December 2005

A Christmas Story

• Starring: Peter Billingsley, Darren McGavin, Melinda Dillon, Ian Petrella, Scott Schwartz, R.D. Robb, Tedde Moore, Jean Shepherd
• Directed by: Bob Clark
• Theatrical release: 1983
• DVD release: 2003
• Video: Widescreen, fullscreen
• Sound: Dolby Digital 5.1
• Released by: Warner Home Video

In the 1950s and 1960s, Jean Shepherd was the voice of weirdness on New York City’s WOR-AM radio, offering a 50,000W graveyard-shift show six nights a week, filled with humor, invective, and brain-twisting satire. He did crazy things, such as ask his audience to drag their radios over to the window and turn them up as loud as possible so that Shepherd could yell at the world -- a model for Peter Finch’s famous rant of "I’m mad as hell and I’m not gonna take it anymore!," from Network.

One night, Shepherd decided it would be funny to create a fictitious fiction book (see how his mind ran in circles?) and get all of his listeners to go to their local bookstore the following day to request a copy. The book, I, Libertine, by Frederick Ewing, soon began to appear on bestseller lists, and was even banned in Boston. When Ballantine Books figured out the ruse, they asked Shepherd to write the book. He teamed up with science-fiction writer Theodore Sturgeon and they knocked it out pronto. By 1956, Shepherd was a published author.

From there, Shepherd honed his writing skills at The Village Voice, where he contributed to the column "Night People." His big break came in 1964, when Hugh Hefner, always on the lookout for droll writing to class up the girly pictures, offered Shepherd the opportunity to write an occasional column. The result was a series of hilarious (almost) bi-monthly reminiscences for Playboy magazine. Two years later, Doubleday approached him about collecting these stories and adding a few more to make a book. The result was In God We Trust: All Others Pay Cash.

Interspersed among the book’s adult fare are several chapters about growing up in Hammond, Indiana, the most famous of which are "Duel in the Snow, or Red Ryder Nails the Cleveland Street Kid," "Grover Dill and the Tasmanian Devil," and "My Old Man and the Lascivious Special Award that Heralded the Birth of Pop Art."

Fast-forward 17 years. Director Bob Clark, fresh from his stunning box-office success with the gross-out classic Porky’s, decided that he could make a Christmas film from some of the stories in In God We Trust. If he hadn’t just delivered a king-size hit, no one would have taken him seriously. Instead, he got the green light from MGM. But what might have ended up a wicked, misogynistic fart fest about the travails of growing up became instead an eternal classic about love, courage, and desires fulfilled.

A Christmas Story is the tale of the Parker family, narrated as young Ralphie Parker’s memory of the times (the actual voiceover narration is by Shepherd himself) as he slogs through some of the more important developmental tasks of a nine-year-old boy. At the center of the film is Ralphie’s quest for the only Christmas present he’s ever wanted in his whole life: an official Red Ryder Carbine-Action 200-Shot Range Model Air Rifle with a compass in the stock. Standing in his way are all the adults in his life, from his parents to his teacher to a department-store Santa Claus, all of whom warn him, "You’ll shoot your eye out, kid." Still, he hopes a miracle might happen, if only he can be good enough between now and Christmas.

One day, while trying to be especially good, something snaps in Ralphie and he lets out a resounding obscenity in front of his parents. His mother washes his mouth out with Lifebuoy soap. Ralphie is desolate. Later, Ralphie dreams of showing up at his parents’ door, blind, feeling his way with a cane. His parents nod knowingly, but ask what’s happened to him. "Soap poisoning," he replies.

A Christmas Story is filled with lots of these sweetly hilarious vignettes. Part of what makes the film so good is that you never go ten minutes without a chuckle or a sympathetic nod. But if it’s been a while since you’ve seen it, go back and watch how sweet the relationship is between Ralphie’s parents. Sure, we’re all going to laugh when Flick’s tongue gets frozen to the flagpole, and Ralphie is kicked down Santa’s slide, and at the looks on Ralphie’s dear little face. But the film is also filled with affectionate tenderness. In some ways, A Christmas Story may be better than the other Christmas classics, It’s a Wonderful Life and Miracle on 34th Street, if only because our hero faces no serious villain like Lionel Barrymore’s Mr. Potter or the Macy’s managers. The closest this film comes to villains are the school bullies, and we all know what eventually happens to school bullies.

The acting is seamless. Melinda Dillon and Darren McGavin as Mrs. and Mr. Parker exude the tolerance and loving exasperation that go along with true romance. The bullies are properly slimy and mean. And all the secondary characters, from Santa Claus and his surly helpers to the Chinese restaurateurs, are perfect. But most of all, this is Peter Billingsley’s movie. Twelve years old at the time, he had already appeared in six films and numerous commercials. And while he had a good script and a sympathetic director to work with, and much of his emoting happens while Jean Shepherd is doing the talking, it’s Billingsley’s wonderful physical acting that gives him this movie. Watch his face and his body language for a master class in how to be a great actor. He could go from ecstasy to anguish, from fear to anger, just by shooting a look at the camera.

Kudos also to Bob Clark. Who would have ever believed that the man who made Porky’s could deliver such a restrained but big-hearted film? And he didn’t just direct it. Were A Christmas Story to be released today, it would be celebrated as a triumph of independent filmmaking, because Clark also produced, cowrote (with Shepherd) the screenplay, and even played a role onscreen. All that, and yet the only voice that comes through, as it should be, is Jean Shepherd’s. That sort of invisible directing is out of favor today, but John Ford and Howard Hawks and Frank Capra would have recognized and appreciated it.

Still, when the film came out, it did a fair amount of business, but nothing that would have prepared the filmmakers to predict its place in American culture. Like The Wizard of Oz and It’s a Wonderful Life, A Christmas Story is a film that did only modest business in the theaters, but then grew to iconic status by the power of television. It’s so popular now that TNT plays it for 24 hours straight during the holidays.

But that’s not the best way to enjoy it. Commercials really destroy the mood, and A Christmas Story is all about mood. The best hope is to watch it on DVD, and this is a really nice edition from Warner Home Video. For $21 you get two DVDs. The first includes both the widescreen and fullscreen versions. The picture is just fine, if in need of a little cleaning, and the sound is clear as a bell. On the second, you get a passel of extras, including a good commentary track by Bob Clark and Peter Billingsley, some original radio shows by Jean Shepherd (he died in 1999), a better-than-average documentary titled Another Christmas Story, the short documentaries Get a Leg Up and A History of the Daisy Red Ryder, and, for those who like to hunt for them, Easter eggs.

One of the things I love about December is that we’re more likely to get the chance to watch sweet films that make us feel good. A Christmas Story is the perfect balm for the end of a tough year and the hopeful beginning of a new one. My wish is that all of you get your own official Red Ryder Carbine-Action 200-Shot Range Model Air Rifle with a compass in the stock.

Merry Christmas.

...Wes Marshall
wesm@hometheatersound.com

• Go Back