A Christmas Story

Plot synopsis:
Set in an undeterminate year of the 1940s, Ralphie Parker (Peter Billingsley) is a nine year-old boy living in the small town of Hohman, Indiana. His older self (voice of Jean Shepherd) narrates his experiences and thoughts through the short weeks before Christmas. As he, a few friends, and his younger brother Randy (Ian Petrella) look into the display window of a local store, Ralphie has his eyes set on the only item he wants for Christmas; an Official Red Ryder Carbine-Action Two-Hundred-Shot Range Model Air Rifle, with a compass in the stock and "this thing which tells time" (a sundial).Knowing full well that he could never request this item openly to his parents, Ralphie sneaks advertisements for the gun into his parents' magazines the next morning. At the breakfast table, he fails to bring up the subject in casual conversation, and with less subtlety than was intended. He then accidentally lets slip his desire to his mother (Melinda Dillon) who immediately rejects the idea with the dreaded phrase: "you'll shoot your eye out."Disappointed, Ralphie enjoys a reverie about how he alone, armed with his gun, stands between his family and a gang of stripe-shirted ruffians in a Western-style standoff. Meanwhile his grouchy father (Darren McGavin) is forced to battle the temperamental house furnace in the basement amid a slur of inaudible curses.While walking through the frozen, snow-covered neighborhood on his way to school, Ralphie meets up his two friends, Flick (Scott Schwartz) and Schwartz (R.D. Robb), while Randy lags behind, heavily bundled under a thick, wool snow jumper that leaves his arms sticking straight out. Before class, Flick and Schwartz argue over what would happen should someone stick their tongue to a frozen flag pole, engaging in a delicate nuance of phrase during which Schwartz dares Flick to stick his tongue to the pole. Upon the dreaded triple-dog-dare, Flick puts his tongue to the pole to find it stuck tight. He starts screaming but the others run into school as the bell rings. Their teacher, Miss Shields (Tedde Moore), notices Flick's absence and, when she sees him outside, calls the fire department and local police and tries to comfort Flick. As the students watch with excitement, Ralphie feels a pang of guilt. Still, when Flick is escorted to his desk, a bandage around his tongue, and Miss Shields gives a brief speech on how whoever put Flick up to sticking his tongue to the pole should atone for their misdeed. But Ralphie explains that kids know better not to get caught. Miss Shields then gives them an assignment; to write a theme about what they want for Christmas. Ralphie sees this as an opportunity to write about the Red Ryder gun, hoping that his teacher will sympathize with him and secure a little reprieve with her authority as an adult.On the way home, Ralphie, Flick, Schwartz, and Randy are confronted by a local bully named Scut Farkus (Zack Ward) and his toadie Grover Dill (Yano Anaya). Poor Schwartz is subjected to a painful hammerlock before they all run away, screaming shrilly, while Randy lags behind unable to keep up wearing his thick winter clothing.Ralphie makes it home and finishes his theme just as his father comes home, shouting excitedly, before being surrounded by the neighbor's dogs. Ralphie watches from his window above and comments how his neighbors, the Bumpuses, owned dozens of bloodhounds that ignored everyone else on earth except for the Old Man. Mr. Parker exclaims that he won a grand prize in a local magazine sweepstakes, showing his wife the telegram that says it will be delivered that night.During dinner that night, Randy displays his typical dissent for food and refuses to eat until his mother playfully asks him how pigs eat. Randy dives into his food face first, laughing hysterically, while Mr. Parker and Ralphie watch with mild disgust. Then, the doorbell rings and everyone immediately stops. They run to the door where Mr. Parker allows the delivery men to wheel in a large box and opens it with fervor to reveal a lamp that's designed to look like a woman's leg, complete with stocking, high heel shoe, and a shade that looks like a skirt. While Mr. Parker gushes over it, Ralphie's mother is clearly uncomfortable, especially when her husband tells her to display it in the front window for the entire neighborhood to see. Only one thing draws Ralphie and his brother away from the glow of electric sex gleaming in the window, and thats their favorite radio program; Little Orphan Annie.The next day at school, Ralphie hands in his theme and has a momentary daydream where his paper is given the best grade in class before being brought out of it by Miss Shields. After school, he and his friends are once again chased through the alley by Scut and Grover.Upon arriving home, he checks the mail to see that his long awaited package from the Little Orphan Annie Secret Society with his secret message decoder pin has arrived. He listens to the encrypted message on the radio that night and