A Christmas Story (1983) Movie Reaction | FIRST TIME WATCHING 

If you're seeing this, WB hasn't blocked it yet like all my other upload attempts. Huzzuh!

The tongue to the metal flag pole effect actually WAS practical. They had a pole with a tiny hole it, and they hid a suction device underneath to grab onto his tongue and make look as though it was stuck there. A safe, practical effect.

Honestly the major award could've literally been anything. The dad doesn't care that it is a leg, all he cares about is the fact that he won it.

One of the most relatable Christmas movies ever. No matter what generation you are, if you grew up in North America, you know what Ralphie was going through. Even if you're a girl, you know what it's like to really want something for Christmas and hope that you get it. Movies today don't employ kid logic properly anymore. The movie My Girl from 1991 and The Sandlot from 1993 did a good job of that as well. They were based in reality, but a kid's reality. They didn't talk down to their characters, either. They celebrated them.

I love this movie! It defines Christmas to me. The only one Ralph didn't think to ask was the Old Man, and he was the one that had his ear to the ground and gave him what he wanted for Christmas.

This movie is even more nostalgic for those of us who grew up in the 80's. Not that our Christmas memories we're so much more like Ralphie's than your generation's, but that we grew up in a time much closer to that being portrayed, when BB Guns, Christmas themes, and coon-skin hats were still within living memory of our parents and many of us and our families still lived in snowy, little, small towns with oddly named department stores, drunken Santas, and Christmas parades. (The flying monkeys were hassling Mickey because he's a rival franchise). What a great nostalgia fest!

I was recently watching another reaction to this movie, and they had caught something I had never noticed before in all of my viewings of the film. After Ralphie says the f-bomb and is sent back into the car, the camera stays on the Old Man, and just before it cuts away, you see a tiny smile start to break out on his face. That makes me love Darren McGavin’s performance even more!

Detail: The ominous music that plays at the appearance of Scut Farcus (best villain name EVER) is the Wolf's theme from "Peter and the Wolf". If you've never heard it, you really should take an hour to listen to it. It's a classical orchestra piece that's always performed with a narrator, who tells the story of the boy Peter and his war with a wolf. It's a great story, and the whole thing was designed to teach how motifs and themes work in classical music. (Also, the word "theme" as used in this movie is an old-fashioned word for "essay".)

Having grown up in northern Indiana in the 1960's, this movie has always rung true. From the department store windows, the coal burning furnaces, and the snow suites. All hilariously true. It's funny that you mentioned "Black Christmas" in your opening. I was working in a small theater as an usher when that movie first came out. It was the first "slasher" movie I ever saw, and while somewhat tame by today's standards, it kept me looking over my shoulder for weeks after.

They used a small pipe with suction when sticking the kids tong to the poll. The kid was a pain in the butt though so one day while filming the scene they called a 15 minute break & left him stuck to the poll.

Because you enjoyed the narration so much, you might like to know that it’s done by the writer of the story. He told stories of his childhood over the radio and wound up making movies about them. There’s several movies, my favorite being My Summer Story.

23:03 The guy in line with the beard is Jean Shepherd, the movie writer and narrator

I’m pretty sure this is my most watched movie in my life. Thing I didn’t realize until a couple of weeks ago - this takes place in 1940. The Wizard of Oz came out in 1939 so it was the new big thing at the time.

My dad (who would be about Ralphie's age/from that time) did indeed get an air rifle for Christmas one year; he didn't shoot his eye out, but my Grandpa shot him with it once. Also, my husband and I actively avoid this movie every year (we watch that OTHER Bob Clark Christmas movie) thanks to the oversaturation we were subjected to as kids. BUT I started watching your reaction to it, and then my husband (who isn't into reaction videos) came in and pretty soon we were both laughing, and he said, "I forgot how good this is". What a great reaction ("lit by Mario Bava" murdered me)! Now you understand the power of "you'll shoot your eye out".

Dad loves the lamp just because it was his major award. I think he would treat any other prize the same way.

"The soft glow of electric sex" The narration is the best part for sure.

