A Christmas Story
Encyclopedia
A Christmas Story is a 1983 American Christmas comedy film
based on the short stories
and semi-fictional anecdote
s of author and raconteur Jean Shepherd
, including material from his books In God We Trust, All Others Pay Cash
, and Wanda Hickey's Night of Golden Memories. It was directed by Bob Clark
. The film has since become a holiday classic and is shown numerous times on television during the Christmas
season, often in a 24-hour marathon.
. Nine-year-old Ralph "Ralphie" Parker wants only one thing for Christmas: a Red Ryder BB Gun
with a compass in the stock, and "this thing that tells time" (a sundial
). While using various schemes to convince his parents to get him this gift he continually bumps into objections from others saying, "You'll shoot your eye out."
In each of the film's three acts Ralphie makes his case to another adult and each time he is told the same thing. When Ralphie asks his mother for a Red Ryder BB gun for Christmas, she refuses. Next, when Ralphie writes an essay
about wanting the BB gun for Miss Shields, his teacher at Warren G. Harding
Elementary School, Ralphie gets a C+, and Miss Shields warns him. Later, Ralphie asks a local department store's Santa Claus
for a Red Ryder BB gun, and Santa tells him the same thing before pushing Ralphie down a long exit slide with his boot.
One day after he gets the C+ on his composition, Ralphie is hit in the face with a snowball
thrown at him by the local bully, Scut Farkus and his sidekick Grover Dill. Farkus begins to tease and taunt Ralphie and he eventually snaps, standing up to Farkus and starts beating his face up. During the fight, Ralphie begins to use profanity non-stop as he lands blow after blow to the squealing Farkus. Ralphie's brother Randy gets their mother, who pulls her son off the bully, and takes him home. This part of the film occurs shortly after a scene in which Ralphie gets into trouble for swearing while helping his father fix a flat tire. Ralphie is worried about the swearing and is sure he will be in big trouble when his father gets home from work. Instead, Ralphie's mother tells his father about the fight casually at the dinner table. She then changes the subject of the conversation to an upcoming Chicago Bears
game, distracting his father and getting Ralphie off the hook in the process.
On Christmas morning, Ralphie looks frantically for a box that would hold the BB gun to no avail. He and Randy have quite a few presents, but he is disappointed because he did not get the gun. His disappointment turns to joy as his father points out one last half-hidden present, ostensibly from Santa. As Ralphie unwraps the BB gun, Mr. Parker explains the purchase to his wife, stating that he had one himself when he was 8 years old.
Ralphie goes out to test his new gun, shooting at a paper target perched on top of a metal sign, and predictably gets a ricochet from the metal sign. This ricochet ends up hitting his cheek and glasses, sending them flying and knocking out a lens. While searching for the glasses, Ralphie inadvertently steps on and crushes the other side. However, he concocts a story for his mother about an icicle
falling on him and breaking his glasses, which she believes. Meanwhile, a horde of the Bumpuses' (the Parkers' hillbilly neighbors) dogs, which frequently bother Ralphie's father, manages to get into the house and eat the turkey that had been prepared for the Christmas feast. Making a last-minute decision, Mr. Parker takes the family out to a Chinese restaurant
where they have a hilarious time dining on duck
which adult Ralphie calls "Chinese turkey".
The film ends with Ralphie lying in bed on Christmas night with his gun by his side. Randy is holding the toy Zeppelin
he received. The voiceover states that this was the best present he had ever received or would ever receive.
shaped like a woman's leg wearing a fishnet stocking, much to Mrs. Parker's displeasure and the Old Man's delight. The "battle of the lamp" escalates until Mrs. Parker breaks the lamp, infuriating the Old Man. The leg was the logo of the contest's sponsor, the Nehi
bottling company (the details of the contest were not made clear in the film).
Other vignettes
include:
In the DVD commentary, director Bob Clark mentions that Jack Nicholson
was considered for the role of the Old Man; Clark expresses gratitude that he ended up with Darren McGavin instead, who also appeared in several other Clark films. He cast Melinda Dillon on the basis of her similar role in Close Encounters of the Third Kind
. Peter Billingsley was already a minor star from co-hosting the TV series Real People
; Clark initially wanted him for the role of Ralphie, but decided he was "too obvious" a choice and auditioned many other young actors before realizing that Billingsley was the right one after all. Ian Petrella was cast immediately before filming began. Tedde Moore had previously appeared in Clark's film Murder by Decree
, and was the only onscreen character from A Christmas Story who was played by the same actor in the sequel, My Summer Story
. Jeff Gillen was an old friend of Clark's who had been in one of his earliest films.
The film was written by Jean Shepherd
, Leigh Brown and Bob Clark
. Shepherd provides the movie's narration from the perspective of an adult Ralphie, a narrative style later used in the dramedy The Wonder Years
. Both Shepherd and Clark have cameo appearances in the film; Shepherd plays the man who directed Ralphie and Randy to the back of the Santa line and Clark plays Swede, the neighbor the Old Man was talking to outside during the Leg Lamp scene.
short stories
on which the film is based were originally published in Playboy
magazine between 1964 and 1966. Shepherd later read "Duel in the Snow, or Red Ryder nails the Cleveland Street Kid" and told the otherwise unpublished story "Flick's Tongue" on his WOR Radio
talk show
, as can be heard in one of the DVD extras. Bob Clark states on the DVD commentary
that he became interested in Shepherd's work when he heard "Flick's Tongue" on the radio in 1968. Additional source material for the film, according to Clark, came from unpublished anecdotes Shepherd told live audiences "on the college circuit."
, A Christmas Story was released a week before Thanksgiving
1983 to moderate success, earning about $
2 million in its first weekend. Critics
were severely divided on the film, with the majority of reviews on the negative side. Leonard Maltin
proclaimed it a "Top screen comedy". Vincent Canby's mostly negative New York Times review echoed the more common response. Roger Ebert
suggested the film had only modest success because holiday themed films were not popular at the time. The film would go on to win two Genie Award
s, for Bob Clark's screenplay and direction
.
By Christmas 1983, however, the film was no longer playing at most venues, but remained in about a hundred theaters until January 1984. Gross earnings were just over $
19.2 million. In the years since, due to television airings and home video release, A Christmas Story has become widely popular and is now a perennial Christmas
special. The film was originally released by MGM
. Turner Entertainment Co.
acquired rights to the film due to Ted Turner
's purchase of MGM's pre-1986 library. Subsequently, Time Warner
purchased Turner Entertainment, and currently owns the film.
Over the years, the film's critical reputation has grown considerably and is considered by many to be one of the best films of 1983. Based on 43 reviews collected by Rotten Tomatoes
, the film has an overall approval rating from critics of 88%, with an average
score of 8.3/10. A Christmas Story was on the ballot for the American Film Institute
's 100 Years... 100 Laughs
list.
On December 24, 2007, AOL
ranked the film their #1 Christmas movie of all time. IGN
ranked the film the top holiday-themed movie of all time.
night (or the night after Thanksgiving
) to open the holiday television season
. In 1988, then-fledgling FOX
aired the movie the night after Thanksgiving. In 1989–1990, TBS showed it Thanksgiving night, while in 1991–1992, they aired it the night after.
Turner Broadcasting, now a part of the TimeWarner umbrella of cable networks, has maintained ownership of the broadcast rights, and since the mid-1990s, airing the movie increasingly on TBS, TNT
and TCM
. By 1995, it was aired on those networks a combined six times on December 24–26, and in 1996, it was aired eight times over those three days.
Due to the increasing popularity of the film, in 1997 TNT began airing a 24-hour marathon
dubbed "24 Hours of A Christmas Story," consisting of the film shown twelve consecutive times beginning at 7 or 8 p.m. on Christmas Eve
and ending Christmas Day. This was in addition to various other airings earlier in the month of December. In 2004, after TNT switched to a predominantly drama format, sister network TBS, under its comedy-based "Very Funny" moniker, took over the marathon. Clark stated that in 2002, an estimated 38.4 million people tuned into the marathon at one point or another, nearly one sixth of the country. TBS reported 45.4 million viewers in 2005, and 45.5 million in 2006. In 2007, new all-time ratings records were set, with the highest single showing (8 p.m. Christmas Eve) drawing 4.4 million viewers. Viewership increased again in 2008, with 8 p.m. Christmas Eve drawing 4.5 million viewers, and 10 p.m. drawing 4.3 million, and 54.4 million total. As of 2009, the film had been shown 250 times on the Turner
family of networks.
In 2007 the marathon continued, and the original tradition was revived. TNT also aired the film twice the Sunday of Thanksgiving weekend (November 25). In 2009, the 24-hour marathon continued on TBS, for the 13th overall year, starting at 8 p.m. eastern on Christmas Eve.