rushes up to the bathroom to decode it, only to realize that the secret message is nothing but an advertisement for Ovaltine. Wiser, but nonetheless disappointed, Ralphie casually swears under his breath.Later that night, the furnace blows black smoke into the kitchen again and the Old Man rushes down to do battle. Mrs. Parker appears complacent as she strolls into the living room with a watering can before a loud crash is heard. Ralphie watches as his father rushes up the stairs and finds his wife holding his broken lamp. She admits it was an accident before shouting, after Mr. Parker claims she was jealous that he won it, that it was the ugliest lamp she's ever seen. Mr. Parker attempts to fix the lamp but it quickly falls apart, much to his wife's amusement. He musters all the dignity he can as he takes the remains to the back yard and buries them.At school, the students bring in apples as small gifts for Miss Shields before Christmas. Ralphie gives her a large fruit basket, hoping that it will help sway her final decision on his paper.That evening, the family goes out to pick a Christmas tree. On the way home, the car blows a tire and Mr. Parker goes outside to fix it. When his mother encourages him to help his father, Ralphie is only happy to do so, but when his father accidentally knocks the hubcap that Ralphie is using to hold the tire bolts out of his hands, Ralphie utters the big one that he heard his father say in private over and over again. Ralphie says: "oh, fudge!" (Actually the F-dash-dash-dash word).At home, his mother puts a bar of soap in his mouth, one that he dislikes in taste above all others he's had the opportunity to sample. His mother asks where hes heard that word and, although Ralphie admits to us that his old man used the word as fluently as an artist would use paint, he chickens out and blurts out his friend Schwartz's name. When Mrs. Parker calls Schwartz's mother and tells her, we hear her screaming maniacally and giving Schwartz a sound beating.Sent to bed early, Ralphie cries to himself and fantasizes about visiting his parents years into the future to reveal that all the soap sessions his mother gave him resulted in premature blindness, causing his parents to moan and grieve over their wrongdoing.At school, Ralphie is handed his theme back from Miss Shields. He looks in horror at the large C+ stamped across the top with the phrase "you'll shoot your eye out". He imagines his teacher clad in a witch's outfit, laughing at him next to his harlequin mother who must have surely gotten to her. Ralphie spends the rest of the day in class feeling depressed and hopeless that he'll never get the Ryder BB gun.On the way home, Ralphie walks alone and is suddenly hit in the face with a snowball. He takes his glasses off and sees Scut Farkus and Grover Dill approach him. Ralphie tears up until Scut starts to mock him and laugh, something that causes Ralphie, in all his disappointment and anguish, to snap and charge angrily at Scut, tackling him to the ground and beating him. Grover runs off as the neighborhood kids cheer Ralphie on. Randy picks up his discarded glasses and goes to get their mother who arrives just as Ralphie is finishing a rant of slurred curses. She gets a distraught Ralphie off of Scut and helps him walk home. Scut is left to pick himself up with a bloodied nose.Ralphie is inconsolable by the time he gets home, though his mother tries to calm him and puts him to bed until dinner. Meanwhile, Randy hides himself under the kitchen sink, crying that "Daddy's gonna kill Ralphie". When Mr. Parker does come home, Ralphie goes downstairs, fearing the worst and knowing full well the mix of bad words he'd said during the fight. However, his mother is sympathetic and downplays the fight to Mr. Parker, giving a grateful Ralphie a reprieve. As Ralphie goes to sleep that night, the "Scut Farkus Affair" behind him, he decides the best way to receive his BB gun is to ask Santa himself.The next night, (Christmas Eve) the family goes downtown to watch the Christmas parade. Ralphie is impatient and keeps asking to leave early so that they can see Santa Claus. As soon as Santa goes by in his float, his parents concede and take him and Randy to the department store where Santa (Jeff Gillen) sits atop a frosty mountain, a long line of kids on one side and a slide going down on the other. Ralphie's parents let him take Randy while they go off on their own. Stuck at the end of a very long line, and with a Santa enthusiast nicknamed Goggles (David Svoboda) to awkwardly content with, Ralphie can only wonder if he'll make it to see Santa before closing time. When they finally make it to the top, Goggles sits on Santa's lap and immediately starts screaming before being put on the slide. Randy follows suit and Ralphie is escorted by an irritable helper elf (Patty Johnson) to sit on Santa's lap. His perspective, as he's swung around, shows clearly why most kids are afraid of Santa. In shock himself by Santa's intimindating face, Ralphie is unable to tell