A Christmas Story

A Christmas Story (1983)

1 commented-on entry since 12 Dec '24, 05:47

★★★★☆

(9 votes)

Question: Why can't Mr and Mrs Parker go next door to the Bumpus and tell them to control their dogs, so they won't bother them?

Trainman

Answer: Who's to say they didn't? Ralphie describes the Bumpuses as 'hillbillies' so they might not care too much about controlling their animals or what they neighbors thought, and apparently the old man was the only one the dogs ever bothered so it would be hard to prove they were a general nuisance. Of course, the turkey incident might have tipped the scales.

Brian Katcher

Answer: You'd have to go back and watch a movie called *It Runs in the Family*. It's sort of a summertime Christmas story. All the actors are different, but it's Ralphie during the summer, and they actually go over to the Bumpass house and have more interaction with them.

It Runs in the Family is a completely different movie and has no connection to A Christmas Story. The movie you're referring to is called My Summer Story. It Runs in the Family was a tagline on the movie cover.

ctown28 ★

It is the same movie. It was released under both titles.

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Mistakes

Continuity mistake: When Ralphie's father is sitting in the chair reading the funnies (before the dogs ruin the turkey), there is a small gold lampshade sitting on the table next to him. In the first shot, there is a Christmas bow on it. In the following shot, the bow has disappeared.

More mistakes in A Christmas Story

Quotes

Mom: Ralphie, what would you like for Christmas?
Adult Ralphie: Horrified, I heard myself blurt it out.
Ralphie: I want an official Red Ryder carbine action two hundred shot range model air rifle.
Mom: No. You'll shoot your eye out.

More quotes from A Christmas Story

Trivia

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Questions

Question: Why do the parents have two twin beds in their bedroom, instead of one double bed? I thought that was just a TV gimmick from the old days when they weren't allowed to show a man and woman in bed together. Did people really sleep like that, or was it just a production design decision for the film? The movie was made in the '80's after all.

Krista

Answer: It's most likely a reference to the twin-bed movie standards from the time in which the movie takes place (late '30s to early '40s).

Chosen answer: Many married couples did (and still do) sleep like this. For example, one may be a restless sleeper and not wish to disturb their partner. Or they may just prefer to sleep alone. It's all down to personal choice, I don't think there's a rule that says couples have to share a bed.

umathegreatstationarybear

The original poster has never been married. It is seldom that husbands and wives continue sleeping in the same bed after the first couple years of marriage.

Charles Austin Miller

"Seldom" is a bit of an overstatement - studies seem to suggest about 15-25% of couples sleep separately.

Studies? Could you provide a link to such studies? I speak from decades of knowing many, many happily-married couples, the overwhelming majority of whom sleep in separate beds and even separate rooms.

Charles Austin Miller

15 per cent of Britons said if cost and space were not an issue, they would sleep in a different bed to their partner: https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/uk-couples-sleep-separate-beds-partner-yougov-survey-a8504716.html. A 2005 National Sleep Foundation poll found that nearly one in four American couples sleeps in separate beds or separate rooms: https://sleepfoundation.org/sites/default/files/subscription/sub003.txt. Clearly many couples do, but many don't. Certainly the vast majority of couples I know share a bed, regardless of how long they've been together. "Seldom" is I think overstating it. The majority of people you know may sleep separately, and more power to them! No right or wrong, but that doesn't appear to reflect the broader picture.

Very interesting... I know of only one couple that sleeps in different beds. That is because they are on different sleep schedules. I know many couples and we all sleep with our spouses. Don't get me wrong, if we get a hotel room that has 2 full or queen beds, we are sleeping in individual beds. But other then that, we sleep in our bed together.

Answer: Very common, especially back in the first half of the 20th century, for couples to sleep in separate beds.

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