In 2009, the film aired on TBS during a 24 hour marathon on Christmas Eve. The first viewing at 8pm EST on Christmas Eve garnered a strong 1.6 rating (18-49) and beat the major broadcast networks (NBC, ABC, CBS, and FOX).
involving Ralphie and his family, titled My Summer Story
(alternate title It Runs in the Family) was made in 1994. With the exceptions of Tedde Moore as Ralphie's teacher (Miss Shields) and Jean Shepherd as the narrator (the voice of the adult Ralphie), it features an entirely different cast. A series of television movies involving the Parker family, also from Shepherd stories, were made by PBS, including Ollie Hopnoodle's Haven of Bliss
, The Great American Fourth of July and Other Disasters, and The Phantom of the Open Hearth.
In the year 2000, an authorized stage play adaptation of A Christmas Story was written by Philip Grecian and is produced widely each Christmas season. In 2003, Broadway Books published the five Jean Shepherd short stories from which the movie and stage play were adapted in a single volume under the title A Christmas Story (ISBN 0-7679-1622-0), with stories including: "Duel in the Snow, or Red Ryder nails the Cleveland Street Kid", "The Counterfeit Secret Circle Member Gets the Message, or The Asp Strikes Again", "My Old Man and the Lascivious Special Award that Heralded the Birth of Pop Art", "Grover Dill and the Tasmanian Devil", and "The Grandstand Passion Play of Delbert and the Bumpus Hounds". This collection was also released as an audio book
(ISBN 0-7393-1674-5), read by Dick Cavett
.
The book Excelsior, You Fathead! The Art and Enigma of Jean Shepherd (2005, ISBN 978-1-55783-600-7), has several sections which comment on the movie A Christmas Story.
The movie is set in the fictional Indiana town of Hohman. Local references in the film include Warren G. Harding
Elementary School and Cleveland Street (where Shepherd spent his childhood). Other local references include mention of a person "swallowing a yo-yo" in nearby Griffith
, the Old Man being one of the fiercest "furnace
fighters in northern Indiana" and that his obscenities were "hanging in space over Lake Michigan
," a mention of the Indianapolis 500
, and the line to Santa Claus "stretching all the way to Terre Haute
." The Old Man is also revealed to be a fan of the Bears
(who he jokingly calls the "Chicago Chipmunks") and White Sox
, consistent with living in northwest Indiana.
The school scenes were shot at Victoria School in St. Catharines, Ontario
.
Director Bob Clark reportedly sent location scouts to twenty cities before selecting Cleveland, Ohio
, as the principal site for filming. Higbee's
department store in downtown Cleveland was the stage for three scenes in the film. The first is the opening scene in which Ralphie first spies the Red Ryder BB Gun. The second is the parade scene, filmed just outside Higbee’s, on Public Square
, at 3 AM. The final scene is Ralphie and Randy’s visit to see Santa which was filmed inside Higbee’s. The store kept the Santa slide that was made for the movie and used it for several years after the movie’s release. Higbee's was known for its elaborate child-centered Christmas themes and decorations, with Santa as the centerpiece, until the store, which became Dillard's
in 1992, closed for good in 2002. Higbee's was exclusive to Northeast Ohio. As such, he was most likely referring to Goldblatts in downtown Hammond (with the Cam-Lan Chinese Restaurant three doors down on Sibley Ave.) The parade was filmed at night because during the daytime the 1960s Erieview Tower and Federal Building were visible from the Public Square as was the BP Tower
, which was under construction at the time.
The exterior shots (and select interior shots, including the opening of the leg lamp) of the house and neighborhood were filmed in the Tremont
section of Cleveland's West Side. The house used as the Parker home in these scenes has been restored, reconfigured inside to match the soundstage interiors, and opened to the public as "A Christmas Story House
". The "...only I didn't say fudge" scene was filmed at the foot of Cherry Street in Toronto.
In 2008, two fans from Canada released a documentary that visits every location used in the movie. Their film, Road Trip for Ralphie, was shot over two years and includes footage of the filmmakers saving Miss Shields's black board from the garbage bin on the day the old Victoria School was gutted for renovation, discovering the antique fire truck that saved Flick, locating all the original costumes from the movie and tracking down the real-life location of the movie's Chop Suey Palace in Toronto.
The Parker family car was a 1937 Oldsmobile
Model F-37 four-door trunkback sedan. The Old Man's relationship with his car is revealed in some of the film's lines: "Some men are Baptist, others Catholic; my father was an Oldsmobile man"; "That hot damn Olds has froze up again"; and, "That son of a bitch would freeze up in the middle of summer on the equator!"
" model did have a compass and a sundial in the stock, but these features were not included in the Red Ryder model. The compass and sundial were placed on Ralphie's BB gun but on the opposite side of the stock due to Peter Billingsley being left-handed.
's Peter and the Wolf
plays in the background. ("Farkas" is a Hungarian name, but literally means "Wolf") The leitmotif
s from Peter and the Wolf are used quite extensively. The piece that plays after Ralphie says "fudge", after the lamp breaks for the second time, and after Ralphie breaks his glasses is the opening of Hamlet
by Tchaikovsky
. The Grand Canyon Suite
by Ferde Grofé
is featured prominently in the movie. Movement 3 [On The Trail] provides a suitable Western feeling to a Red Ryder rifle fantasy sequence, and bits of Movement 1 [Sunrise] and Movement 4 [Sunset] were also freely arranged and adapted throughout the score. The music in the dream sequence with Ralphie in a cowboy outfit shooting at bandits and later when he finally plays with his BB gun outside of the house is based on the main theme from the classic John Ford
western Stagecoach (1939). The harp solo from Benjamin Britten
's "A Ceremony of Carols
" is briefly excerpted for the scene in which Ralphie observes a snowy Christmas morning from his bedroom window, which follows a segment of celeste music which comes, again, from the latter half of Movement 3 [On The Trail] of Ferde Grofé's Grand Canyon Suite which plays as Ralphie awakens on Christmas morning. The classroom fantasy scene where Miss Shields is grading Ralph's paper features two excerpts from Tchaikovsky's "Romeo and Juliet Fantasy Overture
." Whenever the scene involves the hounds belonging to the Bumpus family, "our hillbilly neighbors", snatches of the American folk tune "Chicken Reel
" are heard. During the dream sequence when Ralphie goes blind from soap poisoning, Alphons Czibulka
's "Wintermärchen" can be heard. The music when Ralph uses the Orphan Annie decoder is actually a stock music piece from the Associated Production Music library called "Footsteps of Horror" by W. Merrick Farran.
Popular music
of the time was also used, ostensibly as coming from the radio
. This included three Christmas songs sung by Bing Crosby
, two of them in conjunction with the Andrews Sisters. While waiting in line for Santa, the music in the back ground are parts of "Jingle Bells
" by Fred Waring and his Pennsylvanians from the "'Twas the Night Before Christmas" album on Decca Records
. Spiritual Christmas songs that appear in the film include "Go Tell It on the Mountain
", which is sung by carolers during the opening scene, and "Silent Night
," which is heard during the final scene.
The title card
and closing credits
are accompanied by modified instrumental versions of "Deck the Halls" and "We Wish You a Merry Christmas
," respectively (see album below).
Original music for the film's score was by Carl Zittrer, who worked with director Bob Clark on at least ten films between 1972 and 1998; and by Paul Zaza
, who has worked with Clark on at least sixteen films, including Murder by Decree
and My Summer Story.
for the film on CD. This release contains no spoken dialogue from the movie, only clips from the original score by Carl Zittrer and Paul Zaza
and a version of "Silent Night
" by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir
. The tracklisting is as follows:
Comedy film
Comedy film is a genre of film in which the main emphasis is on humour. They are designed to elicit laughter from the audience. Comedies are mostly light-hearted dramas and are made to amuse and entertain the audiences...
based on the short stories
Short Stories
Short Stories may refer to:*A plural for Short story*Short Stories , an American pulp magazine published from 1890-1959*Short Stories, a 1954 collection by O. E...
and semi-fictional anecdote
Anecdote
An anecdote is a short and amusing or interesting story about a real incident or person. It may be as brief as the setting and provocation of a bon mot. An anecdote is always presented as based on a real incident involving actual persons, whether famous or not, usually in an identifiable place...
s of author and raconteur Jean Shepherd
Jean Shepherd
Jean Parker Shepherd was an American raconteur, radio and TV personality, writer and actor who was often referred to by the nickname Shep....
, including material from his books In God We Trust, All Others Pay Cash
In God We Trust, All Others Pay Cash
In God We Trust, All Others Pay Cash is a book of short stories by Jean Shepherd .It was first published by Doubleday in New York in October 1966....
, and Wanda Hickey's Night of Golden Memories. It was directed by Bob Clark
Bob Clark
Benjamin "Bob" Clark was an American actor, director, screenwriter and producer best known for directing and writing the script with Jean Shepherd to the 1983 Christmas film A Christmas Story...