Santa exactly what he wants. Santa suggests a football to which Ralphie numbly agrees. He comes to his senses just as he's about to go down the slide and stops himself, struggling back to the top where he blurts out what he really wants. He gives his best smile, but Santa merely repeats what Ralphie fears, "you'll shoot your eye out, kid" before putting his boot to Ralphie's forehead and pushing him down the slide. Ralphie's parents collect him and Randy at the bottom and take them home where they decorate the tree (a task that results in blowing a dangerously packed outlet). The boys are then ushered quickly up the stairs to bed.The next morning, Ralphie wakes up to see that fresh snow has fallen overnight and goes downstairs eagerly with his brother, who claims that everything in sight is his. Their parents follow suit and presents are unwrapped with frantic excitement (except for socks). When all is said and done, Randy lies sleeping amid the wrappings with his toy zeppelin as Ralphie sits on the couch with his parents. His father asks if he got everything he wanted that year before pointing out a mysterious package behind the desk. Ralphie goes to unwrap it and finds what he thought he'd never get; the Red Ryder BB gun. His father chuckles as he fills it with BB pellets and asks to try it out. Mr. Parker explains to his wife that he had one when he was eight years old, though she still worries Ralphie will hurt himself. Ralphie runs outside and sets up his metal target board while his father drools over the Christmas turkey his mother is making.Ralphie takes aim, fires, and falls back; the pellet having bounced off the target and hitting him on the cheek, knocking his glasses off. Fearful for a second that he actually did shoot his eye out, the half-blind Ralphie collects himself and looks for his glasses but accidentally steps on them, breaking them. Despondent, he tries to think of a way to explain the accident to his mother and decides that an icicle falling off the garage would have to work. He fakes some tears and goes to his mother. She takes him to the bathroom upstairs to wash his face off (though Ralphie is ecstatic that his plan worked) and gives him an old pair of glasses to use.Meanwhile, the Bumpuses' street bloodhounds get into the house and run rampant through the kitchen, eating all of the turkey. Mr. Parker chases the dogs out, yelling at the top of his lungs, before announcing to everyone that they're going out to eat. They go to a Chinese restaurant where the family listens to the waiters' attempts to sing carols before the main course is brought out, with its head still intact. The owner (John Wong) casually takes out a butcher knife and chops the head off while the family claps and begin to eat.That night, Ralphie sleeps with his Red Ryder held close, the best Christmas gift he ever received, dreaming of hunting ducks and making spectacular shots.

Tags: cult

Review:
While kids will definitely enjoy this Christmas-themed saga, adults will find a deeper level of depth than they may remember from seeing the film at a younger age.The movie strikes a sharp contrast between the exaggerated, polysyllabic narration of Ralphie, filled with nostalgia and lucid memories, and the soft, high-pitched childlike wonder of Ralphie's spoken word.
I'm sure that there is a scientific law left unwritten that determines that every kid must at some point fantasize about his parents feeling absolutely terrible and forever regretting some unutterable punishment they inflicted on their child - in this case, the immortal washing of a mouth out with soap.Obviously, "A Christmas Story" is not a film that can be compared to Casablanca or Citizen Kane.
It is more a reminiscence and appreciation of a great story captured for all time in moving pictures which, in turn, captured the essence of the time and place of its setting; that time and setting being a typical town in Indiana during Christmas season in the 1940s as we observe a typical family (the Parkers) with two young sons named Ralphie and Randy.
Browns was the main department store in my hometown of Oklahoma City and the place where I would make my annual visit with Santa Claus.I am sure most who have seen the film realize this is Ralphie's story, but Melinda Dillon as the typical 1940's stay-at-home mom and Darren McGavin as the grumpy but kindly father made the story work.
Curling up with a warm cup of cider in front of the fireplace, wrapping Christmas presents, making Christmas cookies, or writing a letter to Santa Claus...those are all perfect times to watch this classic family film.
But onto the movie, I've watched A Christmas Story since the day I was born, it's one of those films you never get sick of because of the simple fact that each year of your life you could relate to it in some way.
It's great seeing this movie because it makes us laugh about the silliest moments in our life during the Christmas season.Ralphie is a little boy who just so badly wants a B.B. gun for Christmas, it's just his dream.
