National Lampoon's Vacation
Short description
Clark Griswold wants nothing more than to give his wife Ellen and their two children a proper family holiday, so he plans a drive across the country to the Walley World theme park. He has mapped out the route and packed the car, but almost nothing goes the way he intends. The trip turns into a long chain of mishaps and awkward encounters, with relatives and strangers alike adding to the chaos, and the Griswolds' patience and togetherness are tested well before they reach their destination.
Harold Ramis directed the film, his second feature after Caddyshack. John Hughes wrote the screenplay, Matty Simmons produced, and Chevy Chase and Beverly D'Angelo lead a cast that includes Anthony Michael Hall, Dana Barron, Imogene Coca and Randy Quaid. Made for about 15 million dollars, it returned roughly 61 million worldwide, a strong result for a comedy of its time. On IMDb it holds 7.3 out of 10 from around 128,000 votes, and on TMDB 7.1 out of 10 from a much smaller pool of about 1,800 votes.
What's left behind the scenes
- Filming at the amusement park was not a pleasant experience for the actors. Chevy Chase recounted that some actors were sick on the rides, as they had to shoot multiple takes. Dana Barron admitted that she had to take pills to avoid motion sickness on the rides. Anthony Michael Hall later confessed that he didn't even have to act scared on the roller coaster – he was genuinely afraid.
- In the scenes at the amusement park, Anthony Michael Hall's character is taller than Beverly D'Angelo's, although in the scenes before arriving here they were the same height. The reason is that the film's finale was reshot 4 months after filming ended, and Hall grew almost 8 centimeters during that time.
- For a brief appearance on screen at the end of the film, actor, comedian, screenwriter and producer John Candy (1950-1994) was paid a fee of one million dollars.
- In the scene with the dog tied to the bumper, Chevy Chase bites his lip and his breathing is uneven – this is because the actor was desperately trying to hold back laughter.
- Six Flags Magic Mountain in Valencia, California, was used as Walley World amusement park. The roller coaster shown in the film is the first in history to feature a complete loop.
- In the scene where the Griswold family looks at the amusement park from the parking lot, the actors were actually looking at a racetrack in Arcadia, California. The racetrack was simply removed from the frame and replaced with a painted amusement park.
- During filming, actress Imogen Coca (1908-2001) suffered a heart attack.
- At the Dodge City bar, where the bartender shoots Clark, someone from the film crew dropped a mannequin from the second tier of scaffolding during a take, startling everyone present.
- Filming the Griswolds' journey took up a significant portion of the allotted shooting time. Filming took place in California, Arizona, Colorado, Mississippi, Illinois, and Utah.
- The childhood photos of Audrey on the wall are photos taken by Dan Barron from when she appeared in commercials as a child.
- Scenes set in St. Louis and Dodge City were filmed on sets on the Warner Brothers studio lot.
- John Candy was paid one million dollars for his brief appearance at the end of the film.
- The plot is based on John Hughes' story "'58 Vacation," published in the September issue of the humor magazine National Lampoon in 1979.
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