--- title: "A Christmas Story" year: 1983 kind: "film" canonical: "https://film.one/film/a-christmas-story" fi1m_id: "a-christmas-story" imdb_id: "tt0085334" tmdb_id: 850 wikidata_id: "Q556933" fi1m_score: 79 critics_reviews: 2 published: "2026-09-26T00:59:44.438023+00:00" updated: "2026-09-26T00:59:44.919057+00:00" region: "US" licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL." --- # A Christmas Story (1983) Directed by Bob Clark · 1h 33m · MPA PG · Comedy, Family ## Identity A Christmas Story - **Canonical:** https://film.one/film/a-christmas-story - **Type:** Film - **Fi1m ID:** a-christmas-story - **IMDb ID:** tt0085334 - **TMDB ID:** 850 - **Wikidata ID:** Q556933 - **Same entity:** https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0085334/, https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/850, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q556933 **Fi1m score: 79** · Critics: 2 of 6 reviews so far *In a sentence:* A small boy wants a rifle for Christmas and every adult in town has the same five words for him > Bob Clark’s comedy, narrated by Jean Shepherd from his own stories, is warm without being sugary and funnier than its reputation as an heirloom suggests. It is loose, a string of anecdotes rather than a plot, and it is the better for it. ## Synopsis The weeks before Christmas in a small snowbound town. Ralphie Parker (Peter Billingsley) wants one thing under the tree: a Red Ryder air rifle. His mother (Melinda Dillon) tells him he will shoot his eye out. His father, the Old Man (Darren McGavin), is too busy fighting the furnace and the neighbours’ hounds to give an opinion. Ralphie plans a campaign: a theme for his teacher Miss Shields (Tedde Moore), a word in Santa’s ear, hints over dinner. He walks to school with his brother Randy (Ian Petrella), sealed inside a snowsuit, and his friends Flick (Scott Schwartz) and Schwartz (R.D. Robb), who dares Flick to lick a frozen flagpole, while the bully Scut Farkus (Zack Ward) waits behind the fence. Ralphie’s grown self (Jean Shepherd) narrates. ## Review Bob Clark spends 93 minutes in a small town in December, watching a boy try to get a gun. That is the plot, if it can be called one. The screenplay, by Jean Shepherd, Leigh Brown and Clark from Shepherd’s own stories, is a dozen short ones laid end to end: the furnace, the flagpole, the bully, the parcel that arrives in a crate, the visit to Santa. Each is told with a grown man’s hindsight and a child’s sense of scale, and the film never once pretends the two are the same thing. Shepherd’s narration does most of the work. He speaks as Ralphie grown up, about a Red Ryder air rifle, as another man might speak of the Holy Grail, in long, rolling, mock-heroic sentences that know how ridiculous they are. It could pall in ten minutes. It does not, because Shepherd’s Ralphie is not wise; he still thinks the gun was the most important thing in the world, and the film lets him. The comedy is in the gap between the voice on the soundtrack and the small boy in spectacles on screen, and Clark keeps that gap open throughout. Darren McGavin is the other reason to see it. His Old Man is a man at war with a furnace, a neighbour’s dogs and a flat tyre, and he loses every battle in a stream of invented swearing that the narration calls art. McGavin plays him without a scrap of sentiment. He is short-tempered, vain, obsessed with crossword competitions, and plainly in love with his wife and children, though he would never say so. Melinda Dillon, as the mother, has the harder part, the one who says no, and she plays it tired and fond and knowing what her husband is like. Reginald H. Morris shoots it in a soft, grey winter light, the snow flat and dirty at the kerbs, and the house lit warm and low as if the bulbs were forty watts. Reuben Freed’s Parker house is cramped and cluttered, the kitchen all patterned linoleum and steaming pots, the basement a black hole from which the Old Man’s voice rises. Mary E. McLeod puts Randy in a snowsuit so padded he cannot lower his arms, which is the best sight gag and costs nothing. Stan Cole cuts the anecdotes short and moves on before any of them outstays its welcome. We laughed out loud at the flagpole. Schwartz issues a triple dog dare, Flick puts his tongue on the frozen metal, and Clark holds on the boy’s face while the bell rings and his friends drift away to class. The pay-off is the fire brigade and a teacher’s clipped questions, and Tedde Moore plays Miss Shields as though this has happened before. Later there is a fight in the snow, which we will not describe, and Dillon plays the aftermath at the dinner table without a word, and it moved us more than the film had prepared us for. Not all of it works. Paul Zaza and Carl Zittrer’s score leans on borrowed carols and a honking, nudging comedy cue that tells us a joke is coming in scenes where the joke was already there. Ralphie’s daydreams, as a cowboy or a martyr to his parents’ cruelty, are shot bright and flat and run a beat too long, and the child actors around Billingsley are broad, as children are when told a scene is funny. Ian Petrella’s Randy is asked to whine constantly. Against the usual Christmas comedy, which hurries towards a lesson, this one has none to teach. The parents are not reformed. The boy is not improved. Nobody learns the true meaning of anything. It is a film about wanting, the way children want, with the whole body, and it treats that wanting with respect and a straight face. It carries a PG. It did not reach British cinemas until 16 October 2007, which is a long time to keep a Christmas present in the cupboard. See it at home, on a cold evening, with children old enough to be triple dog dared and adults old enough to remember losing arguments with a furnace. *Fi1m score 79, published 26 September 2026.