Bob Clark’s 1983 film “A Christmas Story” is quite typical but also very special in many aspects. Yes, this is mainly about one ordinary American kid trying to receive a certain toy for the upcoming Christmas, but the movie somehow hits the right balance between sly wit and nostalgic innocence, and that is the main reason why it has been an enduring classic film for every Christmas season since it came out more than 40 years ago.

The story, which is based on Jean Shepherd’s 1966 book “In God We Trust: All Others Pay Cash” (Shepherd also participated in the adaptation in addition to doing the wryly humorous narration of the film, by the way), is set in one suburban neighborhood located in the northern region of Indiana during the late 1940s. As Christmas is coming, a young boy named Ralphie Parker (Peter Billingsley) has been eagerly hoping for getting a Red Ryder Carbine Action 200-shot Range Model air rifle during the ongoing Christmas season, and we are tickled a lot by how much he tries to persuade his parents, who are respectively played by Darren McGavin and Melinda Dillon.

Alas, all Ralphie comes to hear from his parents is “You’ll shoot your eye out.”, but our little hero is not deterred at all, and what follows next is a series of attempts for attaining his goal. At one point in the middle of the story, he attempts to write a good school essay on his passionate Christmas wish which he hopes will impress not only his schoolteacher but also his parents, but, not so surprisingly, he does not succeed at all to our little amusement. Later in the story, he tries to make a wish to a Santa Clause working in a local department store, but that only leads to one of the most hilarious (and twisted) moments in the film.

Meanwhile, the movie immerses us more into the daily life of Ralphie and many other characters around him as they go through a particularly cold winter, and we accordingly get a number of small but hilarious episodes to remember. Ralphie’s father often struggles to fix the faulty furnace in the basement of their house, and his dynamic stream of slang heard from the basement often reaches to the level of rough poetry. Nevertheless, both he and his wife do not approve much of Ralphie uttering a certain bad word at one point (Hint: It sounds a bit like…. “fudge”), and we accordingly get a couple of very humorous moments when Ralphie gets punished in a certain old-fashioned way some of you might heard about before.

These and many other moments in the film are certainly specific to the core, and I must confess that I sometimes observe them from the distance as a non-American dude who has not been that serious about Christmas. Nevertheless, there are also a lot of universal elements to resonate with anyone’s childhood memories. After all, we all had some funny moments to remember during our childhood period, and you will all empathize with the terror experienced by Ralphie and his friends due to a neighborhood bully – and how Ralphie finally become angry enough to feel that enough is enough. Despite being frequently young and wild during my old childhood years, I actually did not get angry that often as mostly occupied with books and movies, but I could also be infernally wrathful at times (I still can be, so don’t ever f*ck with me, folks), and I saw a lot of myself from Ralphie during that hilariously violent moment.

The movie is not afraid at all of becoming broadly comic as shown from several moments of imagination in Ralphie’s mind, but its story is also grounded in a sweet and gentle sense of humanity, which is amply provided by Ralphie’s loving parents. They sometimes look like a mismatched couple due to their vast personality difference, but it is clear that they really respect and love each other like any other decent couple, and we also cannot help but smile as observing their human flaws which look more endearing as I watch the film again and again. In case of an episode involved with a rather bizarre prize item sent to Ralphie’s father, he cannot possibly be prouder and happier about that, but his wife is understandably horrified – especially he enthusiastically puts that item right in front of the living room window for being seen by every neighbor of theirs to her horror and embarrassment.

One of my personal favorite moments in the film comes from the eventual Christmas gift time for Ralphie and his family. An aunt of his happens to send him a very silly bunny costume to wear, and Ralphie does not like this at all, but his mother insists that he should wear it just for being thankful to his aunt. Whenever I had to wear my old military uniform for my annual reserve army training, I felt as miserable as Ralphie during this uproariously humiliating moment, and I am still glad that I am too old for that sh*t at present.

The movie depends a lot on the engaging performance of its lead actor. Although the movie remains to be the sole highlight in his acting career, Peter Billingsley gives a sublime comic performance to remember, and he is alternatively funny and heartfelt without making any misstep throughout the film. McGavin and Dillon ably support Billingsley while having each own moment to amuse us, and so do several young performers including Ian Petrella, Scott Schwartz, and R. D. Robb, and Zack Ward.

On the whole, “A Christmas Story” is something we can always welcome whenever Christmas is coming, and I am glad to report to you that the movie remains as funny and charming as it was when I watched it for the first time in 2009. Yes, as a guy with some morbid sense of humor, I am mostly drawn to its naughtier sides, but I also feel quite warmed by its intimate human moments, and it is certainly qualified as one of the best Christmas movies out there.