''My Summer Story'' (originally released in theaters as ''It Runs in the Family'') is a 1994 American

comedy film A comedy film is a category of film which emphasizes humor. These films are designed to make the audience laugh through amusement. Films in this style traditionally have a happy ending ( black comedy being an exception). Comedy is one of the o ...

directed by

Bob Clark Benjamin Robert Clark (August 5, 1939 – April 4, 2007) was an American film director, screenwriter, producer, and actor. He is best known for his work in the Canadian film industry throughout the 1970s and 1980s, where he was responsible ...

that serves as a

sequel A sequel is a work of literature, film, theatre, television, music or video game that continues the story of, or expands upon, some earlier work. In the common context of a narrative work of fiction, a sequel portrays events set in the same ...

to his 1983 film ''

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' ...

''. Like the previous film, it is based on semi-autobiographical stories by

Jean Shepherd Jean Parker 'Shep' Shepherd Jr. (~July 21, 1921 – October 16, 1999) was an American storyteller, humorist, radio and TV personality, writer, and actor. With a career that spanned decades, Shepherd is known for the film ''A Christmas Story'' ...

, primarily from his book ''

In God We Trust, All Others Pay Cash ''In God We Trust: All Others Pay Cash'' is a novel by American humorist Jean Shepherd first published in October 1966. A best-seller at the time of its publication, it is considered Shepherd's most important published work. The work inspired sev ...

''. The opening makes direct reference to the events of ''A Christmas Story'', and the ending narration strongly parallels it; production delays forced most of the characters to be recast.

Charles Grodin Charles Sidney Grodin (April 21, 1935 – May 18, 2021) was an American actor, comedian, author, and television talk show host. Grodin began his acting career in the 1960s appearing in TV serials including '' The Virginian''. After a small part ...

stars as the Old Man (Mr. Parker),

Mary Steenburgen Mary Nell Steenburgen (; born February 8, 1953) is an American actress, comedian, singer, and songwriter. After studying at New York's Neighborhood Playhouse in the 1970s, she made her professional acting debut in 1978 Western comedy film '' Goin ...

plays Mrs. Parker, and

Kieran Culkin Kieran Kyle Culkin (born September 30, 1982) is an American actor. The brother of actors Macaulay and Rory, he began his career as a child actor in the films ''Home Alone'' (1990), ''Father of the Bride'' (1991)'', The Mighty'' (1998), and ''Th ...

is Ralphie. Shepherd provides the narration, just as he had done for ''A Christmas Story''.

Plot

The film takes place in the summer of 1941, after the events of ''A Christmas Story'', which took place in December 1940. It has several plot lines, one each for 10-year-old Ralphie, his father, and his mother, followed by a recurring subplot involving him and his dad on a fishing trip, that proves frequently fruitless until a single night when all fish are caught. This also feeds a needless obsession in Ralphie's 7-year-old brother Randy, much to Mrs. Parker's nerve.

Ralphie's plot

Ralphie's plot for most of the film is to find a top tough enough to knock that of a

bully Bullying is the use of force, coercion, hurtful teasing or threat, to abuse, aggressively dominate or intimidate. The behavior is often repeated and habitual. One essential prerequisite is the perception (by the bully or by others) of an i ...

's out of a chalk circle in a game of "Kill". Scut Farkus, the 13-year-old main bully, was demoted following the events of ''A Christmas Story'', with a new head bully, Lug Ditka, taking his place and ruling over the school. Despite his firm standing, Ralphie's tops are always defeated by Lug's top Mariah, prompting Ralphie to look for outside sources that also backfire, such as a top bought from an Eastern shop that is painted with roses, giving Lug all the mocking material. During the Parker family's visit to the world fair, Ralphie gets a top from a gypsy stand called "Wolf" just as powerful as Mariah, allowing Ralphie to challenge him again. However, at the climax of the challenge, both Mariah and Wolf end up disappearing into the sewer, never to be seen again; as a result, the game ends on a lose-lose draw.

