still from a christmas story of boy sitting on santa's lap and looking at him; red, green and white circles with question marks surround them; black background

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Take Our ‘A Christmas Story’ Quiz

Test your knowledge of the iconic holiday film

Jayme Deerwester,

AARP

Published December 27, 2022

10 Questions

Christmas is coming, and there’s one thing Ralphie Parker wants from Santa — a Red Ryder carbine-action air rifle. The 1983 comedy A Christmas Story follows the bespectacled, apple-cheeked youngster as he avoids bullies and yearns for his ideal gift. Although not an immediate box-office hit, the popularity of home video and cable television cinched its place among other perennial favorites such as Miracle on 34th Street and Frosty the Snowman. This year, a new sequel to the classic, A Christmas Story Christmas, debuts on HBO Max and revisits Ralphie and his friends as adults. Take our quiz and see how much you remember about the original 1983 film — and try not to shoot your eye out!

Take Our ‘A Christmas Story’ Quiz

[ {
 "question" : "In which decade is the original “A Christmas Story” film set?\n",
 "answers" : [ {
 "answer" : "1930s",
 "correctAnswer" : false
 }, {
 "answer" : "1940s",
 "correctAnswer" : true
 }, {
 "answer" : "1950s",
 "correctAnswer" : false
 }, {
 "answer" : "1960s",
 "correctAnswer" : false
 } ],
 "multiSelect" : false,
 "explanation" : "The first movie takes place in December of 1940. The new film, featuring an adult Ralphie (reprised by Peter Billingsley), is set during the 1970s.\n",
 "hint" : "",
 "hintLink" : "",
 "questionImgCaption" : "",
 "questionImgCredit" : ""
}, {
 "question" : "What kind of character is the Red Ryder BB gun named for?\n",
 "answers" : [ {
 "answer" : "Cowboy",
 "correctAnswer" : true
 }, {
 "answer" : "Soldier",
 "correctAnswer" : false
 }, {
 "answer" : "Cartoon fox",
 "correctAnswer" : false
 }, {
 "answer" : "An FBI agent",
 "correctAnswer" : false
 } ],
 "multiSelect" : false,
 "explanation" : "The ad Ralphie places in his mom’s magazine as a hint to buy him one for Christmas features a cowboy. And when Ralphie fantasizes about owning one himself, he’s dressed as a cowboy. Star Peter Billinglsey still has that fabulous rhinestone cowboy getup to this day.\n",
 "hint" : "",
 "hintLink" : "",
 "questionImgCaption" : "",
 "questionImgCredit" : ""
}, {
 "question" : "Which kid famously gets his tongue stuck to a frozen metal flag pole on a dare?\n",
 "answers" : [ {
 "answer" : "Ralphie",
 "correctAnswer" : false
 }, {
 "answer" : "Randy",
 "correctAnswer" : false
 }, {
 "answer" : "Schwartz",
 "correctAnswer" : false
 }, {
 "answer" : "Flick",
 "correctAnswer" : true
 } ],
 "multiSelect" : false,
 "explanation" : "Flick (played by Scott Schwartz) doubts his friend Schwartz’s (actor R.D. Robb’s) theory about whether your tongue will get stuck if you lick a frozen pole. Schwartz then triple-dog-dares Flick to try it himself, and his tongue does indeed get stuck. Adding insult to injury, the school bell rings and his friends head back to class and leave him there. The fire department intervenes, and Flick returns to class with his tongue wrapped in gauze.\n",
 "hint" : "",
 "hintLink" : "",
 "questionImgCaption" : "",
 "questionImgCredit" : ""
}, {
 "question" : "How does the Parker family end up with the leg lamp?\n",
 "answers" : [ {
 "answer" : "Ralphie’s dad buys it at a yard sale.",
 "correctAnswer" : false
 }, {
 "answer" : "Ralphie and his friends find it in the dumpster outside a burlesque theater.",
 "correctAnswer" : false
 }, {
 "answer" : "Ralphie’s dad wins it in a newspaper write-in contest.",
 "correctAnswer" : true
 }, {
 "answer" : "A relative sends it to them as a Christmas present.",
 "correctAnswer" : false
 } ],
 "multiSelect" : false,
 "explanation" : "After winning a newspaper write-in contest, Ralphie’s dad (played by Darren McGavin) — a.k.a. the Old Man — receives what he calls a “major prize”: a lamp atop a mannequin’s fishnet-stockinged leg. “It’s indescribably beautiful,” he proclaims, after removing it from the box marked “fragile” — or “fra-jeel-lay,” as he mistakenly pronounces it, assuming it’s from Italy. He proudly places the lamp in the front window of their home. Mrs. Parker (played by Melinda Dillon) is less enthused about this new objet d’art, asking, “Couldn’t we talk this over?” Later, she “accidentally” breaks it while watering her plants.\n",
 "hint" : "",
 "hintLink" : "",
 "questionImgCaption" : "",
 "questionImgCredit" : ""
}, {
 "question" : "What is the name of the school bully that Ralphie eventually beats up?\n",
 "answers" : [ {
 "answer" : "Biff Tannen",
 "correctAnswer" : false
 }, {
 "answer" : "Buzz McAllister",
 "correctAnswer" : false
 }, {
 "answer" : "Nelson Muntz",
 "correctAnswer" : false
 }, {
 "answer" : "Scut Farkus",
 "correctAnswer" : true
 } ],
 "multiSelect" : false,
 "explanation" : "“What a rotten name,” Ralphie says of his tormentor, Scut Farkus (played by Zack Ward). He mostly takes Scut’s abuse or runs from him — until the bully nails him in the face with a snowball. Then he pins Scut to the ground and beats the snot out of him.\n",
