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: 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: Director Bob Clark has a cameo appearance in this movie. He portrays Swede, Mr. Parker's neighbor.
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: 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.
Answer: You are quite right about this. At one point, he does say "platypus nut-grabber." If you listen closely, you can hear it amongst all the ranting and raving.
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