Home Alone

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For the sequels to this movie, see Home Alone 2: Lost in New York, Home Alone 3 and Home Alone 4.
Home Alone

Home Alone Movie Poster
Directed by Chris Columbus
Produced by John Hughes
Written by John Hughes
Starring Macaulay Culkin
Joe Pesci
Daniel Stern
John Heard
and
Catherine O'Hara
Distributed by 20th Century Fox
Release date(s) November 16, 1990 (USA)
Running time 1 hr. 43 min.
Language English
Budget $15,000,000 US (est.)
Followed by Home Alone 2
Home Alone 3
Home Alone 4
All Movie Guide profile
IMDb profile

Home Alone is a 1990 comedy film starring Macaulay Culkin as Kevin McCallister, an eight-year-old who is mistakenly left behind when his family flies to France for a Christmas vacation. While initially relishing his time alone, he is later threatened with two house burglars, whom he outwits by rigging the house with booby traps.

Most of the film was shot in the Chicago suburbs of Winnetka, Illinois and Wilmette, Illinois. Any other shots, such as those of Paris, are either stock footage or faked.

The movie made Macaulay Culkin a celebrity. The film also features Joe Pesci and Daniel Stern as the "Wet Bandits," a bumbling pair of burglars named Harry and Marv who try to rob the McCallister home, believing it to be an easy mark with the family absent. Harry is best known for saying "ratcha fatcha" whenever pain is inflicted on him. The duo, unfortunately for themselves, run into numerous booby traps set by the resourceful Kevin throughout the house. It becomes apparent, however, that although they may get knocked back, they are getting stronger. Catherine O'Hara, Roberts Bossom, and John Heard also co-star.

Minor roles are played by Gerry Bamman, Devin Ratray, Kieran Culkin (Macaulay's younger brother), Michael C. Maronna, Hillary Wolf, and Angela Goethals. In addition, John Candy, a frequent collaborator of writer/producer John Hughes, has a supporting role as a polka band player. John Williams created the musical score, which was nominated for an Oscar.

Contents

[edit] Plot

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

After an argument with his family during dinner sends him to the 3rd floor bedroom for the night, Kevin McCallister wishes his family would simply disappear. After a powerline failure which neutralizes all the alarm clocks, the rest of the family rushes to leave suburban Chicago to go on a Christmas vacation to France. In the confusion, Kevin is accidentally left home alone and experiences what it is like to be independent for the first time. This independence has some good sides (such as being able to sleep in his parents' king-sized bed) and some bad sides (such as having to go into the scary basement alone). He also is wary of his neighbor, Marley, a.k.a. "The South Bend Shovel Slayer", a supposed murderer who eerily keeps to himself. The two end up meeting at church on Christmas Eve, and Marley turns out to be a good person, who didn't murder his family, but had a fight with them, especially his son, and now lives in seclusion over the fear of what might happen if he talks to them again. Kevin suggests that Marley try to contact them and make up, since things aren't going to get any better for him or his family if he does nothing.

The last third of the film deals with Kevin's discovery of the Wet Bandits' plans to loot his house and how he stops them from achieving this goal with traps made from household objects, including an iron to the face, a nail through the foot, a red-hot doorknob, and paint cans flung from the top of the stairs, even firing on them with his older brother's BB gun.

Eventually the Wet Bandits — bruised and battered by all of Kevin's traps — are able to get into the house and capture Kevin. Just as they are contemplating how they plan to carry out their revenge, Marley arrives to smack each of the burglars on the head with his shovel, knocking them out until the police arrive to take them into custody. Kevin is finally reunited with his family, with his mother succeeding in escaping the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton International Airport during a blizzard. In the last scene, Marley, reunited with his family too, waves to Kevin and smiles, then Buzz shouts about Kevin messing up his room, reflecting one of the events that happened earlier in the film.

[edit] Characters

The main characters include:

  • Macaulay Culkin) as Kevin McCallister: an eight-year-old kid living in suburban Chicago whose parents accidentally leave him at home when they go on a family vacation to Paris.
  • Joe Pesci as Harry Lyme: the smarter of the two criminals known as the "Wet Bandits," whose plan it is to loot every house on the McCallister's wealthy suburban neighborhood before the residents come home from their Christmas vacations. He often mutters "ratcha fatcha" whenever he falls into one of Kevin's traps.
  • Daniel Stern as Marv Murchens: the sillier of the two "Wet Bandits." He foolishly leaves the water taps running in every house he and Harry rob (hence the Wet Bandits name) in order to become famous. But his smart side also comes to the surface at one point when he tries to persuade Harry not to try robbing the McCallisters' house with Kevin there.
  • Roberts Blossom as Old Man Marley: the neighborhood salt man who is viewed as the alleged "South Bend Shovel Slayer."
  • 'Catherine O'Hara) as Kate McCallister: Kevin McCallister's mother. Loses her son and gets stuck in a blizzard at the airport in Scranton, Pennsylvania. She desperately tries to get back to him at all costs, even if she has to "sell her soul to the devil himself."

