It has been 40 years since a certain young boy tells his story about the Christmas where he gets a bb gun and shoots his eye out. 40 years later, it's one of the most watched Christmas movies ever next to a few others. Some of the actors are still alive and some....well, here is the story of a young boy from Indiana and the best Christmas he ever had.
The movie came from a book written by the late Jean Shepard. He even narrated most of the story in the movie since he loved the book so much and would read it to his children around the holiday season. He even had a cameo in the movie near the end where Ralphie and his brother are waiting in a long line to see Santa.
The Characters of the story are interesting. Ralphie is the main character played by Peter Billingsly who is still acting as well as producing movies today. His little brother, Randy is played by Ian Petrella who is still alive today. What is he doing now? Well, somewhat acting, but isn't seen much in the Entertainment industry.
The old man, as Ralphie would call his father, was portrayed by the late Darren McGavin. This is what he is known for more than any other role he has been in. Passing away from cardiovascular disease at the age of 83, his story is told as how Ralphie's father can be hard to get along with and at sometimes scary but could have a heart as well.
The mother of Ralphie was portrayed by Melinda Dillon. Just like Darren McGavin, Melinda was only known for the role of the caring mother who would comfort Ralphie at the same time scowl at him if he swore. She sadly passed away recently, but she had long retired then.
There were many characters from Ralphie's friends Schwartz and Flick to the bully named Scut Farcus. Scut was a similar image to my own cousin and well...the actor that portrayed him, Zack Ward, is still acting. From horror flicks that failed to the recent Christmas story sequel called (Christmas story Christmas)
Christmas story franchise had some failures like a sequel starring Daniel Stern and even Christmas Story Live with Matthew Broderick. It was as if they were trying to kill a Christmas Story movie and bury it. The original author of the story, Jean Sheppard, was long dead by the time these were made. Eventually, it would be saved thanks to Ralphie's actor Peter Billingsly.
When I found out they were going to make another Christmas story movie called "A Christmas story Christmas", I was hesitant at first. Yes, I loved the original with all my heart, but I was wondering if it was a smart idea for them to do this. Well, I gave it a watch and....it brought back the magic of the original.
Ok it's not 100 percent gold, but it is worth the watch. Peter Billingsly plays an adult Ralphie who has a family, but he also is a failure at being a writer when his sci-fi story has been rejected by another publisher. He soon finds out the old man (who was portrayed by Darren McGavin) had passed away. He decides to go back home to visit his mother.
There has been a cast change with the mother. Julie Hagerty, who was in Airplane!, filled in for Melinda Dillon. She did pretty well despite they were desperate to get Melinda back from retirement. It seems Ralphie has to write an obituary on the old man. He is filled with not only sadness for the loss of the old man, but he also has writer's block.
Peter Billingsley narrates his adult Ralphie voice as he does everything to have the perfect Christmas. Although things go wrong along the way, he almost gets arrested by a familiar face...Scut Farcus. He lets Ralphie go in the spirit of Christmas. Eventually, he does write something, that isn't just about his father, but his whole childhood as well.
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