. The film has since become a holiday classic and is shown numerous times on television during the Christmas
Christmas
Christmas or Christmas Day is an annual holiday generally celebrated on December 25 by billions of people around the world. It is a Christian feast that commemorates the birth of Jesus Christ, liturgically closing the Advent season and initiating the season of Christmastide, which lasts twelve days...
season, often in a 24-hour marathon.
Plot
The film is set in Hohman, Indiana, a fictionalized version of Shepherd's hometown of HammondHammond, Indiana
Hammond is a city in Lake County, Indiana, United States. It is part of the Chicago metropolitan area. The population was 80,830 at the 2010 census.-Geography:Hammond is located at ....
. Nine-year-old Ralph "Ralphie" Parker wants only one thing for Christmas: a Red Ryder BB Gun
Red Ryder BB Gun
The Red Ryder BB Gun is a BB gun made by Daisy Outdoor Products and introduced in 1938 that resembles the Winchester rifle of Western movies...
with a compass in the stock, and "this thing that tells time" (a sundial
Sundial
A sundial is a device that measures time by the position of the Sun. In common designs such as the horizontal sundial, the sun casts a shadow from its style onto a surface marked with lines indicating the hours of the day. The style is the time-telling edge of the gnomon, often a thin rod or a...
). While using various schemes to convince his parents to get him this gift he continually bumps into objections from others saying, "You'll shoot your eye out."
In each of the film's three acts Ralphie makes his case to another adult and each time he is told the same thing. When Ralphie asks his mother for a Red Ryder BB gun for Christmas, she refuses. Next, when Ralphie writes an essay
Essay
An essay is a piece of writing which is often written from an author's personal point of view. Essays can consist of a number of elements, including: literary criticism, political manifestos, learned arguments, observations of daily life, recollections, and reflections of the author. The definition...
about wanting the BB gun for Miss Shields, his teacher at Warren G. Harding
Warren G. Harding
Warren Gamaliel Harding was the 29th President of the United States . A Republican from Ohio, Harding was an influential self-made newspaper publisher. He served in the Ohio Senate , as the 28th Lieutenant Governor of Ohio and as a U.S. Senator...
Elementary School, Ralphie gets a C+, and Miss Shields warns him. Later, Ralphie asks a local department store's Santa Claus
Santa Claus
Santa Claus is a folklore figure in various cultures who distributes gifts to children, normally on Christmas Eve. Each name is a variation of Saint Nicholas, but refers to Santa Claus...
for a Red Ryder BB gun, and Santa tells him the same thing before pushing Ralphie down a long exit slide with his boot.
One day after he gets the C+ on his composition, Ralphie is hit in the face with a snowball
Snowball
A snowball is a spherical object made from snow, usually created by scooping snow with the hands, and compacting it into a roughly fist-sized ball. The snowball is often used to engage in games, such as snowball fights. Snowball fights are usually light-hearted and involve throwing snowballs at...
thrown at him by the local bully, Scut Farkus and his sidekick Grover Dill. Farkus begins to tease and taunt Ralphie and he eventually snaps, standing up to Farkus and starts beating his face up. During the fight, Ralphie begins to use profanity non-stop as he lands blow after blow to the squealing Farkus. Ralphie's brother Randy gets their mother, who pulls her son off the bully, and takes him home. This part of the film occurs shortly after a scene in which Ralphie gets into trouble for swearing while helping his father fix a flat tire. Ralphie is worried about the swearing and is sure he will be in big trouble when his father gets home from work. Instead, Ralphie's mother tells his father about the fight casually at the dinner table. She then changes the subject of the conversation to an upcoming Chicago Bears
Chicago Bears
The Chicago Bears are a professional American football team based in Chicago, Illinois. They are members of the North Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League...
game, distracting his father and getting Ralphie off the hook in the process.
On Christmas morning, Ralphie looks frantically for a box that would hold the BB gun to no avail. He and Randy have quite a few presents, but he is disappointed because he did not get the gun. His disappointment turns to joy as his father points out one last half-hidden present, ostensibly from Santa. As Ralphie unwraps the BB gun, Mr. Parker explains the purchase to his wife, stating that he had one himself when he was 8 years old.
Ralphie goes out to test his new gun, shooting at a paper target perched on top of a metal sign, and predictably gets a ricochet from the metal sign. This ricochet ends up hitting his cheek and glasses, sending them flying and knocking out a lens. While searching for the glasses, Ralphie inadvertently steps on and crushes the other side. However, he concocts a story for his mother about an icicle
Icicle
An icicle is a spike of ice formed when water dripping or falling from an object freezes. Typically, icicles will form when ice or snow is melted by either sunlight or some other heat source , and the resulting melted water runs off into an area where the ambient temperature is below the freezing...
falling on him and breaking his glasses, which she believes. Meanwhile, a horde of the Bumpuses' (the Parkers' hillbilly neighbors) dogs, which frequently bother Ralphie's father, manages to get into the house and eat the turkey that had been prepared for the Christmas feast. Making a last-minute decision, Mr. Parker takes the family out to a Chinese restaurant
Chinese restaurant
A Chinese restaurant is a food establishment serving Chinese cuisine, the term can also refer to:Overseas Chinese cuisine* Overseas Chinese restaurant* American Chinese cuisine* Canadian Chinese cuisineOther...
where they have a hilarious time dining on duck
Duck (food)
Duck refers to the meat of several species of bird in the Anatidae family, found in both fresh and salt water. Duck is eaten in many cuisines around the world.-Types of ducks:The most common duck meat consumed in the United States is the Pekin duck...
which adult Ralphie calls "Chinese turkey".
The film ends with Ralphie lying in bed on Christmas night with his gun by his side. Randy is holding the toy Zeppelin
Zeppelin
A Zeppelin is a type of rigid airship pioneered by the German Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin in the early 20th century. It was based on designs he had outlined in 1874 and detailed in 1893. His plans were reviewed by committee in 1894 and patented in the United States on 14 March 1899...
he received. The voiceover states that this was the best present he had ever received or would ever receive.
Subplots
Several subplots are incorporated into the body of the film, based on other separate short stories by Shepherd. The most notable involves the Old Man's (Ralphie's father's) entering a sweepstakes, and winning a "major award". A large crate arrived, and inside was a lampLight fixture
A light fixture, light fitting, or luminaire is an electrical device used to create artificial light and/or illumination, by use of an electric lamp...
shaped like a woman's leg wearing a fishnet stocking, much to Mrs. Parker's displeasure and the Old Man's delight. The "battle of the lamp" escalates until Mrs. Parker breaks the lamp, infuriating the Old Man. The leg was the logo of the contest's sponsor, the Nehi
Nehi
Nehi is a flavored soft drink that originated in America. It was introduced in 1924 by Chero-Cola/Union Bottle Works. The "Nehi Corporation" name was adopted in 1928 after the Nehi fruit-flavored sodas became popular. In 1955, the company changed its name to Royal Crown Company, after its RC...
bottling company (the details of the contest were not made clear in the film).
Other vignettes
Vignette (literature)
In theatrical script writing, sketch stories, and poetry, a vignette is a short impressionistic scene that focuses on one moment or gives a trenchant impression about a character, an idea, or a setting and sometimes an object...
include:
- Ralphie's father (aka the Old Man), is almost constantly complaining or swearing about something, be it his Oldsmobile car or the family's home furnace. In the US English language, which the movie used for all dialogue, the father's swearing episodes are depicted using nonsensical gibberish.
- Ralphie's friends Flick and Schwartz disputing over whether a person's tongue will stick to a frozen flagpole. Schwartz ultimately issues Flick a "triple dog dare" (the coup de grâceCoup de grâceThe expression coup de grâce means a death blow intended to end the suffering of a wounded creature. The phrase can refer to the killing of civilians or soldiers, friends or enemies, with or without the consent of the sufferer...
of dares used by the kids), and Flick's tongue gets stuck to the pole, much to his terror. A suction tube within the flagpole was used to simulate the freezing of Flick's tongue to the pole. - Ralphie receiving his Secret Society decoder pinSecret decoder ringA secret decoder ring is a device which allows one to decode a simple substitution cipher - or to encrypt a message by working in the opposite direction....
from the Little Orphan Annie radio show. After weeks of anxious waiting, and missing out on the daily "secret message" (which to a kid appeared very important) Ralphie finally is able to participate. However, he learns a lesson in advertisingPromotion (marketing)Promotion is one of the four elements of marketing mix . It is the communication link between sellers and buyers for the purpose of influencing, informing, or persuading a potential buyer's purchasing decision....
, as the secret message turned out to be a promotional messagePromotion (marketing)Promotion is one of the four elements of marketing mix . It is the communication link between sellers and buyers for the purpose of influencing, informing, or persuading a potential buyer's purchasing decision....
from one of the radio program's sponsors, OvaltineOvaltineOvaltine is a brand of milk flavoring product made with malt extract , sugar , cocoa, and whey...