[edit] Injuries suffered by robbers

[edit] Harry

  • Shot in the groin with a BB gun.
  • Slipped twice on the slippery front concrete steps.
  • Burned his palm on the red-hot monogrammed doorknob, leaving a scar in the shape of an "M" on his palm from the emblem on the door knob.
  • Head burnt by a blow torch.
  • Walked straight into a glue-covered piece of Saran Wrap, then blasted in the face by feathers.
  • Tripped over a wire and hurt his back.
  • Whacked in the chest with a crowbar by Marv, who was trying to kill Buzz's tarantula, Axl.

[edit] Marv

  • Shot in the forehead with a BB gun.
  • Slipped down the icy concrete stairs that led to Kevin's basement.
  • Smashed in the face by an iron.
  • Stepped on a long nail barefoot, after losing his shoes and socks on the tar-covered stairs leading upstairs from the basement.
  • Slips on icy concrete landing, making crowbar fall on his head.
  • Steps on baubles and sharp Christmas ornaments barefoot.
  • Had Axl the tarantula put on his face by Kevin, which although not actually hurting him, scared him silly.
  • Whacked three times by Harry in the arm with the same crowbar Marv had already hit him with.
  • Fell down stairs backwards.

[edit] Both

  • Slipped on Micro Machines at the foot of the stairs.
  • Hit in the face by paint cans while climbing the stairs (Harry winds up losing his gold tooth, which infuriates him).
  • Hit against the outside wall after Kevin cuts the rope they were hanging from.
  • Whacked in the head by Old Man Marley with his snow shovel.

According to a study done by Mick Foley for his book Foley is Good, many of the injuries suffered in this movie would have resulted in serious injury and/or death.[citation needed]

Spoilers end here.

[edit] Taglines

  • A Family Comedy Without The Family.
  • When the McAllister family left on their Christmas vacation, they forgot one small thing...Kevin.
  • Yesterday, he was just a kid. But, tonight, he's a home security system!

[edit] Video games

Home Alone video games were released for eight video game systems: NES, Sega Genesis, SNES, Sega Game Gear, Game Boy, Sega Master System, Amiga and PC.

  • The first Home Alone game was released in 1991.
  • The Home Alone NES game is a cult classic game beloved in vintage game circles for its odd gameplay, quirky glitches, and extremely easy difficulty.
  • The Home Alone game on the SNES system was the first to use screen captures and character's voices from the movie in its gameplay.
  • A video game titled Home Alone was released for the PS2 in 2006.

[edit] Sequels

Culkin, Pesci, Stern, and most of the McCallister family members only appeared in the first sequel. Home Alone 3 had an entirely different plotline and cast, whereas Home Alone 4 was a continuation of the first two movies, but with completely different actors.

[edit] Box office

In its opening weekend, Home Alone made $17 million from 1,202 theaters, averaging $14,211 per site and just 6% of the final total. In total, its cinema run grossed $477,561,243 worldwide.[1]

By the time it had run its course in theaters, Home Alone was the third highest grossing movie of all time, according to the home video box.

Home Alone proved so popular that it stayed in theaters well past the Christmas season, and stayed at the #1 spot at the box office from the weekend of November 16-18, 1990 (when it was released) through the weekend of February 1-3, 1991. It would remain a top 10 draw at the box office until the weekend of April 26 that year, which was well past Easter weekend. It would make two more appearances in the top 10 (the weekend of May 31-June 2 and the weekend of June 14-16) before falling out of the top 10 for good.[2]

[edit] Trivia

This article contains a trivia section.
Content in this section should be integrated into other appropriate areas of the article or removed, and the trivia section removed.
  • It was known that after all the cussing in Goodfellas, Pesci (who ad libs a lot) had a difficult time holding back actual profanity in scenes of acting out pain and anger. A number of times, "motherfucker" would slip out, and the scene would have to be reshot.[citation needed]
  • The roles of Marv and Harry were reportedly offered to Robert De Niro and Danny DeVito respectively.[citation needed] De Niro and DeVito turned them down in favour of Daniel Stern and Joe Pesci, the latter happening to be a close friend of De Niro.
  • The gangster movies watched by Kevin in Home Alone (called Angels with Filthy Souls) and Home Alone 2: Lost in New York (Angels with Even Filthier Souls) are not real movies but rather specially created footage, inspired by 1938 Oscar-nominee Angels with Dirty Faces.
  • The film that the family is watching while at their Uncle Rob's house in France is It's a Wonderful Life (1946) in French. The scene shown is when George Bailey tells Mr. Potter he doesn't need 24 hours to think over his offer and the answer's no.
  • The issue of Playboy magazine that Kevin finds in Buzz's room is from July 1989. The centerfold for that month was Erika Eleniak.
  • The posters and DVD cases for the movie had Culkin with his hands on his face and screaming, based on the famous painting "The Scream" by Edvard Munch.
  • Professional wrestler-turned-author Mick Foley referenced this movie and its sequel Home Alone 2 to prove that a PG rated movie is more violent than an episode of Monday Night Raw.
  • During a special week of Late Night with Conan O'Brien filmed in Chicago in 2006, a segment featured the show's announcer Joel Godard visiting the locations of famous films set in Chicago. The McAllister home was featured and had Godard reenact the break-in from occurred the movie. Godard opened a window, before the unseen owner shot him. The camera faded to a memorial for Joel, stating his birth and death dates.

[edit] References

  1. ^ Home Alone at BoxOfficeMojo.com
  2. ^ Home Alone total gross at BoxOfficeMojo.com

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

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