Our favorite callbacks in A Christmas Story Christmas — and the stories behind them
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Warning: This articles contains spoilers about A Christmas Story Christmas.
If you can name all the references and callbacks in A Christmas Story Christmas, you get a major award.
Not really, but there are a lot of them, including passing mention (and flashbacks to footage) of that infamous leg lamp. A Christmas Story Christmas, which hit HBO Max on Thursday, sees Peter Billingsley return to the role of Ralphie, now a middle-aged father, as he endeavors to make Christmas special for his two kids in the wake of his own dad's passing (the original actor behind the "Old Man," Darren McGavin, died in 2006).
"There's definitely a lot of restraint," Billingsley, who is also a producer of the sequel, tells EW. "You don't want to revert to a bunch of callbacks. It was about allowing stuff to come out organically as much as we could. The thing about callbacks, it's not like you remember all that stuff that happened as a kid either. It was one year in the Parkers life."
But there's still plenty to be found, each delightful in their own way. Here's some of our favorites — and the stories behind them.
Those bunny pajamas
MGM; Yana Blajeva/Warner Bros.
Besides the constant refrain of "You'll shoot your eye out," perhaps the most iconic bit from 1983's A Christmas Story is that of 12-year-old Billingsley in a pair of pink bunny pajamas that he refers to as a "pink nightmare" in voiceover.
They're here, tucked away in the Parker attic. There was some talk of having him don the monstrosity again, but it didn't make any sense from a narrative perspective. "There were definitely some bad pitches. but why would Ralphie ever do something that he utterly hated?" says Billingsley. "He finds them completely disgusting. But that's the kind of stuff that parents keep. Why is it in the attic? That's the mother character, who's conditioned to not throw out anything. Ralphie moves past it quickly, so you definitely wanted it to cameo in the movie, but it cameos very quickly."
That attic proved a boon for many Easter eggs tucked away in its recesses. "It's easy to move through and be able to see some things," reflects Billingsley.
Caroling
In a sequence that has decidedly not aged well, the original A Christmas Story ends on a sequence featuring a Chinese restaurant's staff singing, "Deck the Halls." In a sly nod to that outmoded joke, there are carolers here — ones that Mrs. Parker (Julie Hagerty) will do anything to avoid. Maybe witnessing that Peking duck get its head lopped off instilled a deep trauma.
Higbee's Santa
Everett Collection
"Ho, ho, ho, Merry Christmas." If you're a fan of A Christmas Story, we bet you read those words in a menacing tone, imagining the terrifying sight of Santa's boot coming at your face. It's certainly a vivid moment in the original film, when Ralphie tells Santa he wants a BB gun for Christmas and is promptly kicked down a slide in Higbee's department store. Here, Santa is actually nice. But that doesn't stop Ralphie from warning his kids about being kicked in the face.
"That line [about Santa] occurred to me the night before when I was studying my lines," Billingsley say. "Because we were thinking how are we going to do a callback to that? You're not going to top the Santa in that one — this grumbling Santa, who doesn't mind kicking a child. You're not going to top that guy. So we break expectations by making him great, which is nice, but then we wanted to callback a little bit and I could see that maybe being something that you remember as a kid."
Buying the tree
In A Christmas Story, buying the Christmas tree is a complicated affair. The Old Man haggles with the lot owner, and the journey to get the tree home results in a flat tire and Ralphie's accidental use of the f-word in front of his dad (and a mouthful of soap once home).
Yana Blajeva/Warner Bros.
Ralphie's a chip off the old block when it comes to haggling for a tree (one it turns out no one wants anyway). His own car issues — a consistently janky radiator that he wrestles with the same tenacity that his father once fought their furnace — combined with the oversized tree lead to an accident that, ironically, almost pokes his daughter's eye out.
Scut Farkus
Who among us has not dreamt of going HAM on their childhood bully the way Ralphie does one snowy afternoon on neighborhood terror Scut Farkus (Zack Ward)? Now, Farkus is all grown up and a police officer to boot (depending on your political views, that's either a sign of major growth or absolutely in keeping with his past history). Will Ralphie have to answer for beating the snot out of him? We won't spoil it.
The Western fantasies
Ralphie has always been a dreamer, and part of his childhood wish for a Red Ryder BB gun is at the service of his flights of fancy that involve him as a heroic cowboy, protecting his family from the dastardly Black Bart. Once in the form of 1940s serials, those Western fantasies are still here, but now they are references to the Sergio Leone films and other spaghetti Westerns that were popular during the 1970s. Ralphie once again imagines himself as the protector of his family in A Fistful of Snowballs.
Everett Collection
"As we were developing the script, Clay Kaytis, our director, pitched that," says Billingsley. "We wanted to evolve his fantasies. The old Western was the old-timey serials, with the burglars and the striped shirt. That was Ralphie's cultural reference at the time. But this is the seventies and people are watching the Sergio Leone movies, so he dreams in that now."
"It was super fun to shoot," he adds. "Because it was like we were shooting a Western. Clay and Matthew Clark, our cinematographer, emulated a lot of those great shots of just the eyes and the hands and the piecemeal photography that leads up to all the posturing before the fight. Those fantasies are in service of his kids: if his kids know how to protect themselves. I also like that his fantasies come from this want or this fear that he has now as a dad."
The Bumpus family and their 785 smelly hound dogs
It is the Bumpus family dogs who ruin the Parker Christmas in the original film, devouring the family's Christmas dinner and ripping their turkey to shreds. Unfortunately, they still live next door and have a penchant for dogs. Fortunately, Ralphie's daughter, Julie (Julianna Layne) is better equipped to deal with them.
I triple dog dare ya...
Everett Collection
Words designed to send a gasp through a room and a chill down a kid's spine, the coup de grâce of dares. You can't ignore a triple dog dare unless you want to be branded a chicken. Thus, Schwartz (R.D. Robb) gets Flick (Scott Schwartz) to lick a frozen flag pole, getting his tongue stuck in the process.
Here, the tables are turned as Flick finally gets revenge, triple dog-daring Schwartz to sled down a terrifying frozen ramp. He doesn't emerge unscathed, making a crash landing. But he does at least inspire everyone else in town to go sledding.
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