A Christmas Story (1983) MOVIE REACTION! FIRST TIME WATCHING!!
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- Опубліковано 6 лют 2025
- Hello and Welcome back to Cinema Rules! A classic Christmas movie we haven't seen before and know nothing about... How is this possible!?!?
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This film, above all other Christmas movies, nails what it feels like to be a child, wanting a specific toy, at christmas. Absolutely love it.
Yee
an instant classic.
It really hits everything perfectly, from the brothers wailing on each other when arguing who gets to the drawers first (yet they take care of each other, too-Ralphie gets Randy to his feet, Randy picks up Ralphie’s glasses and gets Mom), to all of the parents’ interactions. They are some of the most realistic parents I’ve ever seen on film.
I was 6 years old when the original Alien came out and yes my dad took me to see it. (I was not at all bothered by horror as a kid.). All I wanted that year was an Alien figurine and when I didn’t get one I threw a fit. Lol.
Hah thanks for the subtle shout-out guys! ♥️ Also, I LOVE your sweaters! This movie reminds me of my grandparents house, pretty sure it was on repeat. A Christmas classic for sure! 🎄🦵💡
I wuz like... why are they doing this introduction with Popcorn in Bed in the not-so-background? Are they not-so-low-key fanboying?
Saw you in the bkgrnd of the opening and I'm like hey, I know her! lol
They did the same thing with Shan Watches Movies a while back, and his next video had them in the background during his intro.
Hi Cassie.
@@MissAPierce They've done this quite a few times with people that they obviously enjoy as much as the rest of us. I think it's a lovely gesture.
Growing up in the US, one television station would play this movie, and ONLY this movie, for a solid 24 hrs during the holiday. We just had it on in the background for everything.
Now two do it simultaneously, just an hour apart.
My grandfather grew up in the 1940s and this is his favorite movie of all time since it reminds him of his childhood and he literally doesn’t move from the tv screen on Christmas Day.
Tbs I think it's what pays it 24hrs
Turner's channel played this.
I watch it every year and have for atleast 15 years because my family leaves it on ALL day
There aren't many movies that really understand kids this well. Most movies show how some adults THINK kids are, but this film gets it and rather than mock the kids for the way they think and feel, this movie celebrates it and takes those kids seriously, which makes it even more funny in the comedic moments, because everyone is being completely genuine.
Stand by me was another good one
The film actually gets BETTER each year the more you watch it. That's what makes it such an endearing classic!
This movie runs for 24 hours straight on Christmas here in the States and its a staple for me ever year. Saw it in the theaters when I was a kid. Love this movie, it's funny and nice and like you said a "comfort" movie! Cheers guys, have a Merry Christmas and a great New Year!
It essentially replaced It's A Wonderful Life.
I never let myself watch it before xmas. Then I keep it on until the marathon is over.
I think it's TNT and TBS.
I refuse to watch it till Christmas Eve. It's Tradition
And because it's based on a book of short stories, the scenes stand alone really well. You can jump in and out of the story pretty easily during the 24 hour marathon.
This is one of the few movies that no matter how many times I watch it, there’s always something new that I notice that makes it appreciate it more. Y’all have a merry Christmas!
Yes ua-cam.com/video/3w19SAl1OBQ/v-deo.html yes may I ask what name of the movie in video opinion what year is
The MAJOR AWARD guy was the co-writer director.
The source material, short stories by Jean Sheperd, are so rich in content, it doesn’t surprise me that you keep discovering more to enjoy! I recommend all of Sheperd’s short stories - they’re funny and sharp.
When Flick sticks his tongue to the pole, it didn't actually get stuck. So in order to get the effect and make it real, the kid who played Flick had to stick his tongue over a small hole that they had drilled on the pole which air was being sucked through like a vacuum. So that's why it looked real.
Honestly it captures a 1940s atmosphere so well particularly from a child of the time's point of view and in the way relates that perspective I give it a 9.5 plus I love how it doesn't even try to be a cinematic masterpiece, but just truly enjoys its subject matter and completely captures it. Plus the actual writer of the book is the narrator, based on his own childhood.
Jean Shepherd was a great story teller.
