My Dad grew up in this era and he would always tell us that growing up he knew someone like every person in this film. Those leather aviator's helmets like the kid in the store was wearing were VERY popular back then. The film was shot in Cleveland because there are still neighborhoods that look like it's still the 40s and 50s there.
The most important part about the scene where Ralphie gets his BB gun isn’t actually Ralphie getting it, it’s his father’s reaction watching him. Throughout the entire movie, Ralphie tries as many ways as he can to try and get one, he asks his mum, Santa, even his teacher… but never his father. His relationship with his dad is incredibly strained, motivated by some degree of fear from an emotionally distant father on Ralphie’s part, which is probably because the dad is so stressed from feeling like he isn’t properly providing for his family due to their financial struggles. But whatever the case, it means that Ralphie thinks his dad would never get him the gift he wants. So the fact that he was listening to him right from the start is endearing enough but what’s even more clear in the scene is that he isn’t just doing something nice for his son, he’s reliving his own childhood. He instructs Ralphie on how to use the gun with a tenderness and joy we haven’t yet properly seen from him, arguably because he’s remembering when his father gave him his first BB gun too. Watching it from his perspective primarily is what makes it an absolutely perfect scene.
the movie is less about the bb gun, but about his memory of that christmas where hes old enough to see his parents in a different light, his perception and characterization of his mother and father change over the course of the movie, and they are more multi-dimensional characters at the end of the film than they were at the beginning. thats why this particular Christmas stands out to him.
@@markdenio4537 Given that the story is being narataed by an older Ralphie and we see the conversation between his Mom and Dad with Dad saying "I had one when I was 8 years old!" I think Ralphie figured it out later in life. As someone who had a strained relationship between both my biological father and my step-father I identify with Ralphie on this a lot.
You never believed it when your parents told you, but the best thing you can get for Christmas really is the joy of watching your kids get the thing they really wanted
At the department store, Ralphie's dad says "Did you tell him what you wanted for Christmas? Did he ask you if you'd been a good boy all year? Don't worry, he knows. He always knows...."
Absolute classic for Gen Xers. It wasn't written for us. It was written for our parents who were kids in the 1950s, but it was THE Christmas movie of the 1980s.
28:04 Melinda Dillon's reaction to the duck is always memorable to me. The Chinese restaurant staff singing was also not scripted either. Everyones reactions are genuine. Personal fun fact: I am asian and my first Christmas at my in-laws, we watched this movie. When the end scene came on, my in-laws fell silent because they thought it was a scene I would not like. It's actually one of my favorite scenes and I always enjoy it. 😂❤😂❤
I have a feeling she didn't know they were going to just chop it off. It was probably scripted for them to just cut it off. If not, she should have gotten a special Oscar, just for that reaction.
For that Chinese restaurant scene, the only people who knew what was going to happen were the director Bob Clark (who operated the hidden camera), Darren McGavin (who played the dad) and the four Chinese actors that played the wait staff. Melinda Dillon (who played the mom) Peter Billingsley and Ian Patrella (who played Randy) didn't know what would happen and assumed it was a scene rehearsal. This explains their giggling and her genuine screams related to the duck.
It's not as good as the scene where Ralphie finally takes his first shot with his BB Gun, the BB ricochets and he immediately yells out "OMG, I shot my eye out" That's the payoff scene.
Peter Billingsley, who played Ralphie, is in not one but TWO Christmas classics. He’s one of Jon Favreau’s best friends and played the elf supervisor Ming Ming in the movie Elf.
Reactors get the santa claus scene WRONG but at the last minute you got it, (The whole movie is from Ralphie perspective) not just the daydreams that's why he's narrating it. The Santa scene is understandable if you've ever taken a small child to a mall santa they feel like they're being grabbed & taken from the parent & they cry
Ralph’s dad is my favorite character yes he’s grouchy and has a temper but you can see in the mall and when Ralphie gets his BB gun that he loves his son and knows that he’s a good boy and deserved his gift. My favorite scene is with him and his wife sitting together watching the snow fall. A beautiful Christmas movie that I can’t wait to show my kids one day
The made an official sequel a couple of years ago called A Christmas Story Christmas. Most of the original actors reprised their roles. It’s actually not bad.
The house in A Christmas Story was bought and turned into a Museum, where you can go inside and it looks just like the movie, and the writer Jean Shepherd, who narratored the movie was also "The line starts here but ends there" guy in the Santa scene
When I was in elementary school we had a big guy who would terrorize the playground, bullying everyone, and got away with it due to his size. One day we all had enough and cornered him on the monkey-bars, where everyone on the playground surrounded him and called him names until he was bawling his eyes out. He never bullied anyone again ... I'm not sure what happened to him. I wish I did know because, a few years later, I found out that his father abused him at home and that's why he acted out at school. Turns out most bullies are that way because they are being abused or neglected at home and bullying is the only way they've found to feel noticed or strong. I feel sad for bullies but you should still not put up with being bullied or seeing it happen to others.
They deliberately don't say a year for the film but the general consensus is that it takes place in December 1940- "Wizard of Oz" has been released, the toy soldiers in the windows are all First World War designs and they have radios instead of TVs. It's supposed to add to the nostalgic "Good Ol' Days" factor, being the last holiday before America joined the war...
You can spot a December 1939 calendar in the kitchen, but other clues suggest 1940. I think we can safely assume it wasn't 1941, since America became quite different in December of that year.
Love that you're watching this movie!!! I'm in Ohio....about 2 miles where the downtown scenes and Santa Claus scenes were filmed. And about a mile and a half from the house where it was filmed. The house was turned into a museum for the movie.
I've seen the BB gun and glasses in a museum in St Catherines, ON and been to tree lot and bridge (spare tire) in Toronto . Been to the house as well (I love tracking down locations)
I was 8 when this now classic Christmas.🎄comedy was released and seen it countless times since. Fun Fact: In "A Christmas Story" the musical theme for the bully Scut Farkas is "The Wolf" from "Peter and the Wolf." The name Farkas even means wolf in Hungarian.
