National Lampoon's European Vacation

National Lampoon's European Vacation
Theatrical Release Poster
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 (1985-07-26)
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".

Plot

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").

Landmarks and locations

Famous landmarks and sights appearing as the family tours England, France, West Germany, and Italy include:^[1]

• London's Tower Bridge
• Lambeth Bridge Roundabout (Clark drives the car into the inner ring and can't get out of the traffic)
• Buckingham Palace
• Heathrow International Airport
• Big Ben (which Clark repeatedly announces to the kids on every loop around the Lambeth Bridge roundabout)
• Palace of Westminster
• Stonehenge (which they accidentally knock down with their car, like dominoes)
• Paris' Left Bank
• Eiffel Tower
• Louvre museum
• Notre Dame de Paris cathedral
• Rome's Colosseum
• Spanish Steps

Other locations used in the movie include:

• Statue of Liberty (the torch of which their plane crashes into and knocks over)
• Notting Hill (where Clark runs over Eric Idle's character)

Scenes supposedly taking place in West Germany were actually shot in Italy (Brixen).

Cast

• Chevy Chase as Clark Griswold
• Beverly D'Angelo as Ellen Griswold
• Dana Hill as Audrey Griswold
• Jason Lively as Russell "Rusty" Griswold
• William Zabka as Jack
• Victor Lanoux as The Thief
• Massimo Sarchielli as The Other Thief
• Eric Idle as The Bike Rider (Cameo)
• Robbie Coltrane as Man in Bathroom (Cameo)
• Mel Smith as London Hotel Receptionist (Cameo)
• Ballard Berkeley as Man With Car Bumper Souvenir (Cameo)
• John Astin as Kent Winkdale (Cameo)
• Moon Unit Zappa as Rusty's California Girl

Soundtrack

Song	Artist
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

Reception

Box office

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.

Critical

The film received mixed reviews, with 40% of reviewers at Rotten Tomatoes giving the film a positive review.^[3]

Sequels

• National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation (1989)
• Vegas Vacation (1997)
• Christmas Vacation 2: Cousin Eddie's Island Adventure (2003)
• Hotel Hell Vacation (2010)

References

1. ^ 'National Lampoons Movie Locations and Now & Then photos' at Gloucestershire On Screen
2. ^ [1]
3. ^ [2]

External links

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