Home Alone
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Home Alone
Directed by: Chris Columbus (Both Movies, Mrs. Doubtfire, First 2 Harry Potter films; he also chose to Direct this movie after leaving National Lampoons Christmas Vacation because of the personality clash with Chevy Chase)
Written and Produced by John Hughes
Starring:
Macaulay Culkin
Joe Pesci
Daniel Stern
John Heard
Catherine O'Hara
Released: November 16, 1990
Budget: $18M ($38.3M in 2021)
Box Office: $476.7M (Just over $1B in 2021)
Ratings: IMDb 7.6/10 Rotten Tomatoes 66%
Metacritic 63% Google Users 93%
Home Alone remains a highly popular Christmas movie in Poland, where its played every Christmas Eve. In 2010, Polsat did not play Home Alone, which caused over 90 thousand people to protest on Facebook. In 2016, over 4.44 million Poles tuned in to Polsat to watch Home Alone. Since the 2010's it's TV trailers even include a tagline that acknowledges this popularity: translated from Polish bridge troll it says, "Christmas without him? It's absolutely impossible!"
At the 12th Youth in Film Awards, Macaulay Culkin won Best Young Actor Starring in a Motion Picture. The film was nominated for two Academy Awards, one for Best Original Score, which was written by John Williams, and the other for Best Original Song for "Somewhere in My Memory", music by Williams and lyrics by Leslie Bricusse, but lost to Dances with Wolves and Dick Tracy respectively.
First time you saw the movie?
Plot:
The film opens as McCallister family is preparing to spend Christmas in Paris, with the large family gathering at Peter and Kate's home on the night before their departure. The youngest son, Kevin, is the subject of ridicule by his older siblings, as well as the rest of the family. A friendly police officer is also amidst the chaos, checking to make sure everything will be secure if they're traveling during Christmas. Kevin inadvertently ruins the family dinner, like a pube in the macaroni, after his brother taunts him and eats the last piece of cheese pizza. In the scuffle, a drink is knocked over and their tickets to Paris are doused, resulting in Kevin being called a jerk by his uncle, and getting sent to the attic as punishment. On his way up he berates Kate and wishes that his family would disappear. During the night, heavy winds damage the power lines, which causes a power outage and resets the alarm clocks, causing the family to oversleep. In the confusion and rush to get to the airport, Kevin is accidentally left behind.
S:
-I love the reoccurring theme of the statue getting hit
-I've yet to have my daughter have an outburst like this, but I'm not looking forward to it.
-I remember as a kid, identifying with Kevin, being picked on and so on; as an adult I see where he's kinda being a little shit too. But all the kids could use some better parenting.
-Wouldn't it be really weird for a cop to go door to door asking about Christmas security?
-The novelization of the movie explains the question of what does Kevins parents do: Dad is a "successful businessman" and mom is a fashion designer, which also helps explain why they had all the mannequins.
Kevin wakes to find the house empty and, thinking that his wish has come true, is overjoyed with his newfound freedom. Que a musical montage of doing all the things he wanted to do without his family around, and calls out thinking it may be a prank. He soon becomes frightened by his next door neighbor, Old Man Marley, who is rumored to be a serial killer who murdered his own family, as well as Harry and Marv, the so called "Wet Bandits," which is what Chris called his moonshine operation during prohibition. No, the "wet bandits" are a pair of burglars who have been breaking into other vacant houses in the neighborhood and have targeted the McCallisters' house. Kevin tricks them into thinking that his family is still home by throwing a fake Christmas party with mannequins tied up and made to look like they're moving, forcing them to put their plans on hold.
S:
-I can't remember if there was someone like "old man marley" where I came from... Do any of y'all have any urban legends from where you're from?
-The whole thing with him doing what he wanted when the family is gone, every kids dream.
-I also call bullshit on how clean the house is after the chaos of what happened that morning. Also, you'd think, even in the attic, Kevin would've heard everyone rushing around, or one of the kids would've said something about not seeing Kevin.
-This whole movie would be over if Kevin just went to a neighbor who was home. How improbable is it that a WHOLE street of families are ALL out of town around Christmas?
Kate realizes mid-flight that Kevin was left behind, and upon arrival in Paris, the family discovers that all flights for the next two days are booked. Peter and the rest of the family stay in his brother's apartment in Paris, while Kate manages to get a flight back to the United States in Dallas, Texas, but only gets as far as Scranton, Pennsylvania. She attempts to book a flight to Chicago, but again, everything is booked. Unable to accept this, Kate is overheard by Gus Polinski, the lead member of a traveling polka band, who offers to let her travel with them to Chicago on their way to Milwaukee in a moving van, which she gratefully accepts. Kevin goes shopping, and inadvertently steals a toothbrush when Old Man Marley appears beside him. Meanwhile, Harry and Marv finally realize that Kevin is home alone, and on Christmas Eve, Kevin overhears them discussing plans to break into his house that night. Kevin starts to miss his family and asks the local Santa Claus impersonator if he could bring his family back for Christmas. He goes to church and watches a choir perform, then meets Old Man Marley, who dispels the rumors about him. He points out his granddaughter in the choir, whom he never gets to meet, as he and his son are estranged; Kevin suggests that he should reconcile with his son.
