There is certainly a bias that many people have for movies they grew up with. For many of our favorites, our love probably has more to do with our memory than the quality of movie itself (Last Starfighter, anyone?). We're all guilty of this! I am happy to say that A Christmas Story is not such a movie. I did not grow up with it, only watching it for the first time just a few years ago. And the movie deserves its place as a holiday classic.
A Christmas Story follows the Parker family in a small American town in the 1940s. The main character is Ralphie, a cute little kid who needs only one thing to make his life complete: a Red Ryder BB gun. As the holiday looms closer, he struggles to stay on his best behavior through family issues, a difficult essay at school, and the neighborhood bully, all because he wants that Red Ryder gun.
The greatest strength of A Christmas Story lies in how relatable its humor is. Who has seen A Christmas Story and not thought at some point, "Hey, that happened to me!" How many of us as kids were obsessed with some G.I.Joe vehicle or Nintendo game the same way that Ralphie is obsessed with his Red Ryder gun - an obsession that is so powerful to a child that it literally is the end of the world if you don't get it! We've all been there. All of us can relate to it in some way.
A Christmas Story follows the Parker family in a small American town in the 1940s. The main character is Ralphie, a cute little kid who needs only one thing to make his life complete: a Red Ryder BB gun. As the holiday looms closer, he struggles to stay on his best behavior through family issues, a difficult essay at school, and the neighborhood bully, all because he wants that Red Ryder gun.
The greatest strength of A Christmas Story lies in how relatable its humor is. Who has seen A Christmas Story and not thought at some point, "Hey, that happened to me!" How many of us as kids were obsessed with some G.I.Joe vehicle or Nintendo game the same way that Ralphie is obsessed with his Red Ryder gun - an obsession that is so powerful to a child that it literally is the end of the world if you don't get it! We've all been there. All of us can relate to it in some way.
Ultimately, that is the film's biggest strength and why it deserves to be on this list. A Christmas Story is OUR Christmas Story. Only maybe a little funnier.
BEST LINE: This line needs no introduction. We all know it...
Ralphie: Oh, fuuuddddggggeeeeee.
Narrator/Adult Ralphie: Only I didn't say fudge.
MVP: As entertaining as the film is, there is a major character who is so perfect that the MVP is in no doubt. And that is Darren McGaven as Mr. Parker, Ralphie's dad. McGaven shines in every scene he is in, whether it is his profanity-laced tirade as he tries to do home maintenance projects or his passionate love for a table lamp that looks like some French prostitute's leg or his delivery of what is probably the second best line of the movie. When looking at the box the leg lamp came in, he reads, "Fra-gee-lay. Must be Italian."
TRIVIA: Here is a crazy bit of trivia for you fans of the film. Can you imagine Mr. Parker being played by someone other than Darren McGaven? How about someone like...Jack Nicholson? Apparently he loved the story and the script, but the stars ultimately did not align. Good thing, too. As much as I like Nicholson, it would've been a completely different film.
Darren McGaven was good, but let's not forget the charm of Melinda Dillon. The two of them together really made the movie.
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