A Christmas Story was probably one of my least favorite Christmas movies for years, and I have a dozen or so favorites that I watch nightly as we approach every Christmas. But by relenting some years to watch it after all my favorites had been seen, I have to admit that it has grown on me to the point that this past post-Thanksgiving season I actually ordered myself a DVD copy for my holiday movie collection. Now I will look forward to watching it each year. *** What totally surprised me however was that there was a follow-up to this movie about Ralphie and the Parkers but which takes place the next summer titled: It Runs In The Family (also titled early on as My Summer Story). Being made 11 years later (1994) all the actors are different but for one heartwarming tie to A Christmas Story; the adult Ralphie narrator (also again writer/producer) remains Jean Shepherd. That plus a homage to the original early in the movie draw you right in. If you liked the original then I'd guess you will want to see this followup, with all its antics, frustrations, and silliness. I liked Charles Grodin and Mary Steenburgen as the parents and although it was a struggle for me initially to warm up to another young actor as Ralphie, he grew on me by the end of the movie. Interesting fact is that Ralphie and his younger brother Randy are played by two of the younger Culkin brothers; Kieran and Christian. I will probably want to add a copy of this to my collection if for nothing more than the tie to the original. Grab some popcorn and watch were the Parker family take you the following summer.

This film was probably the last time anyone's made a decent Christmas movie, although The Ref might have a decent claim to that. Since A Christmas Story, there hasn't been anything that even comes close to comparing to the overall sweetness or it's message of Christmas cheer.Perhaps the funniest sequence was the dinner in the Chinese restaurant towards the end. When I first watched it I couldn't figure out if the mother was laughing or crying, but her reactions to the duck were priceless. Other highlights are the gibberish that was supposed to represent profanity (my sisters and I still laugh ourselves into hernias watching that part since it's exactly like our father), Ralphie's everyday interactions with family, friends, bullies, and school, the actual Christmas Day hilarity (the bunny suit!)...oh, why beat around the bush? It's all great fun to watch.Obviously set in the mid 20th century, it may appear dated but the messages and situations are actually timeless. Peter Billingsley played the part of Ralphie to perfection. Darrin McGavin and Melinda Dillon were perfectly cast as his parents. There isn't a wasted performance in the film. If you only see one Christmas film a year, A Christmas Story is not one anyone would ever blame you for choosing. It's a sweet, timeless classic that belongs in anyone's collection.

I would have given this 10 stars but deducted one for the combination of stealth homophobia and gender rigidity (pink nightmare and electric sex heterosexuality assumption). Yes, in 1983 everyone making mainstream films made these assumptions (that everyone is hetero) but the complete absence of gay people is something that doesn't impress me as a gay person. Imagine if your people were consistently erased from film and television and you grew up, watching "family" entertainment that erased you from existence? The closest thing to a gay character is the bit part with the boy in line who likes the Tin Man and the Wizard of Oz. We're used as extremely tiny bit parts, as weirdos, and that's it.(Let's not pretend that Hollywood didn't know gay people exist. The entire underlying plot of All About Eve is about how gayness is evil and heterosexuality (heterosexual marriages in which women abandon their careers) is pure. The Children's Hour was about how sad, but necessary, it is for gay people to kill themselves. One of the very earliest American films, prior to homophobic censorship codes, showed two men dancing with a violinist playing. So, no, just because it was 1983 isn't enough of an excuse. We exist whenever someone wants someone to kick in the eye.)* That said, this film is just breathtakingly great from start to finish. The casting is perfect. The acting is flawless. The writing is fantastic.If you haven't seen the film you need to. It's nostalgic, funny, and heartwarming.*The opposite of this is seen in current television, where banal stereotyped gay characters are pretty common as more than bit parts. In this film, would it have ruined it for the Ralphie to have a second brother, one who is gay? No. It wouldn't have ruined the film. It would have made gay kids like me feel a lot happier when watching it with the family every year, growing up. I would have felt like I was valued and didn't have to lie about myself in shame, which I did at the time because everything told me that was the expectation.

Growing up as a kid, there was no time of the year better than around Christmas, when you were dreaming what gifts Santa was going to give you and when magic seemed to be in the air. Adding to all this were the seasonal movies that always seemed to pop up, from cartoons to feature length films. One of these was 1983's "A Christmas Story". Starring Darren McGavin, Melinda Dillon, and Peter Billingsley, it's a movie that gets played over and over again - 12 times in 24 hours to be exact - every year on cable, and for good reason: It's that great of a film. Based off of the writings of and narrated by radio personality Jean Shepherd, it's a simple story at heart, one about a young boy named Ralphie (Peter Billingsley) growing up in 1940's Indiana and dreaming about getting a Red Ryder B.B. gun for Christmas. Problem is, his mother isn't too fond of the idea at all, uttering the famous line, "you'll shoot your eye out." Naturally determined to work around this, Ralphie works on a secret plan to try to hoodwink his mother, and that's where the fun begins, from a scary mall Santa to sticking a certain part of the body on cold, winter beam to see if it sticks!There are some movies that, despite not having the biggest budget or maybe even the biggest star names, seem to radiate a magic all their own. "A Christmas Story" is certainly one of those. From the whimsical narration of Jean Shepherd to a certain major award Darren McGavin's the old man wins (you know, the one that's a lamp in the shape of a certain part of the female anatomy), this film has Christmas magic oozing all over it. Peter Billingsley is wonderful as the determined kid to get his hands on the ultimate Christmas gift, doing everything from writing a school paper on the benefits of owning a Red Ryder B.B. gun for Christmas to asking a certain, way too scary for little kids mall Santa, which used to somewhat scare me as a kid but is now probably my favorite part of the whole entire movie. Plus, the performances of the late, great Darren McGavin as the old man, Melinda Dillon as Ralphie's mother, Ian Petrella as Ralphie's annoying little kid brother, Scott Schwartz and R.D. Robb as Ralphie's childhood friends Schwartz and Flick, and Zack Ward as the school bully Scut Farkus ("Scut Farkus, what a rotten name!") all add to this joyous experience. Anyone who ever celebrated Christmas a kid will get this movie, and for that reason alone, don't through life without seeing this at least a couple hundred times! Ho Ho Ho, Merry Christmas!