National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation

National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Jeremiah Chechik
Produced by	John Hughes Matty Simmons
Written by	John Hughes
Starring	Chevy Chase Beverly D'Angelo Randy Quaid Juliette Lewis Johnny Galecki John Randolph Diane Ladd E.G. Marshall Doris Roberts William Hickey Mae Questel Miriam Flynn Nicholas Guest Julia Louis-Dreyfus
Music by	Angelo Badalamenti
Cinematography	Thomas E. Ackerman
Editing by	Jerry Greenberg
Studio	John Hughes Entertainment Warner Bros Pictures
Distributed by	Warner Bros.
Release date(s)	December 1, 1989 (1989-12-01)
Running time	97 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English

Christmas Vacation is a 1989 Christmas comedy film directed by Jeremiah S. Chechik. It is the third installment in National Lampoon's Vacation film series, and was written by John Hughes, based on his short story in National Lampoon Magazine, Christmas ‘59. The title song was written for the movie by the husband-wife songwriting team of Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil and was performed by Mavis Staples of The Staple Singers fame.

Since its release in 1989, Christmas Vacation has been ranked on many lists of "Top 10 Favorite Christmas Films" and is considered a modern holiday classic.^[1][2][3][4]As of 2011, it is shown annually on ABC Family's 25 Days of Christmas block. ^[5]

Plot

On a quest for "The Griswold Family Christmas Tree," Clark has planned a "good, old-fashioned family Christmas." His family is wary of his plans but Clark is oblivious. He has nostalgic moments of Christmas past when he is accidentally locked in the attic. Clark outdoes himself with 25,000 lights on the roof, but he can't get the power on. Eventually the lights turn on and they are spectacular, blinding the neighbors and causing a power drain at the local nuclear power plant. In addition to the usual family get together, the Griswolds have some unexpected visitors. Eddie and Catherine show up. In spite of all the good intentions and careful planning, Christmas plans go awry.

While sledding, Clark uses a newly invented chemical on his toboggan and winds up traveling at blinding speed, burning most of the bottom off of the toboggan. Clark eventually dreams that the swimming pool is in his backyard and soon learns Eddie and his family have lost their home and are living in the RV. Clark's frustration at not receiving his expected Christmas bonus eventually erupts yelling swear words and cousin Eddie kidnaps his boss.

The family gathers again on the front lawn to enjoy the "Christmas Star," which turns out to be an explosion. Clark watches this strange but touching sight and finally realizes that his dream of the perfect, family Christmas has finally come true. The Santa and reindeer lawn ornaments fly across the sky, having been propelled by the explosion.

Cast

• Chevy Chase as Clark W. Griswold
• Beverly D'Angelo as Ellen Smith Griswold
• Randy Quaid as Cousin Edward "Eddie" Johnson
• Juliette Lewis as Audrey Griswold
• Johnny Galecki as Rusty "Russ" Griswold
• John Randolph as Clark Wilhelm Griswold, Sr.
• Diane Ladd as Nora Griswold
• E. G. Marshall as Arthur "Art" Smith
• Doris Roberts as Frances Smith
• 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
• Nicolette Scorsese as Mary, the lingerie counter girl

Box office performance

The movie debuted at #2 at the box-office while grossing $11,750,203 during the opening weekend, behind Back to the Future Part II. The movie eventually topped the box-office charts in its third week of release and remained #1 the following weekend. It went on to gross a total of $71,319,546 in the United States while showing in movie theaters.^[6]

Soundtrack

Despite many popular songs being present in the film, there is no official soundtrack that exists for the film. In 1999, copies of a "10th Anniversary Limited Edition" began to appear on Internet auction sites with the claim that Warner Brothers and RedDotNet had pressed 20,000 CD's for Six Flags Magic Mountain employees to give to customers entering the park. The discs were individually numbered out of "20,000" and were sold with most of the music featured in the film along with select cuts of dialogue. Forums on movie music sites such as SoundtrackCollector and Movie Music have declared the disc to be a bootleg put together by a fan. For instance, the cut, "Christmas Vacation Medley" (claiming to be the work of composer Angelo Badalamenti), is really a track called, "Christmas at Carnegie Hall" from Home Alone 2: Lost in New York by composer John Williams and does not actually contain any of Badalamenti's score from the film.

Sequels

This is the only sequel in the Vacation series to have spawned its own direct 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". Christmas Vacation is preceded in the Vacation series by:

• National Lampoon's Vacation (1983)
• National Lampoon's European Vacation (1985)

Christmas Vacation is followed in the series by:

• Vegas Vacation (1997)
• National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation 2: Cousin Eddie's Island Adventure (2003)
• Hotel Hell Vacation (2010)

Notes

• 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, December 17 and Sunday. December 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, retains much of the footage its American counterparts have excised. For example, in the beginning of the film, Clark is antagonized by a couple of men in a truck and then flips them off. This is shown in Canada, but not in the USA.
• The French version of the film is also broadcast every year by TVA, usually in mid-December.
• TNT broke with tradition starting in September 2007 by airing Christmas Vacation six 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.
• The film aired on Cinemax and HBO from June 2008 to June 2009.
• In Australia, The Nine Network has a tradition where it is aired every Christmas night.
• In the UK, Christmas Vacation has aired numerous years, usually around the festive season; ITV currently holds the UK rights to film, although the rest of the Vacation movie series is held by five.
• On October 14, 2009, the film made its debut on CMT.
• The movie aired on AMC every 3-4 nights during December 2009 and for 24 hours on Christmas Day to very strong ratings. Chase and co-star Beverly D'Angelo were reunited as the Griswolds in a 2010 Super Bowl commercial touting vacation rental homes.^[7]
• The scene in the movie where Clark destroys the Santa's Reindeer ornaments is seen briefly in Rocky V, when Rocky's son is watching TV with his friends on Christmas night.
• This is the first National Lampoons episode with the Griswolds to feature Rusty younger than Audrey. In the past, Audrey was the younger sibling.
• Cody Burger who plays Rocky, did not have a single line in the entire movie.

References

1. ^ ew.com
2. ^ film.com
3. ^ humor.about.com
4. ^ huffingtonpost.com
5. ^ 25 Days of Christmas 2011 Programing Guide
6. ^ Box Office Mojo box office information
7. ^ http://www2.tbo.com/content/2009/dec/24/fireplace-yule-log-becomes-ubiquitous-holiday-tv-o/news-breaking/

External links

• National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation at the Internet Movie Database
• National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation at AllRovi