National Lampoon's Vacation

National Lampoon’s Vacation (1983): The Ultimate Road Trip Comedy Classic! 

Buckle up for a wild ride with National Lampoon’s Vacation (1983)! Join Retromade: Your Pop Culture Rewind as host Katie and guests Jim and Kevin from Pool Scene Podcast dive into this John Hughes-written, Harold Ramis-directed screwball comedy.

We explore the chaotic, hilarious journey of the Griswold family’s cross-country quest to Wally World, filled with dark humor, iconic lines, and questionable ‘80s moments. From Chevy Chase’s epic meltdown to John Candy’s million-dollar cameo, we unpack the film’s cultural impact, alternate ending, and 1983 trivia like She-Ra and Billie Jean.

Creators and Guests

Host

Katie Geilenkirchen

Guest

James Cibella

Guest

Kevin Mars

What is The Director's Chair Network?

Join Ryan and many featured guests and other hosts as they break down and review a variety of directors and their films!
So far, this podcast has featured films from Edward Zwick, John Hughes, Brian De Palma, and Michael Mann.
Soon, we will feature Edgar Wright, Sam Peckinpah, Paul Verhoeven, and David Fincher!

0:08
on our way to California in the morning. The big vacation. The whole family Wally World. If you're thinking of taking the tribe cross country, this is the
0:15
automobile you should be using. Dad, I forgot. Why are we flying?
0:21
Because getting there is half the fun.
0:26
I don't know why they call this stuff hamburger helper. It does just fine by itself, huh? You're the gourmet around here, Ed.
0:33
Okay, let's go. Come on, Edna. Play off. Play off.
0:45
I can't accept a check.
0:51
Vicki, can I help you with that Kool-Aid?
1:00
Sorry folks, park's closed. The moose out front should have told you. What?
1:05
This is no longer a vacation. It's a quest.
1:10
It's a quest for fun. The Griswalls are one hell of a family, huh?
1:26
I better check under the hood.
1:33
Okay, let's go. Come on. Don't you want to look at the Grand Canyon?
1:38
It's great.
1:53
Hello, hello. I'm Katie and welcome back to Retromade, your pop culture rewind.
Episode overview: Why National Lampoon’s Vacation is a comedy classic
1:59
Consider this your summer kickoff episode where we will be covering a very
2:04
apt Hughes written screw ball roadtrip comedy that spawned five sequels,
2:09
National Lampoons Vacation from way back in 1983.
Guest intro: Jim and Kevin from Pool Scene Podcast
2:16
I'm very happy to have returning guests to the show with me, Jim and Kevin from
2:21
the Pool Scene podcast. I always have a blast podcasting with these guys and
2:27
listening to their show, so you should too. Welcome back, guys. Hey, now. Hey, Katie. How's it going?
2:33
Hey. Well, I do. I have my I have my Pool Scene podcast t-shirt on. Looking great. Repping it perfectly.
2:39
Thank you. Appreciate it. Oh, yeah. Thank you for the t-shirt. I have you.
2:44
Uh, so if listeners forgot, Jim and Kevin and I did a crossover last season
2:49
for Escape from New York and Escape from LA. Did we do another one? Maybe. I can't
2:55
remember. I think we we cover I think we had New York on yours and LA on ours. I think
3:01
that's how we did it. Or vice versa. Yeah. Or vice versa. Yeah. Yeah. Uh-huh. Yes. Yeah. So, you're back for the John
3:07
Hughes. So, if people forgot, go back and listen to those episodes, but remind us what's
3:14
the story with Pool Scene podcast, you guys. Well, we've actually today, Katie,
3:20
as we're recording this, it is officially our fifth anniversary. So, we've been doing this for 5 years now.
3:26
And this coming episode coming up, which will be So, I Married an Ax Murderer will be episode number 250.
3:34
Good one. So, we're about ready to pump that out as we're on the journey to 300. And you
3:40
know, we started as movies and music videos and have definitely morphed way into
3:46
pop culture more pop culture and nostalgia, you know, a little bit of everything. And currently we're in the midst of banger season 2
3:53
where we're doing sort of like heavy hitters that we've missed along the journey that we're like we got to
3:59
we're going to do them this season. And then we've now started release episodes every
4:04
two weeks approximately give or take weekly. life is kind of we were pumping
4:10
them out every week and then it just when you start losing the excitement it's like I got to pump I got to pump
4:16
one out. I got to pump one out. That sounded inappropriate. I didn't mean for it to come across that way. But yeah, once a week is a lot when
4:22
you've got a full-time job, you've got family, everybody's got [ __ ] to do. So every two weeks is perfect. That's what
