A Christmas Story 1983: I Want an Official Red Ryder, Carbine Action, Two-Hundred Shot Range Model Air Rifle! | Retro Cinema Classics
A Christmas Story, a 1983 American Christmas comedy film, is based on the short stories and semi-autobiographical anecdotes of author and raconteur Jean Shepherd. The film is adapted from Shepherd's book In God We Trust: All Others Pay Cash, with some elements derived from his story "Wanda Hickey's Night of Golden Memories." Directed by Bob Clark, the film has since become a beloved holiday classic in the United States.
Turner Broadcasting networks now air A Christmas Story numerous times during the Christmas season. Since 1997, a 12-hour marathon of the film has aired on either TNT or TBS, beginning on Christmas Eve. The film also earned director Bob Clark two Genie Awards. In 2012, the Library of Congress selected A Christmas Story for preservation in the National Film Registry, recognizing it as "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant."
Set in the fictional town of Hohman (based on Shepherd's hometown of Hammond, Indiana), the story follows 9-year-old Ralphie Parker, who desperately wants an "official Red Ryder carbine-action 200-shot range model BB rifle" for Christmas. However, Ralphie's mother, teacher, and even Santa himself warn him that he'll "shoot his eye out." Despite this, Ralphie hatches a plan to convince his family to get him the coveted BB gun.
Three of the short stories that inspired the film were originally published in Playboy magazine between 1964-1966. Director Bob Clark became interested in Shepherd's work after hearing one of the unpublished stories, "Flick's Tongue," on the radio in 1968. Additional source material came from anecdotes Shepherd shared with live college audiences.
The film's production utilized locations in Cleveland, Ohio, including Higbee's department store, which provided the setting for several key scenes. Though initially overlooked, A Christmas Story has since become a beloved holiday classic, airing annually on television and delighting audiences for decades.
In the 1940s, 9-year-old Ralphie Parker (Peter Billingsley) lives in the small town of Hohman, Indiana. His older self (voiced by Jean Shepherd) narrates Ralphie's experiences and thoughts in the weeks leading up to Christmas. Ralphie has his heart set on getting an Official Red Ryder Carbine-Action Two-Hundred-Shot Range Model Air Rifle, but knows his parents will reject the idea. He tries to subtly hint at wanting the gun, but his mother firmly shuts down the request, warning him that "you'll shoot your eye out."
Ralphie daydreams about using the gun to protect his family, while his gruff father battles the finicky furnace in the basement. On the way to school, Ralphie and his friends get into a sticky situation when one of them gets his tongue stuck to a frozen flagpole. At school, Ralphie sees the Christmas theme assignment as an opportunity to plead his case for the Red Ryder gun.
Later, Ralphie and his friends are harassed by a local bully, leading to a confrontation where Ralphie finally stands up for himself. That night, Ralphie's father wins a "major award" - a gaudy lamp in the shape of a woman's leg. The next day, Ralphie's secret decoder pin from the Little Orphan Annie radio show turns out to be a disappointment.
As Christmas approaches, Ralphie continues to face obstacles in getting the Red Ryder gun, from a poor grade on his theme to his mother washing his mouth out with soap. But on Christmas morning, to Ralphie's delight, his father surprises him with the coveted air rifle. Ralphie takes it outside to try it out, but ends up accidentally shooting himself in the face, though luckily without serious injury.
Despite the ups and downs, Ralphie ends up getting the best Christmas gift he could have hoped for - the Red Ryder gun, which he cherishes as he drifts off to sleep, dreaming of all the adventures to come.
Trivia: For the scene where Flick's tongue gets stuck to the flagpole, a hidden suction tube was used to safely create the illusion of his tongue freezing to the metal. According to Peter Billingsley (the young Ralphie), the nonsensical ramblings Ralphie exclaims while beating up Scut Farkas were scripted word-for-word. The people of Cleveland were incredibly cooperative during filming, generously donating antique vehicles from across the city. These vintage vehicles helped enhance the authenticity of the production design.
Director Bob Clark revealed that Jack Nicholson was interested in playing the role of "The Old Man" Mr. Parker, but Clark didn't learn of this until later and the studio didn't want to pay Nicholson's fee, which would have doubled the budget. Nonetheless, Clark felt that Darren McGavin was still the better choice, born to play the part.
There's debate around when the film is set. Evidence points to 1939 due to The Wizard of Oz references, while the decoder ring suggests 1940. However, the calendar on the wall during the first dinner scene clearly shows December 1st falling on a Friday, which happened in 1939, not 1940 as previously believed.
The "Red Ryder" BB gun featured in the film is not entirely accurate to the original story. According to film historians Bob Clark and the Daisy Rifle Company, when author Jean Shepard wrote the story "In God We Trust... All Others Pay Cash," he misremembered the details of the Red Ryder BB gun from his childhood. Specifically, the gun Ralphie describes as having a compass and "thing which tells time" (a sundial) was actually a different BB gun model from the same era. This error wasn't caught until it came time to produce the prop gun for the film. As a result, the gun used in the movie is a custom hybrid that matches Shepard's recollections, rather than the actual Red Ryder model.
Despite Ralphie's pleas to his mother, teacher, and even Santa, the one person he never asked - his father - is the one who ultimately gives him the prized BB gun for Christmas.
The leg lamp from A Christmas Story has become one of the film's most recognizable props, thanks to the story's growing popularity. But did you know the iconic lamp was actually inspired by an old-school soft drink advertisement?
Before A Christmas Story was a beloved holiday movie, it originated as a series of short stories written by the late Jean Shepherd. The stories, published in the books In God We Trust: All Others Pay Cash and Wanda Hickey's Night of Golden Memories and Other Disasters, were loosely based on Shepherd's own childhood in Depression-era Indiana (though the movie was filmed mostly in Cleveland).
In a 1966 story called "My Old Man and the Lascivious Special Award that Heralded the Birth of Pop Art," Shepherd described his father's strange obsession with a leg lamp. According to the A Christmas Story House and Museum, Shepherd got the idea for the lamp after seeing an illuminated Nehi Soda advertisement featuring a pair of shapely, disembodied legs. Shepherd gave a nod to Nehi by writing that the Old Man's crossword contest was sponsored by an "orange pop" company whose name was a "play on words, involving the lady's knee."
When the lamp finally arrives in Shepherd's story, he writes a vivid description: "From ankle to thigh the translucent flesh radiated a vibrant, sensual, luminous orange-yellow-pinkish nimbus of Pagan fire. All it needed was tom-toms and maybe a gong or two. And a tenor singing in a high, quavery, earnest voice: 'A pretty girl/Is like a melody...'" So the leg lamp, with its glowing, shapely form, was inspired by a retro soda ad - a fitting origin for one of the most iconic holiday movie props of all time.
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