Home Alone (film)

Home Alone
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Chris Columbus
Produced by	John Hughes
Written by	John Hughes
Starring	Macaulay Culkin Joe Pesci Daniel Stern John Heard Catherine O'Hara Roberts Blossom
Music by	John Williams
Cinematography	Julio Macat
Editing by	Raja Gosnell
Distributed by	20th Century Fox
Release date(s)	November 16, 1990 (1990-11-16)
Running time	103 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$18,000,000 (estimated)
Gross revenue	$476,684,675 (worldwide)[1]
Followed by	Home Alone 2: Lost in New York

Home Alone is a 1990 American comedy family film written and produced by John Hughes and directed by Chris Columbus. The film features Macaulay Culkin as Kevin McCallister, an eight-year-old boy, who is mistakenly left behind when his family flies to Paris for their Christmas vacation. While initially relishing time by himself, he is later greeted by two would-be burglars played by Daniel Stern and Joe Pesci. Kevin eventually manages to outwit them with a series of booby traps. The film also features Catherine O'Hara, John Heard, Devin Ratray and Roberts Blossom.

Home Alone is the highest grossing live-action comedy of all-time in the United States.^[2]

Plot

The McCallister family prepares to spend Christmas with Peter and Frank's brother Rob in Paris, France, gathering at Peter and Kate's home in Chicago the night before their flight. Eight-year-old Kevin, Peter and Kate's youngest son and the protagonist of the film, finds himself the subject of ridicule from the other children. After getting into an argument with his older brother Buzz because he ate Kevin's cheese pizza on purpose, he is sent to his third floor bedroom of the house, wishing his family would disappear. The family accidentally leaves Kevin asleep in bed, as a power outage resets the time and causes them to wake up late. A neighbor boy named Mitch Murphy is mistaken for Kevin in a headcount, and the family hastily departs to the Chicago O'Hare International Airport, for a flight to Paris-Orly Airport. During the flight, Kate realizes that they have left Kevin behind, and once everyone is in Paris, she immediately tries to book a return flight back to Chicago. Kate manages to fly into Dallas and Scranton, but the flight to Chicago was out of order. However, she does manage to hitch a ride with a man named Gus Polinski and his polka band, the Kenosha Kickers, who are driving to Milwaukee after their flight was canceled in a blizzard.

Meanwhile, Kevin wakes up to find the house empty and is overjoyed to find that his wish came true. He gets away with taking Buzz's life savings, practicing shooting Buzz's BB gun, jumping on the bed, watching a gangster film, and eating a large amount of junk food. However, Kevin finds himself scared by the appearance of the Chicago Police Department (called by his parents to check on Kevin via payphone from Paris-Orly), his next door neighbor "Old Man" Marley, who was rumored to have murdered his family many years earlier, and the appearance of The Wet Bandits, Harry Lyme and Marv Merchants, who are breaking into other vacant houses along the block. The Wet Bandits are aware of which houses are vacant, as Harry impersonated a police officer doing wellness checks on families before the holidays. On Christmas Eve, Kevin manages to overhear Harry and Marv discuss plans for breaking into his house that night. After conversing with a Santa Claus impersonator and watching a local choir perform in a church in hopes to have his family return, Kevin runs into Marley and comes to realize that he is a nice man and that none of the rumors about him are true. Kevin finds out that Marley has been estranged from his son for quite some time and suggests that he reunite with him for Christmas.

His own spirits lifted by encouraging Marley, Kevin returns home to prepare a series of booby traps about the house. Harry and Marv, who were initially fooled by Kevin's illusions that the house is occupied, now realize that he is home alone and attempt to break in, running into the various traps. After the two spring almost every trap in the house, Kevin flees to the second floor of the house, and dials 9-1-1 from a landline. Harry and Marv manage to chase Kevin out of the house; he then flees to the vacant neighboring home, which was unlocked and unoccupied. The Wet Bandits trap Kevin when he runs to the top of the stairs connecting the basement and the first floor. They decide to do the same things that Kevin did to them and Harry decides to bite Kevin's fingers one at a time first, but Marley knocks them out with his snow shovel and takes Kevin home. Shortly after Kevin is safely returned home, Harry and Marv are arrested. Additionally, the police were aware of every house The Wet Bandits have hit because of their habits of leaving the household's water running to leave their mark.

Kevin wakes up the next morning to find that his mother has returned. Shortly afterward, the rest of the McCallisters, having traveled directly to Chicago from Paris, arrive. Kevin keeps silent about his encounter with Harry and Marv, but Peter finds Harry's missing gold tooth and wonders what it is. Kevin and Buzz have a moment of reconciliation. Kevin then goes over to the window and discovers that Marley took his advice, and watches as he and his son reunite and reconcile, smiling. Marley looks up, sees Kevin and waves to him, and Kevin waves back. However, Buzz interrupts Kevin's musings by calling out, "Kevin! What did you do to my room?!". Immediately Kevin runs off and the film ends.

