Great Scene: “A Christmas Story”

Tongue meets frozen pole in this memorable scene from the charming 1983 holiday movie.

For four long years, I lived in North Dakota, so I know first-hand about really cold winters and things like what transpire in this memorable scene from the wonderful movie A Christmas Story, screenplay by Jean Shepherd & Leigh Brown & Bob Clark, based on Shepherd’s novel.

Setup: Before class one day, Ralphie’s friends Flick and Schwartz argue over what would happen should someone stick their tongue to a frozen flag pole, engaging in a delicate nuance of phrase during which Schwartz dares Flick to stick his tongue to the pole. Upon the dreaded triple-dog-dare, Flick puts his tongue to the pole and… well… this happens:

Don’t believe getting your tongue stuck on frozen metal is possible? As part of the winter survival guide our family received when we moved to Minot Air Force Base was the specific advice about never taking out a trash can with our bare hands because the skin would stick. And don’t even dare pulling your hand away as that would rip off skin. Instead, we were advised to pour warm water over our hands or in an emergency… pee on them. I’m serious! Fortunately, the young lad in A Christmas Story didn’t have to resort to that or this holiday classic film might have ended up being X-rated.

Here is the scripted version of the scene:

Who else loves this movie? Favorite scenes?

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