S:
-I realized watching this time, this whole thing only takes place over 3 days. Travel day, and the subsequent two days, and only 2 nights.
-John Candy was so good in this as the Polka King... Wish he were still here.
-Marley knows that kids say this random, horrible shit about him, and he does nothing about it? Weird. Also, I get the youthful innocence how Kevin is trying to help Marley, but it comes across a bit snarky/snide
Kevin returns home and rigs the house with booby traps to take on the burglars. Harry and Marv attempt to break in, but Kevin begins the moving mediation on pain, some arguing that it is an expose on mind over matter, and starts by shooting Harry in the nuts with a pellet gun. Marv puts his head through the doggy door to check, and catches a BB to the head. Harry then goes around front and slips on the icy stairs. As Marv does the same down the back stairs. Marv enters, and when he attempts to turn on a light, is hit in the face with an iron. As Harry makes it up the icy stairs, he grabs the red hot door handle and burns an M into his hand. We cut back to Marv, going up tar covered stairs, when his barefoot steps on a nail, and he tumbles backwards down the stairs. Harry, around at the back door again, carefully opens it, triggering a blow torch that sets his head on fire. Marv limps out of the basement, only to slip on the ice again. Harry, angry, kicks the door open and pursues Kevin into the dining room, and into some plastic wrap coated with glue, when he trips a fan that blows feathers on him. Marv, sneaking in through an open window, steps on glass oraments with his bare feet. They meet, and pursue Kevin to the main stair case, where they slip and fall on micro machines. They start to pursue Kevin up the stiars, when the flings tied up paint cans over the railing, first nailing Marv and sending him flying, then Harry. Kevin calls 911 and as they get to the top of the stairs, they're tripped by a wire, but Marv leaps and grabs Kevins leg, but Kevin sees Buzz's escaped tarantula, and puts it on Marvs face, which causes a well deserved scream. Marv throw the spider on to Harry, and then beats him with his crow bar, trying to kill the spider. Meanwhile, Kevin escapes via a rope from the attic to his tree house; when Harry and Marv follow, he cuts the rope, sending them flying into the side of the house. He then lures Harry and Marv into a neighboring home which they previously broke into. They ambush him and prepare to get their revenge, but Marley intervenes and knocks them unconscious with his snow shovel. The police arrive and arrest Harry and Marv, having identified all the houses that they broke into due to Marv's destructive characteristic of flooding them.
S:
-EVERY KID wants to do this to their house. I remember after this movie, I was so paranoid of burglars in our house, I slept in the hallway and had "bobby traps" set up if I heard anyone.
-The different levels of severity in the booby traps is puzzling. From shooting with a pellet gun, to the door knob, and flame thrower, to the glue and feathers? Also, the ornaments wouldn't have been bad if Marv still had shoes on.
-Which is the most painful booby trap?
On Christmas Day, Kevin is disappointed to find that his family is still gone. He then hears Kate enter the house and call for him; they reconcile and are soon joined by Peter, Buzz, Jeff, Megan, and Linnie, who waited in Paris until they could obtain a direct flight to Chicago. Kevin keeps silent about his encounter with Harry and Marv, although Peter finds Harry's knocked-out gold tooth. Kevin then observes Marley reuniting with his son, daughter-in-law, and granddaughter. Marley notices Kevin, and the pair wave to each other. Fade to black, and credits roll.
S:
-Biggest issue with this, is how did he clean everything up afterwards? My 8 year old has to be told where to put her crap in her own room.
Top Five Trivia of the movie:
5: John Hughes on developing the concept: "I was going away on vacation, and making a list of everything I didn't want to forget. I thought, 'Well, I'd better not forget my kids.' Then I thought, 'What if I left my 10-year-old son at home? What would he do?'" He imagined that children are naturally most scared of robbers.
4: An injury had occurred between Pesci and Culkin during one of the rehearsals for the scene in which Harry tries to bite off Kevin's finger. Culkin still has the scar.
3: The McAllister house is located at 671 Lincoln Avenue in the North Shore village of Winnetka (wuh·net·kuh), Illinois, where Hughes's previous films Breakfast Club, Ferris Bueller's Day Off, Sixteen Candles, Planes, Trains and Automobiles, She's Having a Baby, and Uncle Buck had also been shot
2: this film spawned 5 more movies: Home Alone 2: Lost in New York (which the whole cast returned), Home Alone 3, 4, Home Alone: The Holiday Heist in 2012, and Home Sweet Home Alone in 2021.
1: Joe Pesci purposely ignored Macaulay Culkin so he would think he was mean. He wanted Macaulay to be scared of him to get the best reaction from him while filming, which Caulkin said worked.
BONUS TRIVIA: The McAllister house, built in 1920 and owned by the Abendshien (A-ben-sign) family until in 2012, when it was listed for $2.4M and sold for $1.585 million. Its 4,200 square feet of living space. The house has five bedrooms, including a four-room master suite, and three-and-a-half bathrooms. ALSO, in 2021, the owners recreated the Home Alone vibe and allowed Airbnb to book the house, for 4 guests for only $25 a night, and the actor who played Buzz welcomed the guests to the house.
Source: https://www.fancypantshomes.com/movie-homes/the-real-life-home-alone-house-then-and-now/
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