Cast

• Macaulay Culkin as Kevin McCallister: An eight year old who comes from a big family and usually gets into trouble with his family. One night he wishes for his family to disappear and gets his wish but later on learns that it is not really fun being alone. He defends his house from two burglars by using booby traps.
• Joe Pesci as Harry Lyme: One of the burglars who tries to break into Kevin's house. He is the smarter of the two burglars.
• Daniel Stern as Marv Merchants: One of the burglars who tries to break into Kevin's house. He is the sillier of the two.
• Roberts Blossom as Old Man Marley: An old man and a neighbor of Kevin's who is said to have murdered his whole family, causing Kevin to run scared of him every time he sees him. Kevin finally meets him at church and learns that he is not scary nor a murderer. Instead, Marley is actually a recluse because of a fight he had with his son many years before. He confides to Kevin that one can be a little old for a lot of things, but is never too old to be afraid (something Kevin agrees with). Kevin suggests he try reuniting with his son for Christmas, and at the end of the film, Marley has done just that. He waves to Kevin as his way of thanking him, and Kevin waves back while smiling proudly and also watching from the living room window of his house.
• Catherine O'Hara as Kate McCallister: Kevin's mom and the mother of four more children.
• John Heard as Peter McCallister: Kevin's dad and the father of four more children.
• Devin Ratray as Buzz McCallister: Kevin's older brother. He likes to play tricks on him and getting him into trouble.
• Kristin Minter as Heather McCallister: Kevin's cousin and daughter of Rob McCallister.
• Hillary Wolf as Megan McCallister: Kevin's older sister.
• Angela Goethals as Linnie McCallister: Kevin's older sister.
• Michael C. Maronna as Jeff McCallister: Kevin's older brother.
• Gerry Bamman as Frank McCallister: Kevin's uncle and brother of Peter and Rob McCallister. Married to Leslie and father of Fuller. He tends to have a strong dislike for his nephew Kevin.
• Terrie Snell as Leslie McCallister: Kevin aunt and sister-in-law to Peter and Rob McCallister. Married to Frank and mother of Fuller.
• Jedidiah Cohen as Rod McCallister: One of Kevin's cousins.
• Senta Moses as Tracy McCallister: One of Kevin's cousins.
• Daiana Campeanu as Sondra McCallister: One of Kevin's cousins.
• Kieran Culkin as Fuller McCallister: One of Kevin's cousins, and son of Frank and Leslie McCallister. He wears glasses, likes to drink soda (such as Pepsi or Coke), and is famous for wetting the bed.
• Anna Slotky as Brooke McCallister: One of Kevin's cousins.
• John Candy as Gus Polinski: A member of a band who misses his flight to Milwaukee so he and his band have to catch a ride in a van and he offers to give Kate a ride to Chicago, since it's on the way to Milwaukee, to which she accepts. He confides to her that he accidentally left his son at a funeral parlor alone once. Candy played the role for free without payment.

Production

As with most of Hughes's films, Home Alone was set—and most of the film was shot—in the greater Chicago area. Any other shots, such as those of Paris, are either stock footage or film trickery. The scene where Kevin wades through a flooded basement when trying to outsmart the burglars was actually shot in the swimming pool of New Trier High School. A mock-up of the McDonnell Douglas DC10 business class was also put together in the school, on the basketball courts.^[3] 20th Century Fox picked up the project after Warner Bros.'s rejection when the budget escalated from $14 million to $17 million.^[4]

The Home Alone house, or more precisely 671 Lincoln Avenue,^[5] is a three-story single family detached house used for shooting most of the scenes in Home Alone and the first four scenes of Home Alone 2: Lost in New York.^[6] The kitchen in the film was actually shot in the house, along with the main staircase, basement and most of the first floor landing. However, the house's dining room, and all of the rooms downstairs (excluding the kitchen) were built on a sound stage. It is located in the village of Winnetka, which is a suburb of Chicago, located about 19 miles (30 km) north of the city in New Trier Township. It was built in 1920 and features 5 bedrooms, 3.5 bathrooms, a fully converted attic, a fireplace, a detached double garage and a greenhouse.^[7] "Kevin's tree house" in the backyard was demolished, since it was built specifically for the film. It is listed as a Chicago-area tourist destination,^[8] as well as being cited as an example of "How to Get Your Home in the Movies."^[9]

Music

Home Alone: Official Soundtrack

Home Alone
Soundtrack by John Williams
Released	1990
Genre	Classical
Label	Sony Music Entertainment

Released by Sony Music Entertainment in 1990, the soundtrack contained 19 tracks consisting of the original score composed by John Williams and other Christmas songs used in the film.