. - Ralphie and his friends dealing with the neighborhood bully (See Semiotics of Bullying), Scut Farkus (Zack WardZack WardZack Ward is a Canadian actor.-Life and career:Ward was born in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, the son of actress Pam Hyatt and the brother of Carson Foster....
) and his toadie, Grover Dill (Yano AnayaYano AnayaYano Anaya is an American former child actor, who is the younger brother of actress Katy Kurtzman.Anaya graduated from Monroe High School in California and grew up in Panorama City in the San Fernando Valley....
). - While helping his father change a flat tire, Ralphie letting slip the dreaded "Queen Mother of Dirty Words," the F-dash-dash-dashFuck"Fuck" is an English word that is generally considered obscene which, in its most literal meaning, refers to the act of sexual intercourse. By extension it may be used to negatively characterize anything that can be dismissed, disdained, defiled, or destroyed."Fuck" can be used as a verb, adverb,...
word. He does this after his father knocks a hubcap from his hands, spilling the lug nuts into the snow, where they instantly disappear. Later, when asked where he'd heard the bad word, Ralphie falsely blames Schwartz, and does not mention that his father utters the word daily. After Ralphie's mother telephones Schwartz's mother to inform her that her son had been responsible for passing along the bad word to Ralphie, we hear Schwartz getting what appears to be the thrashing of his life at the hands of his hysterical mother. To keep a PG rating, Billingsley says "fudge" on camera (adult Ralphie points out that he really did not say "fudge"). - The numerous smelly and bothersome bloodhounds of the Parkers' hillbilly neighbors, the Bumpuses, including the dogs' destroying the Christmas turkeyTurkeyTurkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...
(prompting the family to go out and have Peking duckPeking DuckPeking Duck, or Peking Roast Duck is a famous duck dish from Beijing that has been prepared since the imperial era, and is now considered one of China's national foods....
instead, resulting in a giggling fit on the parts of the mother and the boys). - Several fantasy sequences depict Ralphie's daydreams of glory and vindication, including the vanquishing of a small army of villainVillainA villain is an "evil" character in a story, whether a historical narrative or, especially, a work of fiction. The villain usually is the antagonist, the character who tends to have a negative effect on other characters...
s (dressed in stereotypical burglar costumes of flat capFlat capA flat cap is a rounded men or women's cap with a small stiff brim in front. Cloths used to make the cap include original wool, tweed , and cotton. Less common materials may include leather. Cord flat caps are also worn in various colours. The inside of the cap is usually lined with silk for...
s, black maskDomino maskA domino mask is a small, rounded mask covering only the eyes and the space between them. Since the 18th century, the domino mask is worn during carnival. Venetian Carnival masks were known as domini because they resembled French priests' winter hoods, being black on the outside and white on the...
s, and striped shirts) with his Red Ryder BB gun and obtaining his parents' gratitude, receiving an extremely good grade for his written theme about the BB gun, and parental remorse over a case of "soap poisoning" (related to his cursing). - Mrs. Parker's efforts to bundle Randy to protect him from the cold weather by wrapping him in sweaters and a jacket so tightly that he is unable to put his arms down, followed by Randy's being knocked down and unable to stand up on his own (his only defense when they are confronted by Scut Farkus).
- Randy's refusal to eat a meal on his own brings hilarity between him and his mother at the dinner table.
- At the Chinese restaurant, the employees sing "Deck the Halls" and "Jingle BellsJingle Bells"Jingle Bells" is one of the best-known and commonly sung winter songs in the world. It was written by James Lord Pierpont and published under the title "One Horse Open Sleigh" in the autumn of 1857...
" with a stereotypical Asian accent, where "l's" are substituted with "r'sEngrishrefers to unusual forms of English language usage by native speakers of some East Asian languages. The term itself relates to Japanese speakers' tendency to inadvertently substitute the English phonemes "R" and "L" for one another, because the Japanese language has one alveolar consonant in place...
." ("Deck the hars with bawrs of horry," "Jingre Bears Jingre Bears Jingre are the Way") - Ralphie's "Aunt Clara" gives him bunny pajamas on Christmas morning, much to his annoyance and discomfort. He then claims his Aunt Clara believes that he is a 4-year-old girl. His father calls the outfit "a deranged Easter Bunny", to which Ralphie's mother does not agree, but she allows him to only wear the gift when Aunt Clara visits.
- A deleted scene featured Ralphie on the Planet Mongo saving Flash GordonFlash GordonFlash Gordon is the hero of a science fiction adventure comic strip originally drawn by Alex Raymond. First published January 7, 1934, the strip was inspired by and created to compete with the already established Buck Rogers adventure strip. Also inspired by these series were comics such as Dash...
from Ming the MercilessMing the MercilessMing the Merciless is a fictional character who first appeared in the Flash Gordon comic strip in 1934. He has since been the main villain of the strip and its related movie serials, TV shows and film adaptation.- First appearance :...
with his BB Gun.
Cast
- Peter BillingsleyPeter BillingsleyPeter Billingsley , also known as Peter Michaelsen and Peter Billingsley-Michaelsen, is an American actor, director, and producer best known for his role as Ralphie in the 1983 movie A Christmas Story. He began his career as an infant, in television commercials.-Early life, family and...
as Ralphie Parker - Jean ShepherdJean ShepherdJean Parker Shepherd was an American raconteur, radio and TV personality, writer and actor who was often referred to by the nickname Shep....
as adult Ralphie (voice) - Ian PetrellaIan PetrellaIan Petrella is a former American child actor. His most memorable role is that of Randy Parker in the 1983 film A Christmas Story. Petrella currently resides in Los Angeles, California, working on animation and puppetry...
as Randy Parker - Darren McGavinDarren McGavinDarren McGavin was an American actor best known for playing the title role in the television horror series Kolchak: The Night Stalker and his portrayal in the film A Christmas Story of the grumpy father given to bursts of profanity that he never realizes his son overhears...
as Mr. Parker (The Old Man) - Melinda DillonMelinda DillonMelinda Rose Dillon is an American actress, perhaps best known for her roles in Close Encounters of the Third Kind and the holiday classic A Christmas Story.-Early life and career:...
as Mrs. Parker - Scott SchwartzScott SchwartzScott Schwartz is a former child actor best known for his roles in The Toy and A Christmas Story.-Career:Schwartz co-starred opposite Richard Pryor and Jackie Gleason in 1982's The Toy directed by Richard Donner. In 1982, Schwartz filmed Kidco directed by Ronald F. Maxwell...
as Flick - R.D. Robb as Schwartz
- Zack WardZack WardZack Ward is a Canadian actor.-Life and career:Ward was born in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, the son of actress Pam Hyatt and the brother of Carson Foster....
as Scut Farkus - Yano AnayaYano AnayaYano Anaya is an American former child actor, who is the younger brother of actress Katy Kurtzman.Anaya graduated from Monroe High School in California and grew up in Panorama City in the San Fernando Valley....
as Grover Dill - Tedde Moore as Miss Shields
In the DVD commentary, director Bob Clark mentions that Jack Nicholson
Jack Nicholson
John Joseph "Jack" Nicholson is an American actor, film director, producer and writer. He is renowned for his often dark portrayals of neurotic characters. Nicholson has been nominated for an Academy Award twelve times, and has won the Academy Award for Best Actor twice: for One Flew Over the...
was considered for the role of the Old Man; Clark expresses gratitude that he ended up with Darren McGavin instead, who also appeared in several other Clark films. He cast Melinda Dillon on the basis of her similar role in Close Encounters of the Third Kind
Close Encounters of the Third Kind
Close Encounters of the Third Kind is a 1977 science fiction film written and directed by Steven Spielberg. The film stars Richard Dreyfuss, François Truffaut, Melinda Dillon, Teri Garr, Bob Balaban, and Cary Guffey...
. Peter Billingsley was already a minor star from co-hosting the TV series Real People
Real People
Real People is an NBC reality television series that aired from 1979 to 1984, on Wednesday and then Sunday nights. Its initial episodes aired live in the Eastern and Central Time Zones.-Synopsis:...
; Clark initially wanted him for the role of Ralphie, but decided he was "too obvious" a choice and auditioned many other young actors before realizing that Billingsley was the right one after all. Ian Petrella was cast immediately before filming began. Tedde Moore had previously appeared in Clark's film Murder by Decree
Murder by Decree
Murder by Decree is an Anglo-Canadian thriller film involving Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Watson in the case of the serial murderer Jack the Ripper...
, and was the only onscreen character from A Christmas Story who was played by the same actor in the sequel, My Summer Story
My Summer Story
It Runs in the Family is a 1994 film that follows the further adventures of Ralphie Parker and his family from the holiday hit A Christmas Story...
. Jeff Gillen was an old friend of Clark's who had been in one of his earliest films.
The film was written by Jean Shepherd
Jean Shepherd
Jean Parker Shepherd was an American raconteur, radio and TV personality, writer and actor who was often referred to by the nickname Shep....
