Posted on 11/28/2013 7:48:11 AM PST by Extremely Extreme Extremist
CLEVELAND (AP) - Even after three decades, the triple-dog dare doesn't get old.
The film "A Christmas Story" opened 30 years ago to mixed reviews but has shown its staying power as a holiday family favorite. Cleveland, where parts of the movie were filmed and hard-luck Ralphie dreamed big, is celebrating the anniversary with iconic leg lamps, holiday store windows like the ones that drew Ralphie's wide-eyed stares and stage and musical versions of "A Christmas Story."
"It becomes part of your fabric for your whole life," said Kevin Moore, managing director of the Cleveland Play House, where the stage version of the story has become a holiday staple.
In the film, starring Darren McGavin as the father, 9-year-old Ralphie was transfixed by the brightly decorated storefront windows. And he dreamed of getting an air rifle as a Christmas gift, despite warnings that he might shoot his eye out.
The plot follows his determined gift-begging, his encounters with bullies and his family's daily hopes and dreams - including a lamp in the form of a shapely leg.
The Cleveland house where Ralphie's film family lived will highlight the anniversary Friday and Saturday with appearances by original cast members and a BB gun range in the backyard.
(Excerpt) Read more at tucsonnewsnow.com ...
This is the ONLY ONE that I really like! Every time it starts to get sappy something happens to right it. It is an adult story told from a kid's point of view.
I watch it every year.
I used to have a cap like the weird kid in line to see Santa had. Mine did not have the goggles.
FAVORITE LINE..."YOU USED UP ALL THE GLUE ON PURPOSE!"
Only thing I disliked about the movie was that it did not show the family attending Church. Pardon my norman rockwell normal AMERICAN way of thinking but.....what Christian doesn’t go to Church on Christmas?
The movie pretty accurately describes what it was like to grow up in the Cleveland area during my youth. I’ve eaten in that restaurant. Good Dim Sum! The school looks exactly like my old school in Independence, a town just South of the city. But I think I read the school was in Indiana? Common architectural school plan back then.
a pic from the remake.
We watch it every year..it’s a classic!
Anyone who loves this book should read Jean Shepherd’s stories. The events in the movie appear in his books “In God we Trust, All others pay cash” and “Wanda Hickey’s Night of Golden Memories and other disasters.”
As a kid, I was a devoted listener of Jean Shepherd’s show on WOR, with my ear plastered to my transistor radio under the covers after curfew. He was a great storyteller.
You’ll DEFIANTLY “Shoot your eye out” with THAT one!
My older brother was a devoted listener. I remember hearing Jean Shepherd on Sunday nights.
He’s one of the few authors who can make me laugh out loud while reading.
When I was 6 my brother actually got me to put my tongue on a freezing cold banister post. Thank goodness it was only the tip...so the piece of my tongue that was torn off was actually rather small!
This was in 1964 - was the movie even out yet, or was my brother just ahead of his time?
I have found a lot of folks who know the film do not know the narrator wrote stories that are the basis for the film. They are even more surprised to learn that many of the stories were first published in “Playboy”. Jean Shepherd does make a cameo appearance as the man in line to see Santa Claus.
My Dad told me one of his older brothers put his tongue on a flagpole back in the 1920s. I’m guessing kids have been doing this since the invention of flagpoles.
It ain’t Christmas without it.
What? We never went to church on Christmas. Other than Catholics I dont know any with services.
My hubby loves the film so much we had to travel to Cleveland to see the “house” where part of the movie was filmed. He never does anything like that. I thought it odd. I love the movie because it is my life. That is my father cursing the coal furnace. That is my mother trying to smooth over all the disasters. Those are my brothers who did such wonderful things and tried to exclude me. I guess it speaks to my generation (the Greatest).
Interesting. Around here United Methodists, Lutherans, Catholics, Baptists, and Episcopals all have Christmas services.
Not a finger!
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