On Christmas morning, Ralphie receives some presents that he enjoys but is disappointed not to find the rifle among them. Ralphie's desire is rejected by his mother, his teacher Miss Shields, and even a Santa Claus at Higbee's department store, all giving him the same warning: 'You'll shoot your eye out'. Ralphie wanted only one thing that Christmas: a Red Ryder Carbine Action 200-shot Range Model air rifle.

Set in December 1940, the film is presented in a series of vignettes, with narration provided by the adult Ralphie Parker reminiscing on one particular Christmas when he was nine years old in the fictional town of Hohman, Indiana. The building was restored and reconfigured inside to match the soundstage interiors and is open to the public as A Christmas Story House. The front of the Parkers' house where A Christmas Story was filmed in the Tremont neighborhood of Cleveland's west side. In 2012, it was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress for being 'culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant'. Filmed partly in Canada, it earned two Canadian Genie Awards in 1984. The film was released on November 18, 1983, and received positive reviews from critics. It is the third installment in the Parker Family Saga.

Widely considered a holiday classic in the United States and Canada, it has been shown in a marathon annually on TNT since 1997 and on TBS since 2004 titled '24 Hours of A Christmas Story', consisting of 12 consecutive airings of the film from the evening of Christmas Eve to the evening of Christmas Day annually. It stars Melinda Dillon, Darren McGavin, and Peter Billingsley. A Christmas Story is a 1983 Christmas comedy film directed by Bob Clark and based on Jean Shepherd's semi-fictional anecdotes in his 1966 book In God We Trust: All Others Pay Cash, with some elements from his 1971 book Wanda Hickey's Night of Golden Memories and Other Disasters.

Jean shepherd in a christmas story