I used to be afraid of the father in this movie when I was a child watching. But now as an adult, I can appreciate that he is a hard-working breadwinner of the household and also has to fix everything in the house. He doesn't use any harsh words towards his wife or kids unless they start acting up at the dinner table or they break his prize lamp. And if I worked really hard to get that, I would be upset that it was broken too. He's just your Average Joe, American man trying to have it all. And I think he's a little goofy sometimes. And he has a lot of things to stress him out like his kid not eating, the furnace, and the Bumpus's dogs at the end, eating all the Christmas dinner.
It's nice to see people enjoying this movie it's not just an 80's Christmas feeling but a 90's as well. All I have to do is put on this and I'm instantly brought back to my childhood and be in the Christmas spirit even if I don't have the best life
Every year on Christmas Eve this movie plays for 24 hours and we watch it at my grandparents house on Christmas Eve while we have dinner and talk. Still love it after seeing it probably 30 times
I would have loved asking the actors playing the grown-ups how much fun they had on set. Those fantasy sequences are so over the top that it’s amazing!
My family watches this movie every year for Christmas! Me and my mom had our very own Christmas story moment when we moved to a new city and it was just me and her for Christmas and we went to sushi king for Christmas dinner I’ll never forget it!❤
This movie was pure nostalgia for parents that grew up in the 40s. Now it's pure nostalgia for those of us that grew up in the 80s. This is what Christmas feels like when you wake up before your parents, see the gifts lining the tree, and know that this is the best day of your life so far.
@darthroden I got one for Christmas several years ago. My sister got it for me from the Christmas story museum gift shop back when the museum first opened. It came in a box that said "Fragile" on it so I knew immediately what it was.
I love that dad was the one that got him the BB gun. Dad was the disciplinarian, but he still listened to his kids. I might be looking too much into it as I had a strained relationship with my dad, but that really got me.
The leg lamp isn't as arbitrary as people think. It was real and used to advertise for Nehi (get it, knee high) soda company. Even in the TV Show MASH, Radar's favorite drink was Grape Nehi. So the dad filled out a Nehi Soda puzzle to win it.
Fun fact: The actor playing Ralphie is Peter Billingsley. You have seen an older version of him in a Marvel movie. He was in "Iron Man", as bald mustachioed scientist that Jeff Bridges' Obidiah character screams at about not making a fusion reactor like Tony Stark.
The book that this was based on wasn't a single story like a novel, it was a series of "vignettes" (short stories sharing a common setting), fictionalized but based on the author's childhood. They used the rifle story as the common thread, but the turkey, the bully, the tongue stuck to the pole, the leg lamp, and a few other subplots, were all individual vignettes in the book.
I have seen many reactions to this movie, and yours has finally done what I thought impossible- finally gotten me into the Christmas spirit this year! Wonderful reaction! 🎄
"That dad's a bitter individual." I've got news for you, honey. That's the way ALL dad's were up until the 90s. If you're a boomer or gen X, you grew up AFRAID of your dad.
Loved your reaction and totally agree with your feelings about the film. I also love the scene whether the mom & dad are sitting on the couch lit only with the Christmas tree lights and find it very beautiful. Absolutely one of my favorite movies, Christmas or otherwise. Very nostalgic and really exemplifies a more typical, more modern Christmas with its commercialism yet also focuses on the bonds among this family. Also love the language in the narration which includes great lines like the oxymoron of a "yearly bacchanalia of peace on earth and good will to men." Like that line, I find the film to be a very funny and somewhat satirical yet with a lot of heart. Have a very Happy Holiday!
Upon initial release, this movie was a flop. Only through time did this movie become a beloved Christmas family classic. Been watching A Christmas Story every year with the family since I was a child and at 27 years old, it still holds up as one of the best Christmas movies ever. So much love in this movie. Plus, it's hilarious; "A crummy commercial? Son of a bitch" is still a popular line my family and I use today, along with countless other pop culture movie lines.
It was decades before I realized that Melinda Dillon in this movie was also Barry's mom in Close Encounters of the Third Kind...even though I grew up with both movies and saw them loads of times.
The reason they are plugging everything into the same outlet is that back in those days, they only had one outlet per room. I guess they didn’t figure that we would have so many things that need electricity in the future. In fact, the plug and socket wasn’t invented until 1904. Before that, everything had to be hardwired into the walls of the house. Buying a lamp would require a trained electrician.
can we explore the fact that Ralphy is an incredible shot? In order for a shot to bounce back and hit him exactly where he is standing while aiming at the bullseye is just amazing. Just common geometry
I was 4 or 5 when my parents showed me this, I loved it but I barely understood what was going on. I had no idea what ovaltine was or what word Ralphie said, but I could relate to it because I knew what it was like to be a kid and I could see myself doing the things that Ralphie and Randy did if I were in their shoes. Now it's soooo different watching it as an adult, but I still love it! Also, I later got the soap in the mouth punishment too, but not for swearing. Ah, childhood memories
I grew up in the 1980s and 90s, so to my mind that era is the "norm". When I was 3 years old, my family lived in Rapid City, South Dakota (or "Rabbit City", as 3-year-old me thought it was called, since our neighbors had a pet rabbit in an outdoor hutch, which I was utterly fascinated by). The winter we were there was cold and very snowy. I had two full-body snowsuits, one bright red and the other bright blue, both similar to the one Ralphie's little brother wore in the movie (which was released only a couple of years before my year in South Dakota). I loved running around outside in one of my snowsuits, sledding down the hill in our back yard, building a snowman (which was actually more of a snow pile with a face on the top and decorated with a spare winter hat and pair of sunglasses) and "helping" my mom shovel snow off the driveway with my 3-year-old sized snowshovel, which was fully functional, but limited in use by its size and the size, strength and nonexistent skill level of the one using it!