It was always tradition to watch this at minimum 3 times on Christmas.

My sister and I will randomly quote this movie to each other. I'm one of those people that keeps this movie on for the whole 24 hours it's on tv, even if I'm not actually watching it, haha. Such a classic. To answer your question about the pole scene, they made a hole in the pole with some sort of suction device so it would look like his tongue stuck.

The writer/narrator is actually the guy with the beard.....who is in the line to see Santa. He tells Ralphie that the line starts...''over there.'' The pole the kid stuck his tongue to......was a hollowed out vacuum tube or something.

The Old Man's (Darren McGavin) expression when Randy imitates s pig eating meatloaf always puts me away😂😂😂

Hi. Great reaction.. When I was 5 or so we went to visit my Aunt Carole & Uncle Joe who had an extensive book collection. According to my mother, I walked into the kitchen carrying a paperback and said, “Mommy, what does f*** mean?”. It was the 80s so I don’t think that I had to drink soap.

Bob Clark also directed the 1980s teen comedy Porky's.

I didn't see this in theaters, but was hooked after seeing it on TV shortly thereafter. Another great reaction, Jayman!

Another comment already provided some of this info - but here's more. The movie is narrated by Jean Shepherd, the actual author of, "In God We Trust, All Others Pay Cash" - a collection of stories on which A Christmas Story is based upon. He was primarily a writer, and all of his books are exceptionally entertaining and well written and are based upon his own experiences as a child. I highly recommend all of his work.

This and the other 6 Ralphie movies came from the short stories Jean Shepherd told on his radio program. Jean narrates and is the fellow telling Ralphie where the line starts.

Seeing the Bandits with xx on their eyes, made me think of my nephew, Bryan. Bryan always had a stoic expression on his face growing up. His parents wanted to emphasize Jesus at Christmas, so they told him that there was no Santa Clause. They did explain to him where the character originated. They explained who St. Nicholas was and that he lived centuries ago. All was well until Bryan started school. Of course, when the other kids started talking about Santa, Bryan would "set them straight". That didn't go over well. His parents got a call from the teacher explaining that Bryan was upsetting some of the kids, AND their parents. So, they sat him down and exlained how other parents wanted their kids to believe in Santa. They told him that if the topic of Santa came up, he shouldn't talk about St. Nicholas living centuries ago and that he shouldn't disabuse the kids of their belief. So, it happened one day that they were out Christmas shopping at the mall. As they were making a purchase, the clerk tried to engage this stoic little boy and make him smile. She asked him, "Are you ready for Santa to come?" Without changing his expression, Bryan replied, "Santa Clause is dead. But, we don't talk about it." To this day they have an ornament on their tree. Santa Clause...with xx on his eyes.

When this is on once a year, we spend Hours watching it! Never gets old, yes, brings back your childhood!

"I want an Official Red Ryder Carbine-Action Two-Hundred-Shot Range Model Air Rifle!" "You'll shoot your eye out, kid. Merry Christmas. Ho, ho, ho!" Love this movie. I "own" a copy of this movie through RU-vid Movies. Since I no longer have cable, it is the only way I can see it otherwise. Fun Fact: Jean Shepherd (author of "In God We Trust: All Others Pay Cash" which forms the basis of this movie) is not only the voice of a narrator, but is also the irate man waiting in the Santa line at the department store. The woman standing behind him is his wife, Leigh Brown. Automobile Enthusiast Fact: The people of Cleveland were incredibly cooperative during filming, donating antique vehicles from every corner of the city. These vintage vehicles helped to enhance the authenticity of the production design. During the filming in downtown Cleveland, the antique automobile club members whose cars were used were given a route to follow on Public Square. They were instructed to continue circling the square until otherwise instructed. Road salt was a major concern for the car owners and the cars were pressure-washed after each day's filming and parked underground beneath the Terminal Tower. Fixer Upper Fact: In 2005 the original home used for the exterior shots of the family home was put up for auction on eBay, and avid fan of the movie Brian Jones purchased it directly from the seller for $150K. Jones then spent the following year restoring the home to the way it looked on screen. The exterior was completely restored and the interior was renovated to match the interior of the home shown in the movie (parts of the interior were actually filmed in a Toronto studio). On November 25, 2006, the home finally opened its doors as a tourist attraction. Jones spent close to $500K in preparation for this grand opening. In addition, he also purchased a house across the street and converted it to a gift shop and museum dedicated to the film and the house.

