A Christmas Story/Trivia: Difference between revisions

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Dawson Casting: Peter Billingsley (Ralphie) was 12-years-old playing a 9-year-old.
Defictionalization:
- The Leg Lamp became a real product in 2003 when a fan of the film started manufacturing real lamps for sale. This then led to....
  - ...the fan using the money he made from his business to buy the house in Cleveland that was used for exterior shots of Ralphie's house. He later dropped another quarter-million dollars to gut the house and remodel it to look like the sets that were used for interior scenes. The house across the street has been turned into a museum and Leg Lamp giftshop.
Deleted Scene: MGM mandated a 90 minute time limit. (The film still ran 94 minutes.) The Christmas Story House website has a page dedicated to these scenes including screenplay fragments of some of the scenes. The deleted scenes included:
- Alternate Openings
- Ralphie's Mister Imagination fantasies of:
  - Miss Shields visiting Ralphie's parents at home to tell them how wonderful he is;
  - Ralphie saving Flash Gordon from Ming the Merciless on the planet Mongo;
  - Ralphie saving Santa Claus from Black Bart
Enforced Method Acting: Apparently no one told Melinda Dillon that the waiters in the Chinese restaurant were going to bring in a cooked duck with the head still attached. Or chop its head off moments later. Her reactions to both of those occurrences are genuine.
Hey, It's That Guy!:
- The Old Man is Carl Kolchak.
- And why isn't the mom screaming "BAAAARRRRRRY!"??
- At the time the movie came out, some people were thinking "Messy Marvin!" when they saw Ralphie.
Marathon Running: Every year, TBS runs the movie for twenty-four hours solid, beginning at 8 p.m. on Christmas Eve.
The Red Stapler: You can now buy a leg lamp. The Red Ryder BB gun is an aversion, however; while now available, they were produced throughout the 30-odd-year gap between the end of the Red Ryder Franchise and this film's appearance.
- Not the particular model described in the film, however.
Vindicated by Cable: Only moderately successful at the box office when originally released, the film achieved Cult Classic status in the late '80s thanks to TV and home video.
What Could Have Been: Jack Nicholson was apparently a fan of the short-stories, and really wanted to play Ralphie's Old Man (he was even willing to take a paycut if necessary!^[1]). However, Jean Shepherd feared that the presence of such a high-profile actor in a supporting role would distract people from the main story.
- In hindsight, it's hard to see anyone other than Darren McGavin in that role.
- It would also be hard to see Nicholson swearing at the furnace being dubbed over by gibberish.

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↑ This is the same guy whose salary consumed the bulk of the budget for Batman.

[1] This is the same guy whose salary consumed the bulk of the budget for Batman.

[1]

@@ Line 8: / Line 8: @@
 ** Ralphie's [[Mr. Imagination|Mister Imagination]] fantasies of:
 *** Miss Shields visiting Ralphie's parents at home to tell them how wonderful he is;
-*** Ralphie saving [[Flash Gordon (Comic Strip)|Flash Gordon]] from Ming the Merciless on the planet Mongo;
+*** Ralphie saving [[Flash Gordon (comic strip)|Flash Gordon]] from Ming the Merciless on the planet Mongo;
 *** Ralphie saving Santa Claus from Black Bart
+* [[Enforced Method Acting]]: Apparently no one told Melinda Dillon that the waiters in the Chinese restaurant were going to bring in a cooked duck with the head still attached. Or chop its head off moments later. Her reactions to both of those occurrences are genuine.
 * [[Hey, It's That Guy!]]:
 ** The Old Man is [[Kolchak the Night Stalker|Carl Kolchak]].
 ** And why isn't the mom [[Close Encounters of the Third Kind|screaming "BAAAARRRRRRY!"]]??
 ** At the time the movie came out, some people were thinking "[http://youtu.be/7-b_dRLrEvI Messy Marvin!]" when they saw Ralphie.
+* [[Marathon Running]]: Every year, TBS runs the movie for twenty-four hours solid, beginning at 8 p.m. on Christmas Eve.
 * [[The Red Stapler]]: You can now buy a leg lamp. The Red Ryder BB gun is an aversion, however; while now available, they were produced throughout the 30-odd-year gap between the end of the Red Ryder Franchise and this film's appearance.
 ** Not the particular model described in the film, however.
-* [[Vindicated By Cable]]: Only moderately successful at the box office when originally released, the film achieved [[Cult Classic]] status in the late '80s thanks to TV and home video.
+* [[Vindicated by Cable]]: Only moderately successful at the box office when originally released, the film achieved [[Cult Classic]] status in the late '80s thanks to TV and home video.
-* [[What Could Have Been]]: [[Jack Nicholson]] was apparently a fan of the short-stories, and really wanted to play Ralphie's Old Man (he was even willing to take a paycut if necessary!<ref>This is the same guy whose salary consumed the bulk of the budget for [[Batman (Film)|Batman]].</ref>). However, Jean Shepherd feared that the presence of such a high-profile actor in a supporting role would distract people from the main story.
+* [[What Could Have Been]]: [[Jack Nicholson]] was apparently a fan of the short-stories, and really wanted to play Ralphie's Old Man (he was even willing to take a paycut if necessary!<ref>This is the same guy whose salary consumed the bulk of the budget for [[Batman (film)|Batman]].</ref>). However, Jean Shepherd feared that the presence of such a high-profile actor in a supporting role would distract people from the main story.
 ** In hindsight, it's hard to see anyone other than Darren McGavin in that role.
 ** It would also be hard to see Nicholson swearing at the furnace being dubbed over by gibberish.
+{{worksubpagefooter}}
-{{reflist}}
-[[Category:A Christmas Story]]
+{{DEFAULTSORT:Christmas Story, A}}
-[[Category:Trivia]]