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A plain wooden crate leans beside a green front door, with a red mitten on snowy steps and a Christmas tree glowing through the frosted window.

Essential Christmas · 1983

A Christmas Story

73/100Festive FactorWhy it scores 73 ↓
UK certificate Parental Guidance93 min
Comedy · Family

America's great Christmas institution, though it barely troubled cinemas anywhere else.

Rent or buy · Prime Video, Rakuten TV and more →
Plan this film night ↓Can the kids watch? ↓
Explore this film 10 sections

The CineClaus Christmas score

Festive Factor

Christmas all the way through.

Two paper elves inspect a snowy porch miniature with a magnifying glass, wooden crate, red mitten and glowing Christmas tree window.

A little magic in the making.

Five ingredients make the Festive Factor.
Open an ingredient to find out more.

Christmas in the storyChristmas drives it, firmly.25/30

What we ask: Take Christmas out. Does the plot survive? Worth up to 30 of the 100 points.

A world dressed for ChristmasVisibly Christmas for most of it.15/20

What we ask: How much of the running time is visibly Christmas? Worth up to 20 of the 100 points.

The little seasonal details8 of the 10 kinds of Christmas icon we count turn up on screen.12/15

What we ask: How many kinds of Christmas icon turn up on screen: trees, lights, snow, carols and the rest? Worth up to 15 of the 100 points.

A Christmas heartHow far the ending rests on goodwill, family and belief: substantially.15/20

What we ask: Does the ending depend on what Christmas means: goodwill, family, redemption, belief? Worth up to 20 of the 100 points.

A returning traditionA December regular (25,000+).6/15

What we ask: Is it actually watched at Christmas in the UK? Worth up to 15 of the 100 points.

85/100

Cosiness Rating Rating

Warm in tone. Mild threat. A happy ending.

How we score →
What do these scores mean?

Festive Factor measures how Christmassy a film is. Five ingredients add up to 100: story (30), setting (20), seasonal details (15), emotional heart (20) and returning tradition (15).

Cosiness is a separate score for warmth of tone, sense of safety, visual comfort, a reassuring ending and how easily you can settle into it.

How the Festive Factor works →
Your next film night

Where to watch

United KingdomChecked

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The story

About A Christmas Story

In the run-up to Christmas in 1940s small-town America, a nine-year-old boy sets his heart on an air rifle that every adult warns him against, and schemes to win over his parents, his teacher and a department-store Santa. Narrated by the grown-up boy looking back, it strings together playground bullies, a father's running war with the furnace and a prize he is far too proud of, and a family Christmas that goes gloriously wrong.

The CineClaus verdict

America's great Christmas institution, though it barely troubled cinemas anywhere else.

It plays as a string of remembered scenes from an old-fashioned small-town boyhood, narrated by Jean Shepherd with a dryness that keeps the nostalgia honest. Some vignettes land harder than others and the pace is loose by design.

The father's war with the furnace and the Christmas dinner that goes wrong are worth the rental on their own. Ideal for anyone who ever wanted one present far too much.

The family desk

Can the kids watch?

PG

Our take: rated PG for mild language, moderate comic bullying and slapstick fighting. From about seven most children will enjoy it: a playground punch-up, a soap-in-the-mouth punishment and a near miss with the air rifle, each treated as comedy.

BBFC advice: Contains mild language, moderate comic bullying, and slapstick fighting/accidents.

Content advice & accessibility
Where the advice comes from
The British Board of Film Classification (BBFC).
Our age guidance
Editorial, separate from the official PG certificate, and never looser than it.

The series

The films in this series

2 films, in release order

  • 1983

    You’re here

    A Christmas Story

    1983

    You’re on this film’s page
  • 1994

    The film after

    My Summer Story

    1994

    Not in our catalogue yet
The people behind the film

Cast and crew

The faces in front of the camera, and the people who brought the story to life.