 "hint" : "",
 "hintLink" : "",
 "questionImgCaption" : "",
 "questionImgCredit" : ""
}, {
 "question" : "Who doesn’t tell Ralphie that he’ll shoot his eye out if he gets a BB gun for Christmas?\n",
 "answers" : [ {
 "answer" : "His mom",
 "correctAnswer" : false
 }, {
 "answer" : "The department store Santa",
 "correctAnswer" : false
 }, {
 "answer" : "His teacher",
 "correctAnswer" : false
 }, {
 "answer" : "His dad",
 "correctAnswer" : true
 } ],
 "multiSelect" : false,
 "explanation" : "His mom raises the initial safety objection, which is echoed by Ralphie’s teacher, Mrs. Fields (played by Tedde Moore), in a comment on his “What I want for Christmas” essay, and later by the department store Santa, too. But the Old Man comes through for him in the end. Once Ralphie runs outside to test it out, his dad explains that he had one just like it when he was Ralphie’s age.\n",
 "hint" : "",
 "hintLink" : "",
 "questionImgCaption" : "",
 "questionImgCredit" : ""
}, {
 "question" : "What gift from Aunt Clara is Ralphie less enthusiastic about?\n",
 "answers" : [ {
 "answer" : "Socks",
 "correctAnswer" : false
 }, {
 "answer" : "Bunny pajamas",
 "correctAnswer" : true
 }, {
 "answer" : "Underwear",
 "correctAnswer" : false
 }, {
 "answer" : "A fruit cake",
 "correctAnswer" : false
 } ],
 "multiSelect" : false,
 "explanation" : "Aunt Clara sends him a set of fuzzy pink bunny pajamas because, as Ralphie says in a voice-over, she “had for years labored under the delusion that I was not only perpetually 4 years old — but also a girl.” His mother overrules his objections and makes him model the PJs in front of his family, much to his humiliation. “That’s the most precious thing I’ve ever seen,” coos his mom, while the Old Man comments that his son “looks like a deranged Easter bunny.”\n",
 "hint" : "",
 "hintLink" : "",
 "questionImgCaption" : "",
 "questionImgCredit" : ""
}, {
 "question" : "True or false? Ralphie does shoot his eye out the first time he shoots the BB gun.\n",
 "answers" : [ {
 "answer" : "True",
 "correctAnswer" : false
 }, {
 "answer" : "False",
 "correctAnswer" : true
 } ],
 "multiSelect" : false,
 "explanation" : "While he doesn’t quite shoot his eye out as his mother feared, a BB ricochets off his glasses, knocks them off his face and leaves a mark below his right eye. But it gets worse: Ralphie steps on his glasses and breaks them while looking for them in the snow. Worried he’ll get in trouble for breaking them, he fibs and says the damage was the result of a fallen icicle.\n",
 "hint" : "",
 "hintLink" : "",
 "questionImgCaption" : "",
 "questionImgCredit" : ""
}, {
 "question" : "What goes wrong with the Parkers’ Christmas turkey?\n",
 "answers" : [ {
 "answer" : "Mrs. Parker forgets to turn the oven on, and it’s still raw at dinnertime.",
 "correctAnswer" : false
 }, {
 "answer" : "The whole family gets food poisoning.",
 "correctAnswer" : false
 }, {
 "answer" : "Mr. Parker knocks it off the table when he’s trying to sneak a piece before dinner. ",
 "correctAnswer" : false
 }, {
 "answer" : "The neighbor’s dogs break into the house and eat it while it’s unattended.",
 "correctAnswer" : true
 } ],
 "multiSelect" : false,
 "explanation" : "While Mr. Parker is reading the newspaper and his wife is upstairs tending to Ralphie’s injury, a pack of badly behaved hounds belonging to their next-door neighbor breaks into the house, invades the kitchen and devours the turkey. The Parkers wind up going out to a Chinese restaurant for Christmas dinner instead, where the restaurant owner serves them a duck with the head still intact — at least briefly. “That Christmas would live in our memories as the Christmas we were introduced to Chinese turkey,” adult Ralphie recollects.\n",
 "hint" : "",
 "hintLink" : "",
 "questionImgCaption" : "",
 "questionImgCredit" : ""
}, {
 "question" : "Which Midwestern state does “A Christmas Story” take place in?\n",
 "answers" : [ {
 "answer" : "Ohio",
 "correctAnswer" : false
 }, {
 "answer" : "Illinois",
 "correctAnswer" : false
 }, {
 "answer" : "Indiana",
 "correctAnswer" : true
 }, {
 "answer" : "Wisconsin",
 "correctAnswer" : false
 } ],
 "multiSelect" : false,
 "explanation" : "The movie is set in Indiana, the home state of author Jean Shepherd, who wrote the story on which it’s based. However, it was filmed in Toronto and in Cleveland, Ohio.\n",
 "hint" : "",
 "hintLink" : "",
 "questionImgCaption" : "",
 "questionImgCredit" : ""
} ]

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Take Our ‘A Christmas Story’ Quiz

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Jayme Deerwester is an editor and writer with two decades of experience at USA TODAY, where she covered entertainment, travel, personal finance and technology. When not in front of a computer, she can be found rowing, kayaking or playing with her dog.

Take Our ‘A Christmas Story’ Quiz

Take Our ‘A Christmas Story’ Quiz

Take Our ‘A Christmas Story’ Quiz

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