In 1940s Indiana, nine-year-old Ralphie (Peter Billingsley) dreams of his ideal Christmas gift: a genuine Red Ryder 200-shot Carbine Action Air Rifle. But when gruff dad (Darren McGavin) and doting mum (Melinda Dillon) regularly respond with “You’ll shoot your eye out!” Ralphie mounts a full-scale, hint-dropping Santa-begging campaign.
A charmingly observed portrait of the frenzied excitement of the Christmas season in childhood, Bob Clark’s comfortingly warm 1983 cinematic adaptation of Jean Shepherd’s In God We Trust: All Others Pay Cash is a hilarious collection of all-American Christmastime vignettes. Make this cult gem a new festive tradition – in the US, A Christmas Story is so beloved that from Christmas Eve night, a major TV channel plays the film on loop for 24 hours!