Mrs. Parker's plot

Mrs. Parker's plot revolves around attempting to start a collection of celebrity dishes, one per each dish night, at the Orpheum Theatre run by Leopold Doppler. She acquires the first dish, a

Ronald Colman Ronald Charles Colman (9 February 1891 – 19 May 1958) was an English-born actor, starting his career in theatre and silent film in his native country, then immigrating to the United States and having a successful Cinema of the United States, ...

gravy boat, though she accumulates more as Doppler announces the other dishes are unavailable due to 'misshipment'. The frustration of accumulating the gravy boats combined with the events throughout the movie get Mrs. Parker over the edge, resulting her in throwing the gravy boat she won at the theater in Doppler's head. All other housewives, encouraged by Mrs. Parker's act, also start raining down the surplus gravy boats towards Doppler, enraged at the frustration and the apparent fraudulent scheme. Mrs. Parker is arrested for the act, though with a relieved smile on her face.

Mr. Parker's plot

Mr. Parker's plot revolves around his odds with the Parker's

hillbilly Hillbilly is a term (often derogatory) for people who dwell in rural, mountainous areas in the United States, primarily in southern Appalachia and the Ozarks. The term was later used to refer to people from other rural and mountainous areas we ...

neighbors, the Bumpuses (or Bumpi, as the Parkers tend to refer them in plural), especially due to their loud overplaying of hillbilly music, obnoxious behavior and the constant harassment on Mr. Parker by the Bumpuses' forty-three

Bloodhound The bloodhound is a large scent hound, originally bred for hunting deer, wild boar and, since the Middle Ages, for tracking people. Believed to be descended from hounds once kept at the Abbey of Saint-Hubert, Belgium, in French it is called, ...

s named Big Red. The escalation turns into war when the Bumpuses inaugurate an outhouse bathroom, which Parker clearly perceives as a health code violation. When Mr. Parker attempts forcing the Bumpuses to demolish the outhouse, they respond by having Big Dickie, the largest of the Bumpus family, destroy their house's porch as a

show of force A show of force is a military operation intended to warn (such as a warning shot) or to intimidate an opponent by showcasing a capability or will to act if one is provoked. Shows of force may also be executed by police forces and other armed, non ...

. Parker attempts unsuccessfully to torment the Bumpuses with music, which they mistake for Parker calling a night

party A party is a gathering of people who have been invited by a host for the purposes of socializing, conversation, recreation, or as part of a festival or other commemoration or celebration of a special occasion. A party will often featu ...

, prompting him to hurriedly escape to the fishing trip with Ralphie. Mr. Parker does a second attempt, this time with a sound effects record disk simulating a federal bust, but by the time he unleashes the sound disk, the Bumpuses have long moved away. Mr. Parker interprets this as a defeat, and the act earns the ire of the woken-up neighborhood, who strongly suggest to bring the Bumpuses back and be rid of Parker.

Cast

as Mr. Parker, The Old Man *

as Mrs. Parker *

as Ralph "Ralphie" Parker **

as Ralph Parker / The Narrator * Christian Culkin as Randy Parker *

Whit Hertford Whit Hertford (born November 2, 1978) is an American theatre director, writer, and actor. Film and television Hertford's film career spans three decades and began at an early age, most notably with his appearance in Steven Spielberg's ''Juras ...

as "Lug" * Chris Owen as "Scut" Farkus *

Geoffrey Wigdor Geoffrey Wigdor (born January 23, 1982) is an American actor. He is best known for his role in the drama film ''Sleepers'' in 1996. Career Wigdor got his first role playing J.J. Forbes on the soap opera '' Loving'', later called '' The City'' ...

as Flick * David Zahorsky as Schwartz *

Tedde Moore Tedde Moore (born October 28, 1945) is a Canadian actress. Early life Tedde Moore is the daughter of Darwina (née Faessler) and actor and educator Mavor Moore, the granddaughter of Canadian theatre figure Dora Mavor Moore, and the great-grandda ...