But all Ralphie can think about during this hard time in his adolescence is that B.B. gun.A Christmas Story has constant unforgettable scenes, like the pink bunny out fit that Ralphie gets as a present from his aunt, him saying his first swear in front of his dad, Mom and Dad's fight over using the glue on purpose, visiting Santa at the mall, and of course that great ending that is sure to bring a that is sure to bring a tear to your eye.
He wants nothing more than a Red Ryder Ranger Model Air Rifle (a BB gun for short) for Christmas but everyone tells him it will "shoot your eye out".That's about it for plot but the film has sequences that every child (and adult) can relate to.
My favorites: Ralphie's best friend getting his tongue stuck to a pole when he's dared to lick it; Ralphie accidentally swearing in front of his father; the bully that threatens Ralphie and his friends every day until Ralphie beats him up (in a GREAT scene); Ralphie's constant fights with his little brother (wonderfully played by Ian Petrella) and Billingsley and his brother being terrified by a department store Santa.Also Melinda Dillon and Darren McGavin are just great as the parents-- especially Dillon.
Ralphie (Peter Billingsley) wants a Red Rider BB Gun for Christmas but his mother is totally against it - the "you'll shoot your eye out" discussion being a major opposition.This is essentially a story about childhood and is very spot-on in regards to the yearning of children and the whole Christmas era - I've been watching it since I was a child and every Christmas when it comes on TV I watch it again.
In most families, this film is already a tradition to watch every year and that's because it has a wonderful plot, great characters and believable actors.
When Ralphie has to write a Theme about what he wants for Christmas, his teacher replies to him `you'll shoot your eye out' which seems to be the only reply to him throughout the whole film.What makes this film so great is the ability to relate to Ralphie with his problems throughout the movie, such as wanting that one gift that everyone thinks that you're too young to have and are unable to get.
12 reasons that A Christmas Story is a modern Classic!12: "Fa-Ra-Ra-Ra-Ra Ra-Ra-Ra-Ra" 11: "Don't forget to drink your Ovaltine" 10: "Nadafinga!!" 9: Ralphie's pink bunny outfit 8: Scut Farkus' yellow eyes 7: "Fuuuuuuuudddggee" 6: "Randy...how do the little piggies eat?" 5: "Fra-Gi-Le...it must be Italian" 4: "Where's the glue?" "We're out of glue!" "You used up all the glue on purpose!!" 3: "I triple-dog dare ya!" 2: "Alright, I'll get that kid to eat.
The film is seen through the eyes of nine-year-old Ralphie, and is frequently told through the older more knowing voice of Jean Shepherd, who wrote the source material "In God We Trust, All Others Pay Cash" in 1966.
However the jewel of Modern Christmas Movies is not made by Hallmark but by MGM and it is the crown jewel of "Modern Christmas Films" and that film is "A Christmas Story".Based on the humorous writings of author Jean Shepherd, this beloved holiday movie follows the wintry exploits of youngster Ralphie Parker (Peter Billingsley), who spends most of his time dodging a bully (Zack Ward) and dreaming of his ideal Christmas gift, a "Red Ryder air rifle." Frequently at odds with his cranky dad (Darren McGavin) but comforted by his doting mother (Melinda Dillon), Ralphie struggles to make it to Christmas Day with his glasses and his hopes intact.This film is perfect.
It's narrated by the boy who is now much older and is fondly looking back at the period, which included a lot of funny moments for he and his friends and family.Jean Shepherd narrates and Peter Billingsley plays the little kid, "Ralphie Parker." He's fun to look at, with his nerd-like looks.
I haven't seen this in a long time, but I always remember the little kid's favorite Christmas present, a red air rifle and his friend getting his tongue frozen stuck to a pole.
It's a heartwarming holiday movie, as well as a great coming-of-age story.Peter Billingsly is adorable as Ralphy, the daydreaming, semi-good natured son of a foul-mouthed 'furnace fighter', a mother who does her best to keep her family in check, and older brother of the slightly infantile Randy.
It is with the utmost sadness that I have read that Bob Clark, the director who turned this little-film-that-could into a minor cult classic and annual television Christmas tradition, was killed in an automobile crash, along with his 22-year old son.
This excellent comedy proves how through the eyes of a 10-year-old child, hopes and dreams for the ultimate Christmas present can overcome neighborhood bullies, homework and even "The Old Man".I have watched this movie at least 30 times.
