A Christmas Story

Alphabetical Listing of Movie Reviews

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  • A Christmas Story -- Adapted from Jean Shepherd's nostalgic piece of whimsey, "In God We Trust, All Others Pay Cash," the movie re-creates what it was like to be a boy (Peter Billingsley) yearning for a genuine Red Ryder air rifle for Christmas in the Midwest of the 1940s. Director Bob Clark gets some good performances from Darren McGavin and Melinda Dillon as the understanding parents and the period atmosphere is nicely conveyed win what is essentially a warm celebration of a more innocent, less sophisticated America. A few vulgar syllables. (A-II) (PG) 1983




    Movies have been evaluated by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishop's Office for Film and Broadcasting according to artistic merit and moral suitability. The reviews include the USCCB rating, the Motion Picture Association of America rating, and a brief synopsis of the movie.

    The classifications are as follows:

    • A-I -- general patronage;
    • A-II -- adults and adolescents;
    • A-III -- adults;
    • A-IV**
    • L -- limited adult audience, films whose problematic content many adults would find troubling. L replaces the previous classification, A-IV.
    • O -- morally offensive.
    ** Discontinued classification. All archived movies that were originally in the A-IV category are now classified as L.
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    Office for Film and Broadcasting | 1011 First Avenue, 13th Floor, New York, NY 10022 | (212) 644-1880 © USCCB. All rights reserved.