Triple Dog Dare you to laugh and cry

A CHRISTMAS STORY (1983)

A reminiscence by Jerry Saravia

 I first saw the late Bob Clark's "A Christmas Story" in theaters in late November 1983. I remember it was cold and snowing outside the theater in Queens, New York. I got excited about seeing the film from a clip I saw on the Siskel and Ebert show and thought I should check it out. I was entranced by the film from the first frame to last because it took me to a world that seemed so innocent, so sweet, so childlike and so warm and embracing. I had seen the film a few more times since, recalling how my high school peers commented on the leg lamp and laughed (the film got a new life after its debut on video and cable). But no one really discussed the sweetness and lightness of the film, the sureness in its mixture of laughs and memories of being a kid and wishing for the one truly remarkable Christmas gift.

 

The film is chock of full of memorable lines and evocative scenes - everyone knows what they are and it would be counterproductive to list them (you can't miss the film on Christmas since it runs for 24-hours on TBS). Most memorable to me would be seeing Darren McGavin's collected sigh and slight merriment at seeing his son, Ralphie (Peter Billingsley) get the gift he most craves, that darn Red Ryder BB gun. Or when Ralphie lets out that four-letter word (the Queen Mother of dirty words) he ain't supposed to utter - we have all been through that. Or Ralphie's hilarious daydream about receiving an A+++++ on his paper from his teacher Miss Shields (Tedde Moore). And I can't get over Scott Schwartz's Flick who gets his tongue stuck on an icy pole - it is at once funny, spirited in its crassness and realism, and emotional enough to make you cry at the same time. It is that kind of movie and one owes a huge debt to the late, remarkable Jean Shepherd, who not only voiced the narration of an older Ralphie but who also wrote the stories and co-wrote the screenplay. Melinda Dillon as the loving yet no-nonsense mother is just the icing on the cake.

What "A Christmas Story" does for me is it takes me back to an era almost alien to me and yet so familiar, and it reminds one of the jollies, the festiveness, the idiosyncrasies and the love of a family trying to celebrate a time of the year that brings everyone together. What is comforting about the film is that it assumes this family loves each other throughout the year, regardless of the foibles, the troubles with the Bumpusses and their numerous dogs, the unworkable furnace, Ralphie's young brother unable to eat his mashed potatoes, or Dad's delight in having a leg lamp seen by the whole neighborhood. The film works as a warm cup of hot chocolate served and layered with nostalgia, and cuts deeper with Ralphie's wild imaginations and some slightly mean, unsavory characters (like the store Santa or Zack Ward's sneaky and devilish Farkus) who are never depicted as too unlikable. The movie serves as a memory of a time long gone but it also reminds us to cherish the future as much as the past. So if you have Christmas dinner at a Chinese restaurant because Mom's turkey was ruined, not all is lost when it is a family that sticks together like glue. I don't know how else to put it except to say that "A Christmas Story" is not just a Christmas movie, it is Christmas.