National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation
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| National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation | |
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 Theatrical release poster |
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| Directed by | Jeremiah Chechik |
| Produced by | John Hughes Matty Simmons |
| Written by | John Hughes |
| Starring | Chevy Chase Beverly D'Angelo Juliette Lewis Johnny Galecki John Randolph Diane Ladd |
| Music by | Angelo Badalamenti |
| Cinematography | Thomas E. Ackerman |
| Editing by | Jerry Greenberg |
| Distributed by | Warner Bros. |
| Release date(s) | December 1, 1989 |
| Running time | 97 min. |
| Country | USA |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $27 million |
| Gross revenue | $71.32 million |
| Preceded by | National Lampoon's European Vacation (1985) |
| Followed by | Vegas Vacation (1997) |
| Allmovie profile | |
| IMDb profile | |
National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation is a 1989 comedy film directed by Jeremiah S. Chechik. It is the third installment in the National Lampoon's Vacation series of films. The title song of the same name was written for the movie by the husband-wife song writing team of Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil.
It stars Chevy Chase as Clark Griswold, Beverly D'Angelo as Ellen Griswold, Johnny Galecki as Rusty Griswold and Juliette Lewis as Audrey Griswold. Randy Quaid and Miriam Flynn reprise their roles as, respectively, "Cousin Eddie" and "Cousin Catherine," from the first National Lampoon's Vacation film.
Other supporting roles are played by Brian Doyle-Murray (who also appeared in the original Vacation film, although in a different and smaller role), E. G. Marshall, Doris Roberts, John Randolph, Diane Ladd, Nicholas Guest, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, William Hickey, Cody Burger, Ellen Hamilton Latzen and Sam McMurray. This was also Mae Questel's last role before her death.
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[edit] Plot
Chicago resident Clark Wilhelm Griswold Jr (Chevy Chase) has REALLY got the Christmas spirit this year. Clark is taking his wife Ellen (Beverly D'Angelo), son Rusty (Johnny Galecki), and daughter Audrey (Juliette Lewis) on the search for a perfect Christmas tree.
After aggravating nearby motorists, getting stuck under a big rig, and walking in the woods for a long time, Clark and his family finally find a tree. He digs the huge tree out of the ground because he forgot the saw.
At home, Clark breaks several windows and gets covered in tree sap setting it up, as it barely fits in the yard, let alone the living room. The Griswold's snobby next door neighbors, Todd Chester (Nicholas Guest) and his wife Margo (Julia Louis-Dreyfus), have constant disdain toward Clark, and they make fun of the tree.
Clark has invited Ellen's parents Arthur Smith (E. G. Marshall) and Frances Smith (Doris Roberts), his own parents Clark Wilhelm Griswold Sr (John Randolph) and Nora Griswold (Diane Ladd), and his Aunt Bethany (Mae Questel) and Uncle Lewis (William Hickey) to spend the holidays at the Griswold house in Chicago.
While shopping for gifts at a downtown Chicago department store, Clark meets an attractive saleswoman named Mary (Nicolette Scorsese). He makes a series of Freudian slips to her on their encounter.
Clark has been working on a project at his firm which he expects will bring in a good Christmas bonus. Clark plans to use the bonus to put in a swimming pool, on which he has already laid down a $7,500 check that his bank account can't cover yet. He's hoping his Christmas bonus from work will cover it.
As Christmas approaches, the many members of Clark's extended family begin arriving to stay with him. Clark and Ellen's parents are the first to arrive. This drives Clark to go set up the lighting on the house with his son Rusty.
During the struggle to put the lights on, Clark falls off the ladder and hangs to a gutter, which causes a gutter-shaped bar of ice to break through the Chesters' window and break their stereo. Clark covers nearly every inch of the home's exterior and yard with lights -- 250 strands of lights with 100 bulbs on each strand for a total of 25,000 light bulbs.
Clark becomes very frustrated after many failed attempts to get the lights working. Unknown to him, the electricity wasn't on to begin with. Ellen realizes this and heads to the garage and flips a light switch, lighting the house (and causing the power company turn on their auxiliary nuclear generator), and blinding Todd and Margo, causing them to accidentally damage their own carpet.
After the lights are up and running, Ellen's cousin Catherine (Miriam Flynn), her sloppy husband Eddie (Randy Quaid), and two of their kids, Rocky (Cody Burger) and Ruby Sue (Ellen Hamilton Latzen), show up to stay with the Griswolds for a month, with their dilapidated, rusty RV parked in the driveway.
Stifling his disappointment at their surprise arrival proves difficult for Clark. However, Clark and Ellen are concerned about Eddie's children, as they won't have many, if any gifts, for Christmas, due to Eddie's seven year unemployment. Later, Clark fantasizes about Mary skinny-dipping in the pool he hopes to get.
On Christmas Eve, Uncle Lewis and Aunt Bethany arrive for dinner. Numerous disasters occur that evening: The turkey is cooked for far too long and dries out, Bethany's cat is electrocuted when it chews on a strand of Christmas lights, and Lewis accidentally burns the Christmas tree down, forcing Clark to quickly search for a replacement.