1930’s but yeah does great at it. Fun fact the snow was instant mashed potatoes mixed with soap and laundry detergent I think
@@bradywalton1357 IMDB says 1940's! If it is the 30's, it doesn't look like the great depression hit that town very hard at all. Also "Wizard of Oz" characters are in the parade the family watches, and that film is from 1939, so it would only be like the last month of the 30's.
If memory serves the decoder ring has a date of 1940.
“Randy laid there like a slug, it was his only defense.”😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂
I love this movie so much!
Yes
Scut Farkus's vision is based on movement, much like the T. Rex.
Maybe it's the power trying to come back on.
Same! Love that line lol
Yellow Eyes. Yellow Eyes. So help me god Yellow eyes. Whenever I think of bullies I think of Scott Farkus and Biff Tannen. LOL.
I also appreciate you guys having other reactors on-screen the background during your intros; it's a nice way to give them a shout-out.
That's what I said. I love popcorn in bed channel
Yes, Cassie is a pure soul who must be protected at all costs. lol
I hope they collab.
@@MacGuffinExMachina That would be an interesting collab
@@johndrews206 Me too, she is definitely one of my favorites ^_^
Loved this reaction! This film feels like a day in the life of SO many Americans from when we were young, but at the same time anyone around the world can connect with the themes.
I always tear up a bit when Ralphie’s mom covers for him after the fight, it’s a small moment but it’s so sweet and always reminds me of my mom.
What I love about the scene is when the dad comes home and Ralphie thinks he's about to be told on, there's this little look that Mom and Dad exchange. The dad is asking "Do I need to know about this?" And the Mom says "No, I got it." And he nods and goes back to his paper and that's all there is to it. It was so subtle and tender and I absolutely love it.
@@BenjCano2020 💯🤝
Well, I'm not condoning and saying that was the best way to handle it, but at the same time...the kid had it coming and sometimes I think that's what a bully needs. I think mom knew that too. Like he had reached his breaking point and why punish him for what somebody else started.
It's wild to watch this as a kid and relate to Ralph, and now I've got a son of my own, and I relate so very, very completely to the dad at the end when he's watching Ralph unwrap the rifle. It'll sound sappy as hell, but there's nothing quite like watching the joy on your kid's face when they get a present you know they so badly wanted.
The Leg Lamp is so ingrained into American Christmas that it shocked me that neither of you recognized it at all. I had a nightlight in the bathroom of my first apartment, people had life-sized ones in their front windows, I’ve even seen it as a tattoo! Great reaction!
there is a house across the street from my church with a leg lamp in the front window all year.
American Christmas. They are British.
@@Music_Lover26 I know you think you’re smart. Is this better?: “as an American, that leg lamp is everywhere. I was surprised you didn’t recognize it too. Guess it’s not a British thing, huh?”
Is that better? You feel righteous about your YT policing? Get bent
My dad did the same thing when I wanted the GI Joe Mummy set, with a mummy sarcophagus, winch & archeological tools. After we’d opened all our presents, he did the “Hey, what is that, behind the couch?” thing & there it was, in all its mummy splendor. I immediately took it out, buried it in the snowy sandbox & ‘excavated’ it. It was a great Christmas!
I had GI Joe's tank/vehicle.
I had that!
Got the helicopter and golden idol for Christmas!
The Trouble Shooter was my main G.I. Joe gift one year.
Having grown up in the northern mid-west of the US around the depicted time period, I can attest to how really close to reality this film ACTUALLY is. Hilarious, but dang near a documentary on how Christmas in the mid-west was at that time. One of my favorite films! The father (Darren McGavin) is terrifically funny in this.
Favorite moment of the reaction: when Ralphie is reading the message “Be sure to drink your Ovaltine”, both your heads cocked to the right at the same time in perfect unison. Lovely moment.
As many said below, TBS runs this 24 hours every year. Both myself and my parents have cut the cord on cable, but watching A Christmas Story may be the biggest things we miss around this time of year. There's just something relaxing and cathartic about it. It's like the finish line to the hectic side of the holiday season.
