Where are they now? "A Christmas Story"

NYDaily News ^ | 12/08/08

[pillut48]

"It wouldn't be Christmas without 'A Christmas Story,' the 1983 movie that became an instant holiday classic thanks to its winning cast and quotable scenes. Here's a then-and-now look at the gang from fictional Hohman, Indiana, who brought the 'original, traditional, one-hundred-percent, red-blooded, two-fisted, all-American Christmas' tale to life."

[egannacht]

If you love Jean Shepherd's A Christmas Story (he is the narrator) you will also love the 1982 PBS short movie The Great American Forth of July and Other Disasters

Most filmgoers will associate humorist Jean Shepherd exclusively with his autobiographical big-screen nostalgia piece A Christmas Story (1983), which has drawn millions of loyal viewers over the years with its charm. Its devotees may be surprised to discover that several PBS-produced Shepherd teleplays preceded it, nearly identical in tone and brand of humor. Made for PBS in 1982, the hour-long The Great American Fourth of July and Other Disasters sends up middle-American Independence Day festivities with manic glee -- thus doing for the Fourth exactly what A Christmas Story does for the Yuletide season. The Great American Fourth carries us to small-town Americana, where several subplots unfold concurrently. In one, Ralph -- here a teenager, played by Matt Dillon -- prepares to go on a date with his buddy's resplendent cousin, and makes a fool of himself by spilling licorice candy all over the aisles; in a second, Mom (Barbara Bolton) makes good to an absurd degree on a "chain letter" by suddenly inheriting more washrags (that's right, washrags) than she ever knew existed; in a third, a local baton twirler tosses his bar a little too high and blacks out the entire town. In yet another substory, the town drunk, Ludlow Kissel (Babe Sargent) sets off a rather destructive firework with a mind of its own, which manically chases a pack of children down the street and refuses to be outwitted. And, in the gut-busting showstopper that concludes the film, the Old Man (James Broderick, of Family) hosts a public fireworks display by shooting off Roman candles from his pants. This marked Broderick's final screen appearance; he died several months after it was produced. To date, neither The Great American Fourth of July nor any of Jean Shepherd's other early PBS specials have received home-video distribution. A witty prologue was added for Disney Channel screenings in the mid-'80s, wherein the late Shepherd himself is seen driving to a fireworks store in the Carolinas. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide (source:http://www.fandango.com/thegreatamericanfourthofjulyandotherdisasters_v309348/summary)

[pillut48]

Nah, it was “Scrooge” with Albert Finney! Loved the music.
And “Scrooged” with Bill Murray was pretty funny too.

[latina4dubya]

See my previous post. You remember incorrectly.

i'll stick with dilvish on this one...

[PJ-Comix]

If I told you the true story of what went on between Jean Shepherd and me you probably wouldn’t believe it so I won’t tell just to maintain my credibility. All I’ll say is that a certain someone wrote quite a bit of his radio material.

[BlueLancer]

Personally, I always liked

because the music is outstanding and it's very entertaining for children (of all ages). I make a point to watch this and "White Christmas" (Bing Crosby, Danny Kaye, Rosemary Clooney) every year.

[pillut48]

“White Christmas” has been one of my all time favorites since I was a kid! :-) Loved it then, and love it now, especially since every time I watch it, I catch some subtle joke that I never got in the past, LOL. And I just love the music too, especially “Count Your Blessings”, which has helped me through some hard times in the past.

[pillut48]

SPILL! OR I'M SICCING SCUT FARKUS ON YOU!!! ;-)

[mwyounce]

was he Messy Marvin? i think he was in a Hershey's Chocolate Syrup commercial...

Yep... here's him in one of the Hershey's commercials:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YP0nHyxcXds

[Darkwolf377]

It’s max theater count was 938 (remember this was the early 80s, they didn’t do wide releases like now) there’s simply no way distribution cost was 5 million with less than 1000 prints. It was the 39th highest grossing movie of 1983, not Star Wars but not a bomb. Your estimates are based on bad assumptions, lots of 21st century math.

Nice try--why is it people can't accept the truth, that something they love and has become a classic based on TV viewings was a bomb, when it so clearly was? What's your evidence my numbers are based on "bad" assumptions? Because you don't like the answers?

Your assumptions about wide releases are so completely off--938 theaters IS a wide release, especially for its time. (You can't say they didn't do as large releases then as they do now when NOW 938 wouldn't be the widest release but THEN 938 indeed WOULD be considered a substantial, though not widest, release). 5 million is NOTHING for a release in 938 theaters in the early 80's. Today, 5 million would barely get you print and a few TV ads--I was being generous.

[Darkwolf377]

My favorite all-time Christmas movie is “The Bishop’s Wife” (1947), with Cary Grant, David Niven, and Loretta Young. (Great supporting cast, too: Monty Wooley, James Gleason, Gladys Cooper, Elsa Lanchester, among others.) We watch “The Bishop’s Wife” every year.

Me, too--in fact, I watch it at least once a year BEFORE Christmas.

Did you know it was first filmed with Grant and Niven's roles reversed, and then they started over, tossing a million dollars in filming out the window?

[Darkwolf377]

Meh. I’ve never liked “Wonderful”.

I saw it once, didn't care for it. But it IS the classic Christmas movie.

[CaptRon]

It is narated by the man who wrote the book you can tell most if not all of it were his personal recolections growing up.

Jean Shepherd was a staple of late night radio in the New York City area. The movie is really portions of his book "In God We Trust, All Others Pay Cash". They are indeed true stories of his childhood.

[CaptRon]

Ahhhhhhhhhh, but do you remember him starring in “Riverboat”?

[dilvish]

Your most obvious bad 21st century assumption is that they spent 5 million on distribution and advertising. With less than 1000 theaters to go to, in the age before THX, copies couldn’t possibly have cost more than half a million, and nobody spends 4 1/2 million advertising a movie with a 3 1/2 million dollar budget. We’re talking 2 million tops. So your 5 million is at least double what was really spent.

Another one of your bad assumptions was that because revenue dropped below 1 million in 4 weeks that’s bad. That certainly would be bad TODAY with 25 years of inflation having severely lowered the value of 1 million dollars. In 1983 not so much, a million dollars was more money, and took a lot more tickets to make. Holding above that line for “only” a month isn’t bad back then.

I’m not saying it wasn’t a wide release. I’m saying that wide releases then weren’t the same. It’s less than half the theaters they wide release at today, and cheaper film.

No you were being inflated. Part of your problem is you’re working from an assumption of blockbuster or bomb. It was the #39 grossing film of the year, NOT a bomb, not a blockbuster either. It’s in a middle ground that you don’t seem to want to acknowledge exists: successful. It was a successful release. A modest movie with a modest budget that did OK in the theaters. Again, not Star Wars (or I should say Return of the Jedi since that was the big winner that year), but not a bomb either. There IS a middle ground.

[AppyPappy]

George C Scott’s version seemed closer to the book. No one really captured the hearse on the steps inside the house.

[getmeouttaPalmBeachCounty_FL]

Boy, “Randy” grew into his role, didn’t he?

[Maceman]

George C Scott’s version seemed closer to the book. No one really captured the hearse on the steps inside the house.

Perhaps, but I think Sim's performance was absolutely the best characterization of Scrooge ever.