Rating: 
Summary: How can anyone not like this movie?
Review: This (and National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation) is *the* classic Christmas movie. I can watch this movie over and over and never get tired of it. It perfectly captures the anticipation leading up to getting the right gift as well as all normal craziness ocurring in a family. You'll never look at a pile of mashed potatoes or a bar of soap in quite the same way again.
Rating:
Summary: American Classic
Review: I watch this movie every Cgristmas. It's a great classic for kids and adults! the classic story that took place like when my parents were little (I think) of a young elementary boy who wants a red rider BBgun for christmas, but everybody says "Youll shoot your eye out, youll shoot your eye out!"
Rating:
Summary: My all-time Holiday fave!
Review: Long after my interest fell off for well-worn Holiday fare like 'How The Grinch Stole Christmas', 'It's A Wonderful Life' and 'Miracle on 34th Street', 'A Christmas Story' has remained my all-time genre favorite. I love it's more down-to-earth look at the yuletide season, showing the shortcomings as well as the virtues. And what better viewpoint to see it from than that of a ten-year-old with high hopes?Sure it's set in the late 40's, but it does have many elements of timelessness. Things like taking stupid dares at recess. Facing down the overbearing schoolyard bully. Those endless hints about what you want for XMas- just to be somewhat discouraged by your parent's less-than-enthusiastic reaction. Formulating a foolproof plan to get exactly what you want on that magical day. That god-awful get-up that your distant (But apparently not distant enough) aunt sent you that your folks make you put on so they can take Holiday pictures. Learning the art of cussin' from your dad's mad tirades of indignation. It's those little moments in the film and in life that most of us recall from our childhood days in mid-December. Christmas time has never been this brutal.. or this funny. It's the best cinematic celebration of the yuletide season yet! 'Late
Rating: 
Summary: ABSOLUTE CRAP! Go Jamie!
Review: I agree whole-heartedly with Jamie. This movie is an overrated piece of crap. First of all, calling this trash funny is apalling. Children being beaten up 'til they're bleeding is heartlessly cruel. Swearing is NOT funny, despite reports of the contrary. I feel awful everytime I see that kid stick his tounge to the pole. It is sick whenever someone says this is a classic. If you recieve this as a christmas gift, kindly throw it in the garbage. It will save you and your whole family from vomitting.
Rating: 
Summary: Hurrah for movie, Shame on DVD
Review: This is a must-see, completely charming, wonderfully acted (and I usually don't like child actors), heart-warming without being too mushy, Holiday Season story. But they made the DVD in Pan&Scan (except the opening credits, which are in widescreen). SHAME ON THE DVD PRODUCER! The whole idea of DVDs was that there's ample space for both widescreen and pan&scan versions. P&S (now called "Full Screen Format" -- to make you think it's a good thing) makes movies look like made-for-tv shows, with no vistas and too many closeups. How about an un-modified version of this terrific movie?
Rating:
Summary: Can You Say - Hilarious Screwball Comedy?
Review: This has to be the best Christmas movie I have ever seen! If you have read the book "In God We Trust:All Others Pay Cash (Which I have) and thought it was funny then the movie will make you laugh until you cry. Some highlights are when the main charachter's (Ralphie) Dad is fighting with the Bumpass hounds, when Ralphie's Dad recieves his "major award", and Ralphie's obsessions over the Red Ryder BB-Gun and Little Orphan Annie's Secret Messages (You'll see how both of those things interestingly turn out). An instant classic that you'll watch every Christmas. I know I do!
Rating:
Summary: My first DVD
Review: I originally bought the DVD player because the price of "Cannibal Women in the Avocado Jungle of Death (1988)" ASIN: 6305078599, was $60.00 less for the DVD. Then I saw this DVD and had to buy it first. My wife and I watch this every year on TV and was about to buy the tape. Talk about perfect timing. I had one of those Davie Crocket hats when I was a kid. There were lots of other items and actions that I could relate to. However my wife likes the watering method used by Melinda Dillon (mother) around the trophy. And she likes the way the mother conserved electricity by turning it off. I could see her snickering through the corner of my eye. I am not sure I should have bought this one. It may prove fatal to any window plans. This DVD may lack all the DVD extras, but it also lacks those distracting coming attractions. There was a remake of A Christmas Story floating around but it lacks a lot of the originality of this one.
