A Christmas Story (1983)

It’s the holiday break in the 90’s. Your family turns on the TV in the evening, and change the channel to TNT. There’s now a 50 / 50 chance you’re watching A Christmas Story. On the off chance it isn’t on, a commercial is. This was tradition at the time. It became a part of the cacophony of festive background sounds. The movie was just as much a part of the holiday as a decorated tree, or vibrant colored lights being strewn across the house.

There’s zero way to reflect on the film and not feel a sense of nostalgia for one era or another. To some, it’s a call back to television in the 90’s. To others, it’s a trip back to their theater in the 80’s. And for some folks who saw it, it was a time capsule showcasing the bygone era of the late 30’s. The film’s inherent nature makes it comfortably approachable for every generation. But does it hold up?

I’ve dropped the ball on holiday cinema tradition in recent years. Committing such sins as foregoing my annual Christmas Vacation and Jingle All the Way viewings in favor of the likes of Krampus and Black Christmas. But this is where a common thread helped to pull me back in this year. Bob Clark, who directed Black Christmas the decade prior to directing A Christmas Story put as much effort into capturing the tone of a Norman Rockwell-esque holiday as Black Christmas put into ruining the festivities for movie-goers in the 70’s. Humble or horrific, Bob Clark can get it done.

Based on the writings of Jean Shepherd’s The Parker Family Saga, A Christmas Story is actually the fourth film in an ongoing series that explored the family and their antics. All of the stories focus primarily on the main character, Ralphie Parker, who’s narrated by his adult self as he reflects upon his youth. A Christmas Story tackles elements of childhood ranging from surviving bullies, daydreaming about potential futures, and dealing with the consequences of making mistakes. And it showcases one hell of a marketable Leg Lamp that became a staple for the franchise moving forward.

Everyone in the film embraces their character in believable fashion. When Ralphie slips up and curses in front of his father for the first time, you feel his concern and fear of a potential reckoning. When a department store Santa is on screen, he sells the vibe of a man taking on a seasonal job he’d rather not have to do. I can’t think of a single character that underperformed. However, viewers can keep an eye out on the department store scene for a little girl who glances at the camera. The immersion lives on, untarnished by the literal child’s complete lack of camera etiquette. If this tells you anything, it’s that I can’t find any actual flaw to gripe about when it comes to A Christmas Story.

 

The entire affair is family friendly, yet mature enough to entertain adults. When it’s juvenile, it isn’t irritating. Save for one scene where Ralphie’s younger brother eats like a pig, a tactic used by the mother to get him to eat anything at all. The moment almost overstays its welcome but doesn’t ruin the overall viewing.

The soundtrack for A Christmas Story utilizes a plethora of classic Christmas music that we’ve been playing every year for going on a century, and it helps keep the narrative timeless despite the visual aspects of the film faithfully representing a country that was slowly coming out of the great depression. The entire movie feels like a holiday postcard brought to life, carrying you through a family’s trivial ups and downs as they get through the season together. With no real major consequences to worry about, audiences are instead reminded of how important the small things felt to us as kids, and how we often overlooked larger problems that our parents handled.

Years after A Christmas Story released, The Parker Family Saga opted to stay focused on the holiday. With two failed films afterward focusing on summer vacations, and a prior history that addressed such things as high-school, and the fourth of July, The Parker Family had plenty of directions to go. However, the marketable nature of A Christmas Story pushed the franchise solely in the direction of the holiday for years to come. A Christmas Story Live! Was created as a FOX television special, while A Christmas Story 2 and A Christmas Story Christmas revisited the holiday with a teenage, and adult, Ralphie. An Amazon series was short lived. It focused on recreating every iconic moment from the first holiday film in adult Ralphie’s social life. All of these projects, good or bad, have one thing in common… They wouldn’t be able to get an audience if they weren’t based on a bona fide holiday hit.

No matter what year it is, and no matter who the audience might be, A Christmas Story stands tall among holiday films as a justifiable classic. While its legacy carries on, and the franchise slowly lurches forward, you’ve no immediate reason to explore past Bob Clark’s 1983 installment if you’re looking for a feel-good Christmas movie. If you celebrate the holiday, and somehow never got a chance to see this movie, do yourself a favor this season and give A Christmas Story a watch. Follow Ralphie, his friends, and his family as they learn the dangers of licking a frozen pole, leaving your door open when your neighbor has loose dogs, and the importance of repeatedly asking for the one thing you want in life… An official Red Ryder, carbine action, two-hundred shot range model air rifle.