Reasonable scores. I personally would rate it higher like a 9. It's a Christmas staple and I identify with it having lived in the North East of the U.S. with vast amounts of snow and childhood activities that came along with that life. The film is a bit of a time capsule that provides insight into a world before the internet of which I grew up in. Overall, I love the movie and the actors in it who starred in some good movies and TV shows. Thanks for the video! You get a thumbs up. 😊👍
Describing this film as a comfort movie is exactly right! I grew up watching this every year as it’s one of my dad’s favorites. The subtle comedy is so silly and perfect. I watch this every year without fail. Happy Holidays!! 🎄
I saw this as a child in the 80s & loved it. To this day, it's a must-see each year. Part of the nostalgia for me, is remembering the family time we had as we watched it & the feeling of the magic of Christmas as a whole. My dad passed away when I was 18, so the memories of him laughing at it are very treasured.
The kid who played Ralphie has gone on to become a successful movie producer and director, he was an executive producer on the movie Iron Man and he directed the movie couples retreat. He has a cameo in the movie Elf as one of the elf’s, he wears a red outfit with six white puffs on his jackets.
I think he also makes a cameo when he was one of the producers on Iron Man. I think he was one of the lab assistants to the bad guy(Jeff Bridges) in that movie. I could be misremembering though.
@@ReasonableRam He is indeed one of the lab assistants who Jeff Bridges goes off on about how they can't miniaturize the arc reactor like Tony Stark did. He shows up again in Spider Man Far From Home too.
He’s in Spider man Far from home as well.
It's the nostalgic telling of a boy and his best Christmas with his air rifle. I love everything about this movie.
This movie literally runs in a loop for 24 hours straight on at least 2 different channels from midnight before Christmas to midnight after Christmas annually in the U.S. It pretty much is America's go-to background film. It's really hard to grow up here without seeing quite a bit of it. It'll be fun to watch you guys react.
This and The Princess Bride hold similar places in my heart. They’re both heartwarming stories that we see through a child’s eyes. I think they both do a terrific job of conveying the wonder that makes childhood so special. With all of the cartoonish exaggerated emotion that you rarely feel once you’re an adult.
When Ralph beats up Scut, the yelping noises the bully makes always make me laugh.
I love that it's not afraid to show the negatives and hurdles in life during Christmas, with the dinner being ruined and shooting his eye out. It all turned into a memorable Christmas
Director Bob Clark is actually the neighbor out in the street asking the Dad about the lamp in the window.
I liked what you said about it being a comfort film that would be playing in the background. For the generation that grew up in the 80s this is THE Christmas movie. There are some channels in the US that on Christmas Day play 24 hours of A Christmas Story.
This movie was buried the year it came out and was in and out of theaters so fast. It didn't make a dime then...however, once it made it's way to VHS rentals it all of a sudden became a massive rental hit. Then, made it's way to cable tv, network and that's when it continued it's high popularity and has become a common and much anticipated broadcast each year, beginning the day after Thanksgiving and up to after the New Year.
I think it's because this movie is one of my Dad's favorites that it became part of my childhood, despite not being an 80's kid.
Such a great one, it feels like real events recalled by an adult when he was a child around Christmas. I love this movie
Just noticed Popcorn In Bed playing during the intro in the background. Awesome to see you guys supporting another one of my favorite channels!
The leg lamp is iconic. Many, many people have a replica that they display at Christmas in their own homes.
This is probably the best Christmas movie ever made. I think it perfectly captures the feeling of Christmas time when you're a child. Nostalgias overload.
This movie is always playing at our house during Christmas ever since I was a kid and it is such a classic.
The way they did the tongue to the pole scene was that they had the actor stick his tongue over a little hole that was on the plastic pole and there was a motor that was hidden under the snow that created a vacuum that gently held his tongue to the pole to make it look like it was really frozen on there.
You guys have a wonderful holiday. :)
00:38, is that Popcorn In Bed!? Lol! Love her! She's the biggest scaredy cat I've ever seen! Shes a bigger coward than anyone else here.
Yes
Yes she is, annoyingly lol.
Cowards run from their fears, brave people face them. Cassie has her fears but still watches the films despite them.
@@lawrencewestby9229 Yes of course she does, she gotta keep the channel thriving. ✅ Whichever movie wins the poll. People like seeing reactors scared lol. Hence popcorn's horror reactions.
