Then of course comes the onslaught of feature films and television specials. They're supposed to fill our hearts with the magic of the season, the joys of giving and the lasting power of friendship. Basically all the stuff that's good about the holidays. I find, however, that the most relatable and lasting stories aren't the ones where things go right during this special time of year, but rather what goes wrong.
I mean be honest, the holidays today are less about joy and more about headaches: did we buy an even amount of gifts for everyone, how will we fit twelve people at a table that seats only six and should we serve that "broccoli-thing" for Christmas dinner (a cherished annual "discussion" at my house).
Yes, sir, when I want a tale that captures the "true" spirit of the modern season, I need look no further than Bob Clark's spot-on 1983 comedy A Christmas Story.
Based on humorist Jean Shepherd's 1966 book In God We Trust, All Others Pay Cash, A Christmas Story unfurls in the fictional town of Hohman, Indiana during the early 1940s and centers around nine-year-old Ralphie Parker (Peter Billingsley) and his plight to "casually" convince his parents to buy him a much-revered Red Ryder BB gun for Christmas.
Of course that's easier said than done as Ralphie's father (Darren McGavin) has more pressing things on his mind, mainly battling the family furnace and showcasing his recently bestowed "major award" in the living-room window; and his mother (Melinda Dillon), while sympathetic to his cause, can't help but offer the dreaded parental response of "you'll shoot your eye out." Not easily dissuaded, Ralphie decides if he can't convince his parents, he'll takes his case to a higher source...the big guy himself, Santa Claus.
Along the the way we're treated to the usual, "more-realistic" rites of the season: picking out and trimming the tree, having one's tongue excised from a frozen flagpole, skirting snowball-hurling bullies, trying on demeaning gifts from far-away, clueless aunts, finding "alternative" dinner plans and the inevitable department-store tussle with cranky elves and a not-too-fond-of-overtime you know who.
It goes without saying A Christmas Story is a rather unconventional holiday film, but that's what makes it so special. Director Clark and Shepherd, who share screenwriting credit, take the traditional family unit we'd grown accustomed to seeing in these type of films over the years and masterfully places them in a series of irreverent-yet-relatable situations that really had never been depicted on screen before, at least not by something billing itself as an "All-American" Christmas movie.
The film would have fallen flat on its face, however, if audiences weren't able to empathize with the family up on the screen. Both McGavin and Dillon infuse their characters with the perfect balance of wit, warmth and quirkiness (just like our own parents) and Billingsley, who much of America had already fallen in love with through the NBC show Real People, provides Ralphie with just enough wide-eyed wonderment and childhood mischievousness to remind us all how glorious being a nine-year-old at Christmas really was.
A Christmas Story opened in theaters on November 18, 1983 and quickly grossed over three times its budget in just four short weeks, but as screen space was limited (this was the age of the five-plex after all) and studios wanted their big year-end films in place at least a week before Christmas, the film quietly disappeared by mid-December with little fanfare. However, this was also the dawn of home video and A Christmas Story, fueled by positive word-of mouth, gained a rabid following over the next few years and by 1988 was receiving Thanksgiving-weekend runs on network television.
Of course the rest is history, as most now know the film has an annual 24-hour run on TBS starting Christmas Eve and is universally considered one of the best holiday films ever made. My family is one the millions that screens it at least once during the season and we all look forward to our favorite scene (mine is the dinner at the Chinese restaurant, my wife enjoys seeing the Bumpus hounds tear apart the Old Man's roasted turkey).
30 years after its initial release, A Christmas Story remains a "major award," a true testament to just how "wonderfully chaotic" the holidays can be. The movie poster says it all: "A Tribute to the Original, Traditional, One-Hundred-Percent, Red-Blooded, Two-Fisted, All-American Christmas."
Happy Thanksgiving!
Next Month: The Best of 2013