Rating:
Summary: an instant classic, hilarious and sweet
Review: A friend of mine forced me to watch this film... the premise sounded stupid and I HATE sappy, stupid movies. I was totally floored. This is one of the funniest family films I have ever seen. This is not a modern-day slapstick no-brainer comedy, but a reminiscent look into the simpler 1940s when kids sat in front of the radio all night and dreamed of being cowboys. Ralphie's (Peter Billingsley) fantasy is to hold the Daisy Brand Red-Ryder BB rifle in his hot little hands Christmas morning and his life begins revolving around this fantasy as the holiday approaches. He practices using the rifle with his hands, writes a school essay about it and pesters everyone from his parents to Santa Claus to make sure it's delivered under the chimney no later than December 24. Don't be misled by the director (famous for "Porky's"), this is a family film. There is one expletive used, which quite frankly could have been snipped in my opinion, but the overall feel of this film is one of innocence, adventure and fond Christmas memories. I watch this film every year and laugh myself sick everytime I do. Remembering the way we used to think and perceive things as a child is what this movie is about, and how in many ways, much of what we thought makes a lot more sense than how we think now. Darren McGavin's performance provides some of the most hilarious laughs... he's constantly shifting from being a grumpy old man to a little kid in his emotional rollercoaster ride of mid-life crisis and fatherhood in the 1940s. I can't recommend this film enough. My only regret is the lack of extras on the DVD. How about an interview w/ the cast, especially now that the kids have grown? How about out-takes? It's a sad shame that so often film makers put their movies on DVD while paying no attention to what the medium demands in relationship to content.
Rating:
Summary: Xmas wouldn't be the same without this movie
Review: Between Thanksgiving & Christmas this is the first movie my kids ask to watch. It is a Christmas classic! It's right up there with "A Charlie Brown Christmas", "It's a Wonderful Life" and "The Grinch". Ralph (Peter Billingsley's shining moment) and his little brother Randy are just plain funny. This movie has the standard holiday themes weaved in and out of it, but more importantly, it keeps coming back to this one - what can a kid do to get what he wants for Christmas (Red Ryder BB Gun)? The way this movie is nostalgically portrayed - it makes 1940's Indiana the place that I'd want to raise my children. Parents Darren McGavin & Melinda Dillon are perfectly cast. The children are well-picked too, including best buddies Flick & Schwartz, and their nemesis' Scott Farcus ("yellow eyes") and Grover Dill. Some memorable scenes... 1. Ralph gets hit in the face with a snowball by the town bully (and then beats the bah-jesus out of him), 2. Randy eating his dinner ("I hate meatloaf") with his mother's help ("oink oink"), 3. Ralph's father get's an award ("Fragile... it must be Italian"), 4. Ralph helps his father change a tire one snowy night, 5. Christmas morning opening presents, and 6. The Bumpas' hounds next door come over to eat their Christmas dinner. This is a standard Christmas classic that the whole family will enjoy.
Rating:
Summary: THANKS ALOT! (BOWLING BALL SCENE)
Review: THIS MOVIE IS BY FAR THE BEST CHRISTMAS MOVIE EVER. I LOVED IT! EVERYONE I KNOW LOVES IT. THERE ARE SOME PEOPLE HOWEVER WHO WANT TO COMPARE THE MOVIE TO OTHER CLASSICS LIKE IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE ETC..DON'T! THIS FILM IS IN A CLASS OF IT'S OWN. IT IS WARM-HEARTED AND IT IS FUNNY AND IT MAKES ME LAUGH EVEN AFTER SEEING IT AT LEAST 80 TIMES. MY 2 YEAR OLD SON CAN EVEN APPRECIATE IT. IF YOU'RE NOT YOUNG AT HEART DON'T BOTHER GETTING THE FILM JUST BE A SCROOGE ALL HOLIDAY SEASON. BUT IF YOU ARE LOOKING FOR A GREAT FILM TO MAKE YOU LAUGH AND APPRECIATE THE HOLIDAYS, BUY THIS ONE! YOU'LL SHOOT YOUR EYE OUT KID!
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