That move the dad pulled at the end of the movie on christmas day where he made Ralphie think he opened up all his presents and then pointed out a hidden one behind the desk? Thats the same fucking move my dad pulled on me when I was a kid and he'd gotten me a ps2. Only he hid that one under the couch. I didn't realize he'd gotten that move from this movie until i was a teen. this movie iss a christmas classic thats on rotation at christmas time every year with my family.
This movie is a tradition to watch for me and my family, we always catch it on Christmas Eve. The scene where Ralphie's Dad gives the gift reminds me so much of my Dad, I would ALWAYS ask my Mom and write to Santa for the one gift that I absolutely wanted, except when I'd ask my Dad he'd turn me down immediately, like 'forget it' then came Christmas and the one thing I asked for would be there under the tree from him/'Santa'. It's going to be my 2nd Christmas without him, but this movie hits so much different now since like the Dad in the movie and my own Dad now I'm put in the position he was in and doing everything to make this holiday special for my little guys. Happy Holidays everybody!
The house used for the exterior shots is still standing. It was bought by a fan of this movie, remodeled to look both inside and out like it did in the movie, and is a museum dedicated to the movie. Its located in Cleveland, ohio.
I've seen this movie dozens of times, as it has been marathon played (back to back) every year for several years. But watching this movie through your eyes, was like me watching it for the first time. It brought tears to my eyes, but I had tissues next to me, so I'm all good. Thank you for sharing.
Has V watched It’s A Wonderful Life? I watched it for the first time this year (I sort of felt like I had seen it already just from pop cultural osmosis) and it blew me away. It totally deserves its status as a classic.
This movie was very nostalgic for the Silent generation and Boomers as it was set in 1939. It was a sleeper hit when it came out and soon after there were reproductions of the bubble lights and small versions of the leg lamp.
I never watched A Christmas Story when it came out but its been on repeat every Christmas Day on a US network and always on at my niece and nephew in-law’s. He has a leg lamp. It was filmed in Cleveland and the house is now a museum to the movie! PS: we lived in the country and I had a BB gun. Probably 10 or 12 when I got it.
This is narrated by the author Jean Shepherd, who also wrote this screenplay, and has a cameo in the line waiting for Santa telling him to go to the back of the line. He was from my father's generation, born in the '20s. His classic book IN GOD WE TRUST: ALL OTHERS PAY CASH is hilarious. To this day, I like to read boxes with the single word FRAGILE' with an Italian accent, and add "It must be from Italy". I had a Daisy BB gun, for my 2nd grade Christmas - and learned basic marksmanship from the operator's manual. It served me well, as I qualified as "Expert" on the three different weapons I qualified on in the US Armed Forces.
The animated movie "Hoodwinked" from the early 2000s referenced the "Fra-jee-lay" scene from a Christmas Story by having one of the characters read a dynamite crate as "Dee-na-me-tay? Must be Italian!"
I saw this at the theater and I loved it instantly. Although, I don't think the ten other people there had the same feelings. A Christmas Story was a box office flop. But the old-timey post WWII, small town Christmas vibe is so beautiful. The keen and dry-witted narration by Jean Shepherd, the writer of the movie, is fantastic. The comically ridiculous Ralphie fantasy vignettes are brilliant. Everybody having the same answer, "You'll shoot your eye out", to Ralphie wanting the Red Ryder BB gun is perfection. The Bumpuses and their dogs, well, everybody has that neighbor it seems. The parents doing the best they can for their family in their own weird way is heartwarming. A Christmas Story is always in my yearly holiday movie rotation.
Dont let Flick's tongue on the flagpole stress you out. They used a small tube about the size of a straw with suction to hold his tongue there. BTW, the flagpole was on location at the Victoria School in St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada.
If I recall correctly, they drilled a hole in the flagpole to insert the suction mechanism. I’m curious to know if the hole, or signs of it, are still there. I hope the flagpole still is.
The Christmas film so iconic, it's played on a 24 hour loop all day on Christmas Day. It was also last year's target for "the War on Christmas" because someone complained about the ending scene at the Chinese restaurant. In regards to a BB gun, my brother and I both got one when we were 5 and 4 respectively. Course, we were living in Mississippi.
**The flag pole scene… The pole was hollow and they hooked a vacuum to it creating suction. They cut a hole in it just big enough for the tip of Flick’s tongue to get sucked into the hole. Wah-lah! His tongue was unharmed during the filming
A true classic. There was a sequel a few years ago with a grown up Ralphie taking the reigns for Christmas. Not as much of a classic , but still worth a watch. Happy holidays !
The moment where Ralphie is hit in the face with the snowball wasn't scripted. He was supposed to get hit in the chest but was accidentally hit in the face. His tears are genuine.
One of the aspects I adore in the movie is knowing that all the actors in Ralphie's imagination scenes actually dressed up in those outlandish costumes and acted out the scenes in real life! The mom's actress got to be a cowgirl in the "Hero Ralphie with his Red Rider" scene and a jester in the scene with the teacher, and the teacher got to be that "Victorian glamor" version of herself and a wicked witch! I was (and still am) an extreme daydreamer, and would get in trouble for it in school occasionally, though my daydreams were never QUITE as detailed as Ralphie's. In my defense, my daydreams didn't stop me from excelling at school in the academic sense, though I was a complete outcast there socially...
The extension cord hazard brings back memories. Older homes were built either before electricity, or before today’s technology so the electrical utility was always substandard. When you’re buying an old house, that’s generally the first consideration because upgrading can be expensive and messy.
I didn't grow up in the 40s, but swap out the radio for TV and my childhood didn't feel all that much different than this. So, for me, this hits so many nostalgia points. Every year TBS does its 24-hour marathon, my TV doesn't change channels the whole day.
This is such a classic yearly watch me 21:42 The guy telling Raphie to go to the back of the line is Jean Shepherd, creator of these stories and narrator of the movie
I probably watched this movie, every Christmas day for 15+ years. I got to the point I refuse to watch it anymore, I could almost say each line. I do still love it.
I have been watching this since it originally came to cable back in the day, and now for yhe first time I'm wondering, where did Ralphie get the gift basket for Ms. Shields?
