A Christmas Story

Adapted from Jean Shepherd's radio pieces and books, it follows nine-year-old Ralphie in 1940s Indiana, who wants exactly one thing, a Red Ryder BB gun, and hears the same sentence from every adult in his life: you'll shoot your eye out. The tonal balance people now love came out of a fight. Shepherd wanted something far darker, describing his ideal as Dickens's Christmas Carol as retold by Scrooge, and director Bob Clark kept him away from the set. It was made for 3.3 million dollars and grossed 19.2 million, a success but not a phenomenon. The phenomenon arrived in 1997, when TNT started running it as a 24-hour marathon. By 2002 that broadcast was pulling 38.4 million viewers. The Library of Congress added the film to the National Film Registry in 2012. Who it is for: anyone who likes nostalgia without the sugar. The childhood here is not warm, it is slightly cruel and very funny. Who it is not for: viewers expecting a children's film. The language, the beatings and the father are harder than the reputation suggests.