Trivia: Melinda Dillon was given the wrong script on purpose when they filmed the Chinese restaurant scene. She had no idea that when they brought the duck out it would have its head still attached. All of her reactions, including when she first sees the duck and when the server cuts the head off, were completely genuine.
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.
Trivia: "A Christmas Story" is one of the favorite films of "South Park" co-creator Trey Parker. Parker used the inspiration of bully Scut Farkus to create Scott Tenorman, the bully from "South Park."
Trivia: The late Jean Sheppard, who wrote the series of short stories upon which the movie was based, narrates the movie (credited, "Ralphie as an adult") and also has a cameo in the scene where Ralphie and Randy are going to see Santa. (Sheppard is the guy who tells them to go to the back of the line).
Trivia: Director Bob Clark has a cameo appearance in this movie. He portrays Swede, Mr. Parker's neighbor.
Trivia: The decoder in the movie is set in order from 1-26 Q S U T V Y Z X A C E B G H D J F I L M K W N O R P.
Trivia: Five minutes from the center of Cleveland Ohio you can tour the actual home used to film A Christmas Story. The tour website links to an affiliated online gift shop (with licensed merchandise) based in Cleveland and it links to the walk-in gift shop store that is directly across the street from the tour house.
Trivia: Mom, Melinda Dillon has acted in two very popular movies where artistically piled mashed potatoes plays prominently. Here Randy packs his vertical fork with them. In "Close Encounters of the Third Kind", Melinda meets up with Richard Dreyfuss who earlier also sculpts mash potatoes upward. In "Close Encounters of the Third Kind she's the mother of the featured little boy character.
Trivia: The music playing when Scut Farkus appears is the Wolf's theme from Sergei Prokofiev's "Peter and the Wolf". Farkas is a Hungarian name, but literally means "Wolf".
Trivia: During the scene in the department store where Ralphie and Randy are standing in line, awaiting their turn to tell Santa what they want for Christmas, there is a boy in front of them wearing some sort of fighter pilot goggles. This boy was never hired to be in the movie; he was a local at the department store. Director Bob Clark kept him because he thought he had the right look for the scene.
Trivia: When Ralphie comes down the stairs in the pink bunny outfit, the line spoken by the old man, "He looks like a deranged Easter bunny," was ad-libbed by Darren McGavin. Director Bob Clark liked it so much he kept it in. (Source: Quest Capsule).
Trivia: Peter Billingsley only has 93 lines in the entire film.
Trivia: When The Old Man is outside directing the placement of the lamp, and he talks to Swede (director Bob Clark), Swede is wearing a Miami Dolphins snow hat. It was turned sideways to hide the logo, since the Dolphins didn't come into existence until 1965.
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