I watched "A Christmas Story" and its 2022 legacy sequel for the first time two days ago, and both of those movies are funny and relatable from beginning to end. A lot of people know that "A Christmas Story" was directed by Bob Clark, best known for directing the original 1974 Christmas slasher "Black Christmas". What a nice contrast that Clark made back in the day before he made a lot of stinkers after "A Christmas Story". Also, apart from its funny moments that really made me laugh, the part where little Ralphie beat the living hell out of Scut Farkus also made me cry. Happy holidays!🎄🎁🎅🏻
12:12 I think this part. The wife’s face when he wants to put in the window is my favorite part as an adult. As I kid I think I liked his play to cover up his almost shooting his eye out. But as an adult… the leg. Hilarious. And then when it gets damaged you know she was dancing inside
It feels so foreign to me that someone doesn’t know this movie. I’m a 80’s kid. And they showed this in school. Ever year, just before every Christmas break,… every year. Till I was out of high school.
He was probably joking. He also said that he never saw anyone's parents fight they way they do in Tennessee Williams, and that this was more typical of the kind of conflicts his parents had.
@gastronomist No, he told all his reasoning to Quentin Schultze, who wrote an entire book about it, after teaching a class with Jean for three years. Shepherd's own Dad left the family suddenly for a "trophy wife". There are quite a few other allegories, including the furnace being in hell.
I happened to see this for the first time when I was young enough to not quite understand the imagination sequences. His teacher as a witch for "C+" and her and the mom taunting "You'll shoot your eye out!" bit gave me nightmares. One of my favorite Christmas movies now.
I am so hyped she reviewed this movie. It's old, yeah BUT I am old and have great memories about this for decades with my family. It's a treat to see Vkunia watch this for the first time!
21:39 - The guy who says "The line ends here. It beings there!" is Jean Shepherd, the narrator and the original author of the stories that the movie is based on.
I think the most beloved thing about this film is also the most underrated which is the lamp. More the idea and they came up with it. Like you're tasked to think of a gift say and it has to be something you receive and your greatest fear is that anyone sees that you own it. They thought of the quintessential fugliest thing imaginable. And I studied their designs recently for a 3d model request some made for this thing and still trying to imagine the creative process that ended up there. And then on to the rest of the well thought details in this film that just really have made it stand out from all holiday movies over the ages. Applaud the imagination at work here.
I’m 2021, my family and I took a trip where we actually got to visit Ralphie’s house on Cleveland Street! And the whole house was set up like a museum with costumes and props on display! And for Christmas that same year a bought my dad the Red Ryder air rifle! Btw, no.. he didn’t shoot his eye out… not yet anyway lol
The one person he didn't ask for the gun, his dad, is the one person who came through for him
"Randy lay there like a slug. It was his only defense" is my favorite line of the entire movie😂😂
Randy laying there motionless was laughter inducing enough but the line on top of that makes that moment perfectly hilarious.
That line and the "yellow eyes" line are my favorites.
Gotta admit, the costume design team worked overtime on Randy and Scott Farkas designs. Chef’s kiss!
"Scut Farkas? There's no way that's a real person." "No, he looks like a Scut Farkas...that's exactly what he looks like." 🤣
My Dad grew up in this era and he would always tell us that growing up he knew someone like every person in this film. Those leather aviator's helmets like the kid in the store was wearing were VERY popular back then. The film was shot in Cleveland because there are still neighborhoods that look like it's still the 40s and 50s there.
The most important part about the scene where Ralphie gets his BB gun isn’t actually Ralphie getting it, it’s his father’s reaction watching him.
Throughout the entire movie, Ralphie tries as many ways as he can to try and get one, he asks his mum, Santa, even his teacher… but never his father. His relationship with his dad is incredibly strained, motivated by some degree of fear from an emotionally distant father on Ralphie’s part, which is probably because the dad is so stressed from feeling like he isn’t properly providing for his family due to their financial struggles. But whatever the case, it means that Ralphie thinks his dad would never get him the gift he wants.
So the fact that he was listening to him right from the start is endearing enough but what’s even more clear in the scene is that he isn’t just doing something nice for his son, he’s reliving his own childhood. He instructs Ralphie on how to use the gun with a tenderness and joy we haven’t yet properly seen from him, arguably because he’s remembering when his father gave him his first BB gun too.
Watching it from his perspective primarily is what makes it an absolutely perfect scene.
And that the dad never told the mom he’d bought the rifle.
the movie is less about the bb gun, but about his memory of that christmas where hes old enough to see his parents in a different light, his perception and characterization of his mother and father change over the course of the movie, and they are more multi-dimensional characters at the end of the film than they were at the beginning. thats why this particular Christmas stands out to him.
@@markdenio4537 Given that the story is being narataed by an older Ralphie and we see the conversation between his Mom and Dad with Dad saying "I had one when I was 8 years old!" I think Ralphie figured it out later in life. As someone who had a strained relationship between both my biological father and my step-father I identify with Ralphie on this a lot.
You never believed it when your parents told you, but the best thing you can get for Christmas really is the joy of watching your kids get the thing they really wanted
At the department store, Ralphie's dad says "Did you tell him what you wanted for Christmas? Did he ask you if you'd been a good boy all year? Don't worry, he knows. He always knows...."
The mother was also in a Spielberg movie " Close Encounters Of The Third Kind " & " Harry & The Hendersons "
Absolute classic for Gen Xers. It wasn't written for us. It was written for our parents who were kids in the 1950s, but it was THE Christmas movie of the 1980s.
Yup. I remember they'd show this around the holidays in grade school.
28:04 Melinda Dillon's reaction to the duck is always memorable to me.
The Chinese restaurant staff singing was also not scripted either. Everyones reactions are genuine.