, Leigh Brown and Bob Clark
Bob Clark
Benjamin "Bob" Clark was an American actor, director, screenwriter and producer best known for directing and writing the script with Jean Shepherd to the 1983 Christmas film A Christmas Story...
. Shepherd provides the movie's narration from the perspective of an adult Ralphie, a narrative style later used in the dramedy The Wonder Years
The Wonder Years
The Wonder Years is an American television comedy-drama created by Carol Black and Neal Marlens. It ran for six seasons on ABC from 1988 through 1993. The pilot aired on January 31, 1988 after ABC's coverage of Super Bowl XXII....
. Both Shepherd and Clark have cameo appearances in the film; Shepherd plays the man who directed Ralphie and Randy to the back of the Santa line and Clark plays Swede, the neighbor the Old Man was talking to outside during the Leg Lamp scene.
Origin
Three of the semi-autobiographicalAutobiography
An autobiography is a book about the life of a person, written by that person.-Origin of the term:...
short stories
Short story
A short story is a work of fiction that is usually written in prose, often in narrative format. This format tends to be more pointed than longer works of fiction, such as novellas and novels. Short story definitions based on length differ somewhat, even among professional writers, in part because...
on which the film is based were originally published in Playboy
Playboy
Playboy is an American men's magazine that features photographs of nude women as well as journalism and fiction. It was founded in Chicago in 1953 by Hugh Hefner and his associates, and funded in part by a $1,000 loan from Hefner's mother. The magazine has grown into Playboy Enterprises, Inc., with...
magazine between 1964 and 1966. Shepherd later read "Duel in the Snow, or Red Ryder nails the Cleveland Street Kid" and told the otherwise unpublished story "Flick's Tongue" on his WOR Radio
WOR (AM)
WOR is a class A , AM radio station located in New York, New York, U.S., operating on 710 kHz. The station has a talk format and has been owned by Buckley Broadcasting since 1987, after the station was sold by RKO. The station has conservative, or right-of-center hosts.Its call letters have no...
talk show
Talk show
A talk show or chat show is a television program or radio program where one person discuss various topics put forth by a talk show host....
, as can be heard in one of the DVD extras. Bob Clark states on the DVD commentary
Audio commentary
On disc-based video formats, an audio commentary is an additional audio track consisting of a lecture or comments by one or more speakers, that plays in real time with video...
that he became interested in Shepherd's work when he heard "Flick's Tongue" on the radio in 1968. Additional source material for the film, according to Clark, came from unpublished anecdotes Shepherd told live audiences "on the college circuit."
Critical reception
Initially overlooked as a sleeper filmSleeper hit
A sleeper hit, a.k.a. surprise hit , refers to a film, book, single, album, TV show, or video game that gains unexpected success or recognition...
, A Christmas Story was released a week before Thanksgiving
Thanksgiving (United States)
Thanksgiving, or Thanksgiving Day, is a holiday celebrated in the United States on the fourth Thursday in November. It has officially been an annual tradition since 1863, when, during the Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln proclaimed a national day of thanksgiving to be celebrated on Thursday,...
1983 to moderate success, earning about $
United States dollar
The United States dollar , also referred to as the American dollar, is the official currency of the United States of America. It is divided into 100 smaller units called cents or pennies....
2 million in its first weekend. Critics
Film criticism
Film criticism is the analysis and evaluation of films, individually and collectively. In general, this can be divided into journalistic criticism that appears regularly in newspapers, and other popular, mass-media outlets and academic criticism by film scholars that is informed by film theory and...
were severely divided on the film, with the majority of reviews on the negative side. Leonard Maltin
Leonard Maltin
Leonard Maltin is an American film and animated film critic and historian, author of several mainstream books on cinema, focusing on nostalgic, celebratory narratives.-Personal life:...
proclaimed it a "Top screen comedy". Vincent Canby's mostly negative New York Times review echoed the more common response. Roger Ebert
Roger Ebert
Roger Joseph Ebert is an American film critic and screenwriter. He is the first film critic to win a Pulitzer Prize for Criticism.Ebert is known for his film review column and for the television programs Sneak Previews, At the Movies with Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert, and Siskel and Ebert and The...
suggested the film had only modest success because holiday themed films were not popular at the time. The film would go on to win two Genie Award
Genie Award
Genie Awards are given out to recognize the best of Canadian cinema by the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television. From 1949-1979, the awards were named the Canadian Film Awards...
s, for Bob Clark's screenplay and direction
Genie Award for Best Achievement in Direction
The Genie Award for Best Achievement in Direction is awarded by the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television to the best Canadian film director.-1st Genie Awards:*Bob Clark, Murder by Decree*Peter Carter, Klondike Fever...
.
By Christmas 1983, however, the film was no longer playing at most venues, but remained in about a hundred theaters until January 1984. Gross earnings were just over $
United States dollar
The United States dollar , also referred to as the American dollar, is the official currency of the United States of America. It is divided into 100 smaller units called cents or pennies....
19.2 million. In the years since, due to television airings and home video release, A Christmas Story has become widely popular and is now a perennial Christmas
Christmas
Christmas or Christmas Day is an annual holiday generally celebrated on December 25 by billions of people around the world. It is a Christian feast that commemorates the birth of Jesus Christ, liturgically closing the Advent season and initiating the season of Christmastide, which lasts twelve days...
special. The film was originally released by MGM
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc. is an American media company, involved primarily in the production and distribution of films and television programs. MGM was founded in 1924 when the entertainment entrepreneur Marcus Loew gained control of Metro Pictures, Goldwyn Pictures Corporation and Louis B. Mayer...
. Turner Entertainment Co.
Turner Entertainment
Turner Entertainment Company, Inc. is an American media company founded by Ted Turner. Now owned by Time Warner, the company is largely responsible for overseeing its library for worldwide distribution Turner Entertainment Company, Inc. (commonly known as Turner Entertainment Co.) is an American...
acquired rights to the film due to Ted Turner
Ted Turner
Robert Edward "Ted" Turner III is an American media mogul and philanthropist. As a businessman, he is known as founder of the cable news network CNN, the first dedicated 24-hour cable news channel. In addition, he founded WTBS, which pioneered the superstation concept in cable television...
's purchase of MGM's pre-1986 library. Subsequently, Time Warner
Time Warner
Time Warner is one of the world's largest media companies, headquartered in the Time Warner Center in New York City. Formerly two separate companies, Warner Communications, Inc...
purchased Turner Entertainment, and currently owns the film.
Over the years, the film's critical reputation has grown considerably and is considered by many to be one of the best films of 1983. Based on 43 reviews collected by Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...
, the film has an overall approval rating from critics of 88%, with an average
Weighted mean
The weighted mean is similar to an arithmetic mean , where instead of each of the data points contributing equally to the final average, some data points contribute more than others...
score of 8.3/10. A Christmas Story was on the ballot for the American Film Institute
American Film Institute
The American Film Institute is an independent non-profit organization created by the National Endowment for the Arts, which was established in 1967 when President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the National Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities Act...
's 100 Years... 100 Laughs
AFI's 100 Years... 100 Laughs
Part of the AFI 100 Years… series, AFI's 100 Years…100 Laughs is a list of the top 100 funniest movies in American cinema. A wide variety of comedies were nominated for the distinction that included slapstick comedy, screwball comedy, romantic comedy, satire, black comedy, musical comedy, comedy of...
list.
On December 24, 2007, AOL
AOL
AOL Inc. is an American global Internet services and media company. AOL is headquartered at 770 Broadway in New York. Founded in 1983 as Control Video Corporation, it has franchised its services to companies in several nations around the world or set up international versions of its services...
ranked the film their #1 Christmas movie of all time. IGN
IGN
IGN is an entertainment website that focuses on video games, films, music and other media. IGN's main website comprises several specialty sites or "channels", each occupying a subdomain and covering a specific area of entertainment...
ranked the film the top holiday-themed movie of all time.
Television
The film first aired on television on HBO during the mid-eighties and quickly attracted a growing following. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, the film began airing quietly on SuperStation WTBS and Superstation WGN. From 1988–1992, the film had a short-lived tradition of airing on ThanksgivingThanksgiving (United States)
Thanksgiving, or Thanksgiving Day, is a holiday celebrated in the United States on the fourth Thursday in November. It has officially been an annual tradition since 1863, when, during the Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln proclaimed a national day of thanksgiving to be celebrated on Thursday,...
night (or the night after Thanksgiving
Black Friday (shopping)
Black Friday is the day following Thanksgiving Day in the United States, traditionally the beginning of the Christmas shopping season. On this day, most major retailers open extremely early, often at 4 a.m., or earlier, and offer promotional sales to kick off the shopping season, similar to Boxing...
) to open the holiday television season
Christmas in the media
Christmas themes have long been an inspiration to artists, writers, and weavers of folklore. Moviemakers have picked up on this wealth of material, with both adaptations of literary classics and new stories.-Films:...
