''The Phantom of the Open Hearth'' is an American made-for-television family- comedy film, directed by Fred Barzyk and David R. Loxton, with a script written by Jean Shepherd. Produced by Loxton, the film is the first screen adaptation to feature Shepherd's character Ralphie Parker, and is notable for influencing studio interest in ''

A Christmas Story ''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 ...

'' years later. Based on Shepherd's book, '' In God We Trust: All Others Pay Cash'' and similar to all the other Parker Family films, the film depicts fictionalized events from his real-life childhood.

Synopsis

A middle-aged Ralph Parker introduces the film, before the events of the film's flashback to the past. Set during

1950s The 1950s (pronounced nineteen-fifties; commonly abbreviated as the "Fifties" or the " '50s") (among other variants) was a decade that began on January 1, 1950, and ended on December 31, 1959. Throughout the decade, the world continued its re ...

America, high school-aged Ralph prepares for the upcoming junior- promenade dance. Every day at school he tries to overcome his shyness and ask his crush, a popular classmate named Daphne Bigelow, to the event. At home, Ralph finds himself at odds with his father and his over-involved mother. His parents are busy with their own interests: Mr. Parker looks forward to the arrival of a tasteless lamp shipment he won in a bowling contest (a story later adapted in ''

''), while Mrs. Parker often attends "dish night" at the local movie theater to acquire a collection of dinner dishes (a story that reappears in ''

My Summer Story ''My Summer Story'' (originally released in theaters as ''It Runs in the Family'') is a 1994 American comedy film directed by Bob Clark that serves as a sequel to his 1983 film ''A Christmas Story''. Like the previous film, it is based on semi-au ...

''). Though Ralph decides to ask his geeky neighbor Wanda Hickey to the dance, he continues to wish he could win the affections of Daphne. Later with his friends and their dates, Ralph drinks alcohol excessively. The group finds themselves sick and vomiting in the bathroom stall, during the eventful night of junior prom.

Cast

* David Elliott as Ralph "Ralphie" Parker ** Jean Shepherd as Ralph Parker/the Narrator *

James Broderick James Joseph Broderick III (March 7, 1927November 1, 1982) was an American actor. He is known for his role as Doug Lawrence in the television series ''Family'', which ran from 1976 to 1980, and he played a pivotal role in the 1975 film ''Dog Day ...

as Mr. Parker * Barbara Bolton as Mrs. Parker * Adam Goodman as Randy Parker * William Lampley as Flick * Bryan Utman as Schwartz * Ed Huberman as Carl Parker * Tobi Pilavin as Daphne Bigelow * Roberta Wallach as Wanda Hickey

Release

''The Phantom of the Open Hearth'' was released on December 23, 1976 during an episode of PBS's

anthological In book publishing, an anthology is a collection of literary works chosen by the compiler; it may be a collection of plays, poems, short stories, songs or excerpts by different authors. In genre fiction, the term ''anthology'' typically categ ...

television series, ''

Visions Vision, Visions, or The Vision may refer to: Perception Optical perception * Visual perception, the sense of sight * Visual system, the physical mechanism of eyesight * Computer vision, a field dealing with how computers can be made to gain un ...

''.

Reception

Upon release the film was met with mostly positive reception, with praise directed at the sentimental value and nostalgic look at the history, the cast's performance, as well as Shepherd's skills in

storytelling Storytelling is the social and cultural activity of sharing stories, sometimes with improvisation, theatrics or embellishment. Every culture has its own stories or narratives, which are shared as a means of entertainment, education, cultural pre ...

. Criticism stated that the plot took itself perhaps a little too seriously. Retrospective reviews give the television film mixed reviews.

Sequels

The film was followed by a number of sequels, spawning a franchise of films, an adaptation for stage, and a television broadcast adaptation of that play. The film's first follow-up to be released, was '' The Great American Fourth of July and Other Disasters'' in 1982.

Unaired television series adaptation

The film was reshot and intended to serve as the pilot episode for an ongoing series with a prospective release in 1978. Though the finished product never aired, production was completed. The production was directed by

John Rich John Rich (born January 7, 1974) is an American country music singer-songwriter. From 1992 to 1998, he was a member of the country music band Lonestar, in which he played bass guitar and alternated with Richie McDonald as lead vocalist. After d ...

, with a script by Jean Shepherd, cinematography by Roland 'Ozzie' Smith, and editing from Dick Bartlett. Filmed with a working title the same as the 1976 film, the cast included John Shepherd, Richard Venture, Barbara Bolton, and Jean Shepherd as young Ralph "Ralphie" Parker, Mr. Parker, Mrs. Parker, and Ralph Parker/the Narrator, respectively. The series included the original introduction of the famous "Oh, fudge (but I didn't say 'fudge')!" line which was later introduced in ''A Christmas Story''.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Phantom of the Open Hearth, The 1976 films American comedy television films 1970s English-language films Films directed by Fred Barzyk 1970s American films Parker Family Saga