This movie will be on repeat from Christmas Eve till Christmas night on TBS. I'll be watching it several times then.

I definitely recommend watching A Christmas Story Christmas. It far surpassed my expectations. The actor who plays Ralphie does a great job recreating some of the wide eyed expressions that made Ralphie so funny. The movie also does a good job keeping the same tone as the original, and there are a lot of returning faces, which is always nice to see.

Watch it every year. And yes, I’m the house in the neighborhood that has the leg lamp. I put in in my window the day after Thanksgiving.

My brother has one of the smaller leg lamps and he puts it onto his baby grand piano in the living room every year for Christmas.

It's on a 24 hour marathon on TV every Christmas eve.

As an old person, this was and is my Xmas movie! Been a couple years since I've seen this (since I live in Vegas, I rarely have Xmas off of work since casinos never close), but this year I do, and I will watch it and its sequel! Glad you enjoyed it, man!

There was a guy that love this movie so much he bought the house and restored it to the movie standard

the movie is set between 1939 or 1940 thats why you see characters from wizard of oz in the christmas parade. because the movie premiered in 39.

LOL 18:25 "Only you didn't say fudge..."

The guy who told Ralphie and his brother where the end of the line to see Santa was, was the narrator of the story. His cameo.

The tongue was stuck to the pole using a tiny vacuum. Because the parade showed the Wizard of Oz characters (1939), it dates the time of this story as the Christmas of 1940, right before WW2, when everything changed.

He loved the lamp because he was finally a winner

0:58 When I was working my first job in the mall in 1995 there was a carousel outside our store that played the Chipmunks Christmas song on a loop all day long.

Welcome to Cleveland and Canada. The little town you lived was public Square and the old higbees. The home is there and now a museum and the slide is now in a place close by called castle noel in medina. The school scenes and the bully scenes were filmed in Toronto and the Christmas tree and flat tire scenes were filmed in Detroit (forgot about that). The home is open everyday except for Christmas eve and Christmas day as you can rent out the top floor for your family. Actually the kid who played Randy lived there enjoys they were gutting out the entire house for remodeling it. The bar across the street is where they found the guys that delivered the - major award. The white building that was behind the old man bragging about the major award is also part of the museum. They have plenty of props from the film. The policeman that lived across the street from us owned the bar. I could go on and on about the movie but it's just fun if you come to Cleveland and walk around.

I don't think he loves the lamp so much as it is the fact that he won something and is proud of that

Yo, that outfit in on-point, my man! Even though I was a teenager when this came out for whatever reason I didn't watch it until like 20 years later and immediately loved it for the quirky innocence. Great Reaction, Jay.

This is my favorite Christmas film ever, I was 15 when this came out and I thought I would hate it…. I was so wrong.😂

In a interview, the actress that played the teacher wasn’t plus size, she was actually pregnant…the costume designers did a great job hiding it..the furnace was a coal….if a rock got into the coal, the furnace would make sound they called it clinker

The guy who told Ralphie where the line really ends is the narrator himself-Jean Shepard

Its almost impossible to avoid this film in the states. It's on a 48hr loop on TBS Christmas eve and day.

The actor that played Ralphie grew up to become a movie director and producer. He was executive producer of Iron Man and appeared in the movie (in the scene where Stane yells at the scientist "Tony Stark was able to build this in a cave" the scientist responds "I'm not Tony Stark" Ralphie is the scientist.)

Aw, wholesome watch 😄. Thanks for this one, I’m sure everyone in the comments has said this too, but it’s def always been a special xmas movie I watched with family and I’m happy that even to this day it remains so funny and relatable 😂

Jack Nicholson was considered for the role, but Darren IS The Old Man imo. I love that you enjoyed the narration by the author- Jean Shepherd. His books are magical. Peace, all

Lol. I think they make the kids cut onions before crying scenes.

