Merry Christmas!
...or Happy Channukah, Happy Kwanzaa, Merry Chrismukkah, Happy Hanukwanzmas, Happy Festivus or whatever you may celebrate. I've decided that to celebrate the holiday season, I shall post quotes from my favourite holiday films.
A Christmas Story
This Christmas film came and went from the box office virtually unnoticed. It wasn't until later when it was on television that people discovered it and made it a classic. Now it's run every year for 24 hours on TBS, and according to Variety, over 30 million people (a sixth of the nation) tunes in every year to watch it. Bob Clark managed to make this 1940's period piece, based on the stories from Jean Sheperd, on a small budget. Starring Peter Billingsley as Ralphie, a young boy who desperately wants an official Red Ryder, carbine action, two-hundred shot range model air rifle for Christmas. Also starring Darren McGavin, as his father, The Old Man, and Melinda Dillon as his mother. The movie is really a series of small vignettes with Ralphie and his family or Ralphie and his friends Flick (Scott Schwartz) and Schwartz (R.D. Robb) who are terrorized by the neighborhood bully Scut Farcus (Zack Ward).
Ralphie went on to continue acting and has done some producing (Zathura, The Break-Up and Trigger Happy TV, which should still be on the air, dammit!) and acted in another great Christmas movie, Elf. Flick went on to manage the careers of some adult film stars, believe it or not, until he decided to get back into the acting ring. Schwartz went on to do some acting and producing and his first directorial debut was Don's Plum which featured Leonardo DiCaprio and Tobey Maguire, filmed between 1995 and 1996. But because of a lawsuit brought on by DiCaprio and Maguire, the film can never be released commercially in the U.S. or Canada. Scut Farkus has had the most successful acting career since, as he has been working nonstop and starred in the TV series Titus.
Too many great quotes but I will settle with this one from adult Ralphie's narration just before the Bumpus hounds attack the family turkey....
"Oh, life is like that. Sometimes, at the height of our revelries, when our joy is at it's zenith, when all is most right with the world, the most unthinkable disasters descend upon us."
Christmas Vacation
Classic! A must see during the holiday season. Written by John Hughes and directed by Jeremiah S. Chechik. Starring Chevy Chase and Beverly D'Angelo as Clark and Ellen Griswold in the third installation of the Vacation series. There's a different Rusty and Audrey Griswold in every Vacation movie and these ones are played by pre-Roseanne Johnny Galecki and the awesome Juliette Lewis. The Griswolds are joined by Clark's parents (the late John Randolph and Dianne Ladd, mother of Laura Dern) and Ellen's parents (the late E.G. Marshall and pre-Everybody Loves Raymond Doris Roberts) for Christmas. As is the routine with all Vacation movies, everything that can go wrong, does and hilarity ensues.
The Griswold's are in for a surprise when Cousin Eddie (Randy Quaid) and Cousin Catherine (Miriam Flynn) arrive unexpectedly with their children Rocky and Ruby Sue and their dog, Snots. I don't think I need to rehash the plot as you have either already seen it, and if you haven't, why the hell not? There's the tackiest lit house you've ever seen, an imploding turkey, an electrocuted cat, a kidnapping, a burning Christmas tree, a rabid squirrel, and more....not neccessarily in that order. The cast also includes the Griswolds' snobby, yuppie neighbors (Nicholas Guest and pre-Seinfeld Julia Louis-Dreyfus) and Clark's boss, Mr. Shirley (Brian Doyle-Murray, brother of Bill Murray) as the antagonists. The last movie of Mae Questel (Aunt Bethany and voice of Betty Boop). Also features the late, great William Hickey as Uncle Lewis.
The best line of the movie and my mother's favourite.....from Clark's breakdown rant.....
"Where do you think you're going? Nobody's leaving. Nobody's walking out on this fun, old-fashioned family Christmas. No, no. We're all in this together. This is a full-blown, four-alarm holiday emergency here. We're gonna press on, and we're gonna have the hap, hap, happiest Christmas since Bing Crosby tap-danced with Danny fuckin Kaye. And when Santa squeezes his fat, white ass down that chimney tonight, he's gonna find the jolliest bunch of assholes this side of the nuthouse."
Trivia
A Christmas Story and Christmas Vacation have two things in common. One is their link to the other all time favourite Christmas classic It's a Wonderful Life. A Christmas Story was a mainly ignored by the critics and audiences during its theater release and did not become a classic with audiences until it was discovered later by audiences on television, just like It's a Wonderful Life. Christmas Vacation's link to It's a Wonderful Life is that the Second Assistant Director was Frank Capra III, grandson of Frank Capra, director of It's a Wonderful Life. Both movies also have the protagonists, Clark and George, annoyed by a loose newell post on the staircase.
The other thing they have in common is that their success has launched online marketing for props that were in the films. You can find the moose mugs that Clark and Cousin Eddie drink eggnog out of in Christmas Vacation for the low, low price of 90 dollars. 90 freaking dollars for one mug at www.canadianmoose.com, and the minimum order is two mugs = $180 (CDN). You can get a matching punchbowl by ordering the antler hooks to add to your own punchbowl for an additional $55. If you really want the sexy leg lamp from A Christmas Story (the Old Man's major award), you can find it at www.theleglamp.com for a reasonable 200 bucks. Oi, yoi, yoi. The movies are that successful they are able to charge those prices.
I wish you all a safe and happy holiday season. Merry Christmas! Til next time.....
A Christmas Story
This Christmas film came and went from the box office virtually unnoticed. It wasn't until later when it was on television that people discovered it and made it a classic. Now it's run every year for 24 hours on TBS, and according to Variety, over 30 million people (a sixth of the nation) tunes in every year to watch it. Bob Clark managed to make this 1940's period piece, based on the stories from Jean Sheperd, on a small budget. Starring Peter Billingsley as Ralphie, a young boy who desperately wants an official Red Ryder, carbine action, two-hundred shot range model air rifle for Christmas. Also starring Darren McGavin, as his father, The Old Man, and Melinda Dillon as his mother. The movie is really a series of small vignettes with Ralphie and his family or Ralphie and his friends Flick (Scott Schwartz) and Schwartz (R.D. Robb) who are terrorized by the neighborhood bully Scut Farcus (Zack Ward).
Ralphie went on to continue acting and has done some producing (Zathura, The Break-Up and Trigger Happy TV, which should still be on the air, dammit!) and acted in another great Christmas movie, Elf. Flick went on to manage the careers of some adult film stars, believe it or not, until he decided to get back into the acting ring. Schwartz went on to do some acting and producing and his first directorial debut was Don's Plum which featured Leonardo DiCaprio and Tobey Maguire, filmed between 1995 and 1996. But because of a lawsuit brought on by DiCaprio and Maguire, the film can never be released commercially in the U.S. or Canada. Scut Farkus has had the most successful acting career since, as he has been working nonstop and starred in the TV series Titus.
Too many great quotes but I will settle with this one from adult Ralphie's narration just before the Bumpus hounds attack the family turkey....
"Oh, life is like that. Sometimes, at the height of our revelries, when our joy is at it's zenith, when all is most right with the world, the most unthinkable disasters descend upon us."
Christmas Vacation
Classic! A must see during the holiday season. Written by John Hughes and directed by Jeremiah S. Chechik. Starring Chevy Chase and Beverly D'Angelo as Clark and Ellen Griswold in the third installation of the Vacation series. There's a different Rusty and Audrey Griswold in every Vacation movie and these ones are played by pre-Roseanne Johnny Galecki and the awesome Juliette Lewis. The Griswolds are joined by Clark's parents (the late John Randolph and Dianne Ladd, mother of Laura Dern) and Ellen's parents (the late E.G. Marshall and pre-Everybody Loves Raymond Doris Roberts) for Christmas. As is the routine with all Vacation movies, everything that can go wrong, does and hilarity ensues.
The Griswold's are in for a surprise when Cousin Eddie (Randy Quaid) and Cousin Catherine (Miriam Flynn) arrive unexpectedly with their children Rocky and Ruby Sue and their dog, Snots. I don't think I need to rehash the plot as you have either already seen it, and if you haven't, why the hell not? There's the tackiest lit house you've ever seen, an imploding turkey, an electrocuted cat, a kidnapping, a burning Christmas tree, a rabid squirrel, and more....not neccessarily in that order. The cast also includes the Griswolds' snobby, yuppie neighbors (Nicholas Guest and pre-Seinfeld Julia Louis-Dreyfus) and Clark's boss, Mr. Shirley (Brian Doyle-Murray, brother of Bill Murray) as the antagonists. The last movie of Mae Questel (Aunt Bethany and voice of Betty Boop). Also features the late, great William Hickey as Uncle Lewis.
The best line of the movie and my mother's favourite.....from Clark's breakdown rant.....
"Where do you think you're going? Nobody's leaving. Nobody's walking out on this fun, old-fashioned family Christmas. No, no. We're all in this together. This is a full-blown, four-alarm holiday emergency here. We're gonna press on, and we're gonna have the hap, hap, happiest Christmas since Bing Crosby tap-danced with Danny fuckin Kaye. And when Santa squeezes his fat, white ass down that chimney tonight, he's gonna find the jolliest bunch of assholes this side of the nuthouse."
Trivia
A Christmas Story and Christmas Vacation have two things in common. One is their link to the other all time favourite Christmas classic It's a Wonderful Life. A Christmas Story was a mainly ignored by the critics and audiences during its theater release and did not become a classic with audiences until it was discovered later by audiences on television, just like It's a Wonderful Life. Christmas Vacation's link to It's a Wonderful Life is that the Second Assistant Director was Frank Capra III, grandson of Frank Capra, director of It's a Wonderful Life. Both movies also have the protagonists, Clark and George, annoyed by a loose newell post on the staircase.
The other thing they have in common is that their success has launched online marketing for props that were in the films. You can find the moose mugs that Clark and Cousin Eddie drink eggnog out of in Christmas Vacation for the low, low price of 90 dollars. 90 freaking dollars for one mug at www.canadianmoose.com, and the minimum order is two mugs = $180 (CDN). You can get a matching punchbowl by ordering the antler hooks to add to your own punchbowl for an additional $55. If you really want the sexy leg lamp from A Christmas Story (the Old Man's major award), you can find it at www.theleglamp.com for a reasonable 200 bucks. Oi, yoi, yoi. The movies are that successful they are able to charge those prices.
I wish you all a safe and happy holiday season. Merry Christmas! Til next time.....
Labels: a christmas story, christmas vacation
posted by trudyrox at 7:56 PM
2 Comments:
I watched this movie over the weekend. To be honest I didnt like it that much. But considering it was written and directed a long ago, I thought it was a decent movie. The Ralphie kid is good, but I loved the randy kid. He has an insignficant role but he has done it well, Any idea he continued to act?.
As far as the movie goes, the soap scene where ralphie is punished is hilarious. But the one thing i hated was this was more of smaller acts put together, the screen play lacked contnuity of serious nature.
Ian Petrella, who played Randy, had a few guest spots on television shows after A Christmas Story, but hasn't acted since 1991. This film was based on Jean Shepherd's (the narrator's) book, "In God We Trust, All Others Pay Cash", which was a collection of small stories based on his childhood. So it really didn't have one story arc, other than Ralphie's desire to get a BB gun for Christmas, so I can see your point there. I still love it, though.
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