A Christmas Story

Visible crew/equipment: Towards the beginning of the movie when Ralphie's dad is in the basement fixing the furnace and the entire family is staring at the door, you need to keep an eye on the left side of the screen. There is a crewmember in the family room, who is on the screen by mistake. You don't see the person right away, but it is in that sequence when you see the mom in the shot, then you can see the leg of the person very quickly in the background.

Visible crew/equipment: In the scene after Ralphie beats up Farcus in which Melinda Dillon finds Randie in the cupboard, you can see a shadow moving continuously on the chair pushed under the table on the right hand side of the shot.

Visible crew/equipment: As the buck teeth are being handed out at the beginning of the classroom scene, the camera pans to follow Miss Shields and you can very briefly see the shadow of the boom microphone on the wall at the top of the screen. (00:15:00)

Visible crew/equipment: During the scene where Ralphie looks out of his window at his snow covered back yard, there is a hat-wearing crew member and some black equipment visible in the lower left of the screen.

Visible crew/equipment: Camera lights (and perhaps some crew, barely) can be seen in Ralphie's sunglasses, when he is imagining himself as a blind person.

Visible crew/equipment: Right when Adult Ralph says "A C+?", Ralph looks from his paper to the blackboard. Near the bottom of his rights glasses lens, you can see a stage light reflected in it, as well as the silhouette of a crew members head. Do not mistake it for the classroom light reflected near the top of the same lens.

Missy RiRi

Visible crew/equipment: During the parade, the camera moves in and back a couple of times and the operator's shadow is visible left screen. This is really obvious after the Wizard of Oz characters walk by.

manthabeat

Visible crew/equipment: When the mom is sitting on the floor holding the broken lamp, as the dad runs in, you can see the shadow of a boom mic near the mom's left shoulder.

Missy RiRi

Continuity mistake: When Melinda Dillon breaks the lamp, it is broken into many pieces, but when Darren McGavin is gluing it back together it is now in much fewer and bigger broken pieces. Obviously different broken lamps were used.

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Trivia: The film is set in Indiana, but was actually filmed in Cleveland, Ohio. It was the only place the directors could find that looked like a midwestern town in the 1940's.

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Question: Why doesn't Ralphie's father realise he's the one who unintentionally taught his son how to cuss, much less buy his lame excuse?

Rob245

Answer: Because it's a funny look at real life. It's common for parents to cuss around their children, then be shocked when the kids start using the language themselves.

Exactly right. My parents cussed quite a bit when I was a child, but the first time I ever swore in front of my mother, she thought I learned it from watching The Real World with my sister.

immortal eskimo

True. I'd forgotten I learned how to cuss from my folks.

Rob245

Answer: I think he did know. When he tells Ralphie to get in the car after saying the bad word, he kinda laughs to himself. It's only after Mom razzes him about taking too long to change the tire that he decides to share that Ralphie swore.

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