A Christmas Story, 1983.
Directed by Bob Clark.
Starring Melinda Dillon, Darren McGavin, Peter Billingsley, and Jean Shepherd.
SYNOPSIS:
A Christmas Story remains a holiday staple, thanks to the new life it received on cable TV and home video after its lackluster box office performance in 1983. Just in time for this year’s holidays, Warner Bros. has issued a beautiful new 4K version of the film that’s a serious upgrade over the old Blu-ray. They also included the movie on Blu-ray, ported over the legacy bonus features, and tossed in a code for a digital copy.
“Oh, that’s Jean Shepherd!” my dad exclaimed one year at Christmas, when we were at my sister’s house and A Christmas Story was playing non-stop on one of the cable networks. (Not sure if that’s still a holiday tradition, since I barely pay attention to network TV schedules these days, beyond the two sports I follow.)
My dad, who passed away this past March, was born in 1941 and remembered hearing Shepherd during his childhood, so it was a blast from the past, as they say, when that baritone voice came forth as the narrator in the film. Of course, having grown up in the same general time period as the movie (it’s purposely left vague, but it’s sometime in the early 1940s), he could also relate to many of Ralphie’s experiences.
A Christmas Story is a series of loosely connected vignettes drawn primarily drawn from Shepherd’s classic book In God We Trust, All Others Pay Cash. The stories revolve around Ralphie’s adventures and mishaps with his little brother as he navigates bullies, schoolwork, trying to catch his favorite radio shows, and figuring out how he can get a coveted Red Ryder BB gun for Christmas.
Along the way, his father (referred to as “The Old Man”) wins an award in the shape of a leg lamp, grouses about his next-door neighbors’ pack of dogs, and fights with the furnace in the basement. He’s an emotionally distant grump, as dads tended to be back then, but he loves his family and everything works out in the end, of course.
This 4K release is part of a group of holiday-related titles issued by Warner Bros. recently, including Elf, which I also took a look at. Like Elf, it hasn’t received a new transfer since the one that was released in the early days of Blu-ray.
I’m not sure if the Blu-ray also included here is the original one, since I’ve never owned A Christmas Story on home video, but I can say that the 4K version looks marvelous on my screen. Warner Bros. also included a code for a digital copy.
The studio didn’t commission any new bonus features, as far as I’m aware, but they did port over much, if not all, of the legacy content. Here’s what you’ll find:
• Commentary: Director Bob Clark and star Peter Billingsley (Ralphie) have a nice chat about the film while watching it. There are a couple spots where they lapse into silence, but it’s a solid track overall, and if you’re a major fan of the film, you’ll likely learn some new things about it. One interesting insight involves Porky’s, a raunchy R-rated teen comedy that he directed before this film. Go figure.
• Another Christmas Story (18 minutes): This is a retrospective on the film featuring Clark and several members of the cast. Given the fact that A Christmas Story didn’t perform that well at the box office and only became a classic thanks to cable TV and home video, they have plenty to look back on.
• Daisy Red Ryder: A History (5 minutes): I never owned a BB gun, but I remember the Daisy brand from my childhood, and this quick featurette includes comments from Clark and a few of the actors along with reps from the Daisy company talking about the history of the infamous Red Ryder.
• Get a Leg Up (4.5 minutes): Even if you’ve never seen A Christmas Story, you’re likely aware of another infamous prop from the film: the leg lamp that The Old Man receives as an award for something. He mispronounces the word “Fragile” before opening the crate and deciding to display his treasure in the front window, much to his wife’s dismay. This featurette includes a chat with Joe Egeberg, who created the lamp.
• Christmas in Ohio: A Christmas Story House (21.25 minutes): A man named Brian Jones managed to buy the house used in the movie and turned it into a museum dedicated to the film. It’s now a popular tourist attraction, and I hope it earns him a good living.
• Jean Shepherd Original Radio Reading (69 minutes): Journey back to the days before everyone had a TV, when radio was the most popular form of home entertainment. Here you can listen to two of Shepherd’s stories as told on the radio. You’ll instantly recognize them as source material for the film, but they diverge from their cinematic counterparts in various ways.
The final extras are script pages for a scene that I assume was not filmed (or the footage is gone) and the theatrical trailer.
Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★ ★ ★
Brad Cook
