The Blu-Ray release features decent picture and adequate sound, but the low budget underpinnings of the source materials do not allow for much excitement in the sound and audio departments.
I can remember back to my Junior and Senior High School days back in the Eighties. "A Christmas Story" was one of my favorite films to watch around Christmastime, but it was a cult film that not too many people had seemingly heard of. I had a friend that had an old VHS copy of the movie and we would sit back and laugh our arses off at Bob Clark's entertaining holiday opus detailing 1940s America and one youngster's hopeful wish of getting a Red Ryder BB Gun for Christmas. This film was easily the funniest holiday movie I could think of and I loved it. It always seemed odd that nobody else seemed to enjoy it as much. Fast forward nearly twenty years and "A Christmas Story" is finally mainstream. This year, there were television commercials for major retailers that used footage from the film. It finds television airplay and the film is easily accessible at any quality video retailer. It took time, but "A Christmas Story" is finally a bona-fide classic.
"A Christmas Story" takes place in Indiana during the 1940s. Young Ralphie (Peter Billingsley) wants nothing more than a Red Ryder 200-shot Carbine Action Air Rifle - a BB gun. Unfortunately, his parents and pretty much everybody else squashes his dreams by telling him he simply will shoot his eye out. His father (Darren McGavin) and mother (Melinda Dillon) are very quick to dismiss him and his wish and are far more focused on other Christmas time happenings around the Parker household. Mom Parker wraps up younger brother Randy (Ian Petrella) in multiple layers and the young boy can hardly walk under so much clothing. She is quick to offer Ralphie a tasty bar of soap after he curses and kicks the snot out of Scut Farkus (Zack Ward). Dad Parker curses colorfully and battles both the furnace and his wife's dislike of his ultimate prize - the infamous leg lamp.
Ralphie dreams of adventures fighting Black Bart (Dwayne McLean) and his gang with his Red Ryder BB gun. He pictures himself the hero and where he is treated like a spot on a wall by many others, he envisions the BB gun as the Christmas present that will completely change his life. In school, he composes a paper that argues how the Red Ryder is the best present imaginable and that a football is not a very good present. His result is a lowly C+ grade. Even the department store Santa tells him he will shoot his eye out and cruelly dismisses him. Ralphie's disappointment comes not just from his long string of disappointments in getting validation for his Christmas wish, but from other aspects of life and events. A super secret decoder ring from Little Orphan Annie turns out to be nothing more than an add for Ovaltine. While helping his father change a spare tire, he loses the lug-nuts and tosses out more curse words and awaits further punishment. Things just do not go well for Ralphie.
I watched "A Christmas Story" just after watching "National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation" and saw some parallels, but feel my belief that this is a far superior film has been validated. The Parker's find their Christmas wishes dashed with a series of unfortunate events as the Griswolds do. The neighbor's dogs run away with the Christmas turkey. A big Christmas prize turns out to be a horrendous leggy lamp that Mr. Parker wants to put into the front window, much to the chagrin of his wife. They end up eating dinner at a Chinese restaurant and listening to the caroling of "Fa Ra Ra Ra Ra." There are near disasters and problems resulting from the Christmas tree. Family outings are not as smooth as they had hoped for. The family in "A Christmas Story" is almost as dysfunctional as the Griswolds and levels of incompetence not nearly as high, but certainly evident.
This film contains far more serious and better written comedy than "Christmas Vacation" and continues to deliver laughs after numerous viewings. The characters are perfectly played by the actors. Darren McGavin could not have done a better job as Mr. Parker and young Peter Billingsley was spot on as Ralphie. The whole Parker family felt like a real family and watching this 1983 representation of 1940s Indiana was so beautifully done, it is hard to remember it was not made during the era it represents. With this film being so well acted, so wonderfully written and so damn funny, I still don't see why it took twenty years for it to be a well-known and well-loved classic.
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