Personal fun fact: I am asian and my first Christmas at my in-laws, we watched this movie. When the end scene came on, my in-laws fell silent because they thought it was a scene I would not like. It's actually one of my favorite scenes and I always enjoy it. 😂❤😂❤
I have a feeling she didn't know they were going to just chop it off. It was probably scripted for them to just cut it off. If not, she should have gotten a special Oscar, just for that reaction.
@@johnmiller7682her and the kids had no idea the duck was coming out. The dad had an idea of it. Everyone’s reactions are genuine
@@PhantomLantern2814 SHE and the kids*
For that Chinese restaurant scene, the only people who knew what was going to happen were the director Bob Clark (who operated the hidden camera), Darren McGavin (who played the dad) and the four Chinese actors that played the wait staff. Melinda Dillon (who played the mom) Peter Billingsley and Ian Patrella (who played Randy) didn't know what would happen and assumed it was a scene rehearsal. This explains their giggling and her genuine screams related to the duck.
My favorite scene is the final shot of the dad and mom looking out of the window to that magnificent snow fall. Just a beautiful shot.
its important because its told from ralphies perspective, hes seeing his parents differently than he did at the beginning of the story
They crated that effect using mashed potato flakes. It does look good and realistic!
It's not as good as the scene where Ralphie finally takes his first shot with his BB Gun, the BB ricochets and he immediately yells out "OMG, I shot my eye out" That's the payoff scene.
That brings me back to the early 1960s when I was a young child.
This movie always screams "Christmas" to me. Simple, non-complicated, and joyful.
Glad you enjoyed
After Ralphie says "ohhhh fudge," there's a quick little shot of his old man where you can tell he's trying not to laugh.
Peter Billingsley, who played Ralphie, is in not one but TWO Christmas classics. He’s one of Jon Favreau’s best friends and played the elf supervisor Ming Ming in the movie Elf.
And the scientist Obadia Stain yelled at it Iron Man, and the same scientist in Spider-man: Far from Home
@@SFNmoobyThe Dude chewed him out. Very un-dude.
@danflashes7125 The Dude abides.
@@danflashes7125 He really took the dressing down from Big Lebowski to heart; it was all downhill after Donnie died...
My Dad loved this movie, we had it on every year... he did the surprise bb gun gift one year and got us each one. Real good memory, RIP Dad
Used to watch this on loop everyday on tbs. Never got tired of it for some reason. "You'll shoot your eye out kid" was always quoted in my house.
Reactors get the santa claus scene WRONG but at the last minute you got it, (The whole movie is from Ralphie perspective) not just the daydreams that's why he's narrating it. The Santa scene is understandable if you've ever taken a small child to a mall santa they feel like they're being grabbed & taken from the parent & they cry
Ralph’s dad is my favorite character yes he’s grouchy and has a temper but you can see in the mall and when Ralphie gets his BB gun that he loves his son and knows that he’s a good boy and deserved his gift. My favorite scene is with him and his wife sitting together watching the snow fall. A beautiful Christmas movie that I can’t wait to show my kids one day
The made an official sequel a couple of years ago called A Christmas Story Christmas. Most of the original actors reprised their roles. It’s actually not bad.
The house in A Christmas Story was bought and turned into a Museum, where you can go inside and it looks just like the movie, and the writer Jean Shepherd, who narratored the movie was also "The line starts here but ends there" guy in the Santa scene
When I was in elementary school we had a big guy who would terrorize the playground, bullying everyone, and got away with it due to his size. One day we all had enough and cornered him on the monkey-bars, where everyone on the playground surrounded him and called him names until he was bawling his eyes out. He never bullied anyone again ... I'm not sure what happened to him. I wish I did know because, a few years later, I found out that his father abused him at home and that's why he acted out at school.
Turns out most bullies are that way because they are being abused or neglected at home and bullying is the only way they've found to feel noticed or strong. I feel sad for bullies but you should still not put up with being bullied or seeing it happen to others.
They deliberately don't say a year for the film but the general consensus is that it takes place in December 1940- "Wizard of Oz" has been released, the toy soldiers in the windows are all First World War designs and they have radios instead of TVs. It's supposed to add to the nostalgic "Good Ol' Days" factor, being the last holiday before America joined the war...
It opens in late Fall 1939 and ends on Christmas, so we go from November through December.
Another clue about timeline is they are listening to the radio series of Little Orphan Annie which ran roughly from 1930 until 1942.
You can spot a December 1939 calendar in the kitchen, but other clues suggest 1940. I think we can safely assume it wasn't 1941, since America became quite different in December of that year.
Love that you're watching this movie!!! I'm in Ohio....about 2 miles where the downtown scenes and Santa Claus scenes were filmed. And about a mile and a half from the house where it was filmed. The house was turned into a museum for the movie.
I've seen the BB gun and glasses in a museum in St Catherines, ON and been to tree lot and bridge (spare tire) in Toronto . Been to the house as well (I love tracking down locations)
I was 8 when this now classic Christmas.🎄comedy was released and seen it countless times since. Fun Fact:
In "A Christmas Story" the musical theme for the bully Scut Farkas is "The Wolf" from "Peter and the Wolf." The name Farkas even means wolf in Hungarian.
To this day I still pronounce it "FRA-GI-LEY" followed by "It must be Italian"
😆 Ditto! I was going to say this.
I used to be afraid of the father in this movie when I was a child watching. But now as an adult, I can appreciate that he is a hard-working breadwinner of the household and also has to fix everything in the house. He doesn't use any harsh words towards his wife or kids unless they start acting up at the dinner table or they break his prize lamp. And if I worked really hard to get that, I would be upset that it was broken too. He's just your Average Joe, American man trying to have it all. And I think he's a little goofy sometimes. And he has a lot of things to stress him out like his kid not eating, the furnace, and the Bumpus's dogs at the end, eating all the Christmas dinner.
It's nice to see people enjoying this movie it's not just an 80's Christmas feeling but a 90's as well. All I have to do is put on this and I'm instantly brought back to my childhood and be in the Christmas spirit even if I don't have the best life
Every year on Christmas Eve this movie plays for 24 hours and we watch it at my grandparents house on Christmas Eve while we have dinner and talk. Still love it after seeing it probably 30 times
I would have loved asking the actors playing the grown-ups how much fun they had on set. Those fantasy sequences are so over the top that it’s amazing!
