (and I do!) I could never hate it.

 

I loved Darren McGavin in this he was hysterical...you of course get it! Jean's narration is fabulous...just a good feeling movie and when it's over I'm still smiling.

 

Yep. I saw this at a theater similar to what you describe in 1983. In fact, the theater is no longer there. I was 13 years old, the perfect age for this film. Maybe it was one of those "you had to be there" type of films. As you note, very warm and cozy and brings up feelings of nostalgia for early childhood like few other films do; at least for me. There are parts of the film I no longer relate to, particularly the fantasy sequences, but the "oh fudge" scene still cracks me up.

 

I would occasionally listen to Shep's radio shows and read his stories in "Playboy" so I understand where this movie came from. Shep's ramblings could be an acquired taste for many. I like the movie but don't go crazy about it. Used to work with someone who would pull an all nighter and watch the 24 hour marathon showing.
In one of Shep's mid70s PBS shows he states the most obvious truth in the universe "My old man always said beer was proof that God existed. Nothing that wonderful can just happen".

 

I think you're referring to director Bob Clark and his son Ariel Hanrath-Clark who were killed in a head-on car crash by a drunk driver. Jean Shepherd died of natural causes according to Wikipedia.

 

Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuudge.... except I didn't say 'Fudge'.

Has anyone seen Flick? Flick who?

 

It’s one of those movies that seems to be passively oversold. That is, I don’t often hear people actively screaming out “this movie is the most amazing movie!”, but rather it’s quietly one of the more esteemed Christmas pictures at this stage.

I’m a big fan of just saying something is good rather than trying to oversell it. It’s kind of like debates like “The Wire vs. Breaking Bad” or something. Why does something have to be *better* than something else, and why does it have to be sold to others as the greatest thing ever?

All that aside, I’ve talked to several people who seem to almost gleefully show disdain for this movie. I know at least one person who clearly *should* like the film and probably would if they didn’t get off more on the idea of telling others how much they don’t like it and how they “don’t get” all the hoopla. This is someone who relishes in making old-timey references that nobody born after about 1950 would possibly get.

I’m not saying there aren’t legitimate reasons to dislike the film. But it clearly has a certain tone and aesthetic, and if one doesn’t like that sort of thing, then of course they’re not going to like the film. While I like the film, there are other films I don’t like of which I still *understand* why others might like it.

I enjoy the film, and I’m nowhere near the generation/era. For a film set ostensibly in the 40s (the film infamously does not give a precise year or time period), it doesn’t have as many anachronisms as far as plot as one would think. Yes, it’s a romanticized, middle-class (or upper-middle class?) depiction of life, and perhaps a bunch of people who are into this film also fondly remember Paul Harvey and stuff like that. But it is also just a cute, subdued holiday movie. I can’t particularly fathom someone who greatly enjoys Christmas films who wouldn’t at least like this one mildly.

I relish all the degrees of holiday film quality, from the films that aren’t particularly “Christmasey” (“It’s a Wonderful Life”), to old classics that require a bit of patience but are ultimately rewarding (“Miracle on 34th St.”) to crappy but tearjerker 80s sitcom specials (the “Alf” Christmas episode/movie still gets me a bit!) to 90s cheese (“Jingle All the Way”), to weirdly mediocre unfunny comedies (“Surviving Christmas”, “Christmas with the Kranks”).

One of my favorites is still “The Ref”, which I now have to stream in HD from Amazon every year because they haven’t put a BD out and the old DVD looks like crap (non-anamorphic).