And I don't mean, "Not as good as everyone says." I mean, if you tied me up and made me watch this movie again, inside of an hour I'd give you anything you wanted to let me go.Based on this film, the secret to creating a movie classic appears to be: Write a series of disjointed, semi-humorous vignettes about a group of largely unlikeable one-dimensional characters, hire a bunch of loud hammy over-actors to gesticulate wildly and shout most of their lines, narrate it with the most punchable voice I've ever heard, and tie it all very loosely to a Christmas theme.If your idea of a good time is watching some poor kid get his tongue stuck on a iced pole and getting it partially ripped open, or an obnoxious little kid repeatedly smash his face into a plate of food while snorting like a pig, or a loud buffoonish father threaten to forcibly cram the food down the kid's mouth, this may be the movie for you.
"A Christmas Story" celebrates its 34th anniversary this year, which means that all the kids that fill the classroom or stuck their nose on the toy shop window, from Ralphie to his little brother Randy, are in their mid-forties, even that poor little Flick who stuck his ill-fated tongue on the pole (the film's defining image) will turn 50 the next year.
I guess this says a lot about the way the charm of "A Christmas Story" operates, it finds a voice that can speak to any child of any generation and any country, any adult too.Indeed, the age of the film doesn't matter actually, many movies are as old without being classics.
Slowly, the film became the consummate feel-good family Christmas movie, with the charm of nostalgic classics filled with colorful characters like Fellini's "Amarcord" or Woody Allen's "Radio Daus", with a similar wit coming from the voice-over narration of Jean Shepherd.
The film looks likes a series of vignettes but to avoid the episodic feeling, there's that common thread, that constant goal that never deserts Ralphie's mind: the B.B. Gun and the inevitable "Eye-shooting" line, inspiring a hilarious comment coming, of all persons, from Santa Claus himself.But "A Christmas Story" is not about the gun, but about these wishes that obsessed us as kids.
His writing was the inspiration of CHRISTMAS STORY, tho the film was a conglomeration of a LOT of his short stories.Ralphie, Flick, Kissel, and the rest of the kids are typical for the period, back when Christmas was THE big time of the year...
A sweet, realistic Christmas movie.Not as profound, emotional or idealistic as It's a Wonderful Life or Miracle on 34th Street, or as enchanting as A Christmas Carol (especially the Muppet version), A Christmas Story reminds us all what it is like to be a kid at Christmas time.
Some people find that funny but I find it unimaginative.There is a scene where the Ralphie character is in a room with his Mother and both of their bodies are facing to the right but Ralphie is looking over his right shoulder to the left of the camera for two seconds before, presumably, someone off screen indicates to him that he should be facing forward as his Father is coming into the room.Santa and his helpers in the department store are so impatient and ill-mannered that they wouldn't be tolerated in 1940 let alone when the movie was made.I had not one laugh during this film and kept thinking I don't want to see anymore of this and that perhaps it gets better because so many people like this movie.I have to rate this as one of the worst films I've ever seen.Stick with Home Alone as it is entertaining and has some genuine laughs..
Many families have grown to love this movie throughout the year and just like mine have a steady tradition of watching "A Christmas Story" every Christmas for as long as it keeps showing.
But the adaptation of several stories gives the movie a sketchy feel, with a few that failed to resonate with me.The main story has little Ralphie Parker (brilliantly played by Peter Billingsly), a kid with imagination and cynicism beyond his years, beg his parents, and Santa, for a BB gun while dealing with a series of eccentric events in 1940s Indiana.
It has stuff we can all relate too,if your 2 or 92.Basicaly it's Ralphies quest for a red rider BB gun.But,much to his chagrin,he'll"Shhot his eye out".It goes from looking in the store window,to class bullies,to licking a cold streetlamp,to your mom putting layers and layers of clothes on you,to the point of putting arms down,to swearing in front of the old man.This movie is so sweet,very very cute,hystericaly funny and a family tradiiton If you haven't seen it,you have to KNOW.Heck it plays fro 24 hours on Christmas Eve. You wont be sorry.
That makes the movie likable both for adults and kids.It's about a kid named Ralphie wanting a BB gun for Christmas and his awkward interactions with his friends and family..
Shot as an autobiographical 'memory' film, with a voiceover by Jean Shepherd, the story recounts young Ralphie's (Peter Billingsley) 9th Christmas, sometime around 1940.