My family watches this movie every year for Christmas!
Me and my mom had our very own Christmas story moment when we moved to a new city and it was just me and her for Christmas and we went to sushi king for Christmas dinner I’ll never forget it!❤
This movie was pure nostalgia for parents that grew up in the 40s. Now it's pure nostalgia for those of us that grew up in the 80s. This is what Christmas feels like when you wake up before your parents, see the gifts lining the tree, and know that this is the best day of your life so far.
Fun fact: I actually have that Leg Lamp and put it in my front window the week before Christmas every year.
My hero!
How's that a 'fun fact'. That's just some personal anecdote. It tells her nothing about the movie.
@@gastronomist lmfao right. fun fact: my family and I occasionally quote this movie...and others also!
@darthroden I got one for Christmas several years ago. My sister got it for me from the Christmas story museum gift shop back when the museum first opened. It came in a box that said "Fragile" on it so I knew immediately what it was.
It's a Major reward! Ya nincompoop
I love that dad was the one that got him the BB gun. Dad was the disciplinarian, but he still listened to his kids. I might be looking too much into it as I had a strained relationship with my dad, but that really got me.
The leg lamp isn't as arbitrary as people think. It was real and used to advertise for Nehi (get it, knee high) soda company. Even in the TV Show MASH, Radar's favorite drink was Grape Nehi. So the dad filled out a Nehi Soda puzzle to win it.
In Christmas Story 2, Ralphie buys his dad a replacement.
Fun fact: The actor playing Ralphie is Peter Billingsley. You have seen an older version of him in a Marvel movie. He was in "Iron Man", as bald mustachioed scientist that Jeff Bridges' Obidiah character screams at about not making a fusion reactor like Tony Stark.
And in "Spider-Man Far From Home."
And in Elf playing an...elf.
Before he was Ralphie, most of us knew him as "Messy Marvin" from the Hershey's Chocolate Syrup commercials.
"Tony Stark was able to build this IN A CAVE!" 😂
@@seattlecryptidWITH A BOX OF SCRAPS!!
The book that this was based on wasn't a single story like a novel, it was a series of "vignettes" (short stories sharing a common setting), fictionalized but based on the author's childhood. They used the rifle story as the common thread, but the turkey, the bully, the tongue stuck to the pole, the leg lamp, and a few other subplots, were all individual vignettes in the book.
And the author made a cameo as the guy telling Ralphie to get in line for Santa.
I have seen many reactions to this movie, and yours has finally done what I thought impossible- finally gotten me into the Christmas spirit this year! Wonderful reaction! 🎄
Ralphie’s berserker rage is the highlight for me.
I remember counting the days till christmas, now as adult (with no kids) it sneaks up on you
A furnace fighter is one who fights furnaces.
And not for the faint of heart
You look just like Daphne from Scooby Doo
By the by, the theme it plays for Scut Farkas is the Wolf's theme from Peter and the Wolf.
"That dad's a bitter individual." I've got news for you, honey. That's the way ALL dad's were up until the 90s. If you're a boomer or gen X, you grew up AFRAID of your dad.
Loved your reaction and totally agree with your feelings about the film. I also love the scene whether the mom & dad are sitting on the couch lit only with the Christmas tree lights and find it very beautiful. Absolutely one of my favorite movies, Christmas or otherwise. Very nostalgic and really exemplifies a more typical, more modern Christmas with its commercialism yet also focuses on the bonds among this family. Also love the language in the narration which includes great lines like the oxymoron of a "yearly bacchanalia of peace on earth and good will to men." Like that line, I find the film to be a very funny and somewhat satirical yet with a lot of heart. Have a very Happy Holiday!
Upon initial release, this movie was a flop. Only through time did this movie become a beloved Christmas family classic. Been watching A Christmas Story every year with the family since I was a child and at 27 years old, it still holds up as one of the best Christmas movies ever. So much love in this movie. Plus, it's hilarious; "A crummy commercial? Son of a bitch" is still a popular line my family and I use today, along with countless other pop culture movie lines.
It was decades before I realized that Melinda Dillon in this movie was also Barry's mom in Close Encounters of the Third Kind...even though I grew up with both movies and saw them loads of times.
The house they used was in Cleveland, OH. They turned it into a museum dedicated to the film.
The reason they are plugging everything into the same outlet is that back in those days, they only had one outlet per room. I guess they didn’t figure that we would have so many things that need electricity in the future.
In fact, the plug and socket wasn’t invented until 1904. Before that, everything had to be hardwired into the walls of the house. Buying a lamp would require a trained electrician.
can we explore the fact that Ralphy is an incredible shot? In order for a shot to bounce back and hit him exactly where he is standing while aiming at the bullseye is just amazing. Just common geometry
I was 4 or 5 when my parents showed me this, I loved it but I barely understood what was going on. I had no idea what ovaltine was or what word Ralphie said, but I could relate to it because I knew what it was like to be a kid and I could see myself doing the things that Ralphie and Randy did if I were in their shoes. Now it's soooo different watching it as an adult, but I still love it!
Also, I later got the soap in the mouth punishment too, but not for swearing. Ah, childhood memories
I grew up in the 1980s and 90s, so to my mind that era is the "norm". When I was 3 years old, my family lived in Rapid City, South Dakota (or "Rabbit City", as 3-year-old me thought it was called, since our neighbors had a pet rabbit in an outdoor hutch, which I was utterly fascinated by). The winter we were there was cold and very snowy. I had two full-body snowsuits, one bright red and the other bright blue, both similar to the one Ralphie's little brother wore in the movie (which was released only a couple of years before my year in South Dakota). I loved running around outside in one of my snowsuits, sledding down the hill in our back yard, building a snowman (which was actually more of a snow pile with a face on the top and decorated with a spare winter hat and pair of sunglasses) and "helping" my mom shovel snow off the driveway with my 3-year-old sized snowshovel, which was fully functional, but limited in use by its size and the size, strength and nonexistent skill level of the one using it!
