Directed by Bob Clark
Released November 18, 1983
Based on the Novel In God We Trust, All Others Pay Cash by Jean Shepherd
Screenplay written by Jean Shepherd, Leigh Brown, & Bob Clark
Movie Synopsis Courtesy of IMDB
"In the 1940s, a young boy named Ralphie attempts to convince his parents, his teacher and Santa that a Red Ryder BB gun really is the perfect Christmas gift."
I know, I know it is a little early for Christmas. But in case you haven't noticed, I write these blogs based on release date, so this is just the one that is next. Let's just call it Christmas in August. Speaking of release date, though, it is actually interesting when they decided to release this movie. If you look, this movie was released in the middle of November. Which seems like a bad idea, but it actually turned out to work in their favor. This movie was a hit when it was released and when Christmas time came around, it was suppose to be out of theaters. But people started complaining to the theaters and the studio, so select theaters showed the movie until after the first of the year (1984). I guess their plan actually worked since they were able to have the film play longer in theaters than a normal movie would have. Present day, with how early they start setting up for Christmas, having Christmas in August doesn't seem too unrealistic. We can't even get past Halloween before the Christmas stuff is put out. Completely ignoring Thanksgiving. Come on now, the holiday centered around food and thanks still deserves some Brick and Mortar love too.
The biggest thing that bothers me, in this movie, is the use of the voice over. Now, back when this movie was made, voice overs weren't as overused as they are now. You have to be careful when you do them because only in certain situations are they successful. But that is not what bothers me about this voice over. What bothers me is the way it is done. They decide to have the grown up Ralphie narrate the story of young Ralphie. It just feels strange the way the dialogue is used. Sometimes he is talking in a very mature way, that would not have been the actual way that Ralphie thought at that age. But then sometimes it is flipped and the adult narrator is talking how young Ralphie would have been talking. It flip-flops and is not consistent throughout the film. If it were up to me, I think the voice over should have been done by young Ralphie in the first place. Leave the adult out of it. Having the inner thoughts of Ralphie at that age would have felt more authentic and real if it was coming straight from Ralphie. When it comes from adult Ralphie, it feels more forced and awkward than if it had been a current narration instead of a memory narration.
Just like in Risky Business last week, we find another groups of kids who are terrible friends.
THEY JUST LEFT HIM THERE TO SUFFER. They didn't try to help him, they didn't tell the teacher that their friend needed help, they just ran away! Their excuse, "the bell rang." I know they are still young kids, but they are old enough to know right and wrong.
On a separate note, in order to pull off this scene, they used a suction tube that was hidden in order to help create the image that Flick's tongue was frozen on the pole. Don't try this at home kids.
Speaking of bad friends. Is it just me, or does anyone else think that Scut Farkas looks like the kid who should be picked on and not the kid doing the bullying? Between his appearance, his horrible laugh, and his name he seems like a perfect target for bullying. So it seems strange that everyone else is afraid of him. It is not like he is that much bigger than all the rest of the kids.
Does this face scare you? It just makes me want to laugh!
Okay...there are two, no three things, that I know I can't forget when talking about this movie. The first being that dang lamp.
I feel so bad for that women. She has taken the time to create a home and decorate it in a nice way and then her husband breaks out this atrocity. Not only is it tacky, it is also weird. Why do you want a fishnet leg as a lamp? Maybe it is a hint at his wife that he wants her to wear fishnets more often, but besides that I have no idea. I know it is suppose to be a joke in the movie, but how can this man honestly think it looks good anywhere, besides in the trash. This is why men should not be decorators unless they are on HGTV or on Queer Eye.
The second thing that is a staple from this movie is the bunny suit.
Now I feel really bad for Ralphie. I love onsies, but being a boy forced to wear a bunny suit that is pink, now that is just torture. It all goes back to the idea that you always have that one relative who either A) buys you awful gifts that you will never use or are embarrassed to even own or B) they hand make you things that do not look like anything you normally wear. I am convinced that every family has one, so I feel for Ralphie on this one.
The third staple of this movies, is the redundant quote, "you'll shoot your eye out." In reference to Ralphie wanting the BB gun. It was funny the first few times it was said, but after a while it just got annoying and predictable. I think it would have been more clever if each character would have said this same line, but all slightly differently. Maybe one person says, "you will get hit in the face," and someone else says, "you will poke your eye out," and then someone else says, "it is dangerous and you could get hurt." I don't know. I feel like those were really bad examples, but you see my point. I understand that they were going for a motif in the movie with the line, but to me it was just overkill and annoying. And there is also noway that every person would have the same exact reaction.
One thing in this movie that brought me back to my childhood was the soap in the mouth.
I am guessing now-a-days, this would be considered child abuse in a way, but growing up I would get soap in my mouth all the time. But whenever I got it, it wasn't for swearing, it normally was for me saying "shut up." Because in my house, that was about as close to swearing as we got.
I had a couple more points I wanted to talk about, but this has already gotten pretty long, so I will wrap it up. Thanks for reading, let me know if you have any suggests for movies for me to talk about. Merry Christmas (121 days early).
Mr. Parker: "He looks like a deranged Easter Bunny."
Mother: "He does not!"
Mr. Parker: "He does too, he looks like a pink nightmare!"
Comments
Post a Comment