5. A Christmas Story
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dgx1sSfriIA The now classic 1983 film A Christmas Story, based on Jean Shepherd's autobiographical book tells the tale of a boy's mission to get a BB gun for Christmas in the early 1940's. A Christmas Story is also a lovingly told sonnet about childhood, and all the tribulations that go along with it. We are taken along with young Ralphie (Peter Billingsley) as he meanders through his days dealing with school assignments, bullies and yes, dropping his first F-bomb. While helping The Old Man (Darren McGavin) change a flat tire, Ralphie inadvertently lets the big word slip when he loses the bolts in the snow. With a look of shock, The Old Man passes the news on to Mom (Melinda Dillon), and all hell breaks loose. Every kid has been in this same situation, that dirty word you've heard a hundred times in the school yard finally just slips out in front of the wrong people. The kicker to this cleverly crafted sequence of the film (Ralphie says "Fudge" to keep it family friendly) is the aftermath of seeing Ralphie with a giant bar of soap wedged in his mouth, punishment, but also a rite of passage. Nobody can resist reminiscing the taste of bubbly soap in their mouth while watching this scene, sending us all back to that precarious moment from our own childhoods.