Every time the dad leans up and asks "Whats that?" i tear up that moment hits me so hard. My dad did that to me when Harry potter came out on ps2 he pretended he didnt get it until we opened everything else. definitely my favorite Christmas memory, im so glad you guys watched this
I love how Popcorn in Bed is playing in the intro lol
" A MAJOR award" to both of you for watching A Christmas Story. While the story is set in Hammond, Indiana, the exterior & interior department store scenes were filmed in Cleveland, Ohio (my home town & state) at Higbee's Dept. store (shopped there from childhood to my late 20's, so the film hits me at several levels of nostalgia) and the exterior scenes of the Parker's home was filmed at one of Cleveland's near west side neighborhoods. And remember, if it says "FRA-GEE-LAY" it must be Italian!!! 😂 Merry Christmas.🎅🎄🎁
an 80's movie looking back a few decades - it's amazing the movie holds up at all, but it is, and remains, my favorite christmas movie of all time. it's like a meal you've fallen in love with, or a smell that takes you back somewhere, so you nail it with the 'comfort film' analysis. the pacing, the script, the acting, is all just cartoonish enough to be like a living comic strip (like family circus) or something. and as others have said, this absolutely captures the thoughts and feelings of a kid. utterly unique. a classic.
This is so cool that you did this one. It's so ingrained in a lot of us from the U.S. that grew up in the 80's. I finally convinced my dad to watch it with me a few years ago, and my dad was a very serious type of guy; all business, as they say. He grew up in the fifties, and out of the corner of my eye, I could see that it took him back to his childhood, and I got a fairly rare hug and kiss from him that day. Thanks, guys!
This is a classic. You can watch it and rewatch it and it just adds to the Christmas coziness. The kid isn’t perfect, the family isn’t perfect, but altogether it’s perfect.
In America, the TNT network for many years has run this movie 24/7 on Christmas Eve and Christmas day. It's great to have on in the background while you're doing your family events because it is so easy to jump into the middle of the movie and still find enjoyment. This is partially due to the structure of the source material, which was a collection of short stories by Jean Shepard, who also narrated this movie. There is the major through line of Ralphie wanting to get the Red Ryder BB Gun, but outside of that pretty much every scene can be watched as a little vignette.
Melinda’s-mom-reaction was genuine with the duck. Everyone knew but her it was being served whole lol. Loved this movie since it came out and keep it on TBS, cable channel here in the US, for the full 24 hrs every year ❤️
Great reaction guys! Bob Clark (the director of this and Black Christmas) also wrote & directed "Porky's" which was almost like an early "American Pie" style movie. His movies were hit or miss but he was a good man. I had the good fortune to have met him a few times and watch him direct a tv movie in Canada back in 1999. Sadly he passed away with his son who was 22 at the time when they were hit by a drunk driver. R.I.P. Bob & Ariel. Thanks for the reaction and Merry Christmas!
I thought another good film by Bob Clark was the Sherlock Holmes/Jack The Ripper thriller, "Murder By Decree" ('79) starring Christopher Plummer, James Mason, Donald Sutherland, Susan Clark, Genevieve Bujold .
@@goodowner5000 I'll have to check that one out. I have only seen a handful of his movies. Thanks.
Shout out to his movie DEATH DREAM. a retelling of The Monkey's Paw.
Speaking of death, R.I.P. Bob Clark. Ralphie (Peter Billingsley) was really good in the '80s slasher Death Valley (1982) as well.
I think it grows on you. It is decisively funny. You laugh at such a variety of jokes that overall it seems just ok. But the more you watch the more you appreciate some of the small stuff. The transition from Randy lifting the toisear to the red cabbage is just one example.
I remember stumbling on this film in the mid-80’s. Loved it because it wasn’t the typical Christmas movie. Funny, slightly edgy (for its time,) and heartwarming.
Thanks, Shaun! Thanks, Tom! ❄ My younger brother (who passed away a few months ago) and mother absolutely loved this one. I was late to the party, but I love it, too!
We’re sorry for your loss, we hope you could at least put a smile on your face during the time you watched this video
You both always make me smile. 🌺
heavily narrated, yes, by the author of the novel!
