A Christmas Story: Why we still love the holiday classic
It’s been 35 years since Ralphie schemed to get a Red Ryder BB gun from Santa
Get out your ridiculous pink bunny onesies: it’s been 35 years since “A Christmas Story” premièred in theatres. To help celebrate, we’ve done something that should earn a major award: We’ve rounded up 25 reasons why the holiday film about a boy who desperately wants a Red Ryder BB gun for Christmas is still worth watching. 1. “You’ll shoot your eye out.”
It’s the classic line that Ralphie hears whenever he expresses his desire for “a Red Ryder BB gun with a compass in the stock, and this thing which tells time.” His mom says it. His teacher says it. Even the mall Santa says it. And now, everyone says it.
2. Peter Billingsley, a.k.a. Ralphie, is still happy to be connected to “A Christmas Story.”
He executive produced the Broadway musical, made a clever cameo as elf Ming Ming in “Elf ” and was a producer on “Four Christmases.” 3. It incorporated the F-word in a PG-rated movie.
“Oh, fudge, only I didn’t say fudge,” explains Ralphie, recounting the time he accidentally muttered a cuss word when he dropped bolts for a spare tire on the side of the road.
TV’s “The Good Place” has followed the movie’s “cursing without cursing” example by having characters say “mother forker” and “bullshirt.” 4. Ralphie took soap in his mouth like a champ.
After cursing about the tire incident, Ralphie barely gags when he has to bite soap as his mother watches. In a voiceover, we hear about the differences in soap tastes.
Then, we get a dream sequence of Ralphie going blind from soap poisoning. 5. He finds a brilliantly sneaky way to share his wish list.
Ralphie wasn’t skilled at working “Red Ryder BB gun” into casual conversation, but he was stealthy when it came to inserting an ad for his dream gift in his mother’s magazines. Unfortunately, the subliminal message didn’t take. 6. You can spend the night at Ralphie’s house in Cleveland.
The house from the movie is open to tours and can be seen online any time: There’s a live-shot of the property. “A Christmas Story” museum right across the street displays props, costumes and other memorabilia. 7. Ralphie’s school is in St. Catharines.
Although the movie is set in Indiana, the school scenes were shot at Victoria School in St. Catharines. 8. The leg lamp is iconic.
The Old Man’s surprise package has become a pop-culture icon and unofficial mascot of Cleveland. 9. Now every little thing is “a major award!”
A letter or a box in the mail? You can call it a “major award” or a “major prize,” thanks to Ralphie’s dad. 10. “Fra-gee-lay. It must be Italian.”
This quote from Ralphie’s dad has forever changed the way we read package labels. 11. “I triple dog-dare ya” became law.
After being triple dog-dared by Schwartz to lick the frozen pole, Flick did as he was dared. He licked the frozen pole and down got from stuck, superlative and now dares. none of us can back 12. Flick’s tongue was actually suctioned to the pole.
Scott Schwartz, who played Flick (no, he didn’t play the character Schwartz; that was R.D. Robb), didn’t get his tongue stuck to a cold pole. Instead, he put his tongue over the top of a tiny hole that sucked in air. 13. Flick and his frozen tongue taught us a lesson in friendship.
He didn’t rat his buddies out after the fire department separated him from the flagpole. 14. “Eat like a piggy!”
Thanks to Ralphie’s mom, we now know the genius and hilarious way to get a kid to finish his dinner. Ask him to eat like a piggy. 15. Ralphie’s mom is a quiet hero of the film.
As played by Melinda Dillon, Ralphie’s mom knows how to get her kids to eat, whether to withhold information from her husband and when to burst into a fit of laughter. Also: Did you notice she left Ralphie’s bully Scut Farkus on the ground? Savage. Which reminds us ... 16. Ralphie conquered his bully.
After Ralphie and his friends take regular beatings from Scut and Grover Dill, Ralphie finally lets Scut have it. And then Ralphie cries. 17. “The Old Man” is loving but cranky.
Darren McGavin, who died in 2006, played Ralphie’s father, who is always called “The Old Man” in the film. He has flaws, including a temper and little patience for dinnertime, but he’s a realistic dad who wants to make his family happy and is excited to get timed while he changes a spare tire. He ultimately does something for Ralphie that he knows his son will like: He gets him the Red Ryder BB gun. 18. Randy is all of us preparing for winter weather.
Layering is important! Sure, multiple jackets might make your arms stiff and a face scarf might make it hard to breathe, but at least you’re not cold! Something Randy could’ve used: a nose warmer. 19. That “deranged Easter Bunny outfit.”
That bunny onesie with the bunny slippers is ridiculous. Aunt Clara really outdid herself with that Christmas gift for Ralphie. 20. It’s so popular, you can even buy your own bunny onesie.
If you need some new, obnoxious loungewear, Walmart and Spirit Halloween sell versions of it. There’s even a confusing dress version. 21. They eat Christmas dinner at a Chinese restaurant, like many Jews. As many people who don’t celebrate Christmas know, Chinese restaurants tend to stay open Dec. 25, so it’s a great place to have a meal that day. For the Parkers, however, eating there was a last resort because dogs ate their turkey. 22. The movie features the iconic voice of Jean Shepherd and a cameo.
Shepherd, the radio personality, narrates the movie as the elder Ralphie and wrote the book the film is based on. He died in 1999. Fun fact: He plays the man who tells Ralphie and Randy to get into the back of the line to see Santa. 23. The director also makes a cameo.
Director Bob Clark, who died in a car accident in 2007, has a small role as Ralphie’s neighbour who’s very curious about the Parker family’s new leg lamp. 24. The movie became a sleeper hit.
“A Christmas Story” had a small budget and only did OK at the box office. It made about $20 million in 1983, behind forgotten movies including Richard Gere’s “Breathless” remake and John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John’s “Two of a Kind.” 25. It shows an authentic family story.
Many holiday films before “A Christmas Story” sugar-coated what life was like during the holidays. In reality, there are dark sides to Christmas: the commercialism, the stress of preparing food and gifts, the fact that usually someone is unhappy with the holiday plans. “A Christmas Story” brought those ideas to light, comically.