By It was the night before Christmas when I wrote these words…
I am sitting in my living room beside a live evergreen, decorated in red and gold. A fire burns to my right, and I can hear the sounds of Christmas meal preparation coming from the kitchen. It’s a special Christmas for me because I just moved into my first home and will be filling it with all of my friends and family, including my two, ultra-adorable nephews, both under a year old. I hope that this is only the first of many Christmases celebrated in my house, and that a new tradition is just beginning. I’m in fine spirits for reviewing a Christmas movie, but before I begin my task, I’d like to take this opportunity to wish all of our readers and my fellow editors Happy Holidays and a fantastic New Year!
Here at Flixist, we’ve been having a lot of discussion about holiday traditions, and when it comes to Christmas movie traditions, one movie stands our from the rest: Bob Clark’s 1983 classic A Christmas Story. Of course, the beauty of reviewing this classic for me is that I had never seen it! Yeah, I knew…
It was the night before Christmas when I wrote these words…
I am sitting in my living room beside a live evergreen, decorated in red and gold. A fire burns to my right, and I can hear the sounds of Christmas meal preparation coming from the kitchen. It’s a special Christmas for me because I just moved into my first home and will be filling it with all of my friends and family, including my two, ultra-adorable nephews, both under a year old. I hope that this is only the first of many Christmases celebrated in my house, and that a new tradition is just beginning. I’m in fine spirits for reviewing a Christmas movie, but before I begin my task, I’d like to take this opportunity to wish all of our readers and my fellow editors Happy Holidays and a fantastic New Year!
Here at Flixist, we’ve been having a lot of discussion about holiday traditions, and when it comes to Christmas movie traditions, one movie stands our from the rest: Bob Clark’s 1983 classic A Christmas Story. Of course, the beauty of reviewing this classic for me is that I had never seen it! Yeah, I knew the basics — "You’ll shoot your eye out,” the gaudy lamp — but had never sat down to see it from end to end, no matter how many opportunities TBS gave me.
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A Christmas Story is funny, sweet, modest, and pretty much perfect as far as holiday movies go. Honestly, how can I denounce such a warm pile of fuzzy? The broad appeal of this movie is anchored in its working class setting, flawed family dynamics, and, of course, nostalgia. Raconteur Jean Shepherd provides the narrative backbone, as well as the narration itself, for A Christmas Story, which seems to be set in the late 30s/early 40s when the best entertainment around was the radio. Ralphie Parker (Peter Billingsley), Shepherd's fictional alter-ego, is a typical boy of this era, idolizing comic strip heroes like Red Ryder and sending away for decoder rings from the Little Orphan Annie radio show. As the youngest of two children myself, my heart went out to little Randy Parker (Ian Petrella), always falling behind but desperately wanting to keep up with the older children. Ralphie's quest for the Red Ryder BB gun is the crux of the story, but also, merely one of many memorable subplots and characterizations in the film.
Seeing the movie as an adult, where I am better able to identify with the parents than the children, has given me a different perspective than what many of our readers may have had as children seeing the movie for the first time. Not only was I enamoured with the story, the narration, the hazy nostalgia, but the whole cast of children. Every child in the movie is unique and hilarious in their own right, and I found myself chuckling every five minutes when one of them would inevitably break into tears over something equivalent to spilled milk. This movie portrays a kid's world, from Ralphie's perspective, but with the sort of humour reserved for adults who observe the earnest naivety of their resident ankle-biters. Besides laughing at the sorrow of children, one of my favourite scenes in the movie is when Ralphie is compelled to leave his friend in the hold of school bullies, saying "I don't know, the bell rang," knowing that not to obey is to face some unknown punishment. The relationship of child to authority, whether it be that of a parent or the indelible force of a triple dog dare, is responsible for the majority of the fun in this film.
While Billingsley has made more waves in recent years as a film producer than an actor, his portrayal of Ralphie — from his shoot-em-up fantasies, to his bully-pummeling triumph — never misses a beat. Seasoned actors Darren McGavin and Melinda Dillon are the loving Mr. and Mrs. Parker, the cautious but flexible mother, and profanity-spewing but well-intentioned father to young Ralphie and Randy. If I had one bone to pick with the entire movie, it's that Dillon's 80s perm was nearly 100% responsible for my confusion as to when this movie was set, which elements like the presence of an old radio and an abundance of sweater vests should have alerted me to. Lastly, I won't take into account the political incorrectness of the final scene in ranking this movie, as I can respect the humour it brought to many before me. In the glow of this holiday film, even racial stereotypes can be forgiven.
Overall Score: 8.50 – Spectacular. (Movies that score between 8.50 and 9.00 are some of the best films its genre has ever created, and fans of any genre will thoroughly enjoy them.)
Though I had never seen this film in its entirety before, it's perfectly clear to me why it's a classic. I herald A Christmas Story a classic once again and will make it a part of my holiday traditions from here on in.
