Christmas Story is what may be called "cute" but it has nothing on "It's a Wonderful Life", probably the greatest movie ever made. Jimmy Stewart's dramatic performance was the best ever by a leading man. Go back to the scene when he realizes what he's experiencing is not a dream and just look at his facial expression. It's one of complete horror.

Nothing comes to mind even by Brando that was better.

Bernstein vibe.

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No, really.

I' ve seen the "you'll shoot your eye out, kid" scene and the tongue stuck to pole part (both when referenced in popular culture) but nothing else. I went to the neighborhood bar on Xmas Eve to watch the Raider game on NFL Network and this movie/audio was on. I had them switch the audio. I don't thnk the bartender was very pleased.

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Sex isn't dirty, sex isn't a crime. It's a loving act between two or more consenting adults.

-Hank Kingsley

You continue to be the best poster on the board

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I never thought it was anything special, never liked it. I've noticed some families grow up with it as a tradition and others do not. Mine did not, so I don't give a shit about it and don't find it representative of my childhood experiences around the holidays or any of that. Jean Shepherd is a legendary radio talent, though.

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It's good excuse to stop talking to the distant relatives you can't stand for a couple hours.

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oh for the love of god

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"He is a loathsome, offensive brute
--yet I can't look away."

Or the scene in the bar where his eyes start tearing up. I read once he thought about his experiences in WWII to get emotional in that scene.

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"Play until it hurts, then play until it hurts to not play."
http://soundcloud.com/darkside124 HOF 2013, MM Champion 2014

The kids gave Christmas Story on DVD to me this year, and we watched it together the other night. I think their ratings would be "two MEHs".

I like it about once per year, and appreciate not having to spend four hours to see it with two and a half hours of commercials.

About like my copies of Planes, Trains and Automobiles, Christmas Vacation and Caddyshack. Once a year.

It's a fine film but they killed it years ago with the marathons on TBS/TNT. I'd have to go twenty years without seeing it to ever enjoy it again but it's tough to escape it during the Christmas season. It's aged better than It's A Wonderful Life. That overly long movie is hokier than an Andy Griffith episode and oozes more sentimentality than a Charles Dickens story. The town was better off as Pottersville.

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Back off, Warchild. Seriously.

It's a great film.

Stewart's performance was not the best ever though. He played that same earnest guy in a bunch of movies. He was fine.


Brando's Corleone was clearly better

I don't really get the "burnout" on this film. You guys are aware that you don't have to watch it for 24 straight hours right?

We'd watch it once, and now we dvr it to go through the commercials. Then it goes away for another year.

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You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

Its a Wonderful Life is enjoyable because it is completely relatable. I think every person who is a husband and father is put to that existential test several times in his life.

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O judgment! Thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason.

I enjoy the dream sequence when Sauganash becomes Stone Park.

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I don't remember half the time if I'm hiding or I'm lost

It's a Wonderful Life may be the most depressing Christmas movie ever made.

I watched it once. Will never watch it again.

A Christmas Story is a nice movie. It's good once a year, much like Elf, Christmas Vacation, et al. I've been watching it since I was a kid.

I don't get the love for Home Alone...

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Yeah It is like people think they are forced to watch it for 24 hours straight.

I watch it once, and forget about it til the next year.

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"He is a loathsome, offensive brute
--yet I can't look away."

A Christmas Story was based in Hammond, IN. The writer was from there. I think in the movie they called it Hohman. Hohman is one of the main drags in Hammond.

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It's a John Hughes film with Joe Pesci, Catherine O'Hara, and a score by John Williams. They set a pretty high floor as far as middlebrow family Christmas movies go, don't you think?

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The coolness is just too overwhelming in this thread.

Why does anybody like anything?

Most definitely...

Speaking of John Hughes...completely overrated. Wrote some great movies...but for me, Ferris Bueller and the Breakfast Club are complete shit.

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I'm about to invoke the "If you say something sucks you have to say something comparable that is good" rule.

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You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

Not a Ferris Bueller fan, but watching The Breakfast Club on Saturday mornings is one of the few memories of my middle school years that isn't totally rotten.

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Also, for our age group (born in 80) it was a timing thing. I was 10, he was 10.

I saw it at a friend's birthday party the night before it came out. The marquee still said "Goodfellas" which I remember dismissing as some stupid grownup movie.

I learned of Goodfellas through Animaniacs. It was like the movie but with pigeons, you see!

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See now this, I dont get. I think Breakfast Club is a tad overrated but still good.

Ferris Bueller was just a love letter to Chicago. Id think you'd be all about that.

See, I would too! But I watched it once and thought it was okay and didn't feel the need to watch it more. I don't know why.

You know what I want to watch now even though (or precisely because) it wasn't a John Hughes film? Fast Times at Ridgemont High.

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I know that movie speaks to a lot of people, but, like JORR, my high school years were closer to Dazed and Confused (or Fast Times) than The Breakfast Club. I used to crack up at my classmates trying to find ways that they could explain how they are just like one of the characters in the movie.



Also, Anthony Michael Hall has a "Punch Me" face.

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I was just putting that movie down. That one just didnt hit home for me. All the references were of things my brother and sister experienced in the late 70s to early 80s.

I mean, its good, but its not a classic to me.

I, unfortunately, usually come to the conclusion that things would have been better without me, not worse. Sauganash is Kenilworth when I'm taken out of the equation.

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O judgment! Thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason.

I liked Ferris but I don't know that I ever sat through any of the other ones.

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Power is always in the hands of the masses of men. What oppresses the masses is their own ignorance, their own short-sighted selfishness.
- Henry George