- National Lampoon's Vacation
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National Lampoon's Vacation 
Theatrical poster, illustrated by Boris VallejoDirected by Harold Ramis Produced by Matty Simmons Written by John Hughes Starring Chevy Chase
Beverly D'Angelo
Anthony Michael Hall
Dana Barron
Randy Quaid
Imogene CocaMusic by Score:
Ralph Burns
Songs:
Lindsey BuckinghamCinematography Victor J. Kemper, ASC Editing by Pembroke J. Herring Distributed by Warner Bros. Release date(s) July 29, 1983 Running time 99 minutes Country United States Language English Budget $15 million Box office $61,399,552 Vacation, sometimes referred as National Lampoon's Vacation, is a 1983 comedy film directed by Harold Ramis and starring Chevy Chase, Beverly D'Angelo, Randy Quaid, Dana Barron and Anthony Michael Hall. The film features numerous others, such as comedians John Candy and Imogene Coca, model Christie Brinkley, and Jane Krakowski, in smaller roles.
The screenplay was written by John Hughes, based on his short story in National Lampoon Magazine, Vacation '58 (the screenplay changes the year to 1983). The original story is a (reportedly) fictionalized account of his own family's ill-fated trip to Disneyland (changed to Walley World for the film) when Hughes was a boy. The success of the film helped advance his screenwriting career.
National Lampoon's Vacation was a significant box-office hit, earning more than $61 million in the United States with an estimated budget of $15 million. In 2000, readers of Total Film magazine voted National Lampoon's Vacation the 46th greatest comedy film of all time. It is widely considered to be the best film in National Lampoon's series of Vacation films, and continues to be a popular film and a staple on cable television channels. It also currently garners a 94% "fresh" rating on Rotten Tomatoes.[1]
Contents
Plot
Clark Griswold (Chase), wanting to spend more time with wife Ellen (D'Angelo) and children Rusty and Audrey (Hall and Barron), decides to lead the family on a cross-country expedition from Chicago to the Los Angeles amusement park, "Walley World", billed as "America's Favorite Family Fun Park". Although Ellen wants to fly, he insists on driving, so he can bond with his family. In preparation, Clark has ordered a new sports wagon for the trip, but when he finds it is not ready in time for the trip, is forced to take a failing behemoth Wagon Queen Family Truckster.
As the family travels, they have several mishaps, such as being tagged by vandals while in St. Louis, while Clark is tempted several times by a voluptuous young woman (Brinkley) driving a flashy red Ferrari 308 GTS. They stop in Coolidge, Kansas to visit Ellen's cousin Catherine (Miriam Flynn) and her husband Eddie (Quaid), but this creates more tension among the Griswolds. Catherine and Eddie foist crotchety old Aunt Edna (Coca) and her dog Dinky on the Griswolds, asking them to drop her off at her son Normy's home in Phoenix. After a failed attempt to enjoy a picnic, Clark forgets to untie Dinky from the car before leaving, killing the dog.
While Ellen and Clark argue, they become stranded in the desert, and Clark eventually finds a mechanic that scams him out of the rest of his cash to fix the car. Frustrated, they stop at the Grand Canyon; when Clark cannot convince a hotel clerk to take a check, he takes cash from the hotel's cash register but leaves behind the check. Leaving the Canyon, they find that Aunt Edna passed away in her sleep. When they reach Normy's home, they discover he is out of town, and leave Edna's rigor mortised body in the backyard.
Despite all the events and the begging of Ellen and the kids, Clark is more determined to get to Walley World. They finally arrive the next day to find the park closed for repairs. Clark, slipping into madness, buys a realistic-looking BB gun and demands a park security guard Russ Lasky (John Candy) to take them through the park; Ellen and kids follow him, attempting to placate their father. Eventually the SWAT team arrives along with park owner Roy Walley (Eddie Bracken). Roy understands Clark's impassioned epitome of the American Vacation, bringing back memories of his own childhood years ago. Roy does not file charges against the Griswolds, and lets the family enjoy the park as his guests. The credits show various photographs of the Griswolds enjoying the rest of the vacation, including returning to Chicago via plane.