Wow! Someone that knows about Kolchak: The Night Stalker. I used to love that show when I was growing up. My mom would let me stay up late and she'd watch it with me.

Starting a GoFundMe to get Jay some socks.

The house were this was filmed is in Cleveland Ohio,It has since been turned into a sort of Museun where you can tour ,and sometime some of the cast will turn up and sign autographs.Plus, you can purchase leg lamps from EBAY

23:01 -- the line ENDS here; it begins THERE. That's narrator and author Jean Shepherd.

The narrator of the movie was the author of the book it was based on. You can see him briefly as the man who told Ralphie where the line started when the boys were getting into line to see Santa.

They were able to make it look like Flick's tongue stuck to the pole, because there was a little hole cut into the pipe. Inside the pipe was a little suction thing.

College room-mate had a miniature leg lamp for her desk. She loved this movie.

I remember the department-store windows of the 80s, and I miss the aesthetic of those big, old stores, decorated for the season.

The narrator makes this movie, which only makes sense, he’s the author of the book it’s based on and the story is supposedly based on events from his own childhood. This movie is how my childhood memories feel to me. Even though it’s set some time in the 1930s and I had more fantasies about Jedi and Stormtroopers, these are the kinds of fantasies I had.

Funny enough, Zack Ward (Skut Farkus) was actually in Freddy Vs. Jason (2003). He was Bobby Davis. The guy in the bathtub.

Saw this at the theater when I was a child...never get tired of it. So glad you liked it man!

in case you didn't know... No his tongue wasn't really stuck to the pole. The drilled a hole and just used suction. Perfect effect I think.

A Christmas Story... influenced TV shows like The Wonder Years. The Goldbergs. black-ish, Young Sheldon Young Rock, How I Met Your Mother, Everybody Hates Chris, and movies like Stand By Me, The Princess Bride, The Shawshank Redemption, Second Hand Lions...

11:41 -- cameo by director Bob Clark in the red & blue hat as Swede.

Some men were Baptists, other men were Catholics. My father? Was an Oldsmobile man!

I was so happy to see you reacting to my favourite Christmas movie! Check out the museum if you ever pass through Cleveland - a bit of a tourist trap, but also a fun experience to wander through the house and revisit scenes.

They put a small hole in the pole where he put his tongue. Then they created a vacuum inside the pole so that his tongue would stick.

I hate to say it, but Black Christmas couldn't be the first slasher film, (Though most likely the one with the most remakes) Since Psycho came out over a decade earlier and the film Thirteen Women came out like 40 years earlier than that in 1932 which shared most of the characteristics of what would in time become known as the slasher film subgenre. As it was about 11 women who were being harassed and murdered by a killer after they get horoscope reading that predict their doom. Although the subgenre wasn't established back then, it can still be argued that there were still a few movies that slipped through much earlier on since at the time they wouldn't have had the need to create an entirely different subgenre for it. So I don't blame anyone for thinking that Black Christmas started it off, although I believe officially it was Halloween that gets most the credit for kicking off the subgenre, but that was likely due to its success and the sheer number of follow up slasher films that followed.

I've worked at several outdoor sporting goods stores over the years and that very model bb gun was always a best seller, they even have a pink one for girls.

This movie was just on TBS 😂😂😂

The was a story recently that the actor who played Ralphie went to the house and was outside signing autographs and the guy who owns the house now came out and yelled at him. He has gone on to become a successful movie producer and was one of the producers of Iron Man. He also played one of the elves in the movie Elf. I learned all my swear words from my dad so he couldn’t say much if we swore.

The ricochet from the bb hitting the metal sign is what hit Ralphie

My mom has this playing almost all day long at her house on Christmas day. Atleast once in the day and then always after dinner.