_21:41__ “The line ends here…” guy is Jean Shepherd, the narrator (older Ralphie) and the author that wrote the original story._
That move the dad pulled at the end of the movie on christmas day where he made Ralphie think he opened up all his presents and then pointed out a hidden one behind the desk? Thats the same fucking move my dad pulled on me when I was a kid and he'd gotten me a ps2. Only he hid that one under the couch. I didn't realize he'd gotten that move from this movie until i was a teen. this movie iss a christmas classic thats on rotation at christmas time every year with my family.
This movie is a tradition to watch for me and my family, we always catch it on Christmas Eve. The scene where Ralphie's Dad gives the gift reminds me so much of my Dad, I would ALWAYS ask my Mom and write to Santa for the one gift that I absolutely wanted, except when I'd ask my Dad he'd turn me down immediately, like 'forget it' then came Christmas and the one thing I asked for would be there under the tree from him/'Santa'.
It's going to be my 2nd Christmas without him, but this movie hits so much different now since like the Dad in the movie and my own Dad now I'm put in the position he was in and doing everything to make this holiday special for my little guys. Happy Holidays everybody!
The house used for the exterior shots is still standing. It was bought by a fan of this movie, remodeled to look both inside and out like it did in the movie, and is a museum dedicated to the movie. Its located in Cleveland, ohio.
I've seen this movie dozens of times, as it has been marathon played (back to back) every year for several years. But watching this movie through your eyes, was like me watching it for the first time. It brought tears to my eyes, but I had tissues next to me, so I'm all good. Thank you for sharing.
Has V watched It’s A Wonderful Life? I watched it for the first time this year (I sort of felt like I had seen it already just from pop cultural osmosis) and it blew me away. It totally deserves its status as a classic.
This movie was very nostalgic for the Silent generation and Boomers as it was set in 1939. It was a sleeper hit when it came out and soon after there were reproductions of the bubble lights and small versions of the leg lamp.
I never watched A Christmas Story when it came out but its been on repeat every Christmas Day on a US network and always on at my niece and nephew in-law’s. He has a leg lamp. It was filmed in Cleveland and the house is now a museum to the movie! PS: we lived in the country and I had a BB gun. Probably 10 or 12 when I got it.
This is narrated by the author Jean Shepherd, who also wrote this screenplay, and has a cameo in the line waiting for Santa telling him to go to the back of the line. He was from my father's generation, born in the '20s. His classic book IN GOD WE TRUST: ALL OTHERS PAY CASH is hilarious. To this day, I like to read boxes with the single word FRAGILE' with an Italian accent, and add "It must be from Italy". I had a Daisy BB gun, for my 2nd grade Christmas - and learned basic marksmanship from the operator's manual. It served me well, as I qualified as "Expert" on the three different weapons I qualified on in the US Armed Forces.
The animated movie "Hoodwinked" from the early 2000s referenced the "Fra-jee-lay" scene from a Christmas Story by having one of the characters read a dynamite crate as "Dee-na-me-tay? Must be Italian!"
There's white Xmas this year!
12:30 That lamp is now iconic! People have giant Xmas inflatables of that lamp in their front yards 😂
I saw this at the theater and I loved it instantly. Although, I don't think the ten other people there had the same feelings. A Christmas Story was a box office flop. But the old-timey post WWII, small town Christmas vibe is so beautiful. The keen and dry-witted narration by Jean Shepherd, the writer of the movie, is fantastic. The comically ridiculous Ralphie fantasy vignettes are brilliant. Everybody having the same answer, "You'll shoot your eye out", to Ralphie wanting the Red Ryder BB gun is perfection. The Bumpuses and their dogs, well, everybody has that neighbor it seems. The parents doing the best they can for their family in their own weird way is heartwarming. A Christmas Story is always in my yearly holiday movie rotation.
Dont let Flick's tongue on the flagpole stress you out. They used a small tube about the size of a straw with suction to hold his tongue there. BTW, the flagpole was on location at the Victoria School in St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada.
If I recall correctly, they drilled a hole in the flagpole to insert the suction mechanism. I’m curious to know if the hole, or signs of it, are still there. I hope the flagpole still is.
This is the only Christmas movie I like (other than Die Hard). I watch it every year. It’s not Christmas until I see it. Btw…love the red hair ❤
What about Batman Returns and Gundam Wing: Endless Waltz? Those are great Christmas movies, too.
I could watch this reaction over and over again 😊 and you're actually the first person I really want to wish a Merry Christmas to. Merry Christmas! 💕
That sweater really makes her hair pop. Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night.
The Christmas film so iconic, it's played on a 24 hour loop all day on Christmas Day. It was also last year's target for "the War on Christmas" because someone complained about the ending scene at the Chinese restaurant.
In regards to a BB gun, my brother and I both got one when we were 5 and 4 respectively. Course, we were living in Mississippi.
nice. ill watch it on Christmas morning to take my mind off things. appreciate it. like a christmas gift to me. happy holidays.
I still say "Fra-g-ley" every time to this very day.
**The flag pole scene…
The pole was hollow and they hooked a vacuum to it creating suction. They cut a hole in it just big enough for the tip of Flick’s tongue to get sucked into the hole.
Wah-lah!
His tongue was unharmed during the filming
I don't understand how people haven't seen this. With the 24 hour marathons that tvs run every year.
I wonder that too. They've been doing it since 97. There's been hundreds of opportunities to watch it, just by turning on the TV on Christmas.
yea i dont believe people, at least in the US and Canada, have never seen this movie
A lot of people don't watch TV anymore.
@@TheAtkey theyve been playing it for 24 hours straight since 1997
A true classic. There was a sequel a few years ago with a grown up Ralphie taking the reigns for Christmas. Not as much of a classic , but still worth a watch. Happy holidays !