What a great way to usher in the Holidays. This was probably the best of the year. Congratulations 👏
its just such a grounded, realistic look at a family christmas. it never gets old
I love these intros, and giving subtle shout-outs to other reactors! Cassie @ Popcorn in Bed is another good one! And thank you, guys. I've been following along with you for over a year now, and have enjoyed our content! Happy Christmas!
It’s delightful to see a video of Cassie from ‘Popcorn In Bed’ playing behind you in the opening to this review❗It would be WONDERFUL to see about 10 of the most interesting Reviewers linked up together, or better yet all together in the same room, all reacting to the same movie at the same time‼ It would be most entertaining to see the both of you reacting with Cassie and her Sister, Ashleigh Burton, Mary Cherry, Cinebinge, It’s Mr. Video, OGBojangles, and others……an All-Star Reviewing Team Party. With a Live Chat, of course. This is my Christmas Wish. 🍸
Well you covered all the reactors I watch...except Brandon.
This is a classic Christmas movie in the US! I’m pretty sure the house is now a museum that you can go through and see it as it was in the movie. I always loved the “oh fuuuuuudge! Only I didn’t say ‘fudge’.” moment 😜
The mother in this movie has such an uncanny resemblance to my own mother- not just the way she looks, but the way she speaks and acts- that it’s become a joke among the entire extended family anytime this movie is on during the holidays. “Oh, there’s Aunt Sherry again.”
This movie is absolutely beloved in the US - Christmas Eve at 8pm through Christmas Day at 8pm it runs back to back nonstop on TV. Everyone watches it at least once. Most people put it on during parties/gatherings & just leave it on. It's a charming, funny bit of Americana. I happen to live in Cleveland, Ohio, where the film was made. EVERYONE here has a Leg Lamp, or something with a Leg Lamp on it (keychains, light strings, nightlights, t-shirts, pint glasses), and the house is a museum that people all over the US buy tickets for a lottery to stay overnight in. Even before I moved here, every time you'd see "Fragile" on something, someone was BOUND to say "frah-JEE-lee". WalMart always has Red Ryder BB guns for the Black Friday special, and they sell out almost instantly. I gave one to my boss last year, and everyone at the party starting the schpiel Ralphie gives describing it. The bunny suit is sold as pyjamas and sells out (my hub has one LOL). One of the funniest things is that, being Jewish, "Chinese and a Movie" is a tradition for Christmas Day - this movie helped make eating Chinese on Christmas a tradition even amongst non-Jews. Sorry if I'm prattling on... so many phrases & images from this movie have become part of American culture. It's quintessential Americana. Great review, fellas! It's neat seeing that while it doesn't strike the same chord in you as it does in Americans, you laughed and enjoyed it. Happy Holidays, dear friends.
This movie is played 24 7 in the states on Christmas Eve and Christmas day.
"Three blocks away, Schwartz was getting his."
Ralphie bears false witness against his friend, just to get the bar of soap out of his mouth for a minute. What a great kid!
I've seen a few houses around Christmas time have that leg lamp up in the window. I love it.
Yes ua-cam.com/video/3w19SAl1OBQ/v-deo.html yes may I ask what name of the movie in video opinion what year is
My father says he was Raphie's age around the time this was set and the thing he wanted most in the world was a Red Rider BB gun. But his mother said no, he'd shoot his eye out!
There's a US TV cable station that plays this movie every two hours all Christmas Eve.
For people who were middle aged when this movie came out, this is the ultimate nostalgic film for their childhood Christmas memories. Especially if they were from the midwest. But it still has a universal appeal and is a staple in most US households at Christmas.
"You'll shoot your eye out!" Lol!! Poor Ralphie! No matter what he does, everyone will say that to him!
Yes ua-cam.com/video/3w19SAl1OBQ/v-deo.html yes may I ask what name of the movie in video opinion what year is
It's a cultural landmark film for the US in particular. It's like the idea of a Dickensian, A Christmas Carol, Christmas, this is the American version of that concept. It's how many in the US (especially those of us in snowbound states) view Christmas.
I saw this for the first time only a few years ago after moving to the US and it's moved into the top 2 spot of my fav Christmas movies!
