Home Alone
Short description
Home Alone follows the McCallister family as they rush to catch a flight to Europe for the Christmas holidays. In the confusion, they leave behind their youngest son, Kevin, at their Chicago-area home. At first the boy enjoys having the house to himself, but his situation changes when two burglars, Harry and Marv, target the neighbourhood's empty houses. Kevin defends the property with improvised traps, while his mother, Kate, tries to make her way back to him.
Chris Columbus directed the film, the second of the seventeen he has directed in chronological order, following Adventures in Babysitting and preceding Only the Lonely. John Hughes wrote and produced it, and the cast includes Macaulay Culkin as Kevin, Joe Pesci and Daniel Stern as the burglars, Catherine O'Hara and John Heard as his parents, and Roberts Blossom as Marley. It was made for 18 million dollars and took about 477 million dollars worldwide, a very large return for a family comedy.
On IMDb it holds 7.8 from around 740,000 votes, and on TMDB 7.5 from roughly 12,900 votes, both showing wide and sustained audience approval. A critics' rating of 5.9 from 116 reviews is noticeably lower than those audience scores.
What's left behind the scenes
- The character of Harry Lime, played by Joe Pesci, was named after Orson Welles' character in the film "The Third Man" (1949).
- The composition “Carol Of The Bells” featured in the film is a cover version of the Ukrainian folk Christmas carol “Shchedryk”.
- At various times, Kevin watches the cartoon "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" (1966) and "The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson" (1955-1956) on television at home.
- A poster of American rapper Ice-T hangs on the wall in Buzz’s room.
- John Candy had a very busy schedule. Therefore, he only had to film for one day. All of his scenes were shot in 23 hours of continuous filming.
- The McCallister house is located at 671 Lincoln Avenue in the village of Winnetka, Chicago. It is a private property, and as of August 2008, it was valued at around $2.3 million. Built in the 1920s, it has 5 bedrooms, a finished attic, a fireplace, a detached double garage, and a greenhouse. It was purchased by one family on December 15, 1988, and they still own it today. It is included in the list of tourist attractions of the state of Illinois.
- In the scene where Harry bites Kevin’s finger, Joe Pesci actually bit Macaulay Culkin’s finger, leaving a scar.
- Jeffrey Wiseman, who played the overly curious neighbor Mitch Murphy, auditioned for the role of Kevin.
- The movie Kevin is watching on VHS doesn't actually exist. This footage was filmed specifically for the movie and is titled "Angels with Filthy Souls".
- Kevin finds a photograph of Buzz’s girlfriend, but it’s actually a photo of a boy in disguise. The film’s director decided it would be too cruel to joke about a real girl like that.
- Chris Columbus didn't forget about his family in the film. His wife, Monica Devereux, played a flight attendant, his father-in-law played a police officer, and Columbus' mother-in-law and his little daughter Eleanor can also be seen in the film (the camera pans past them in the airline terminal as the older McCallisters enter).
- The role of Uncle Frank was written for Kelsey Grammer.
- In the scene with the spider, a real tarantula was on actor Daniel Stern's face. Interestingly, the actor had to portray a grimace of horror and scream completely silently, as a loud scream could have frightened the spider, with disastrous consequences. The scene was successfully shot on the first take. And the sound was recorded later.
- Robert De Niro was considered for the role of Harry, but he turned down the offer.
- The film's official emblem, Kevin screaming with his hands pressed to his face, was based on Edvard Munch's painting "The Scream".
- The effect of the scary furnace in the basement was created by two guys using fishing line and flashlights.
- Periodically, Joe Pesci would forget they were making a family film and shout profanity, including the word “Fuck” and its derivatives. The director, Chris Columbus, then advised him to say the word “Fridge” instead.
- The film made it into the Guinness Book of World Records as the comedy that grossed the most money at the box office (approximately $533,000,000).
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