The moment where Ralphie is hit in the face with the snowball wasn't scripted. He was supposed to get hit in the chest but was accidentally hit in the face. His tears are genuine.
One of the aspects I adore in the movie is knowing that all the actors in Ralphie's imagination scenes actually dressed up in those outlandish costumes and acted out the scenes in real life! The mom's actress got to be a cowgirl in the "Hero Ralphie with his Red Rider" scene and a jester in the scene with the teacher, and the teacher got to be that "Victorian glamor" version of herself and a wicked witch! I was (and still am) an extreme daydreamer, and would get in trouble for it in school occasionally, though my daydreams were never QUITE as detailed as Ralphie's. In my defense, my daydreams didn't stop me from excelling at school in the academic sense, though I was a complete outcast there socially...
My Dad was a fan of the Major Award. So as a goof one year he was given a 3 inch plug in version. Fra-gee-lay became a running gag.
The extension cord hazard brings back memories. Older homes were built either before electricity, or before today’s technology so the electrical utility was always substandard. When you’re buying an old house, that’s generally the first consideration because upgrading can be expensive and messy.
My daughter and I quote this movie all. The. Time… ..yeah, statue… whoopie, a zepplin… frageelay…it’s a major award!
I didn't grow up in the 40s, but swap out the radio for TV and my childhood didn't feel all that much different than this. So, for me, this hits so many nostalgia points. Every year TBS does its 24-hour marathon, my TV doesn't change channels the whole day.
They gave Ralphie actual chewing tobacco in the scene where he’s dreaming of shooting the burglars.
This is such a classic yearly watch me
21:42 The guy telling Raphie to go to the back of the line is Jean Shepherd, creator of these stories and narrator of the movie
Holiday dinners at Chinese restaurants took off after the release of this film.
This is such a classic Christmas movie. It's one of those movies that, if I'm flipping through the channels and it's on, that's what I'm watching.
We always have to watch some of the marathon on Christmas. It's just the best. All generations love it! ❤
It reawakens those Christmas feelings we all had as kids. Definitely part of my holiday movies tradition. 🌲
I probably watched this movie, every Christmas day for 15+ years. I got to the point I refuse to watch it anymore, I could almost say each line. I do still love it.
I had a huge crush on Melinda Dillon ever since I saw Close Encounters when I was a kid.
I have been watching this since it originally came to cable back in the day, and now for yhe first time I'm wondering, where did Ralphie get the gift basket for Ms. Shields?
I watched "A Christmas Story" and its 2022 legacy sequel for the first time two days ago, and both of those movies are funny and relatable from beginning to end. A lot of people know that "A Christmas Story" was directed by Bob Clark, best known for directing the original 1974 Christmas slasher "Black Christmas". What a nice contrast that Clark made back in the day before he made a lot of stinkers after "A Christmas Story".
Also, apart from its funny moments that really made me laugh, the part where little Ralphie beat the living hell out of Scut Farkus also made me cry.
Happy holidays!🎄🎁🎅🏻
12:12 I think this part. The wife’s face when he wants to put in the window is my favorite part as an adult. As I kid I think I liked his play to cover up his almost shooting his eye out. But as an adult… the leg. Hilarious. And then when it gets damaged you know she was dancing inside
Her face when he first puts it in the window, and her face when it's falling apart at the end 🤣
It feels so foreign to me that someone doesn’t know this movie. I’m a 80’s kid. And they showed this in school. Ever year, just before every Christmas break,… every year. Till I was out of high school.
The writer Jean Shepard said that the lamp was an allegory for a trophy wife.
He was probably joking. He also said that he never saw anyone's parents fight they way they do in Tennessee Williams, and that this was more typical of the kind of conflicts his parents had.
@gastronomist No, he told all his reasoning to Quentin Schultze, who wrote an entire book about it, after teaching a class with Jean for three years. Shepherd's own Dad left the family suddenly for a "trophy wife". There are quite a few other allegories, including the furnace being in hell.
@@BubbaCoop It's not in the original essay, and it doesn't fit with the story at all. He was probably bull-shitting for fun. People do that sometimes.
@@BubbaCoop Based dad, feminized son lol.
Decades after this came out I still have a thing for Miss Shields, the teacher. Oh yes, a nice dinner and a movie, and I'd tear that UP. :D
I happened to see this for the first time when I was young enough to not quite understand the imagination sequences. His teacher as a witch for "C+" and her and the mom taunting "You'll shoot your eye out!" bit gave me nightmares. One of my favorite Christmas movies now.
THEE BONAFIDE ABSOLUTE GOAT CHRISTMAS FLICK SINCE 1983!!!
✌️🎅❤️
8:01 there was a small hole and suction was used to get the tongue to stick.
No tongues were harmed in the making of this movie. Plus the kid didn't know the air tube was there so his reaction was genuine.
"Yellow eyes! So help me God -- yellow eyes."
I am so hyped she reviewed this movie. It's old, yeah BUT I am old and have great memories about this for decades with my family. It's a treat to see Vkunia watch this for the first time!
It's definitely a Christmas favorite. I could watch it every year.
21:39 - The guy who says "The line ends here. It beings there!" is Jean Shepherd, the narrator and the original author of the stories that the movie is based on.
I think the most beloved thing about this film is also the most underrated which is the lamp. More the idea and they came up with it. Like you're tasked to think of a gift say and it has to be something you receive and your greatest fear is that anyone sees that you own it. They thought of the quintessential fugliest thing imaginable. And I studied their designs recently for a 3d model request some made for this thing and still trying to imagine the creative process that ended up there. And then on to the rest of the well thought details in this film that just really have made it stand out from all holiday movies over the ages. Applaud the imagination at work here.
I’m 2021, my family and I took a trip where we actually got to visit Ralphie’s house on Cleveland Street! And the whole house was set up like a museum with costumes and props on display! And for Christmas that same year a bought my dad the Red Ryder air rifle! Btw, no.. he didn’t shoot his eye out… not yet anyway lol