Thee Narrator, Jean Shepard, was the author relating his own childhood story. He had a radio show in the 60’s where he humorously talked about his childhood. In fact he was hysterically funny with that wry wit of his!
This is shown as a 24 hour marathon on TBS annually and it’s ever the hit. ❤
It is a comfort film here in the states.
I love your channel and this is my FAVORITE Christmas movie! To me it really encapsulates the FEEL of Christmas. All the tradition and it makes me feel so good when I watch it. Thanks for watching and reacting to it! ❤️
Getting an ad for soap during the swear word scene right before the soap in the mouth scene is some cosmic comedy i swear 😂
It seemed like they didn’t like the constant narration but I think that what gives the movie its charm. You get to really understand Ralphie’s state of mind through it all and Jean Shephard had such a great speaking voice.
This is a Christmas tradition in my Midwestern American family. Glad you all enjoyed it as much as I have growing up. You're scores are perfect as well, even when judged through my nostalgic lenses.
The station TNT will start playing this movie at 7:00 PM Christmas Eve and it run through 7:00 PM Christmas night.
I love this film because it always reminds me that being a kid was never as carefree and easy as adults seemed to think but on the other hand, being a kid was still freaking fantastic.
They filmed this movie in Cleveland, Ohio where I’m from and they have a reconstructed house that looks as it did from the time of filming. There’s tours year round and a little museum and gift shop too with props and things from the movie as well. Such a fun place to visit!
"Don't cross the streams!" - Popcorn in Bedtime mashup with Cinema Rules.
I grew up not 30 minutes from where this was filmed. I don't think you two have any idea just how important of a movie this is to Clevelanders.
My father didn’t show much emotion. But one Christmas Day the family was at a relative’s house, and this movie was on TV. This film was set at the time of his childhood. I’ve never heard my dad laugh so much. Great memory…
In the US, the TV networks TBS and TNT broadcast a marathon called "24 hours of A Christmas Story" from Christmas Eve to Christmas Day every year. These networks have been doing this for almost 25 years! It's become a tradition in a lot of American households to have the TV on to catch, at least, one airing. It's maybe not the best Christmas film, but many of us have a deep nostalgic connection to it
"What does Ralphie want for Christmas?" Should be the first question on a U.S. citizenship test.
Popcorn in Bed in the background! Always enjoy you guys watching fellow reactors as well.
Saw this the first time a year or two after it came out on video - 1984? - and my dad, born in 1927, so a little older than Ralphie, but still LOVED it. “Double dog dare was SERIOUS!” He would say. He LAUGHED. Especially the dad cursing and then everyone pretending Ralphie never heard it at home. I say Fra-jee-lay whenever I see fragile on a package thanks to this film. My dad has passed, but this always reminds me of him. 😢. Little notes, the writer, Jean Shepherd, was a brilliant story teller. Also, the food (including Randy not eating and making him eat like a little piggy) was important because it’s during the depression. STILL the movie is timeless in the themes like your mom overdressing you for the snow, the aunt who sends awful clothes, dreaming your parents will be sorry one day for punishing you (mine after a spanking was thinking when I grow up, I will smash their glasses and when they cannot see, they will be sorry for spanking me! Haha.). FINALLY a hardware store in my hometown puts up a leg lamp for a Christmas Story themed display window every year and “the lighting of the leg,” is a big silly get together with hot cocoa, etc...
I was excited to see you watching Cassie's Popcorn in Bed channel in your intro, I love her! You guys are very, very great too of course. Merry Christmas from Arizona, USA.
My neighbor had the leg lamp and puts it up every Christmas
This is very nostalgic film highlighting memorable events of a child from the 50s and really holds true through the 70s. Even kids who grew up in the 80s will find bits they can relate to. It will definitely loose its luster over time as each individual event becomes obsolete. I don't see younger audiences liking this as much as we do now.
I was a kid in the 70s and they still had the Christmas displays in the store windows like in the movie. I don't think stores dressed up their windows as much after the 70s passed. So that part of the movie is one of my favorite scenes.
The guy who wrote the original story also did the narration in the film. He was a pretty famous radio show host in the New York area in the 60s and 70s. Merry Christmas!