. In 1988, then-fledgling FOX
Fox Broadcasting Company
Fox Broadcasting Company, commonly referred to as Fox Network or simply Fox , is an American commercial broadcasting television network owned by Fox Entertainment Group, part of Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation. Launched on October 9, 1986, Fox was the highest-rated broadcast network in the...
aired the movie the night after Thanksgiving. In 1989–1990, TBS showed it Thanksgiving night, while in 1991–1992, they aired it the night after.
Turner Broadcasting, now a part of the TimeWarner umbrella of cable networks, has maintained ownership of the broadcast rights, and since the mid-1990s, airing the movie increasingly on TBS, TNT
Turner Network Television
Turner Network Television is an American cable television channel created by media mogul Ted Turner and currently owned by the Turner Broadcasting System division of Time Warner...
and TCM
Turner Classic Movies
Turner Classic Movies is a movie-oriented cable television channel, owned by the Turner Broadcasting System subsidiary of Time Warner, featuring commercial-free classic movies, mostly from the Turner Entertainment and MGM, United Artists, RKO and Warner Bros. film libraries...
. By 1995, it was aired on those networks a combined six times on December 24–26, and in 1996, it was aired eight times over those three days.
Due to the increasing popularity of the film, in 1997 TNT began airing a 24-hour marathon
Marathon (television)
In television, a marathon is typically the sequential broadcast of a single or a number of related television programs, most notably reflecting a theme....
dubbed "24 Hours of A Christmas Story," consisting of the film shown twelve consecutive times beginning at 7 or 8 p.m. on Christmas Eve
Christmas Eve
Christmas Eve refers to the evening or entire day preceding Christmas Day, a widely celebrated festival commemorating the birth of Jesus of Nazareth that takes place on December 25...
and ending Christmas Day. This was in addition to various other airings earlier in the month of December. In 2004, after TNT switched to a predominantly drama format, sister network TBS, under its comedy-based "Very Funny" moniker, took over the marathon. Clark stated that in 2002, an estimated 38.4 million people tuned into the marathon at one point or another, nearly one sixth of the country. TBS reported 45.4 million viewers in 2005, and 45.5 million in 2006. In 2007, new all-time ratings records were set, with the highest single showing (8 p.m. Christmas Eve) drawing 4.4 million viewers. Viewership increased again in 2008, with 8 p.m. Christmas Eve drawing 4.5 million viewers, and 10 p.m. drawing 4.3 million, and 54.4 million total. As of 2009, the film had been shown 250 times on the Turner
Turner Broadcasting System
Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. is the Time Warner subsidiary managing the collection of cable networks and properties started and acquired by Robert Edward "Ted" Turner starting in the mid-1970s. The company has its headquarters in the CNN Center in Atlanta, Georgia. TBS, Inc...
family of networks.
In 2007 the marathon continued, and the original tradition was revived. TNT also aired the film twice the Sunday of Thanksgiving weekend (November 25). In 2009, the 24-hour marathon continued on TBS, for the 13th overall year, starting at 8 p.m. eastern on Christmas Eve.
In 2009, the film aired on TBS during a 24 hour marathon on Christmas Eve. The first viewing at 8pm EST on Christmas Eve garnered a strong 1.6 rating (18-49) and beat the major broadcast networks (NBC, ABC, CBS, and FOX).
Subsequent works
A sequelSequel
A sequel is a narrative, documental, or other work of literature, film, theatre, or music that continues the story of or expands upon issues presented in some previous work...
involving Ralphie and his family, titled My Summer Story
My Summer Story
It Runs in the Family is a 1994 film that follows the further adventures of Ralphie Parker and his family from the holiday hit A Christmas Story...
(alternate title It Runs in the Family) was made in 1994. With the exceptions of Tedde Moore as Ralphie's teacher (Miss Shields) and Jean Shepherd as the narrator (the voice of the adult Ralphie), it features an entirely different cast. A series of television movies involving the Parker family, also from Shepherd stories, were made by PBS, including Ollie Hopnoodle's Haven of Bliss
Ollie Hopnoodle's Haven of Bliss
Ollie Hopnoodle's Haven of Bliss is a television comedy film written by Jean Shepherd and directed by Dick Bartlett, based on the 1968 short story by Shephard...
, The Great American Fourth of July and Other Disasters, and The Phantom of the Open Hearth.
In the year 2000, an authorized stage play adaptation of A Christmas Story was written by Philip Grecian and is produced widely each Christmas season. In 2003, Broadway Books published the five Jean Shepherd short stories from which the movie and stage play were adapted in a single volume under the title A Christmas Story (ISBN 0-7679-1622-0), with stories including: "Duel in the Snow, or Red Ryder nails the Cleveland Street Kid", "The Counterfeit Secret Circle Member Gets the Message, or The Asp Strikes Again", "My Old Man and the Lascivious Special Award that Heralded the Birth of Pop Art", "Grover Dill and the Tasmanian Devil", and "The Grandstand Passion Play of Delbert and the Bumpus Hounds". This collection was also released as an audio book
Audio book
An audiobook or audio book is a recording of a text being read. It is not necessarily an exact audio version of a book or magazine.Spoken audio has been available in schools and public libraries and to a lesser extent in music shops since the 1930s. Many spoken word albums were made prior to the...
(ISBN 0-7393-1674-5), read by Dick Cavett
Dick Cavett
Richard Alva "Dick" Cavett is a former American television talk show host known for his conversational style and in-depth discussion of issues...
.
The book Excelsior, You Fathead! The Art and Enigma of Jean Shepherd (2005, ISBN 978-1-55783-600-7), has several sections which comment on the movie A Christmas Story.
Home releases
- BetamaxBetamaxBetamax was a consumer-level analog videocassette magnetic tape recording format developed by Sony, released on May 10, 1975. The cassettes contain -wide videotape in a design similar to the earlier, professional wide, U-matic format...
(1985) - VHSVHSThe Video Home System is a consumer-level analog recording videocassette standard developed by Victor Company of Japan ....
(1984, 1985, 1993, 1994, 1999, 2000) - LaserdiscLaserdiscLaserDisc was a home video format and the first commercial optical disc storage medium. Initially licensed, sold, and marketed as MCA DiscoVision in North America in 1978, the technology was previously referred to interally as Optical Videodisc System, Reflective Optical Videodisc, Laser Optical...
(1985): pan & scan - Laserdisc (1993): Delux letterbox edition
- DVDDVDA DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
(1997, reissued by Warner Home VideoWarner Home VideoWarner Home Video is the home video unit of Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc., itself part of Time Warner. It was founded in 1978 as WCI Home Video . The company launched in the United States with twenty films on VHS and Betamax videocassettes in late 1979...
in 1999): fullscreen, includes original theatrical trailer - DVD (2003) 20th Anniversary 2-Disc Special Edition DVD (2003): Widescreen; includes cast interviews, audio commentary, and featurettes.
- HD DVDHD DVDHD DVD is a discontinued high-density optical disc format for storing data and high-definition video.Supported principally by Toshiba, HD DVD was envisioned to be the successor to the standard DVD format...
(2006) - Blu-ray (2006)
- DVD (2008) Ultimate Collector's Edition: Metal tin case features the same 2003 two-disc special edition, but includes special memorabilia.
- Blu-rayBlu-ray DiscBlu-ray Disc is an optical disc storage medium designed to supersede the DVD format. The plastic disc is 120 mm in diameter and 1.2 mm thick, the same size as DVDs and CDs. Blu-ray Discs contain 25 GB per layer, with dual layer discs being the norm for feature-length video discs...
(2008) Ultimate Collector's Edition: Metal tin which features the same 2006 Blu-ray disc, but also includes a strand of Leg Lamp Christmas lights.
Locations
Warren G. Harding
Warren Gamaliel Harding was the 29th President of the United States . A Republican from Ohio, Harding was an influential self-made newspaper publisher. He served in the Ohio Senate , as the 28th Lieutenant Governor of Ohio and as a U.S. Senator...
Elementary School and Cleveland Street (where Shepherd spent his childhood). Other local references include mention of a person "swallowing a yo-yo" in nearby Griffith
Griffith, Indiana
Griffith is a town in Calumet and St. John townships, Lake County, Indiana. It is a part of the Chicago metropolitan area. The population was 16,893 at the 2010 census.-Geography:...
, the Old Man being one of the fiercest "furnace
Furnace
A furnace is a device used for heating. The name derives from Latin fornax, oven.In American English and Canadian English, the term furnace on its own is generally used to describe household heating systems based on a central furnace , and sometimes as a synonym for kiln, a device used in the...
fighters in northern Indiana" and that his obscenities were "hanging in space over Lake Michigan
Lake Michigan
Lake Michigan is one of the five Great Lakes of North America and the only one located entirely within the United States. It is the second largest of the Great Lakes by volume and the third largest by surface area, after Lake Superior and Lake Huron...
