The Great American Fourth of July and Other Disasters (1982)

140 Character Movie Review – #140RVW

May be the best kept secret in America. Should be a holiday classic watched every July 4th, except WGBH/PBS never re-airs it. Fatal mistake.

Spoiler-free Movie Review of The Great American Fourth of July and Other Disasters:

Jean Shepherd was an unique voice and national treasure. Many people loved his various radio & tv performances over the years, but he is probably best remembered as co-writer and narrator of A Christmas Story. And what a great legacy to be remembered by, of course. But there are a great many other of his tales out there, even if they require some searching.

My dad loved Jean Shepherd from his performances on WGBH in Boston and a show run on PBS American Playhouse. They made four shows for American Playhouse, one being The Great American Fourth of July and Other Disasters. I saw it as a kid growing up in the suburbs of Boston, and it is the only one I’ve seen to date, but I will be looking for the rest, because it is amazing. Having found it on Youtube (thanks interwebs!) I watched it for the first time since it aired in 1982. It is even better than I remembered…

The story finds the same family from A Christmas Story but takes place when Ralphie is in high school, and played by a very young Matt Dillon. Ralph plays in the high school band (played by the Chelmsford High School Marching Band) and fancies himself a cultured stud who feels put upon when he is talked into taking his friend’s cousin out on a date. He’s got to endure a blind date, march in the parade, and be ready for the Old Man’s massive fireworks spectacular. And he can’t even find a wash cloth…

The show shines the same insightful light on the Fourth of July as the film did on Christmas, and all of the hallmarks of that picture are here: that great narration, the zany schemes of the characters, the side-splitting scenarios when life intervenes, all with that great heart and nostalgia-tinged recollection of a master storyteller. A must-see…

Trailer (actually, it’s a playlist containing the whole show):

Bechdel Test:

Pass

The Representation Test Score: D (3 pts)

(http://therepresentationproject.org/grading-hollywood-the-representation-test/)

[schema type=”movie” name=”The Great American Fourth of July and Other Disasters” description=”Matt Dillon plays a young Jean Shepherd (author and narrator of A Christmas Story). Through Matt, Shep tells several humorous stories about his teen years in an Indiana steel town.” director=”Richard Bartlett” actor_1=”Matt Dillon” ]