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List all the classic American Christmas movies and they're pretty much all well known in the UK. Classics here too, shown every year. For whatever reasons, this is one that just slipped through the net here. I don't ever recall seeing it on tv growing up. I'd be surprised if it was never shown, it probably just doesn't air much because nobody has ever heard of it. I only saw it for the first time a few years ago, on a streaming service. I was amazed that here was a really popular 1980s Christmas movie, yet i'd never even heard of it!

It doesn't really resonate with me as much as it no doubt does to many Americans, but it's a fun watch. Not sure when exactly it is set, i'd guess sometime around the 1940s. I suspect the main reason it wasn't shown here much (if at all) is the story revolving around a BB gun. I think BB guns were a "thing" here during WW2, i've seen tv and movies set here around then where kids were playing wit them, but probably were frowned upon in the 1980s if not actually illegal. We're all used to hunters (Elmer Fudd etc) having guns, a 9 year old kid with a gun is probably a step too far for family tv. Of course, it could also just be that nobody here eats meatloaf, uses lifebuoy soap or about a hundred other things referenced that are almost completely American. It's hard enough to get nostalgic about things that stopped being a thing 30 years before you were born, but even harder when they've never been a thing in your country ever!

Whatever the reasons, it's a bit of a shame this film is largely unheard of here. Be sure to drink your ovaltine is hilarious. No idea if that was an actual thing, but it's the type of dirty lowdown trick companies play on kids! Raise your hopes for something exciting, oh..it;s just a crummy commercial! It's truly epic when Ralphie beats up the bully. I can definitely get behind that. Some people, even kids, deserve a good bit of karma.

Essentially just a remake of Lost in Translation, except "the girl" is Bill Murray's daughter this time and everybody is in New York so pretty much nothing happens except somebody buys a watch. All the interesting and funny bits have been replaced by utter drivel being portrayed as intellectual life analysis. In fairness, if i hadn't already seen this exact same movie about a hundred times already, quite often with Bill Murray or Jack Nicholson in them playing the exact same character, it may have been worthwhile watching. As it is, it's just a boring clone with barely anything going for it.

It's the type of guff that will likely be blindly lauded by certain critics and amateur psychologists, but has all the substance of a cup-a-soup. The ending reminds me so much of Tales of the Unexpected, as in the ending isn't remotely unexpected.

None of the actors put a foot wrong, in fact the funniest thing about the movie is how seriously they take it all. Like they're in a proper movie, not some pointless half-baked soap opera Sunday afternoon schedule filler. Bill Murray is a legend, but it's pretty safe to say he will leave this one off his cv.

Yes, i know the ring in the manure scene is from the first movie but i couldn't resist. The first film is ok, if a bit uninspiring. It has it's moments. But the second film is peak Steptoe. I must have seen it a hundred times, but it's still great to put on and chill out to.

With a lot of the series episodes disappointingly only surviving as really poor quality home recordings, plus the Christmas specials being butchered on the official dvd, Steptoe and Son Ride Again stands as one of the most enjoyabe highlights from the entire show.

A real shame that there were no more movies, so many good ideas were possible. The Desperate Hours and Divided We Stand would have made excellent feature length movies. As great as they are, 30 minutes feels a bit of a waste of pure comedy gold.

Only Fools & Horses and One Foot in the Grave would later (re) prove that you can easily stretch out a sitcom to an hour or more without it feeling slow. The longer format allows a comedy show to breathe, or at least it does if you do it well. Steptoe and Son Ride Again and the Porridge movie were earlier examples of how it can work a real treat. 94 minutes flies by when you're having fun!