Great reaction Jay! I love this movie and have watched it since I was a kid in the late 80’s. Like you, I definitely can identify with parts of it. For me it was dealing with bullying and also standing up to the bully. My mom reminds me of the mom in this movie, and one Christmas there was a gift I really wanted that I didn’t think I would get. It wasn’t a BB gun but it was a Star Wars toy. I got it of course and it was such a big surprise, I wasn’t even expecting it but my mom got it for me. Anyway, great reaction my friend.

Ralphie (Peter Billinglsy) was a NASA spokesman in the 80s. NASA was running this campaign that regular people would be taking space shuttle trips to the moon like going to Disney World or something. It was obviously nonsense but I guess it did increase interest in the program because it lost a lot of luster in the 70's as it seemed so common. It peeked with sending a non astronaut on a mission to space, a teacher. They had a big contest and Christa McAuliffe won. Unfortunately the space shuttle exploded on launch and the whole program was canceled.

they used a small hole in the flagpole with a little bit of suction to hold his tongue. In Dumb and Dumber it was a fake tongue he was biting onto.

Peter Billingsley is one if Vince Vaughn's business partners and ironically being one of the biggest Christmas figures in popular culture he is Jewish.

I remember mom bundling us up like that for going out side. The coldest I remember was -20F and we were only allowed out for 15 mins. That was "frost" on the tongue, not bandages/gauze. The music they play for Scott Farkas and his crew was from Peter and the Wolf. The house we were in when I was in High School had a coal furnace and the house would smell like coal on days they delivered. I thought you knew about the pink bunny which is why you were your onsie - glad that was a surprise to you. Mom was so sick one Christmas that she couldn't make our Christmas dinner so we went to The Panda House. They gave her Szechuan Soup for free because the spiciness cleared out her sinus'.

Just here to give you the thumbs up and algorithm love!! Keep it up!!

Something that I haven't seen anyone else mention yet. The director, Bob Clark, had a small role as the neighbor that The Old Man was explaining his "major award" to outside as he was directing his wife to adjust the lamp placement in the front window👍

This was so good. I still need to watch this movie again this year.

6:00 Others have probably already replied, but I have read that they did the Stuck to the Flag Pole with a hole and vacuum.

I don't know how but they put a tiny hole with suction on the side of the pole. When he put his tongue on the pole it was like a little vacuum cleaner, giving the illusion of being stuck.

A similar movie came out last year called 8-Bit Christmas. It's about a 40-something dad who recounts everything that he did as a kid to try to get an original Nintendo in the late 80s. It's pretty good, especially if you remember the 80s and have a fondness for the original NES console.

Not much to say about this movie, but I just wanted to comment on your edit for Geek's Devil Story review. When you put the Gummi Bears theme over the dude skipping in the woods, I lost my sh!t and didn't get it back for the rest of the video. 🤣 As far as this movie goes, you saying Ralphie's living room was lit like a Bava flick had me dying.

Ralphy was the author of the books this film was based on. 😅

Bob Clark made another Christmas movie.. "BLACK CHRISTMAS", a landmark Pre-Halloween 70s slasher.... and his horror roots go deeper....before that he made a weird zombie comedy Children Shouldnt Play With Dead Things

I thought you had on the bunny suit when the video started 😂

I didn't watch this until I was in my twenties and practically dared it to be as good as the hype. And I absolutely loved it.

Yours is my all-time favorite reaction to this movie! Great job!!!

the goggles kid in line to see santa got his role because he really was just that wierd

The Mario Bava reference near the end? (Chef's kiss)

That Rocko hat is awesome!

6:09. There’s a hole in the pole and they used suction to keep his tongue attached to it.

His movie Porkys is good. Great reaction, a lot of this movie did bring back memories. The Old Man and his mom have quite a big list of film credits. Ralphie is in some of the marvel movies. Zack was in a TV show you would love called Titus. You are doing great, I appreciate that you know some of the actors from other projects they were in, like knowing the old man was the Night Stalker.

“Save the turkey, and use the gun…” 😆😆😆😆😆

When it comes to children actors I remember watching the special features for wes craven's new nightmare and wes said when it came to a scene involving crying that to get Miko to cry his dad would tell him right before the camera would role that his mom had died.

The tongue stuck to pole was actually tongue with a small suction cup.