Cast
- Chevy Chase as Clark Griswold
- Beverly D'Angelo as Ellen Griswold
- Imogene Coca as Aunt Edna
- Anthony Michael Hall as Russell "Rusty" Griswold
- Dana Barron as Audrey Griswold
- Randy Quaid as Cousin Eddie
- Christie Brinkley as Girl in Red Ferrari
- John Candy as Officer Russ Lasky
- Eddie Bracken as Roy Walley
- Brian Doyle-Murray as Kamp Komfort Clerk
- Miriam Flynn as Cousin Catherine
- James Keach as Motorcycle Cop
- Eugene Levy as Ed the Car Salesman
- Gerry Black as Davenport
- Frank McRae as Officer Grover
- Jane Krakowski as Cousin Vicki
- John P. Navin Jr. as Cousin Dale
- Nathan Cook as Man Giving Directions
- Mickey Jones as Mechanic
- John Diehl as Assistant Mechanic
- Michael Talbott as Cowboy
- Henry Gibson as El Tovar hotel clerk (uncredited)
- Randy Lowell as Wyatt Earp (as Randolph Dreyfuss)
- James Staley as Motel Desk Clerk
Disney references
Walley World itself is a good-natured parody of Walt Disney's Disneyland, based on the Anaheim location. The name of the mascot, Marty Moose, is reminiscent of Disney's Mickey Mouse (although the statue actually looks and sounds more like Jay Ward's creation, Bullwinkle), and the "Marty Moose theme song" that the family sings in the car is a parody of the Mickey Mouse Club theme song. Finally, Roy Walley himself is a pastiche of both Walt Disney and Roy O. Disney, right down to the thin mustache.
Walley World locations
Walley World is represented in the film by Santa Anita Park in Arcadia, California and Six Flags Magic Mountain in Valencia, California. Santa Anita Park's large parking lot and blue-tinged fascia serve as the introduction scenes, while all park interior scenes were shot at Magic Mountain. The two roller coasters seen in the film are Revolution, which can be recognized by the vertical loop, and Colossus, the double-track wooden roller coaster.
Sequels
National Lampoon's Vacation spawned a number of sequels:
- National Lampoon's European Vacation (1985)
- National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation (1989)
- Vegas Vacation (1997)
- National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation 2: Cousin Eddie's Island Adventure (2003)
- Hotel Hell Vacation (2010)
With the exception of National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation 2: Cousin Eddie's Island Adventure, each sequel saw Chevy Chase and Beverly D'Angelo reprise their roles as Clark and Ellen Griswold, enduring their unique and unenviable brand of vacation misadventure in various locales. However, the children Rusty and Audrey are played by a different set of actors in each film (except for Audrey in the last sequel). This fact is joked about early in Vegas Vacation: when we first see the kids again, Clark tells them that he "hardly recognizes" them anymore. The various actors were Anthony Michael Hall and Dana Barron in Vacation, Jason Lively and Dana Hill in European Vacation, Johnny Galecki and Juliette Lewis in Christmas Vacation, and Ethan Embry and Marisol Nichols in Vegas Vacation. Dana Barron again plays Audrey in Christmas Vacation 2, but Rusty, like his parents, could not make it for Cousin Eddie's Island Adventure, an NBC TV movie. However, Miriam Flynn and Randy Quaid reprise their roles as cousins Catherine and Eddie, as they did in each film aside from European Vacation. Christie Brinkley reprised her role as The girl in the red Ferrari in the 1997 sequel Vegas Vacation[2] and later spoofed it in a 2008 DirecTV commercial interspliced with footage from Vacation, recreating the famous swimming pool scene.[3]
Each sequel also manages to reference Walley World in some way.
Legacy
- HomeAway, Inc. hired Chevy Chase and Beverly D'Angelo to reprise their roles once again in an advertisement campaign to be aired during Super Bowl XLIV.[4]
- The teaser to Episode 2 of Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated, "The Creeping Creatures", consisted of an homage to the scene from the movie where the Griswold family is lost in a rundown area of East St. Louis. In the teaser, a family consisting of a Dad, Mom (voiced by Beverly D'Angelo), daughter and dog are lost on their way to Manhattan. They stop to refuel what is clearly a Wagon Queen Family Truckster when they encounter the gator monster central to the episode's mystery.
- Wally World Water Park opened in Canada several years after the release of the film.
- In the Family Guy episode Blue Harvest, a parody of the first Star Wars film, Chevy Chase and Beverly D'Angelo reprised their roles from National Lampoon's Vacation, in a cameo as Clark and Ellen Griswold.
