Oh Fudge! A CHRISTMAS STORY Screening at Das Bevo in St. Louis December 8th

“Only I didn’t say fudge… I said THE WORD. The big one. The queen mother of all dirty words… the F-dash-dash-dash WORD!!!!”

A CHRISTMAS STORY (1983)  is screening at Das Bevo (4749 Gravois Ave, St. Louis, MO 63116) December 8th. Grab a bite and a beer. Kitchen opens at 6, movie starts at 7pm. Festive attire is encouraged! Cost is $10 per ticket. Tickets can be purchased HERE. A Facebook invite for the event can be found HERE

I used an air rifle I got one Christmas growing up, but I never had a mail-in decoder ring which required me to consume mass quantities of Ovaltine, I never ran into bullies with yellow eyes, and I never took a dare to stick my tongue to an aluminum pole in the middle of winter. Of all the holiday films that have been released in the last 34 years, did anyone envision that the sleepy low budget film from 1983, generically titled A CHRISTMAS STORY, would be at the top of the almost everyone’s list? It actually bombed when first released in theater (though I saw it there twice) but has developed such an enormous following over the years, mostly through cable TV airings, that it probably is #1 on more favorite Christmas movies list than anything. Who would have thought Bob Clark, director of terrifying low-budget horror movies such as BLACK CHRISTMAS and DEATHDREAM (as well as the raunchy comedy hit PORKY’S) could capture such an innocent and nostalgic slice of life?

A CHRISTMAS STORY captured the idealism and–yes—the sadism of being a kid. Childhood is a crazy mix of hero worship, toy envy, survival of the fittest, daily fear of something, extreme innocence, and the desire to be treated as a grown-up without having to actually put up with being one. A CHRISTMAS STORY captures all these elements with sardonic poignancy. One of the greatest things about A CHRISTMAS STORY is ‘the Old Man’ played by Darren McGavin (61 when the film was made), who is constantly busy throughout the film, whether it’s battling the #&#@! furnace or trying to get his #&#@! car started or any other number of task that he becomes occupied with and cause him to cuss. He has very little dialog with Ralphie, yet it is he who in the end gets him his BB gun.

A CHRISTMAS STORY has a kind of timelessness that makes such a beloved piece of art, one we watch over and over and never get tired of it. Now you’ll have the chance to shoot your eye out and see A CHRISTMAS STORY in all its big screen glory and with an audience of fellow merrymakers when it plays 7:00pm Wednesday December 8th at Das Bevo