OK, we’re again at Christmas Eve and it is Dec. 24, 2024 … and time again this evening to begin the TBS/TNT marathon of the movie “A Christmas Story.” Here is the classic Christmas movie from Bob Clark, who: directed; co-produced; and co-wrote the screenplay adapted from humorist Jean Shepherd’s group of short stories called “In God We Trust, All Other Pay Cash.” He even had an uncredited role in front of the camera as “Swede.” So, get a head start on the marathon and begin your streaming or you looping of DVDs or Blu-Ray disks as soon as you can.
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It took me several viewings (not on any tee-vee marathon) to come to a full appreciation of the brilliance of “A Christmas Story,” but once I arrived at that station then I can enjoy the film a thousand time more.
‘A Christmas Story’
(1983; 94 minutes; rated PG; directed by Bob Clark and starring Peter Billingsley, Melinda Dillon and Darren McGavin; the film runs almost continuously each holiday season on cable movie channels – and has a traditional marathon beginning Christmas Eve on TBS/TNT)
“A Christmas Story,” as if you need to be told, is the story of a boy who daydreams about getting a Red Ryder BB gun … yes, nothing “woke” kept boys back in the day from a gun at Christmas. Along the way you get snowball fights; kids trying to steer parents into getting specific gifts; daydreams about being heroic; and a now-classic scene of a boy’s tongue stuck to a frozen metal pole.
The back stories to “A Christmas Story” are interesting, too, as Bob Clark wanted for years to make the film, but was rebuffed by studios and he couldn’t find independent financing to get it done. Well, he came along and directed the R-rated raunchy classic “Porky’s,” which was the No. 5 film of 1982 and made more than $100 million at the U.S. box office.
Of course, producers of “Porky’s” immediately wanted to sign Clark to do a sequel, but only agreed … if he could make “A Christmas Story.” Fortunately, they didn’t show their stupidity to say, “No,” and so in 1983 you got both “Porky’s II: The Next Day” and “A Christmas Story” (remember, they turned out films more quickly back in the day).
Also, the only previous “holiday” type film made by Clark was a horror effort a decade earlier called “Black Christmas” in which a serial killer targets woman at a college sorority house during the Christmas break. Ouch! That’s a bit more strange of a “holiday” effort when he would later push for “A Christmas Story.”
Well, on a less gloomy note, “Porky’s” was wildly popular and it allowed Clark the freedom to make “A Christmas Story” and today …
… Merry Christmas and have a happy New Year!
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