1. "Home Alone Main Titles" (4:53)
2. "Holiday Flight" (0:59)
3. "The House" (2:27)
4. "Star of Bethlehem (Orchestral Version)" (2:51)
5. "Man of the House" (4:33)
6. "White Christmas" (2:40)
7. "Scammed by a Kindergartner" (3:55)
8. "Please Come Home for Christmas" (Southside Johnny) (2:41)
9. "Follow That Kid!" (2:03)
10. "Making the Plane" (0:52)
11. "O Holy Night" (2:48)
12. "Carol of the Bells" (1:25)
13. "Star of Bethlehem" (2:59)
14. "Setting the Trap" (2:16)
15. "Somewhere in My Memory" (1:04)
16. "The Attack on the House" (6:53)
17. "Mom Returns and Finale" (4:19)
18. "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" (Mel Tormé) (3:05)
19. "We Wish You a Merry Christmas / End Title" (4:15)

"Somewhere in My Memory"

The film's signature tune, "Somewhere in My Memory", was actually written to 'run alongside the film' by Williams. It can be heard in numerous sections of the film, either in full length or fragments, forming the backbone for the film's soundtrack and setting an innocent, nostalgic mood, mainly depicting Kevin's struggles and his sorrow, which is reflected in the lyrics of the song. "Somewhere in My Memory" today is performed in many Christmas concerts in schools or professional orchestras and choirs alike across the globe.^[10] A version in Spanish was recorded in Spain for the ending credits of the film; this version was performed by singer Ana Belén and is entitled "Sombras de otros tiempos" ("Shadows of Other/Former Times").

Novelization and deleted scenes

A children's novelization of Home Alone was published several months prior to the film's initial November 1990 opening. This adaptation features chapters and pictures that showcase several large scenes that were filmed but deleted from the final film. One of the many notable cut scenes features Marv impersonating a police officer. This particular scene takes place directly after Kevin's family leaves for their vacation in Paris. The novelization also includes the surnames of the burglars: Joe Pesci's character, named Harry Lyme, is a reference to Orson Welles' character in the 1940s film The Third Man.

Video games

The first Home Alone game was released in 1991. Home Alone video games were released for the Nintendo Entertainment System, the Sega Genesis, the Super Nintendo Entertainment System, and Sega Game Gear, the Game Boy, the Sega Master System, the Amiga and personal computers. The Home Alone game on the SNES system used still images and character's voices from the film in its gameplay. It also features the characters from the film as well as new enemies created for the game including a fat gangster, ghosts, large rats and very large tarantulas. A video game titled Home Alone was released for the PlayStation 2 in 2006. It was not released in the United States.

Reception

In its opening weekend, Home Alone grossed $17 million in 1,202 theaters, averaging $14,211 per site and just 6% of the final total. Home Alone proved so popular that it stayed in theaters well past the Christmas season. It was the #1 film at the box office for 12 straight weeks, from its release weekend of November 16–18, 1990 through the weekend of February 1–3, 1991. It remained a top 10 draw at the box office until the weekend of April 26 that year, which was well past Easter weekend. It made two more appearances in the top 10 (the weekend of May 31-June 2 and the weekend of June 14–16) before finally falling out of the top 10.^[11] The film ended up making a final gross of $285,761,243, the top grossing film of its year in North America^[12] The film is listed in the Guinness Book of Records as the highest grossing live-action comedy ever.^[13]

By the time it had run its course in theaters, Home Alone was the third highest grossing film of all time, according to the home video box. In total, its cinema run grossed $477,561,243 worldwide.^[14]

Though it was a great success in theaters, critical reception to the film has been mixed. Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times felt that the plot was too implausible and the entire film too contrived. Modern day review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, gave the film a "Rotten" score of 47%. Reviewers cited that slapstick comedy has little appeal. The user section, however, on the site was positive with a "Fresh" score of 85% and a 63 out of 100 rating, which indicates "generally favorable reviews", at Metacritic. The film received an Academy Award for Best Original Score nomination written by John Williams.

Sequels

The film was followed by a commercially successful sequel, the 1992 release Home Alone 2: Lost in New York, which brings back the original cast from the first film. Home Alone 3, release in 1997 has completely different actors, and a different storyline. A fourth film followed in 2002, Home Alone 4: Taking Back the House. This film features some of the same characters featured in the first two films, but with a new cast and storyline that does not fall into the same continuity.

Angels with Filthy Souls

Johnny is informing Snakes that he isn't welcome anymore.

Angels with Filthy Souls is a fictional gangster film that appears within Home Alone and was made specifically for the film. To thwart the antagonists, Kevin plays a home video of Angels with Filthy Souls to trick them into thinking there are armed, dangerous adults in his house. The title is likely a reference to the 1938 film Angels with Dirty Faces. There is also a sequel to the film, Angels with Even Filthier Souls, in this film's sequel, which aids Kevin as well.

References

External links

• Home Alone at the Internet Movie Database
• Home Alone at Allmovie
• Home Alone at Rotten Tomatoes
• Home Alone at Metacritic