Clark takes one from his yard and sets it up (while doing this, the tree breaks through the Chesters' window), and inside the house, a manic squirrel leaps out of the tree and "terrorizes" the family before jumping onto Margo followed by Eddie's dog as she comes over with the intention to slug Clark for the damages he caused them.
A delivery from the company arrives at the house that evening, with Clark expecting it to be the long-awaited bonus. Unfortunately, Clark's boss, a scrooge named Frank Shirley (Brian Doyle Murray), has sent Clark an enrollment in the "Jelly of the Month" club.
Now Clark has reached his boiling point, going through several outbursts out of severe frustration. The family attempts to leave due to the events of the evening, but Clark says they're not leaving.
This situation gives Eddie the idea for the perfect Christmas gift for Clark after Clark offers to help Eddie treat Rocky and Ruby Sue to a good Christmas -- Eddie goes to Frank's house and brings Frank to the Griswold house, and then Eddie and the Griswolds help Frank see the error of his ways about the Christmas bonuses.
Frank changes his mind, deciding that he will give out Christmas bonuses this year, adding 20% to what the bonuses were last year -- more than enough to cover the check Clark wrote to pay for the pool. The police, called by Frank's wife Helen (Natalia Nogulich), raid the home, but Frank explains that it's all a misunderstanding while Helen disagrees with Frank's original intent to cut the Christmas bonuses.
Outside, Uncle Lewis' cigar ignites the gas from the sewage Eddie had earlier dumped down the street drain while emptying the holding tank on his RV, blasting a Santa ornament into the sky. Everyone watches the strange but touching sight, as Clark realizes his dream of the perfect family Christmas, saying simply: "I did it."
[edit] Cast
- Chevy Chase as Clark Wilhelm "Sparky" Griswold, Jr.
- Beverly D'Angelo as Ellen Smith Griswold
- Juliette Lewis as Audrey Griswold
- Johnny Galecki as Russell "Rusty" Griswold
- John Randolph as Clark Wilhelm Griswold, Sr.
- Diane Ladd as Nora Griswold
- E.G. Marshall as Art Smith
- Doris Roberts as Frances Smith
- Randy Quaid as Cousin Edward "Eddie" Johnson
- Miriam Flynn as Cousin Catherine Johnson
- Cody Burger as Cousin Rocky Johnson
- Ellen Hamilton Latzen as Cousin Ruby Sue Johnson
- William Hickey as Uncle Lewis
- Mae Questel as Aunt Bethany
- Sam McMurray as Bill
- Nicholas Guest as Todd Chester
- Julia Louis-Dreyfus as Margo Chester
- Brian Doyle-Murray as Mr. Frank Shirley
[edit] Reception
[edit] Box office performance
The movie debuted at #1 at the box-office while grossing $11,750,203 during the opening weekend. It went on to gross a total of $71,319,546 in the United States while showing in movie theaters. In addition to its box-office performance, the movie has made $34,800,000 in rental profits.[1] [2]
[edit] Sequels
This is the only sequel in the Vacation series to have spawned its own sequel: a direct to video 2003 release entitled National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation 2: Cousin Eddie's Island Adventure. Randy Quaid and Miriam Flynn returned as Eddie and Catherine, along with Dana Barron again appearing as Audrey, which she played in Vacation, and Eric Idle, who played "The Bike Rider" in European Vacation reprises the role, only this time being credited as "British Man on Plane". (In both films, Idle is accidentally beaten to a bloody pulp by the main characters.)
Christmas Vacation is preceded in the Vacation series by:
Christmas Vacation is followed in the series by:
- Vegas Vacation (1997)
- National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation 2: Cousin Eddie's Island Adventure (2003)
[edit] Television broadcast
The broadcast television rights to Christmas Vacation are held by NBC, which currently airs a censored version of the movie every December, usually on a Sunday night. In 2006, NBC did not air the movie, which instead appeared on TBS, which listed it six times on its schedule between Sunday, Dec. 17 and Sunday. Dec. 24, 2006. The TBS broadcast included some of the risque language of the theatrical release, including the series of double entendre remarks a flustered Clark utters when he encounters sexy department store saleswoman Mary (Nicolette Scorsese) at the negligee counter.
The CBC however, has no problem broadcasting the movie with some scenes that its American counterpart censors. For example, in the beginning of the film, Clark is antagonized by a couple of men in a truck. He flips them off. This is shown in Canada, but not in the USA.
TNT broke with tradition starting in September of 2007 by airing Christmas Vacation 6 times during the weekend of the 15th and 16th mixed between the original Vacation and Vegas Vacation. It is not known if NBC has made an agreement with TNT's regular programming and rights for the film, but the networks share coverage for sporting events such as the PGA and NASCAR races.
On December 19, 2007, the film made its debut on Turner Classic Movies.
[edit] References
- ^ http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?page=weekend&id=christmasvacation.htm Box Office Mojo box office information
- ^ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0097958/business IMDb box office and rental information
[edit] External links
- National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation at the Internet Movie Database
- National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation at Allmovie
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