I lived in the UK for five years, and this was a film I missed every Christmas season I was there. Of course, you guys get panto every year which I loved as well and now I miss those every year. LOL
P.S. This wasn't adapted from a novel, it was adapted from from an autobiographical short story originally published in Playboy magazine in the 1960's. The screenplay was written by the original author of the story, and he also was the voice of the narrator. The thing, IMO about this movie is that so many kids of my generation and later have grown up with it, so there's an automatic sense of childhood nostalgia (even though most of us were children in the 80's and later, not the 40's) every year when it comes time to view it. Thanks for watching it for us guys. Happy Christmas.
Ehhh, corrections...First, the kid from Toy Story is like this kid. Secondly, and vastly more important, that is not a prize. It is a major award lol.
I didn't appreciate this film as a kid, but as a I grew, I loved it more and more. It views the trials and tribulations of childhood and the holidays through a more mature lens, allowing us a laugh at how massive our problems and needs seemed back then, when all the good stuff (family, love, togetherness) was right there the whole time.
This movie is the best remembrance of what it's like to be a little boy of about age 9, that I've ever seen. An American holiday classic.
FYI, they're not a poor family, but actually solidly middle class. That's what things looked like in the 1940s, including the overloaded outlets as new electric gizmos were being added to houses that had been wired for electricity in the 1920s. The lifestyle of the family is accurate, too. My grandparents nearly fainted laughing at this movie because it was so true to their lived experience.
Btw, the script is actually based on a mix of several short stories by Gene Shepherd, who wrote partially fictionalized autobiographical stories about his youth in the American Midwest. That is his family we're having Christmas with in this story. Scott Farkus and Grover Dill, Schwartz and Flick, were all real people he grew up with. He's considered one of the voices of the American experience. He is the narrator in the movie, and he has a cameo as the bearded man in the department store who tells the boys to get to the end of the line to see Santa.
At least one tv channel will run this on a 24-hour loop over Christmas Day, and we keep it running in the background because it makes the house sound like it did back when the older generation were still alive and we had huge family reunions for Christmas.
In the USA, we have a TV station that runs this movie 24 hours beginning on Christmas Eve and all through Christmas Day. We love it!
The teacher assigns the theme “What I Want for Christmas.” I would’ve given her a sheaf of catalog pages, my mailing address, and a note saying “thank you so much!”
Yes!!! Finally! I love this film. I grew up in the US and I saw this film in a small cinema at a very small mall when I was in preschool. It's strange to think that the director Bob Clark also gave us Black Christmas...and of course Porky's.
This story was written by Jean Shepherd (Sp?), an American humorist. There is a sequel to this when Ralphie was in high school, from the viewpoint of a high schooler. He had a radio show and also a 1/2 hour show on public television called Jean Shepherd's America. All his stories were taken from his life and travels. One of the funniest was a story he told about a family buying a house from Sears Roebuck (that once was a thing), and all the men got together to build it. Unfortunately they all got drunk and mixed up the house parts. I'll never forget some of his stories.
This is my Christmas movie. All day Christmas Eve I watch this and quote it. It’s a classic!
For many years they used to play this on cable 24 hours a day. My mother always said this was the most authentic accurate Christmas movie that she had ever saw. Like all the details were covered for the 1940s. I believe that house is now a museum in Michigan.
Love that Popcorninbed is in the background ! This is my Favourite Christmas Movie
This movie is an absolute classic here in America. Everyone loves it.
The narrator was Gene Shepherd, a legendary late night radio monologist. In his broadcasts he'd do these long stream of consciousness radio monologues in that very voice with those same nuances. The movie's nostalgia for me is nostalgia for his old radio broadcasts.
Jean Shepherd read his semi-autobiography on a radio show. Some time later it was optioned as a film. He wrote the screenplay. I quite like Shaun’s Jurassic Park jumper. Merry Christmas.
Here in the States, TBS plays this movie on loop all day on Christmas. It's always on as we open presents. It's just part of the day now. 😁
The narrator is Jean Shepherd. He co-wrote the script based upon several of his novels and short stories. He was famous as a storyteller, hosting a national radio show out of New York for decades in which he simply told humorous stories.