National Lampoon's European Vacation

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National Lampoon's European Vacation
National Lampoon's Europen Vacation movie poster
Directed by	Amy Heckerling
Produced by	Matty Simmons
Written by	John Hughes Robert Klane
Starring	Chevy Chase Beverly D'Angelo Dana Hill Jason Lively
Music by	Charles Fox
Cinematography	Robert Paynter
Editing by	Pembroke J. Herring
Distributed by	Warner Bros.
Release date(s)	26 July 1985
Running time	95 min.
Country	USA
Language	English
Preceded by	Vacation
Followed by	Christmas Vacation
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IMDb profile

National Lampoon's European Vacation is a 1985 comedy film, second in the Vacation series, directed by Amy Heckerling and starring Chevy Chase and Beverly D'Angelo. Dana Hill and Jason Lively replace Dana Barron and Anthony Michael Hall (both of whom declined to reprise their roles from the first film) as Griswold children Audrey and Rusty.

1 Plot
2 Landmarks
3 Trivia
4 Follows
5 Sequels
6 External links

[edit] Plot

The film's plot is another family misadventure, full of over-the-top slapstick. Chase and D'Angelo continue portraying the married couple Clark and Ellen Griswold with two children, Rusty and Audrey, living in suburban Chicago. The family competes in a game show called "Pig in a Poke" (which was based on Family Feud, but had the families wear pig costumes) and wins an all expense paid trip to Europe. In a whirlwind tour of western Europe, chaos of all sorts ensues. Their fleabag London hotel desk clerk is a sloppy, tattooed Cockney wearing a tank top. Clark drives his family endlessly round the busy Picadilly Circus roundabout for hours, unable to maneuver his way out of traffic. His wrong-way driving habits cause him to repeatedly knock over and injure the same frightened bicyclist (Eric Idle) who reappears in different scenes as if by coincidence, each time wearing more bandages than in the scene before. At Stonehenge, Clark backs their car into a priceless, ancient stone monolith, knocking all the stones down like dominos, which they do not even notice happened as they happily leave the scene. In Paris, Rusty throws his beret cap off the Eiffel Tower observation deck, causing a lady's poodle to jump off after it; later young Rusty meets a hooker at a bawdy Paris can-can dance show. The Griswolds burst in on a bewildered, elderly German village couple who they mistakenly think are relatives but who serve them dinner anyhow, not knowing each other's languages. Clark manages to turn a lively thigh-slapping Bavarian folk dance stage performance into an all-out street brawl, after which he, fleeing hastily, gets their car stuck in a too-narrow medieval archway after knocking down several street vendors' stands. In Rome the family are kidnapped by terrorists and held for ransom. The family's movie camera is stolen by a slick confidence man at a Paris fountain; sometime afterward, private sexy pictures of Mrs. Griswold from the camera, appear on large billboards advertising a porn movie, much to her embarrassment. The family members get on each others' nerves while riding together in a train compartment. Lovestruck daughter Audrey runs up exorbitant overseas telephone charges repeatedly calling her American boyfriend, and leaves the family, anxious to fly back alone to see him.

Cameo appearances are made by John Astin (playing game show host "Kent Winkdale"), Moon Unit Zappa, Robbie Coltrane, Ballard Berkeley, Eric Idle and a musical appearance by The Power Station ("Some Like It Hot").

[edit] Landmarks

Famous landmarks and sights appearing as the family tours England, France, Germany, and Italy include:

London's Tower Bridge
Buckingham Palace
Heathrow International Airport
Big Ben
Palace of Westminster
Stonehenge (which they accidentally knock down with their car like dominos)
Paris' Left Bank
Eiffel Tower
Louvre museum
Notre Dame de Paris cathedral
Rome's Colosseum
United States' Statue of Liberty (the torch of which their plane crashes into and knocks over)

[edit] Trivia

This was the only Vacation movie that did not feature Randy Quaid's "Cousin Eddie" character.
The Griswolds fly Pan Am airways to and from Europe
Scenes supposedly taking place in West Germany were actually shot in Italy (Brixen).
During Rusty's dream sequence, we hear "Some Like it Hot" by The Power Station.