Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

‘A Christmas Story’ still hits people where they live after 25 years
Kansas City Star ^ | 12/04/08 | Star news services

Posted on 12/05/2008 11:11:43 AM PST by qam1

Fans of the holiday classic “A Christmas Story” are celebrating the film’s 25th anniversary with a convention and trips to the house where the movie was made.

The 1983 film, an adaptation of Jean Shepard’s memoir of a boy in the 1940s, was set in Indiana but largely filmed in Ohio. The movie starred Peter Billingsley as Ralphie Parker, a young boy determined to get a Red Ryder BB gun for Christmas.

The film was a modest theatrical success, but critics loved it. It eventually joined “It’s a Wonderful Life” and “Miracle on 34th Street” as a Christmas classic.

“It’s a film about being a kid and looking back,” said Brian Jones, who owns the house where the movie was shot and the neighboring museum dedicated to the film.

About 4,000 fans attended the recent convention at Cleveland’s Renaissance Hotel, where they met some of the film’s actors, watched documentaries made about the film, and saw the original 1938 fire truck from a famous scene in the movie involving a child’s tongue stuck to a frozen pole.

“It is unbelievable that a movie has touched the lives of millions of families,” said Phil Gillen, son of the late actor Jeff Gillen who played the movie’s worn-out Santa Claus. He traveled from Miami with his family to attend the convention....

(Excerpt) Read more at kansascity.com ...


TOPICS: History; TV/Movies
KEYWORDS: 25thanniversary; achristmasstory; anniversary; christmasstory; genx; hollywood; jeanshepherd; moviereview
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-6061-80 ... 201-203 next last
To: netmilsmom

Ah hah!

Thanks I know exactly who you are talking about.


41 posted on 12/05/2008 11:31:09 AM PST by Badeye (There are no 'great moments' in Moderate Political History. Only losses.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 37 | View Replies]

To: N. Theknow

Thanks!


42 posted on 12/05/2008 11:31:54 AM PST by Badeye (There are no 'great moments' in Moderate Political History. Only losses.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 39 | View Replies]

To: weegee

LMAO!!!!!!!


43 posted on 12/05/2008 11:32:15 AM PST by Constitution Day (Big Brotha Is Watching You)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 11 | View Replies]

To: Corporate Law

“Oh, fudge.”


44 posted on 12/05/2008 11:32:37 AM PST by crusty old prospector
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 30 | View Replies]

To: remaxagnt

I want to go home.

It’s down by LTV Steel isn’t it? I promised to take my girls there one day.


45 posted on 12/05/2008 11:34:36 AM PST by netmilsmom (Psalm 109:8 - Let his days be few; and let another take his office)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 13 | View Replies]

To: qam1

I like the Bumpass’ dogs. ROFL when they come in and eat the turkey. You Bumpass’!!! The old man was broken hearted because he loved turkey.


46 posted on 12/05/2008 11:34:36 AM PST by lone star annie
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: qam1

That movie is the first DVD I bought (1998). Prior to the DVD, my family always checked the TV schedules for air dates. It is a family tradition to watch it at least once a year between Thanksgiving and Christmas.


47 posted on 12/05/2008 11:34:38 AM PST by IYAS9YAS (Hey Obama, why lawyer up when you can pony up? Show us your vault copy BC)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: netmilsmom

little south of ltv by about 5 miles or so


48 posted on 12/05/2008 11:36:55 AM PST by remaxagnt
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 45 | View Replies]

To: lone star annie

>>The old man was broken hearted because he loved turkey<<

And because all they ever ate was meatloaf, red cabbage and mashed potatoes.

Except Randy who ate nothing.


49 posted on 12/05/2008 11:36:55 AM PST by netmilsmom (Psalm 109:8 - Let his days be few; and let another take his office)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 46 | View Replies]

To: remaxagnt

Is it actually eastside or west?
I’m from Brook Park.


50 posted on 12/05/2008 11:37:57 AM PST by netmilsmom (Psalm 109:8 - Let his days be few; and let another take his office)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 48 | View Replies]

To: martin_fierro
I’ve never watched this movie. Huh!

"I triple dog dare ya!" to watch it, then.

51 posted on 12/05/2008 11:38:34 AM PST by IYAS9YAS (Hey Obama, why lawyer up when you can pony up? Show us your vault copy BC)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 12 | View Replies]

To: qam1
"In the heat of battle my father wove a tapestry of obscenities that as far as we know is still hanging in space over Lake Michigan. "

One of the all time best movie quotes....

52 posted on 12/05/2008 11:38:49 AM PST by lovecraft (Specialization is for insects.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: netmilsmom

Sorry, but this movie is the closest I can come to reliving my childhood. It gives the feel of authentic America in the late ‘40s throught the late ‘50s.

I know. I was there.


53 posted on 12/05/2008 11:39:43 AM PST by catman67
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 24 | View Replies]

To: lone star annie

Chinese turkey! (Actually, after the dogs ate the turkey, they ate duck at a Chinese restaurant.)


54 posted on 12/05/2008 11:41:05 AM PST by RandyGH (Democrats--So far left they've left America)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 46 | View Replies]

To: Virginia Ridgerunner

He looks like Phil Donahue.


55 posted on 12/05/2008 11:41:12 AM PST by hoppity
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 32 | View Replies]

To: qam1

The sad part to this story...

V.O.I.A.C. Victims of Illegal Alien Crime
On April 5, 2007 movie producer Bob Clark, 67, and his son, Ariel Hanrath-Clark, 22, were killed when a drunk driving illegal alien from Mexico, ...
www.voiac.org/victims.php?id=207


56 posted on 12/05/2008 11:42:06 AM PST by AuntB (The right to vote in America: Blacks 1870; Women 1920; Native Americans 1925)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: lovecraft

If you like lines like that, you will love the book!


57 posted on 12/05/2008 11:42:26 AM PST by Fresh Wind (Hey, Obama! Where's my check?)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 52 | View Replies]

To: weegee

LOL!


58 posted on 12/05/2008 11:43:05 AM PST by AuntB (The right to vote in America: Blacks 1870; Women 1920; Native Americans 1925)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 8 | View Replies]

To: SIDENET

electric Sex


59 posted on 12/05/2008 11:43:20 AM PST by Rightly Biased (McCain is the reason Sarah Lost <><)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 17 | View Replies]

To: lovecraft

YES!!! That and ‘....sonsabitches...Bumpasses!!!”
He was so spitting mad he couldn’t talk!
Brilliant writing, perfect casting, oh-so-real look at a ‘normal’ family back then.

And didn’t Ralphie grow up good!


60 posted on 12/05/2008 11:43:39 AM PST by ClearBlueSky (Whenever someone says it's not about Islam-it's about Islam. Jesus loves you, Allah wants you dead!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 52 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-6061-80 ... 201-203 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson