kathleen@ihuxw.UUCP (K. S. Romanowski) (11/23/83)
Has anyone in net.land seen the newly released movie, "A Christmas Story" and was it worth going to? Please post replies to the net. Thanks. Katie
dave@hp-pcd.UUCP (11/29/83)
#R:ihuxw:-59700:hp-cvd:7700004:000:827 hp-cvd!dave Nov 26 19:21:00 1983 Yes. I saw A Christmas Story last night. My movie reviewing skills are not famous, but I'll try to give you some info. "A Christmas Story" is a comedy/nostalga flick narrated by Gene Shepard a good radio humorist for WOR radio in NYC. It is a visual interpretation of his radio stories about childhood in Chicago(?) about 40 years ago. I was dissapointed. The film medium does not allow him to use some of his descriptive langauge which I believe is his best attrribute. It just isn't as funny. Apparently other people in the audience were not thrilled either, because after it was over several people could be heard murmering about how poor it had been. Unless your bored, I wouldn't bother to see it. I thought I was a waste and I'm a BIG fan of Gene Sheppard (sigh). Dave Barrett hplabs!hp-pcd!dave
stimac@tymix.UUCP (Michael Stimac) (12/07/83)
If you are a true Shep fan, you will know his 1st name is Jean, not Gene. Michael Stimac
Cuatt.ES@PARC-MAXC.ARPA (12/13/83)
See it!!!! See this movie if you have ever been or still are a kid. Especially if you grew up where there's snowsuits and flexible flyers . . . It's a lot of fun. They could charge you $12.00 a seat, sell you burnt popcorn, break the film 7 times and it would still be worth it. A great movie. Warm and funny. Funny and funny. Funny. It's FUNNY, ok? DaC
sullivan@cmcl2.UUCP (12/20/83)
#R:sri-arpa:-1455000:cmcl2:2200001:000:341 cmcl2!sullivan Dec 19 17:14:00 1983 I second that. This film is charming, funny, witty, and plain fun! I haven't seen a film this good is a long time. I hope it comes out with regularity during the holiday seasons to come. I do think that adults will get more out of it than kids, though. It's easier to laugh at it when looking back than when you are living it. Yippee! -- David Sullivan, WA1TNS UUCP: ...!floyd!cmcl2!sullivan (212) 460-7287 ARPA: SULLIVAN@NYU New York University
marno@ihuxm.UUCP (Marilyn Ashley) (12/04/84)
Has anyone seen A Christmas Story? It was originally released last year. Although I haven't seen it, the advertisements looked hilarious, and I would like to get some mini(or maxi, if you insist) reviews on this picture. Thanks!
ecl@ahuta.UUCP (e.leeper) (12/05/84)
REFERENCES: <1163@ihuxm.UUCP>
(Recycled from last year:)
A CHRISTMAS STORY
Film review by Mark R. Leeper
One of the most poignant disappointments of my life was to move to the
New York area too late. By the time I got here Jean Shepherd had already
left WOR radio. For years his program was played on WOR and syndicated
around the country. Shepherd's humor is so American it makes apple pie seem
like a Communist plot. Shep (as his fans call him) would sit in front of a
microphone and tell the funniest stories imaginable about his youth in the
Midwest. With a straight face he would invent stories of mythic proportion
about his youth, his adolescence, or his Army years. After he left WOR the
same stories were framed as prose and published in magazines like PLAYBOY,
or went into one off several books. PBS has even adapted them into TV plays
two or three times. A CHRISTMAS STORY is the first (and in all likelihood
the last) full-blown Hollywood film based on Shepherd's works.
Since Shepherd for years invented his stories to fit into an hour of
radio, his books tend to be disconnected anecdotes, each a chapter in
length. Shepherd insists on calling his books novels though they read much
more like collections of short stories. The first of these "novels," IN GOD
WE TRUST, ALL OTHERS PAY CASH, is the basis for A CHRISTMAS STORY. To make
the film about Shepherd's 8-year-old alter ego Ralphie flow, the storylines
of the book have been intertwined to occur nearly simultaneously.
A CHRISTMAS STORY is a cluster of funny stories glued together by a
somewhat less successful main storyline. That glue is sticky sweet and
sentimentally maudlin like the 200th recounting of "The Night Before
Christmas." The stories, however, are pure Shep and I think it has been
literally years since I have laughed so hard at a comedy. Stories like the
Red Ryder Rifle and the pop-art lamp are every bit as funny on the screen as
when Shepherd told them on the radio, and the added visual elements are
perfectly orchestrated.
In one way the medium does work against the story, however. Shepherd's
stories about when he was eight years old are usually told with Herculean
mythic proportions. To see them dramatized with real eight-year-olds really
does not work. Not that Peter Billingsly, who plays Ralphie, is not an
excellent child actor, but even he cannot fill out the role that Shepherd
created for him. Nor is Darren McGavin my idea of "the old man"; somehow he
seems too articulate and educated. Melinda Dillion also seems a little more
delicate and sensitive than the mother in the stories. These little
quibbles aside, the film really deserves to be seen. I am really afraid
that a PG-rated film with an eight-year-old as the main character may end up
with only children for an audience. If so, it will be the adult audience's
loss.
(Evelyn C. Leeper for)
Mark R. Leeper
...ihnp4!lznv!mrlponce@tty3b.UUCP (2-8-84"Lorenzo D 97720) (12/05/84)
<.....> A Mini Review: I saw A Christmas Story last year and I laughed so hard I almost hurt myself. I highly recommend it. Lorenzo De Leon
steve@tellab3.UUCP (Steve Harpster) (12/05/84)
I saw it last year. Can't say I remember much about the plot but I know I liked it --- pay $3 or under for it. -- ...ihnp4!tellab1!steve Steve Harpster Tellabs, Inc.
lauren@vortex.UUCP (Lauren Weinstein) (12/06/84)
On a flight to Atlanta a couple of days ago, they were running "A Christmas Story" in my cabin. I really didn't feel like watching it, so I didn't get a headset. However, I glanced at it from time to time (without audio of course) and was laughing anyway. It's amazing how well the story came across without any sound at all. With sound it's probably even better! --Lauren--
moriarty@fluke.UUCP (Jeff Meyer) (12/06/84)
Well, I saw it on Christmas day last year, and had a *very* good time at it.
The picture captured a kid's point-of-view (well, *my* point of view as a
kid (which actually hasn't changed much)) delightfully. It is not a big
picture, but it is funny, and has a sweet, truly (not fake) nostalgic air
about it. I am planning on seeing it sometime soon, probably when I get
home for the holidays.
"Are they being mistreated?"
"Only by a few fanatics. Mostly local anchormen."
Moriarty, aka Jeff Meyer
John Fluke Mfg. Co., Inc.
UUCP:
{cornell,decvax,ihnp4,sdcsvax,tektronix,utcsrgv}!uw-beaver \
{allegra,gatech!sb1,hplabs!lbl-csam,decwrl!sun,ssc-vax} -- !fluke!moriarty
ARPA:
fluke!moriarty@uw-beaver.ARPAbright@dataioDataio.UUCP (Walter Bright) (12/19/85)
I just saw this movie last weekend, and highly recommend it. The style of the movie, and parts of the plot, are strongly reminiscent of a movie I saw a few years back called 'Phantom of the Open Hearth'. In fact, the sequence with the tacky lamp seems to have been lifted directly from the previous movie. Has anyone else noticed this? Are the directors or script writers of the two movies the same?
leeper@mtgzz.UUCP (m.r.leeper) (12/21/85)
>I just saw this movie last weekend, and highly recommend it. >The style of the movie, and parts of the plot, are strongly >reminiscent of a movie I saw a few years back called >'Phantom of the Open Hearth'. In fact, the sequence with >the tacky lamp seems to have been lifted directly from the >previous movie. Has anyone else noticed this? Are the >directors or script writers of the two movies the same? Jean Shepherd is a popular American humorist. As far as I know he got started by doing comic hour-long monologs on WOR-radio. Public radio and a number of private radio stations also played his stuff. Most often the the stories he told were fictionalized stories about his youth. He took these monologs and wrote them down, first in short stories for Playboy magazine, and then in what he calls novels, but they are really collections of short stories. Among the books he has written this way are IN GOD WE TRUST -- ALL OTHERS PAY CASH, WANDA HICKEY'S NIGHT OF GOLDEN MEMORIES, and FERRARI IN THE BEDROOM. In book form he referred to himself in the third person and called himself Ralph. More recently he has adapted some of his stories as plays. At least three of these plays have been done on PBS. They are "Wanda Hickey's Night of Golden Memories", "Phantom of the Open Hearth," (which is probably the "movie" you are remembering), and one about a year ago, I don't remember the title but it concerned his date with a [gasp!] Polish girl. A CHRISTMAS STORY is his first film. It is based on chapters in IN GOD WE TRUST. Most of these things he, himself narrates. His voice can also be heard now on a number radio commercials for things like ice cream. He also had a couple of short-lived tv series on PBS including "Jean Shepherd's America." He also is a popular on the college campus lecture circuit. Mark Leeper ...ihnp4!mtgzz!leeper
blickstein@dec-tle.UUCP (12/23/85)
I agree that "A Christmas Story" is one of the best films of recent years.
More details on Jean Shepherd:
In addition to the books mentioned by Mark Leeper (In God We Trust - All Others
Pay Cash, Wanda Hickey's Night of Golden Memories, and Ferrari in the Bedroom),
there is one other one: A Fist Full of Fig Newtons. They are all good. In
God We Trust is my personal favorite.
Also PBS has done two other Shepherd plays: the one about the Polish girl is
called "The Star Crossed Romance of Joesephine Cosnowski". There was another
play based largely on stuff from "In God We Trust", called "The Fourth of July
and other Great Disasters". All are good, but only the 4th... comes close
to "A Christmas Story".
Shepherd is the ultimate story teller. A 20th century Mark Twain. He best
stuff (as demonstrated in the movie) is his stories from childhood, told with
the kind of insight that bridges the gap between childhood memories and adult
experiences with children. You watch the movie simultaneously recognizing
experiences from your own childhood, and recognizing the behavior of kids
you've known as an adult.
On my rating scale "A Christmas Story" gets the highest rating.
"You'll shoot your eye out, kid."
Dave Blickstein
(UUCP) {allegra|decvax|ihnp4|ucbvax}!decwrl!dec-rhea!dec-tle!blickstein
(ARPA) BLICKSTEIN%TLE.DEC@DECWRL.ARPAroger@celtics.UUCP (Roger Klorese) (12/24/85)
In article <879@dataioDataio.UUCP> bright@dataio.UUCP (Walter Bright writes: >I just saw this movie last weekend, and highly recommend it. The style >of the movie, and parts of the plot, are strongly reminiscent of a >movie I saw a few years back called 'Phantom of the Open Hearth'. In >fact, the sequence with the tacky lamp seems to have been lifted >directly from the previous movie. Has anyone else noticed this? Are >the directors or script writers of the two movies the same? Both are adaptations of the books/radio shows of raconteur Jean Shepherd. -- ... "What were you expecting, rock'n'roll?" Roger B.A. Klorese Celerity Computing, 40 Speen St., Framingham, MA 01701, (617) 872-1772 UUCP: seismo!harvard!bu-cs!celtics!roger ARPA: celtics!roger@bu-cs.ARPA