The Cine-files

On a very special episode of The Cine-Files, Steve Morris and John Rocha travel back in Santa's sleigh to 1983 to revisit and discuss the modern Christmas classic 'A Christmas Story' from director Bob Clark and starring Peter Billinglsey, Darren McGavin, and Melinda Dillon. Based on the book 'In God We Trust: All Others Pay Cash' by Jean Shepherd with a screenplay by Shepherd, Clark and Leigh Brown, the film is presented in a series of vignettes, following a 9-year-old Ralphie Parker (Billingsley) and his family's misadventures in Northwest Indiana around the late 1930s or early 1940s. All Ralphie wants for Christmas is a Red Ryder Carbine Action 200-shot Range Model air rifle. Ralphie's request is rebuffed by every adult, all of whom insist Ralphie will shoot his eye out. Will Ralphie get his wish or will he shoot his eye out? Leonard Maltin proclaimed the film "a top screen comedy". Roger Ebert initially gave the film three stars out of four, but later awarded the film fo