Christmas Story
While the word classic is a word that gets applied to a good number of films deservedly, sometimes the burden of repetition can overwhelm certain ones to the point that the quality of the film itself can actually become diluted (witness Psycho and its “major twist” that has been forever spoiled for future generations that have never even seen the damn film). If someone openly declares that their undisputed favorite movie is something like Casablanca or Wizard Of Oz and that nothing else even comes close, the immediate kneejerk reaction is to tell that person to seek out and experience a LOT more films to at least have a better rounded perspective. This dilemma is increased tenfold with classic Christmas movies, where the yearly like clockwork showings of holiday films manage to ingrain them so severely into people’s minds that they ultimately have nothing really new to offer on any further viewings which makes ever watching it again with a fresh perspective practically impossible. Thus in many ways is the case with Bob Clark’s 1983 Masterpiece, still a great movie but nonetheless one that almost feels like you have it on while doing something else even while you are sitting there giving it your full undivided attention. A few things are still definite: The film flows just beautifully, using its episodic nature at a pace where everything plays out just like it’s the natural order of things with the proper fanfare given to the really important and significant bits. The production and set design used to portray 1940s Indiana is as authentic and real as any ever seen in any movie, and the actors are all likable and funny performing what amounts here to being family friendly comedy material with a slight edge. Based on the writings of one Jean Shepard, who among other things was considered to be a VERY subversive New York City DJ at one time who had dubbed both himself and his listeners as “The Night People” for living and working all night and sleeping all day. Shepard’s stories were almost always centered around The Parker Family, and in particular the older son Ralphie (the stand in for Shepard himself as a boy) and his various misadventures with his family around different times of the year besides Christmas, and while other “Ralphie” movies were also produced (almost always with Shepard narrating as the grown up Ralphie), this one was by far the most popular and the only one that truly caught on. Peter Billingsley (best known at that point as “Messy Marvin” in chocolate syrup ads) stars as Ralphie, a performance often lauded as being one of the best by any child actor ever, when really Billingsley has only a relative handful of actual lines and his performance is actually carried by Shepard’s acerbic, frequently hilarious narration which is usually matched up with Billingsley’s facial expressions. It would be not all that out of place to say that Shepard as Narrator is pretty much the funniest performance in the movie, but fortunately that accolade is reserved for Darren McGavin as Ralphie’s father, known as “The Old Man”. A longtime hard working character actor who finally had his showpiece role here, McGavin makes the most of it, essaying the dad as both a grouchy old bastard and a gentle, warm, loving family man with a skill that comes across as glaringly humane and hilariously realistic. Whether it be fighting the furnace with a string of cartoon like fake profanities or beaming with joy at receiving a lamp shaped like a sexually provocative woman’s leg or showing pride at his son getting the same present that he once had as a kid, McGavin embodies the lovable, cantankerous Movie Dad that we all would have liked to have had to a tee, moreso than in almost any other movie one can think of, Christmas or otherwise. Melinda Dillon (a very hot looking actress actually, here dressed down and made to look dowdy) also registers very well as Ralphie’s mom, gentle and caring when need be but also not afraid to apply the soap for swearing, with a very unusual method psychologically for getting Ralphie’s little brother to eat his food. We also have future porno star (and joke) Scott Schwartz as one of the best friends (very convincing screaming like a girl when sticking his tongue to a pole), but first and foremost, this is a nostalgic comedy not afraid to risk using edgy, out there humor to generate laughs with a PG rating, and in that department Clark pulls it off with a deft skill that provides the movie’s greatest blessing, that of being accessible to all ages, all types and all walks of life who always seem to find something to enjoy from the big moments to the small. Whether it be the ridiculous scenes with the bullies terrorizing the kids (“Rawrrr!!”) or the most famous euphemism for the F Word ever seen or the admittedly legendary scene where Ralphie goes to see Santa Claus or Ralphie emerging dressed in a pink bunny suit that he got as a Christmas present, there’s something to make everyone laugh here, with moments that still gladly hold up. Ralphie’s quest to get a BB gun for a Christmas present (the plot thread that holds the film together) can get repetitive at times, but the charm never wavers throughout the movie, up to the hilariously shocking bit with the Christmas dinner at the Chinese restaurant and The Old Man’s never ending battle with a pack of loose dogs who always invade the house. Some bits have proven to be so timeless though, that it has led to endless repeat viewings ever since (including an infamous, round the clock 24 hour showing on Christmas Day via TBS), so much so that one can watch the movie straight up today and totally glaze over even the most memorable parts that we all know like the back of our hands, giving the movie an almost permanent place in our overall collective consciousness that is so entrenched that almost nothing to ever come after it could say the same. “Played out” is an easy way to describe it, although the later Shepard / Ralphie movies (with different actors in the same parts) have almost completely failed to resonate with either audiences or critics (with Clark himself actually having directed one such film, It Runs In The Family). So basically we have a great comedy and Christmas movie that everyone knows and loves religiously that has nearly no replay value left except for those who are still very young, yet it must still receive its props for the writing, acting, pacing, and everything else that it brings to the table. For being a film that will help Peter Billingsley remain immortal, for making sure that at least a portion of Jean Shepard’s works will be remembered, for standing as the prime, greatest performance ever given by Darren McGavin, all this and more insures its place in cinema history as being The Greatest Christmas Movie Ever Made for which the true reward is being able to say that you have just watched it for the very first time…
9/10