A Christmas Story has become a festive classic in North America with a lot of subsequent films trying to replicate its success.It follows the nostalgic tinged tale of young Ralphie (as told by his adult self) a schoolboy in 1940s America who wants a BB gun for Christmas which his mum tells him will shoot his eye out.
We see Ralphie getting up to pranks with his fellow classmates, being bullied by a rough kid, going to see Santa at the department store and of course his life with his parents and younger brother with tales of his dad winning a prize of a stockinged leg which he uses as a lamp.Darren McGavin looks too old to be their dad.
Starring Darren McGavin, Melinda Dillon, and Peter Billingsley, it's a movie that gets played over and over again - 12 times in 24 hours to be exact - every year on cable, and for good reason: It's that great of a film.
Based off of the writings of and narrated by radio personality Jean Shepherd, it's a simple story at heart, one about a young boy named Ralphie (Peter Billingsley) growing up in 1940's Indiana and dreaming about getting a Red Ryder B.B. gun for Christmas.
Peter Billingsley is wonderful as the determined kid to get his hands on the ultimate Christmas gift, doing everything from writing a school paper on the benefits of owning a Red Ryder B.B. gun for Christmas to asking a certain, way too scary for little kids mall Santa, which used to somewhat scare me as a kid but is now probably my favorite part of the whole entire movie.
And Darren McGavin and Melinda Dillon are splendid as his parents, not always sensitive to his needs and sometimes doing foolish things--like forcing him to wear a complete bunny rabbit from his favorite aunt on Christmas Day--or his mother overdressing him in outdoor wear on a snowy day so that he can barely move.All of the scenes involving the playmate bullies are right on target with a nice pay-off when the boy finally stands up to the worst of the lot.
A Christmas Story is a very sweet and funny movie, perfect to watch during the holidays.
The movie then structures itself in little memorable episodes that make you laugh and recall your own childhood all at the same time.Whether it's the kid sticking his tongue on the poll at recess, Ralphie getting soap stuck in his mouth, the delightfully creepy mall Santa, or the immortal words "you'll shoot your eye out," "Christmas Story" has something you're bound to never forget.
Over the years this film has became an American classic upon it's release in 1983 the film was rarely viewed it was limited to many cities, and the masses later caught on to it's joy on cable and TV, as now the film has a 24 hour viewing on Christmas Eve all the way thru Christmas Day. What's not to like about this movie it's kid friendly anyone can watch and think back to being a kid at Christmas the excitement and joy of wanting that special gift no matter if it's an action figure, video game, football, or a special toy as in this case it's a red Ryder rifle for Ralphie!
I have tried to watch the movie at least half a dozen times and can never get more then halfway through it.Some people think this is required watching during the Christmas Hoilday season.It has been said it is a reflection on our childhood wants for that certain Christmas present.Well I was never a big believer in the commericalism of all Holidays.The lowest rating here is 1 awful well if I could I would say it is a negative 10 But if others think it is good that's okay just don't expect me to agree with you on it It's a wonderful life is still my all time favorite Christmas story..
One memorable Christmas in the life of a nine-year-old in 1940's Indiana makes for a memorable movie and reflections on the innocence of youth in `A Christmas Story,' directed by Bob Clark and starring young Peter Billingsley, Darren McGavin and Melinda Dillon.
The movie takes place in the 40s as we see Ralphie in a young age as he comes across a Red Ryder BB gun, which he sees in his own eyes the "Holy Grail" of Christmas gifts.
After viewing this movie only once, it instantly became my favorite Christmas Film moving ahead of "IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE" which I had watched for decades.Even though I grew up in the 50's I could easily identify with Ralphie.Parents/Santa were still giving BB Guns at Chrismas to young boys.
I grew up with movies like WHITE Christmas, HOLIDAY INN, and IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE as holiday viewing traditions, but that all changed with the release of A Christmas STORY, the 1983 instant classic that has so enchanted film goers that TBS in Atlanta now shows the film on Christmas Eve for 24 straight hours every year.
I grew up with movies like WHITE Christmas, HOLIDAY INN, and IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE as holiday viewing traditions, but that all changed with the release of A Christmas STORY, the 1983 instant classic that has so enchanted film goers that TBS in Atlanta now shows the film on Christmas Eve for 24 straight hours every year.