The Top Ten Best Christmas Movies - 3. A Christmas Story

Hey Everybody,

We had such a good time doing our Halloween top ten that we thought we would do another one! Christmas is upon us and we thought we would try to come up with the ultimate top ten list that, in our minds, embodies the true meaning of Christmas.

Now, lately it seems as if the networks aren't interested in playing the classic Christmas movies of old. I keep seeing these crappy Scrooge rip offs over and over on all of the various networks. Like Mrs. Scrooge, Ebenezer, A Diva's Christmas Carol, A Carol Christmas. (With Tori Spelling, need I say more?) Not to mention these vapid, crappy and sacchrine kid flicks that are so PC they make me want to vomit. Thankfully I got our artist friends over at Cave Drawing Ink to help us conceptulize those memorable Christmas flicks of old. You can see our top ten here on the Bucket and on the Cave Drawing Ink site. Enjoy and have a Happy Holiday!

So far......

4.) A Charlie Brown Christmas

5.) National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation

6.) The Nightmare Before Christmas

7.) Scrooged

8.) Elf
9.) Santa Claus: the Movie
10.) Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer

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3.) A Christmas Story Ralphie (as an adult): "Next to me in the blackness lay my oiled blue steel beauty. The greatest Christmas gift I had ever received, or would ever receive. Gradually, I drifted off to sleep, pringing ducks on the wing and getting off spectacular hip shots."

- Sketch by Nicolas Sienty

Jeff: It's amazing to me that many Christmas lists have excluded this film as one of their top choices. I find that strange on many levels one given that TBS has been playing the 24 hours of a Christmas Story every year for at least the last ten years. When the film was released it tanked terribly. Only after it found second life on TBS did it become hugely popular. I would like to think I was one of those who saw this in the late 80s that knew instantly that this was a Christmas classic. I can't remember the time that it wasn't so I'm gonna say I loved it before everyone else. Ralphie and his quest for a Red Rider BB gun and his hurdles to convince the Rents that he won't shoot his eye out. Darren McGavin is classic as the crochety dad and the kids are perfectly cast as we get a glimse of pre-WWII Indiana and the crazed quest for the perfect Christmas. If you have trouble finding this on TV or DVD then obviously you are living in a cave and have never heard of such things so there are no good excuses for you. If you are a Christian and you celebrate Christmas it's mandatory that you watch A Christmas Story.

Jen: I actually saw this movie for the very first time last Christmas (I know, I know - "how do you miss a movie that is on ALL the time at Christmas." You might ask...I get that a lot.) Everyone tells Ralphie that he will shoot his eye out with the BB gun he wants and when he finally get the gun for Christmas he does just that. Luckily his glasses protect his eye and a lie about a icicle protects him from his Mom. It's a cute story and Peter Billingsley is cute in it. I like the fact that the town is based on a town in Indiana (shout out to my home state!) I think every child can relate to Ralphie and his deep seated desires for Red Rider and his BB gun.