A Christmas Story

Synopsis
“I want an official Red Ryder, carbine action, two-hundred shot range model air rifle with a compass in the stock and this thing that tells time!”
“You’ll shoot your eye out, kid.”

Humorist Jean Shepherd’s memoirs of his youth in the early 1940’s were compiled into a Christmastime feature in 1983, with Shepherd himself as the off-screen narrator. The result was a film that may have looked and sounded like a period piece, but A Christmas Story's nostalgic wit made it a modern-day holiday classic.

Young spectacle-wearing Ralphie only wants one thing for Christmas: a Red Ryder BB gun, and he’s determined to get it. That’s the simple version of the story, but the film is most memorable for its series of loosely-connected comic episodes: Ralphie’s confrontations with neighborhood bully Scott Farcus (“He had yellow eyes!”), The Old Man’s struggles with the neighbor’s rambunctious dogs and with the family furnace, kid brother Randy’s refusal to eat, buddy Flick sticking his tongue to a freezing lamppost on a triple-dog-dare, the parents' fight over a sexy lamp, Ralph’s accidental use of the F-word (not actually spoken in the film) and too many others to mention.

The small-budget, unheralded film didn’t make much of a splash in its initial release, but the ensuing years brought it an overwhelming popularity, leading to annual television airings and voluminous videocassette sales. The side-splitting yin to It’s A Wonderful Life’s heart-tugging yang, A Christmas Story has earned its place as a Christmas tradition.

Release History 1983 - A Christmas Story

Sub Categories live-action
comedy
disney

Studio MGM

Cast

Mother		Melinda Dillon
The Old Man		Darren McGavin
Ralphie		Peter Billingsley
Randy		Ian Petrella
Flick		Scott Schwartz
Schwartz		R.D. Robb
Miss Shields		Tedde Moore
Grover Dill		Yano Anaya
Scott Farcus		Zack Ward
Santa Claus		Jeff Gillen
Ming the Merciless		Colin Fox
Flash Gordon		Paul Hubbard
Tree Man		Les Carlson
Freight Man		Jim Hunter
Head Elf		Patty Johnson