Movie Review: "A Christmas Story" (1983)

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Movie: "A Christmas Story"
Director: Bob Clark
Year: 1983
Rating: PG
Running Time: 1 hour, 40 minutes

Ralphie (Peter Billingsly) tells the story of the year he received his greatest Christmas present, his "Red Ryder carbine-action, two hundred shot Range Model air rifle with a compass in the stock and this thing which tells time." Ralphie hinted to his mother, father, teacher, and Santa Claus about how badly he wanted this BB gun, and each time was met with the response "No, you'll shoot your eye out!" 

This is by far one of the greatest Christmas movies in existence! In fact, it is such a classic that TBS runs a 24-hour marathon of it each and every Christmas day. You can't beat that! The narration over this movie is so fantastically hilarious and over-dramatic that it is met with many, many laughs. It is a great peek into life in the 1940's. Peter Billingsly is adorable as Ralphie, and he has that sweet, childlike innocence that is also so devilish at the same time. His fantasy sequences are spectacular. While it is uproariously hilarious, it has quite a bit of sentimentality to it and is quite touching at times.

It has so many iconic scenes: Santa booting Ralphie down the slide, Flick (Scott Schwartz) getting his tongue stuck to the frozen pole, Randy (Ian Petrella) not being able to put his arms down because he is bundled in so many layers for the cold weather, the fight with Scut Farkus (Zach Ward), and the leg lamp....oh boy, that leg lamp! I want one for our living room!!

Everything about this movie is iconic and fabulous and fun. This is classic family Christmas, folks, one of, if not the best!

My Rating: 10/10
BigJ's Rating: 10/10
IMDB's Rating: 8.1/10
Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 88%
Do we recommend this movie: ABSOLUTELY YES!!!