It's hard for people to separate A Christmas Story from its twin nostalgias (the 80s for those who were influenced by it, and the pre-WWII period the film inhabits), but taken apart bit by bit it's one of the most elegantly assembled, consistently funny comedies ever made. And the period design is simply to die for...without being fussy or extending itself. The same atmospheric quality haunts his terrific early horror films. I have a friend who swears by Porky's, but I still haven't seen it.