," a mention of the Indianapolis 500
Indianapolis 500
The Indianapolis 500-Mile Race, also known as the Indianapolis 500, the 500 Miles at Indianapolis, the Indy 500 or The 500, is an American automobile race, held annually, typically on the last weekend in May at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Speedway, Indiana...
, and the line to Santa Claus "stretching all the way to Terre Haute
Terre Haute, Indiana
Terre Haute is a city and the county seat of Vigo County, Indiana, United States, near the state's western border with Illinois. As of the 2010 census, the city had a total population of 60,785 and its metropolitan area had a population of 170,943. The city is the county seat of Vigo County and...
." The Old Man is also revealed to be a fan of the Bears
Chicago Bears
The Chicago Bears are a professional American football team based in Chicago, Illinois. They are members of the North Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League...
(who he jokingly calls the "Chicago Chipmunks") and White Sox
Chicago White Sox
The Chicago White Sox are a Major League Baseball team located in Chicago, Illinois.The White Sox play in the American League's Central Division. Since , the White Sox have played in U.S. Cellular Field, which was originally called New Comiskey Park and nicknamed The Cell by local fans...
, consistent with living in northwest Indiana.
The school scenes were shot at Victoria School in St. Catharines, Ontario
St. Catharines, Ontario
St. Catharines is the largest city in Canada's Niagara Region and the sixth largest urban area in Ontario, Canada, with 97.11 square kilometres of land...
.
Director Bob Clark reportedly sent location scouts to twenty cities before selecting Cleveland, Ohio
Cleveland, Ohio
Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and is the county seat of Cuyahoga County, the most populous county in the state. The city is located in northeastern Ohio on the southern shore of Lake Erie, approximately west of the Pennsylvania border...
, as the principal site for filming. Higbee's
Higbee's
Higbee's was a department store founded 1860 in Cleveland, Ohio. In 1992, Higbee's stores were re-branded as part of Dillard's.-History:Higbee's was founded by Edwin Converse Higbee and John G. Hower on September 10, 1860 as Higbee & Hower Dry Goods. The first day of business saw $100 in sales. ...
department store in downtown Cleveland was the stage for three scenes in the film. The first is the opening scene in which Ralphie first spies the Red Ryder BB Gun. The second is the parade scene, filmed just outside Higbee’s, on Public Square
Public Square
Public Square is the central plaza in downtown Cleveland, Ohio, United States. It takes up four city blocks; Superior Avenue and Ontario Street cross through it. Cleveland's three tallest buildings, Key Tower, 200 Public Square and the Terminal Tower, face the square...
, at 3 AM. The final scene is Ralphie and Randy’s visit to see Santa which was filmed inside Higbee’s. The store kept the Santa slide that was made for the movie and used it for several years after the movie’s release. Higbee's was known for its elaborate child-centered Christmas themes and decorations, with Santa as the centerpiece, until the store, which became Dillard's
Dillard's
Dillard's, Inc. is a department store chain in the United States, with 330 stores in 29 states. Headquartered in Little Rock, Arkansas, Dillard's locations are concentrated in Texas and Florida; with a major presence in other states including Arizona, Iowa, Colorado, Wyoming, Kansas, Missouri,...
in 1992, closed for good in 2002. Higbee's was exclusive to Northeast Ohio. As such, he was most likely referring to Goldblatts in downtown Hammond (with the Cam-Lan Chinese Restaurant three doors down on Sibley Ave.) The parade was filmed at night because during the daytime the 1960s Erieview Tower and Federal Building were visible from the Public Square as was the BP Tower
BP Tower
200 Public Square is the third-tallest skyscraper in Cleveland, Ohio...
, which was under construction at the time.
The exterior shots (and select interior shots, including the opening of the leg lamp) of the house and neighborhood were filmed in the Tremont
Tremont, Cleveland
Tremont is a neighborhood in the city of Cleveland, Ohio. Tremont is one of the oldest parts of Cleveland, and is home to restaurants and art galleries. The district sits just west of the Cuyahoga River and south of the Ohio City neighborhood. Tremont is home to numerous historic churches...
section of Cleveland's West Side. The house used as the Parker home in these scenes has been restored, reconfigured inside to match the soundstage interiors, and opened to the public as "A Christmas Story House
A Christmas Story House
A Christmas Story House is the house used as the Parker family's house in the 1983 movie A Christmas Story. It is located in Cleveland, Ohio's Tremont neighborhood, and has been restored to appear as it did in the film...
". The "...only I didn't say fudge" scene was filmed at the foot of Cherry Street in Toronto.
In 2008, two fans from Canada released a documentary that visits every location used in the movie. Their film, Road Trip for Ralphie, was shot over two years and includes footage of the filmmakers saving Miss Shields's black board from the garbage bin on the day the old Victoria School was gutted for renovation, discovering the antique fire truck that saved Flick, locating all the original costumes from the movie and tracking down the real-life location of the movie's Chop Suey Palace in Toronto.
Vehicles
Cleveland car buffs donated the use of a number of vintage vehicles for the film, which helped to enhance the authenticity of the production despite a limited budget. During filming in downtown Cleveland, members of a local antique automobile club, following a preset route, repeatedly circled the square.The Parker family car was a 1937 Oldsmobile
Oldsmobile
Oldsmobile was a brand of American automobile produced for most of its existence by General Motors. It was founded by Ransom E. Olds in 1897. In its 107-year history, it produced 35.2 million cars, including at least 14 million built at its Lansing, Michigan factory...
Model F-37 four-door trunkback sedan. The Old Man's relationship with his car is revealed in some of the film's lines: "Some men are Baptist, others Catholic; my father was an Oldsmobile man"; "That hot damn Olds has froze up again"; and, "That son of a bitch would freeze up in the middle of summer on the equator!"
Red Ryder BB gun
The Red Ryder BB gun was available beginning in 1938 and for many years afterward (and indeed, still is), but never in the exact configuration mentioned in the film. The Daisy "Buck JonesBuck Jones
Buck Jones was an American motion picture star of the 1920s, 1930s, and 1940s, best known for his work starring in many popular western movies...
" model did have a compass and a sundial in the stock, but these features were not included in the Red Ryder model. The compass and sundial were placed on Ralphie's BB gun but on the opposite side of the stock due to Peter Billingsley being left-handed.
Dating the story
Director Bob Clark stated in the film's DVD commentary that he and author Shepherd wished for the movie to be seen as "amorphously late 30s, early 40s," but a specific year is never mentioned.Music
The mock heroic tone of the narration, filled with such hyperbole as "the legendary battle of the lamp", is matched by the extensive use of familiar classical music themes. For example, when the character Scut Farkus appears, the Wolf's theme from Sergei ProkofievSergei Prokofiev
Sergei Sergeyevich Prokofiev was a Russian composer, pianist and conductor who mastered numerous musical genres and is regarded as one of the major composers of the 20th century...
's Peter and the Wolf
Peter and the Wolf
Peter and the Wolf , Op. 67, is a composition written by Sergei Prokofiev in 1936 in the USSR. It is a children's story , spoken by a narrator accompanied by the orchestra....
plays in the background. ("Farkas" is a Hungarian name, but literally means "Wolf") The leitmotif
Leitmotif
A leitmotif , sometimes written leit-motif, is a musical term , referring to a recurring theme, associated with a particular person, place, or idea. It is closely related to the musical idea of idée fixe...
s from Peter and the Wolf are used quite extensively. The piece that plays after Ralphie says "fudge", after the lamp breaks for the second time, and after Ralphie breaks his glasses is the opening of Hamlet
Hamlet (Tchaikovsky)
Hamlet provided material for two works by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, his fantasy overture after Shakespeare Hamlet, Op. 67a, and the incidental music he composed for Shakespeare's Hamlet, Op. 67b.-Overture-Fantasia, Op. 67a:...
by Tchaikovsky
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (Russian: Пётр Ильи́ч Чайко́вский ; often "Peter Ilich Tchaikovsky" in English. His names are also transliterated "Piotr" or "Petr"; "Ilitsch", "Il'ich" or "Illyich"; and "Tschaikowski", "Tschaikowsky", "Chajkovskij"...
. The Grand Canyon Suite
Grand Canyon Suite
The Grand Canyon Suite is a suite for orchestra by Ferde Grofé, composed during the period from 1929 to 1931. It consists of five parts or movements, each an evocation in tone of a particular scene typical of the Grand Canyon...
by Ferde Grofé
Ferde Grofé
Ferde Grofé was a prominent American composer, arranger and pianist. During the 1920s and 1930s, he went by the name Ferdie Grofé.-Early life:...
is featured prominently in the movie. Movement 3 [On The Trail] provides a suitable Western feeling to a Red Ryder rifle fantasy sequence, and bits of Movement 1 [Sunrise] and Movement 4 [Sunset] were also freely arranged and adapted throughout the score. The music in the dream sequence with Ralphie in a cowboy outfit shooting at bandits and later when he finally plays with his BB gun outside of the house is based on the main theme from the classic John Ford
John Ford
John Ford was an American film director. He was famous for both his westerns such as Stagecoach, The Searchers, and The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, and adaptations of such classic 20th-century American novels as The Grapes of Wrath...
western Stagecoach (1939). The harp solo from Benjamin Britten
Benjamin Britten
Edward Benjamin Britten, Baron Britten, OM CH was an English composer, conductor, and pianist. He showed talent from an early age, and first came to public attention with the a cappella choral work A Boy Was Born in 1934. With the premiere of his opera Peter Grimes in 1945, he leapt to...
