Fergus
11-20-2001, 09:39 PM
A Christmas Story
Director: Bob Clark
Cast: Melinda Dillon, Darren McGavin, Peter Billingsley, Ian Petrella.
Written by Jean Shepard
PG/1983/94 minutes.
*To those who have not watched this, be warned that there are spoilers.*
The Christmas Story is a film that represents all the great things about childhood. The joy it was to grow up, and to experience the world with unopened eyes. All of us, at one time, have embodied the same feeling as our main character Ralphie (played by Peter Billingsley). In our life, we have all wanted some thing that we would do everything and anything to get. I remember wanting the movie Batman Returns for Christmas one year. Every day in the entire month of December, I was anxious, anxious to get that movie. Each visit to a store, I would drop a subtle hint to my mother that I wanted it. I got it on Christmas, and all I could feel was happiness, the same as how Ralphie felt when he opened his Red Rider B-B Gun (with a compass in the stock).
A key to the film's success is the atmosphere Bob Clark creates. The snowy background gives the timeless sense of what Christmas is really about. The voiceover takes us inside Ralphie's subconscious, which conveys the feelings Ralphie is experiencing. Listening to the narrator is entertaining in its own right. As if you were reading a script by David Mamet; the dialogue is amazing. The innocent music that plays with emotion. An excellent example of where the music and narration are used to create anxiety in the viewer is when Ralphie is trying desperately to decode a message from Little Orphan Annie with his decoder pin. He is in the bathroom frantically writing while his brother (outside the bathroom) needs to use the toilet. Ralphie is decoding as fast as he can but his brother and mother keep nagging for him to get out of there. We want to know what the message is but somebody needs to go real bad. This is the point where you want to scream, “Hurry, hurry!” When a scene has drawn the right emotion out, it has succeeded in what it was intended to do.
Underlying the atmosphere and story is a sharp and witty sense of humor. The constant fight between the Old Man and the Bumpus dogs. The visit to Santa who was anything but a jolly old man. The infamous scene involving the word, “fudge”. The scene where the Old Man receives a gift in the form of a lamp shaped as a woman’s leg. The film is filled with classic scenes like these that truly are a joy to watch. The film is also a satire, and constantly laughs at the Christmas holiday. Realistically it shows how Christmas is anything but a joyful time of the year. That is why the comedy portion is an important factor.
The humor, in a sense, shows the bright funny side of Christmastime, but, at the same time, it is able to show the heartwarming side of childhood. What I like most about it is how we see through Ralphie’s perspective. The narration paints the mind of Ralphie beautifully, that is also a key factor in the film’s success.
It points out how things don’t always happen the way you want them to; life is full of surprises. There is no perfect Christmas; no perfect street; no perfect home. A Christmas Story gives us surprises, and in repeat viewings we are still laughing and enjoying it the same way we did the first time we saw it. One of my all-time favorite movies to watch; a perfect movie that never gets old. There will always be “starving people in China,” and a soapy mouth being punished for the obscenity that it produced. Always an aunt who mistakes Ralph for a girl, and a Christmas where turkey will not be eaten, but only duck. ***** (out of five).
Director: Bob Clark
Cast: Melinda Dillon, Darren McGavin, Peter Billingsley, Ian Petrella.
Written by Jean Shepard
PG/1983/94 minutes.
*To those who have not watched this, be warned that there are spoilers.*
The Christmas Story is a film that represents all the great things about childhood. The joy it was to grow up, and to experience the world with unopened eyes. All of us, at one time, have embodied the same feeling as our main character Ralphie (played by Peter Billingsley). In our life, we have all wanted some thing that we would do everything and anything to get. I remember wanting the movie Batman Returns for Christmas one year. Every day in the entire month of December, I was anxious, anxious to get that movie. Each visit to a store, I would drop a subtle hint to my mother that I wanted it. I got it on Christmas, and all I could feel was happiness, the same as how Ralphie felt when he opened his Red Rider B-B Gun (with a compass in the stock).
A key to the film's success is the atmosphere Bob Clark creates. The snowy background gives the timeless sense of what Christmas is really about. The voiceover takes us inside Ralphie's subconscious, which conveys the feelings Ralphie is experiencing. Listening to the narrator is entertaining in its own right. As if you were reading a script by David Mamet; the dialogue is amazing. The innocent music that plays with emotion. An excellent example of where the music and narration are used to create anxiety in the viewer is when Ralphie is trying desperately to decode a message from Little Orphan Annie with his decoder pin. He is in the bathroom frantically writing while his brother (outside the bathroom) needs to use the toilet. Ralphie is decoding as fast as he can but his brother and mother keep nagging for him to get out of there. We want to know what the message is but somebody needs to go real bad. This is the point where you want to scream, “Hurry, hurry!” When a scene has drawn the right emotion out, it has succeeded in what it was intended to do.
Underlying the atmosphere and story is a sharp and witty sense of humor. The constant fight between the Old Man and the Bumpus dogs. The visit to Santa who was anything but a jolly old man. The infamous scene involving the word, “fudge”. The scene where the Old Man receives a gift in the form of a lamp shaped as a woman’s leg. The film is filled with classic scenes like these that truly are a joy to watch. The film is also a satire, and constantly laughs at the Christmas holiday. Realistically it shows how Christmas is anything but a joyful time of the year. That is why the comedy portion is an important factor.
The humor, in a sense, shows the bright funny side of Christmastime, but, at the same time, it is able to show the heartwarming side of childhood. What I like most about it is how we see through Ralphie’s perspective. The narration paints the mind of Ralphie beautifully, that is also a key factor in the film’s success.
It points out how things don’t always happen the way you want them to; life is full of surprises. There is no perfect Christmas; no perfect street; no perfect home. A Christmas Story gives us surprises, and in repeat viewings we are still laughing and enjoying it the same way we did the first time we saw it. One of my all-time favorite movies to watch; a perfect movie that never gets old. There will always be “starving people in China,” and a soapy mouth being punished for the obscenity that it produced. Always an aunt who mistakes Ralph for a girl, and a Christmas where turkey will not be eaten, but only duck. ***** (out of five).