as Miss Shields * T.J. McInturff as Grover Dill *

Glenn Shadix William Glenn Shadix (April 15, 1952 – September 7, 2010) was an American actor and comedian. He was known for his role as Otho in Tim Burton's horror comedy film ''Beetlejuice'' and as the voice of the Mayor of Halloween Town in ''The Nightmar ...

as Leopold Doppler, Manager of The Orpheum Theater *

Roy Brocksmith Roy Brocksmith (September 15, 1945 – December 16, 2001) was an American actor. Life and career Brocksmith was born in Quincy, Illinois, the son of Vera Marguerite (''née'' Hartwig) and Otis E. Brocksmith, who was a mechanic. He graduated from ...

as Mr. Winchell, The Assessor

Production

Shepherd had begun work on the film in 1989, after wrapping up production on the television film ''

Ollie Hopnoodle's Haven of Bliss ''Ollie Hopnoodle's Haven of Bliss'' is a 1988 American made-for-television comedy film written by Jean Shepherd and directed by Dick Bartlett, based on the 1968 short story by Shepherd. A satire of childhood recollections of annual family vacat ...

''. He admitted making the sequel mainly as a money-making enterprise; when he saw the amount of royalties he was making off telecasts and re-releases of ''A Christmas Story'' compared to his television productions, he walked away from television and vowed to work almost exclusively on films. Because the cast of ''A Christmas Story'' had aged to the point where they no longer fit their roles, it was entirely recast, with the exception of

, who returns as Ralphie's teacher, Miss Shields.

Reception

The film received mixed reviews. ''

Entertainment Weekly ''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, and popular ...

'' gave it a B+, noting that the film "improves on ''A Christmas Story'', with better pacing and better-defined characters, but found Shepherd's narration to be "oh-so-drolly exaggerated — and therefore condescending". Robert Butler at ''

The Kansas City Star ''The Kansas City Star'' is a newspaper based in Kansas City, Missouri. Published since 1880, the paper is the recipient of eight Pulitzer Prizes. ''The Star'' is most notable for its influence on the career of President Harry S. Truman and a ...

'' called it "a sequel worth seeing" which revisits the humor of the original. Upon the release of the film on DVD in 2006, DVDtalk wrote "if you squint just right, ''My Summer Story'' is actually reasonably good", while criticizing the casting, but praising Shepherd's narration as "easily the film's saving grace".

Christopher Null Christopher Null is an American writer, film critic, and columnist. A former blogger for Yahoo! Tech, he was the editor of Drinkhacker.com, and the founder and editor-in-chief of Filmcritic.com, which operated from 1995 to 2012. In 2003, CNN cal ...

at MovieCritic.com referred to the film as a "lackluster sequel" with "little of the same charm" as ''A Christmas Story'', and "not funny, really". A 2011 summary of best and worst movies filmed in Cleveland called the film a "dog", which "features none of the original cast -- and none of the original heart". Released in very few theaters,Maltin, Leonard. ''Leonard Maltin's 2009 Movie Guide''. New York: Plume/Penguin, 2008, p. 696. the film grossed under $71,000.

Related works

Prior to the making of the theatrical film, PBS co-produced a series of TV movies based on the Parker family for ''

American Playhouse ''American Playhouse'' is an American anthology television series periodically broadcast by Public Broadcasting Service (PBS). Overview It premiered on January 12, 1982, with ''The Shady Hill Kidnapping'', written and narrated by John Cheever an ...

'' including ''

'', '' The Great American Fourth of July and Other Disasters'', '' The Star-Crossed Romance of Josephine Cosnowski'' and '' The Phantom of the Open Hearth''.

References

External links

* *
Beyond a Christmas Story
{{Authority control 1994 films 1994 comedy films American comedy films American sequel films 1990s English-language films Films scored by Paul Zaza Films about families Films directed by Bob Clark Films set in 1941 Films set in Indiana Films shot in North Carolina Films shot in Ohio Films based on works by Jean Shepherd Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer films Films based on multiple works 1990s American films Films about hillbillies