National Lampoon's European Vacation | |
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Theatrical Release Poster |
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Directed by | Amy Heckerling |
Produced by | Matty Simmons |
Screenplay by | John Hughes Robert Klane |
Story by | John Hughes |
Starring | Chevy Chase Beverly D'Angelo Dana Hill Jason Lively Victor Lanoux Eric Idle |
Music by | Charles Fox |
Cinematography | Robert Paynter |
Editing by | Pembroke J. Herring |
Distributed by | Warner Bros. |
Release date(s) | July 26, 1985 |
Running time | 95 min. |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Box office | $74,964,621 |
European Vacation (originally given the working title Vacation '2' Europe) is a 1985 comedy film. The second film in National Lampoon's Vacation film series, it was directed by Amy Heckerling and stars Chevy Chase and Beverly D'Angelo. Dana Hill and Jason Lively replace Dana Barron and Anthony Michael Hall as Griswold children Audrey and Rusty. After Hall declined to reprise his role (he decided to star in Weird Science instead), producers decided to recast both children.
This, along with Hotel Hell Vacation, was the only Vacation film that did not feature Randy Quaid's "Cousin Eddie" character. Also, in European Vacation, the family's name is shown as "Griswald", though in every other film it is spelled "Griswold".
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The film's plot is another family misadventure, full of over-the-top slapstick. Chase and D'Angelo again portray the married couple Clark and Ellen Griswold, living in suburban Chicago with two children, Rusty and Audrey. The family competes in a game show called "Pig in a Poke" and wins an all-expenses-paid trip to Europe. In a whirlwind tour of western Europe, chaos of all sorts ensues. They stay in a fleabag London hotel with a sloppy, tattooed Cockney desk clerk (Mel Smith). While in their English rental car, a bright yellow Austin Maxi, Clark drives his family endlessly around the busy Lambeth Bridge roundabout for hours, unable to maneuver his way out of traffic due to the opposite direction of American driving. His wrong-way driving habits cause him to repeatedly crash into cars and knock over a frightened bicyclist (Eric Idle) who reappears in different scenes as if by coincidence. At Stonehenge, Clark backs their Maxi into a priceless, ancient stone monolith, knocking all the stones down like dominoes, which they do not even notice as they happily leave the scene. While the family are at Stonehenge, Clark shouts for Rusty, who is standing right behind him. Rusty then replies, "Yeah Dad?" This conversation is a callback to a similar one which took place in National Lampoon's Vacation after Clark crashed the car in the middle of the desert.
In Paris, Clark throws Rusty's beret cap off the Eiffel Tower observation deck, causing a lady's dachshund to jump off after it; later, young Rusty meets a hooker at a bawdy Paris can-can dance show. While in Paris, the family's video camera is stolen by a passerby (Victor Lanoux) whom Clark had asked to take a picture of the family. Also, Clark, with his terrible French, manages to insult every native Frenchman.
The Griswolds burst in on a bewildered, elderly German village couple (Willy Millowitsch, Erika Wackernagel), 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 Citroën DS stuck in a too-narrow medieval archway after knocking down several street vendors' stands.
In Rome, the Griswolds rent a car at a travel office. However, they don't know that the real manager is restrained by two thieves. The leader thief gives them a car with the real manager in the trunk. He claims that he lost the keys to the trunk. Later the Griswolds go shopping. The next day Ellen is shocked to discover that private, sexy videos of her from the family's previously stolen video camera have been used in a billboard advertising a pornographic movie, leaving her completely humiliated. After screaming her anger at Clark (who had told her he had erased the video), Ellen storms off to the hotel they are staying at and encounters the thief who sold them the car. She confesses her recent troubles. She is still unaware that he is a thief. The man then tries to get the car keys, which are in her purse. However he fails and then the police arrive at the hotel and Ellen tries to escape. She is kidnapped by him, prompting Clark to rescue her. At the end while flying back to the U.S.A., Clark causes the plane to "knock" the Statue of Liberty's torch upside down.
Cameo appearances are made by John Astin (playing game show host "Kent Winkdale"), Moon Unit Zappa, Robbie Coltrane, Maureen Lipman, Leslie Phillips, Ballard Berkeley, Eric Idle and a musical appearance by The Power Station ("Some Like It Hot").
Famous landmarks and sights appearing as the family tours England, France, West Germany, and Italy include:[1]
Other locations used in the movie include:
Scenes supposedly taking place in West Germany were actually shot in Italy (Brixen).
Song | Artist |
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Holiday Road | Lindsey Buckingham |
Some Like It Hot | Power Station |
Town Called Malice | The Jam |
Problèmes d'amour | Alexander Robotnick |
Ça plane pour moi | Plastic Bertrand |
Pig In a Poke | Danny Gould |
Baby It's You, Yes I Am | Danger Zone |
New Looks | Dr. John |
Back in America | Network |
The film opened July 26, 1985 in 1,546 theaters in the United States and grossed $12,329,627 its opening weekend, ranking number 1 at the box office.[2] It ended up grossing $49,364,621 domestically.
The film received negative reviews, with 40% of reviewers at Rotten Tomatoes giving the film a positive review.[3]