`Football, football ... What's a football?'

They -- Siskel and Ebert -- actually wonder to themselves whether people would see this, one of the greatest Christmas-y movies of all time. If I'd never gotten to see Ralphie and Randy walk to school together, wondering whether little Randy's arms could stay down due to the freeze -- or whether it was right that Ralphie ran back to school when the bell rang, regardless that "poor Flick"'s tongue stuck to the pole -- I'd have been a poorer person for it.

Names to reflect upon: Jean Shepherd, Bob Clark.