's "A Ceremony of Carols
A Ceremony of Carols
A Ceremony of Carols, Op. 28, is a choral piece by Benjamin Britten, scored for three-part treble chorus, solo voices, and harp. Written for Christmas, it consists of eleven movements, with text from The English Galaxy of Shorter Poems, by Gerald Bullett; it is in Middle English...
" is briefly excerpted for the scene in which Ralphie observes a snowy Christmas morning from his bedroom window, which follows a segment of celeste music which comes, again, from the latter half of Movement 3 [On The Trail] of Ferde Grofé's Grand Canyon Suite which plays as Ralphie awakens on Christmas morning. The classroom fantasy scene where Miss Shields is grading Ralph's paper features two excerpts from Tchaikovsky's "Romeo and Juliet Fantasy Overture
Romeo and Juliet (Tchaikovsky)
Romeo and Juliet is an orchestral work composed by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. It is styled an Overture-Fantasy, and is based on Shakespeare's play of the same name. Like other composers such as Berlioz and Prokofiev, Tchaikovsky was deeply inspired by Shakespeare and wrote works based on The...
." Whenever the scene involves the hounds belonging to the Bumpus family, "our hillbilly neighbors", snatches of the American folk tune "Chicken Reel
Chicken Reel
"Chicken Reel" is a dance tune. It was composed by Joseph M. Daly in 1910. Joseph Mittenthal added lyrics in 1911.Along with "Turkey in the Straw," "Chicken Reel" is probably best known for its use in early animated cartoons as a catchy tune used to represent animal activity. Originally composed...
" are heard. During the dream sequence when Ralphie goes blind from soap poisoning, Alphons Czibulka
Alphons Czibulka
----Alphons Czibulka, Alfons Czibulka, or Czibulka Alfonz was an Austro-Hungarian military bandmaster, composer, pianist, and conductor....
's "Wintermärchen" can be heard. The music when Ralph uses the Orphan Annie decoder is actually a stock music piece from the Associated Production Music library called "Footsteps of Horror" by W. Merrick Farran.
Popular music
Popular music
Popular music belongs to any of a number of musical genres "having wide appeal" and is typically distributed to large audiences through the music industry. It stands in contrast to both art music and traditional music, which are typically disseminated academically or orally to smaller, local...
of the time was also used, ostensibly as coming from the radio
Radio
Radio is the transmission of signals through free space by modulation of electromagnetic waves with frequencies below those of visible light. Electromagnetic radiation travels by means of oscillating electromagnetic fields that pass through the air and the vacuum of space...
. This included three Christmas songs sung by Bing Crosby
Bing Crosby
Harry Lillis "Bing" Crosby was an American singer and actor. Crosby's trademark bass-baritone voice made him one of the best-selling recording artists of the 20th century, with over half a billion records in circulation....
, two of them in conjunction with the Andrews Sisters. While waiting in line for Santa, the music in the back ground are parts of "Jingle Bells
Jingle Bells
"Jingle Bells" is one of the best-known and commonly sung winter songs in the world. It was written by James Lord Pierpont and published under the title "One Horse Open Sleigh" in the autumn of 1857...
" by Fred Waring and his Pennsylvanians from the "'Twas the Night Before Christmas" album on Decca Records
Decca Records
Decca Records began as a British record label established in 1929 by Edward Lewis. Its U.S. label was established in late 1934; however, owing to World War II, the link with the British company was broken for several decades....
. Spiritual Christmas songs that appear in the film include "Go Tell It on the Mountain
Go Tell It on the Mountain (song)
"Go Tell It on the Mountain" is an African-American spiritual song, compiled by John Wesley Work, Jr., dating back to at least 1865, that has been sung and recorded by many gospel and secular performers...
", which is sung by carolers during the opening scene, and "Silent Night
Silent Night
"Silent Night" is a popular Christmas carol. The original lyrics of the song "Stille Nacht" were written in Oberndorf bei Salzburg, Austria, by the priest Father Joseph Mohr and the melody was composed by the Austrian headmaster Franz Xaver Gruber...
," which is heard during the final scene.
The title card
Intertitle
In motion pictures, an intertitle is a piece of filmed, printed text edited into the midst of the photographed action, at various points, generally to convey character dialogue, or descriptive narrative material related to, but not necessarily covered by, the material photographed.Intertitles...
and closing credits
Closing credits
Closing credits or end credits are added at the end of a motion picture, television program, or video game to list the cast and crew involved in the production. They usually appear as a list of names in small type, which either flip very quickly from page to page, or move smoothly across the...
are accompanied by modified instrumental versions of "Deck the Halls" and "We Wish You a Merry Christmas
We Wish You a Merry Christmas
"We Wish You a Merry Christmas" is a popular secular sixteenth-century English carol from the West Country of England. The origin of this Christmas carol lies in the English tradition where wealthy people of the community gave Christmas treats to the carolers on Christmas Eve such as 'figgy...
," respectively (see album below).
Original music for the film's score was by Carl Zittrer, who worked with director Bob Clark on at least ten films between 1972 and 1998; and by Paul Zaza
Paul Zaza
Paul Zaza is a Genie Award-winning film score and songwriter. In 1980 he won the Genie Award for Best Music Score alongside Carl Zittrer for their work on Murder by Decree. He was nominated for the same award in 1985 for Isaac Littlefeathers. In 1987 he received a Genie nomination for Best Original...
, who has worked with Clark on at least sixteen films, including Murder by Decree
Murder by Decree
Murder by Decree is an Anglo-Canadian thriller film involving Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Watson in the case of the serial murderer Jack the Ripper...
and My Summer Story.
Soundtrack
In 2009 Rhino Records released a soundtrack albumSoundtrack album
A soundtrack album is any album that incorporates music directly recorded from the soundtrack of a particular feature film or television program. In some cases, not all the tracks from the movie are included in the album; however there are rare cases of songs in the trailers that do not appear in...
for the film on CD. This release contains no spoken dialogue from the movie, only clips from the original score by Carl Zittrer and Paul Zaza
Paul Zaza
Paul Zaza is a Genie Award-winning film score and songwriter. In 1980 he won the Genie Award for Best Music Score alongside Carl Zittrer for their work on Murder by Decree. He was nominated for the same award in 1985 for Isaac Littlefeathers. In 1987 he received a Genie nomination for Best Original...
and a version of "Silent Night
Silent Night
"Silent Night" is a popular Christmas carol. The original lyrics of the song "Stille Nacht" were written in Oberndorf bei Salzburg, Austria, by the priest Father Joseph Mohr and the melody was composed by the Austrian headmaster Franz Xaver Gruber...
" by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir
Mormon Tabernacle Choir
The Mormon Tabernacle Choir, sometimes colloquially referred to as MoTab, is a Grammy and Emmy Award winning, 360-member, all-volunteer choir. The choir is part of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints . However, the choir is completely self-funded, traveling and producing albums to...
. The tracklisting is as follows:
- Bob's Major Award (title card music)
- Jogging To School
- Black Bart Bites the Dust
- Meeting of the Minds
- And They're Off!
- Truth or (Triple Dog) Dare
- Jingle Bells
- He Had Yellow Eyes
- A Chip Off the Old Block
- When Things Seem Hopeless...
- Feet, Do Your Stuff!
- Ralphie's Brilliant Idea
- Ming the Merciless
- Don't Look Back
- Sleigh Bells
- Ralphie's Revenge & the "F" Word
- Joy To the World & Silent Night
- The Bumpus Hounds Make Their Rounds
- Glorious, Beautiful Christmas (closing credits music)
- Silent Night - Mormon Tabernacle Choir
External links
- Official DVD site
- TBS.com's Christmas Story website
- "The Man Who Told A Christmas Story: What I learned from Jean Shepherd" by Donald FagenDonald FagenDonald Jay Fagen is an American musician and songwriter, best known as the co-founder, lead singer, and the principal songwriter of the rock band Steely Dan ....
- Monday, Dec. 21, 2009, at 3:35 PM ET - SlateSlate (magazine)Slate is a US-based English language online current affairs and culture magazine created in 1996 by former New Republic editor Michael Kinsley, initially under the ownership of Microsoft as part of MSN. On 21 December 2004 it was purchased by the Washington Post Company...