Christmas 1983

My mom was always a big movie fan. On many weekends, she would take all us kids to a matinee. We usually went to Snyder Drug beforehand to get candy and then mosied over to the Cine 4 theatre in downtown Winona.

One afternoon in late 1983, she took us to a Christmas movie. This was unusual due to the fact that we all belonged to a religion in which we didn't celebrate Christmas. Nonetheless, what harm could there be in going to a movie about the most wonderful time of the year? The movie has gone on to be a favorite of millions of people, but most never saw it when it was originally released (it made less than $20 million). I consider myself lucky that I was able to see it way-back-when at the age of 13. It was such a warm account of what life was like a couple of generations before mine. The story took place in the Midwest and starred the late Darren McGavin as the father. In case you haven't figured it out yet, I'm referring to "A Christmas Story". Here is the original theatrical poster:



Ralphie was something else. He wanted "an official Red Ryder, carbine action, two-hundred shot range model air rifle!" But his mother wouldn't allow it telling him, "No, you'll shoot your eye out".

Internet Database readers rank it as one of the top 250 movies of all time.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0085334/

And now the house where much of the movie was filmed has been "restored to its original glory".

http://www.achristmasstoryhouse.com/

I watched "A Christmas Story" again a few years ago. To my surprise, I didn't laugh much at all. Maybe it was because I had seen it so many times before. In any case, if you want to get in the mood for Christmas, you can't go wrong with this modern-day classic.