Jean Shepherd - The Great American Fourth of July - PART 1

[robphilll22]

before the internet,I-pod,XBOX360,IPAD,Ki­ndle and other devices,most of us were either jocks, nerds or pyromaniacs..

[musicmandon1]

Saying "I like this," is like saying Tiger Woods likes sex. at my age, this is better than sex.

[Crpetersena]

Too bad I can't seem to find this anywhere on the web for download, its a wonderful movie, the last time I saw it I was a youngster , I vividly remember the drunk staggering out into the middle of mainstreet and lighting this soup can home made thing, and it goes off into the air.. and all , then comes down on the house of the lady that would sit by and read war and peace when the titanic sinks .. WONDERFUL MOVIE!

[andymanpdx]

This is my favorite film of all time, seriously, and I'm so old man happy to find it on the tube....

[krugin72]

Jean Sheperd= Greatness, What a storyteller....

[HappyJack01]

Thank You!

For years I have been telling people about this story and they have been thinking that I was making it all up! Finally the proof I needed.

[artsyvideo]

WOOOHOOOO! I've bean searching for this for years!!! I audiotaped it as a kid by sticking the tape recorder up to the tv speaker. Every single line of dialogue is coming back to me as I watch it. This is gonna be the best 4th of July ever!!!!!

[skaterboizjoe]

I saw this the one and only time it aired on the 4th of July in the 80's and haven't heard of it since

[ffej980]

thanks... i have been looking for this forever...

[jillis1331]

This is one of my all-time favorites--way better than The Christmas Story in my book! The best scene is Wally Duckworth's baton throwing solo in the parade!

[revmundy1]

Is there a scene in this movie where Ralphie's dad drinks a jar of pickle juice, may seem weird I just want to know if I'm mistaking it for another movie.

[jillis1331]

Hmm, I don't remember that one, but it wouldn't surprise me. But I do remember that he takes a big bite out of a raw onion in one scene.

[consequences]

That's from "Ollie Hopnoodle's Haven of Bliss" a Disney movie based upon Jean's work, featuring the same family from A Christmas Story of course.

[Wildcock23]

Thank you sooooooooo much for uploading!!!

[Sufaud]

This is great. With the passing last week of Studs Terkel we've lost yet another Midwestern institution. How nice to have a bit of Jean Shepherd on YouTube!

[Midnaswolf47]

How'd you get the footage? My father taped it on Beta but I didn't think anybody else had a copy that still works.

[SaintForeverBlue]

Yeah, thanks. Been looking for this for like 20 years. Unbelievable. If you were a gal I would kiss you, man.

I love this movie. A slightly better one is Marcy Humph's Night of Golden Memories. With much the same cast except no Matt Dillon. The ending is golden.

[SaintForeverBlue]

Correction: Make that "Wandy Hickey's Night of Golden Memories," except I could swear there is also a "Marcy Humph's Night of Golden Memories" too. Maybe the latter was the story written in Playboy in the early 1970s.

Someone set me straight on the two movies, pls.

[2706588]

You ROCK! Thanks so much for posting this. It was a family tradition to watch the VHS tape we made of this every year on the 4th. Unfortunately, considering we recorded the video off of PBS over 20 years ago, the tape finally died a few years back. So happy to see this again; if I didn't have so much work to do today, I'd watch the whole thing right now at 7:30 am!

[arodwh99]

Thank you very much for posting this. I have many fond memories of watching this every 4th of July since I was a kid until, literally last year when the VHS tape finally died. I contacted WGBH in Boston and they said that "the rights clearnce costs are prohibitive...When those rights expire, the permission to copy the show, or use the show in any way, is no longer ours to give. We have been looking to clear these rights for two years but the costs are out of reach for the time being." Oh well...

[rhd1974]

Without question, this is the thing to watch on the 4th of July! I have done this the last few years. It's a tradition.

I do remember seeing this on the Disney Channel about 20 years ago. The thing that intrigued me was whether a young Matt Dillon actually played the sousaphone or did someone play it in the background. As a tuba player myself, I would say that Dillon acutally played the sousa in those scenes. Not bad for him.

[billybobsmith44]

I remember seeing this on PBS like when I was 6 or 7. The next time I viewed it was 10 years ago at the Museum of TV and Radio. Now it's on youtube for everyone to enjoy. THE BEST!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thanks for posting, Jean would be pleased to see it here.

[ohio5770]

THANK YOU VERY MUCH FOR POSTING THIS! My birthday is on the 4th and watching this movie was a family tradition during my childhood. Unfortunately the tape is so old we stopped watching it about 5 years ago and I've been looking for a copy of it. The Christmas Story is great but I think this is Jean Sheperds best work!