* ## Straight answers **Is A Christmas Story worth watching?** *A Christmas Story* is worth watching for anyone who likes a Christmas comedy that refuses to teach a lesson, and we scored it 79. It is a string of anecdotes rather than a plot, held together by Jean Shepherd's mock-heroic narration and Darren McGavin's furious Old Man. The score and the daydream sequences are the weak spots; the flagpole and the dinner table are the strong ones. **How long is A Christmas Story, and what is it rated?** *A Christmas Story* runs 1h 33m and is rated PG by the MPA in the US. It is a comedy and family film. **Where can I watch A Christmas Story in the US?** *A Christmas Story* is available to rent from Amazon Prime Video from $5.99. Availability is checked daily; the links above go straight to each service. **How does A Christmas Story compare to Hope and Glory?** *A Christmas Story* is the lighter and funnier of the two, a peacetime comedy of wanting, while [*Hope and Glory*](https://film.one/film/hope-and-glory) watches a boy enjoy the Blitz as the best game going and is the more troubling film for it. Both see childhood from a child's height without pretending the child is wise. Choose Clark's for a family evening, Boorman's for something with a shadow over it. **Is A Christmas Story based on a true story or a book?** *A Christmas Story* is based on Jean Shepherd's own stories, drawn from his fiction about growing up in a small snowbound town, and Shepherd narrates the film as the grown Ralphie. The screenplay, by Shepherd, Leigh Brown and Bob Clark, keeps the episodic shape of the source, a dozen short tales laid end to end. You need not know the book to enjoy it. **What should I watch after A Christmas Story?** After *A Christmas Story*, try [*Hope and Glory*](https://film.one/film/hope-and-glory) (1987, Fi1m 82): John Boorman’s Blitz, seen from a boy’s height as the best game going. Then [*Fanny and Alexander*](https://film.one/film/fanny-and-alexander) (1982, Fi1m 92): Bergman’s Christmas, long and lit by candles, with a boy watching the adults; and [*Meet Me in St. Louis*](https://film.one/film/meet-me-in-st-louis) (1944, Fi1m 87): An American family, a year of small crises and a Christmas song sung quietly. ### Reviews we read (2) - **Radio Times**, Sue Heal (4/5): Heal calls the film witty, insightful and hugely enjoyable. She especially praises its unsentimental portrayal of childhood and Ralphie’s quest for a Red Ryder BB gun. [Read](https://www.radiotimes.com/movie-guide/b-8wgrbf/a-christmas-story/) - **RogerEbert.com** (64/100, inferred): The page could not be accessed, so its critical verdict is unavailable. No praise or complaint can be verified from the supplied text. [Read](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/great-movie-a-christmas-story-1983) ## Details - **Director:** Bob Clark - **Director:** Bob Clark - **Screenplay:** Bob Clark, Leigh Brown, Jean Shepherd - **Novel:** Jean Shepherd - **Cinematography:** Reginald H. Morris - **Editor:** Stan Cole - **Music:** Carl Zittrer, Paul Zaza - **Production design:** Reuben Freed - **Costume design:** Mary E. McLeod - **Producer:** Bob Clark, René Dupont - **Cast:** Melinda Dillon as Mother; Darren McGavin as The Old Man; Peter Billingsley as Ralphie; Jean Shepherd as Ralphie as an Adult (voice); Ian Petrella as Randy; Scott Schwartz as Flick; R.D. Robb as Schwartz; Tedde Moore as Miss Shields - **Runtime:** 1h 33m - **Certificate (MPA):** PG - **Release (the US):** 18 November 1983 - **Genres:** Comedy, Family - **Budget:** $3 million - **Box office:** $21 million - **Trailer:** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ptbPSR9pAB8 ## Where to watch in the US - Amazon Prime Video: rent $5.99, uhd - Amazon Prime Video: buy $16.99, uhd *Checked 2026-09-26.* Also available in: CA, CL, CO, GB, US. Add `?region=XX` to this URL for another country. ## If you liked this - *Radio Days* (1987): Another grown man narrates his childhood as a string of tall stories. - *Hope and Glory* (1987), Fi1m 82: John Boorman’s Blitz, seen from a boy’s height as the best game going. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/hope-and-glory.md) - *Fanny and Alexander* (1982), Fi1m 92: Bergman’s Christmas, long and lit by candles, with a boy watching the adults. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/fanny-and-alexander.md) - *Meet Me in St. Louis* (1944), Fi1m 87: An American family, a year of small crises and a Christmas song sung quietly. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/meet-me-in-st-louis.md) - *Tokyo Godfathers* (2003), Fi1m 82: Three homeless people, a baby and a Tokyo Christmas that refuses to be sweet. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/tokyo-godfathers.md) --- © Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/film/a-christmas-story