Songs
The soundtrack to the film has been released on LP. In 2003, a limited edition CD (20,000 copies, individually numbered) was released at Six Flags Magic Mountain in Los Angeles, where the movie was filmed. The song "Holiday Road" by Lindsey Buckingham was featured in this movie and served as the main theme song. It was also used in two of the sequels: 1985's National Lampoon's European Vacation and 1997's Vegas Vacation.
Buckingham also composed "Dancin' Across The USA", another song on the Vacation soundtrack.
As the Griswolds are leaving Chicago, and the camera flies over the car, the Ramones song "Blitzkrieg Bop" is playing.
When Audrey and Cousin Vicki are talking in the bedroom, the song "He's So Dull" by Vanity 6 is playing.
When Clark sees Christie Brinkley's character at the park, "Little Boy Sweet" by June Pointer is playing in the background
In some versions, when Christie Brinkley's character is on the road, "Little Boy Sweet" is also playing in the background; however, several versions substitute "I'm So Excited" by The Pointer Sisters.
While the Griswolds run to the main entrance of Walley World, Vangelis' "Chariots of Fire" is playing.
The movie also features the "Walley World National Anthem", which is sung by the Griswold family while leaving Chicago (music by Bruce Belland and Roy Rogosin, lyrics by John Hughes, Bruce Belland and Roy Rogosin). Its tune and lyrics parody those of the theme song from The Mickey Mouse Club. The lyrics are:
“ Who's the moosiest moose we know?
Marty Moose!
Who's the star of our favorite show?
Marty Moose!
M is for Merry, we're merry you see;
O is for Oh gosh, Oh golly, Oh gee;
S is for Super Swell family glee;
E is for Everything you want to be.
M - A - R - T - Y;
M - O - O - S - E.
What's that spell?
Marty Moose!
Marty Moose!
Marty Moose!
(Hyuk), that's me!” References
- ^ http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/national_lampoons_vacation/
- ^ "Christie Brinkley filmography in The New York Times". New York Times. http://movies.nytimes.com/person/8503/Christie-Brinkley/filmography. Retrieved 2009-09-16.
- ^ "Christie Brinkley Takes It Off For DirecTV". http://www.etonline.com/news/2008/05/61799/.
- ^ "HomeAway Brings Back Griswolds". http://news.cnet.com/8301-13577_3-10441653-36.html.
External links
- Vacation (1983) at the Internet Movie Database
- National Lampoon's Vacation at AllRovi
- National Lampoon's Vacation at the 80s Movie Gateway
- "Vacation '58" by John Hughes (online text)
National Lampoon's Vacation series Films Characters Related "Holiday Road" • Hotel Hell Vacation • Wagon Queen Family Truckster • National LampoonFilms directed by Harold Ramis 1980s 1990s 2000s John Hughes Director
and writerSixteen Candles (1984) • The Breakfast Club (1985) • Weird Science (1985) • Ferris Bueller's Day Off (1986) • Planes, Trains and Automobiles (1987) • She's Having a Baby (1988) • Uncle Buck (1989) • Curly Sue (1991)Writer National Lampoon's Class Reunion (1982) • Mr. Mom (1983) • National Lampoon's Vacation (1983) • Nate and Hayes (1983) • National Lampoon's European Vacation (1985) • Pretty in Pink (1986) • Some Kind of Wonderful (1987) • The Great Outdoors (1988) • National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation (1989) • Home Alone (1990) • Career Opportunities (1991) • Dutch (1991) • Beethoven (1992) • Home Alone 2: Lost in New York (1992) • Dennis the Menace (1993) • Baby's Day Out (1994) • Miracle on 34th Street (1994) • 101 Dalmatians (1996) • Flubber (1997) • Home Alone 3 (1997) • Reach the Rock (1998) • Just Visiting (2001) • Maid in Manhattan (2002) • Drillbit Taylor (2008)Categories:- 1983 films
- American films
- English-language films
- 1980s comedy films
- Animal cruelty in fiction
- Films directed by Harold Ramis
- Films set in Arizona
- Films shot in Arizona
- Films set in Colorado
- Films shot in Colorado
- Films set in Illinois
- Films shot in Illinois
- Films set in Kansas
- Films set in Missouri
- Films shot in Missouri
- Films set in Chicago, Illinois
- Films shot in Chicago, Illinois
- National Lampoon films
- Road movies
- Warner Bros. films
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