Main cast

In billing order
Close photograph of a man with short brown hair and blue eyes, in a navy jacket, speaking into a microphone at a panel.Peter Billingsleyas Ralph 'Ralphie' Parker
Darren McGavinas Mr. Parker
Black and white portrait of a woman with shoulder-length fair hair, looking back over her shoulder in a knitted cardiganMelinda Dillonas Mrs. Parker
Close photograph of a man with dark eyes wearing a dark flat cap and a black polo shirt, smiling slightly at the camera.Ian Petrellaas Randy Parker
Close portrait of a man with short ginger hair and light eyes, wearing a dark jacket and white shirt and tie, in front of an event backdrop.Zack Wardas Scut Farkus

Behind the camera

Directed by
Bob Clark
Original score
Paul Zaza
Writing & production credits
Writer
Bob Clark
Photo credits

Portraits via Wikimedia Commons, each under its own licence, approved for this page by a person. Sources and full photographer credits:

Peter Billingsley · Dominick D · Source image (opens in a new tab) · CC BY-SA 2.0 (opens in a new tab).

Melinda Dillon · It is unclear as to whether the press materials were distributed by a publicity agency employed by representatives of the subject, or if they were distributed by producers of a project the subject was appearing in, circa 1976. · Source image (opens in a new tab) · Public domain.

Ian Petrella · Rob DiCaterino from Clifton, NJ, USA · Source image (opens in a new tab) · CC BY 2.0 (opens in a new tab).

Zack Ward · lukeford.net · Source image (opens in a new tab) · CC BY-SA 2.5 (opens in a new tab).

Keep the Christmas feeling

Music & soundtrack

That tune you recognised. That score you loved. Take a little of the film into the rest of your Christmas.

Every track on the soundtrack album, in album order.

Behind the music. Paul Zaza composed the score.

About this music list

These are the songs and soundtrack we hold for the film, not a complete cue sheet, and they give no scene timings. Album track lists and durations come from MusicBrainz. Spotify and Apple Music links open the matched recordings; links marked Search open a search on that service.

Wikidata ↗ (opens in a new tab) MusicBrainz ↗ (opens in a new tab)

Step into the story

Filming locations

The real places behind A Christmas Story. Choose one to explore.

Find it on the mapA Christmas Story House

© OpenStreetMap contributors (opens in a new tab)

Open larger map ↗ (OpenStreetMap, opens in a new tab)

Map shows the selected place. Drag to explore; use + and − to zoom.

Photo credits & location sources

These are photographs of the places, not film stills. Dates vary; photographs do not show current conditions or guarantee access.

A Christmas Story House · Erik Drost · Source image (opens in a new tab) · CC BY 2.0 (opens in a new tab) · wikidata.org (opens in a new tab)

Map pins mark the place, not a camera position or a route. Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL), including any pin positions read from OpenStreetMap.

A little more A Christmas Story

Film facts &
behind the scenes

For the fans who stay after the credits.

Movie magic

Cleveland had too little snow, so the crew brought their own

The film was shot in winter, but Cleveland did not have enough snow for the story. Crews trucked in snow from nearby ski resorts and used potato flakes and firefighter's foam to fill the gaps.

Read the story

Source: Reader's Digest ↗ (opens in a new tab)

Movie magic

The leg lamp came from the production designer, not the book

Production designer Reuben Freed created the leg lamp after reading the script, so it never appeared in the stories the film was adapted from. The Red Ryder BB gun was likewise a model Daisy made for the production.

Read the story

Source: Reader's Digest ↗ (opens in a new tab)

On set

A professional lead among local children

Peter Billingsley was one of the few professional child actors in the cast, already familiar from chocolate syrup commercials. Most of the other children, and the Santa, elves and witch in the department store, were local hires and extras.

Read the story

Source: Reader's Digest ↗ (opens in a new tab)

And at a glance

The Christmas in it
Snow on screen. Runs from 1 December to 25 December. Snow covers the street scenes, helped on set by trucked-in snow and flake substitutes. The story builds from the run-up through to Christmas morning.
Releases and certificates
: In cinemas (US).
Sources & a note on these facts

Each production story is linked to its source, in our own words. Ending details stay behind a spoiler reveal.

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Collections, stories & Christmas memories

Elsewhere on CineClaus

More places to find A Christmas Story, and a few good reasons to keep exploring.

In this collection

Best family Christmas films

A Christmas Story is in this collection

Explore the collection
Stay for another story.All collections · The Christmas Edit