4:28
I do. It's it work it works out perfect. It gives us time to recharge, do what we need to do in our own lives, and then we
4:34
come back here and just do our thing. It's if anything it's kind of helped
4:39
elongate things even more too. So it's like we're not just going to be at episode 300 in 3 weeks or it's going to
4:46
be a season and a half maybe two to get there but yeah we're excited for coming up on season 19 too. So
4:52
wow. Well happy anniversary. That's five years. That's most podcasts do not make
4:58
it that long. Not even close. So born out of the pandemic. And I can truly say we do it for fun. I
5:03
mean we love doing it. We enjoy it. We would do it regardless, you know. No
5:08
listeners. It's just what we do. It's our hobby. It's our joy and our passion. It's two best friends doing something
5:14
that figured years and years of useless [ __ ] stored in your head. And both of us grew up making like our
5:21
own radio shows. We did. I cassette. I did mine on my Talk Boy.
5:26
I mean, we were early to podcasting. I mean, podcasters. Yes. We were cassette podcasters.
5:32
1994, 1995 podcast. the best ones. Well, so your show I I Retroid
5:38
listeners, if you're not subscribed to the Pool Scene Podcast, you have to pause this and go do that right now
5:44
because I feel like we mesh really well. We cover similar topics. So, if you like
5:49
RetroAde, you're going to like Pool Scene Podcast. Thank you very much, Katie. And and as always, it's awesome
5:56
to do this with you once again. It's it's awesome in the podcast space to end up collaborating with somebody who has
6:02
similar interests. we could bounce back and forth off one another and not miss a beat. So, it's it's not that it's rare,
6:08
but when you have a connection with somebody like that in this kind of space, it's it's awesome.
6:14
It really is. That's been my favorite part about starting my podcast is meeting other really awesome podcasters
1983 Time Capsule: Spinning the wheel for retro trivia
6:20
like you guys. So, shall we get into the time capsule from 1983?
6:25
Kevin maybe wasn't even born yet. Were you born yet, Kevin? I was born in 1983. I was born in 1981, so I was two.
6:32
Yeah. Jim and I are about the same, like almost exactly the same age, I think. So, all right. Well, what I'm going to do
6:39
this season, you guys, we have the wheel to spin for the time capsule.
6:45
And so, there's a bunch of categories I'm going to spin on your behalf and ask you some trivia questions to test your
6:51
knowledge about 1983. All right. Pop culture stuff. We have
6:58
Prime Time Rewind is your category. All right. All right. These are the top shows on
7:06
prime time for 1983. Okay. All right. Number one, which CBS News
Prime Time Rewind: 1983 TV trivia (60 Minutes, Dallas, A-Team)
7:12
magazine program known for its investigative journalism and distinctive ticking stopwatch topped the Neielson
7:19
ratings in the 198283 season? 2020. 60 minutes.
7:25
60 minutes. It's the ticking time clock. Come on. 2020, right?
7:31
That's ABC. Oh god. There's only like three shows to pick from. I mean, back in ' 83 with network
7:37
television, there's three channels. Yeah. But yeah, Jim got it. 60. Number two,
7:43
soap opera set on a Texas cattle ranch became a cultural phenomenon with its
7:49
There's a specific cliffhanger that I'm not going to mention because it'll give it away, but do you know what it is? Dallas.
7:56
Yes. And the cliffhanger was Who shot JR? Yes. Yes. Also parodyied by The Simpsons.
8:03
Okay. Yep. This one, which action adventure series
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featured a group of ex US Army special forces personnel working as soldiers of
8:14
fortune known for their catchphrase? I love it when a plan comes together.
8:20
A team. Yes. A team. God, you guys are good so far. Let's see. Number four. This is
8:27
very soap opera driven. Oh. In 83. Okay. It's set in a luxurious world of oil
8:34
rich Carrington family. Portrayal of wealth and power struggles.
8:40
What was this show? Was it Dynasty? It was Dynasty. I remember getting stuck watching that
8:46
on our Magnavox console TV with three networks. In order for me to get to like Dukes of Hazard or something, I had to
8:53
sit through my grandmother's enjoyment of Dynasty and Falcon's Crest. Mhm. Was it like a 19inch TV and that was like
8:59
the family TV? It literally was. It was one thing. It weighed about 500 lb. Nice wood cabinet.
9:06
Oh yeah. Yep. Oh yeah. Okay. The last one. Which detective series followed two brothers
9:12
running a private investigation agency in San Diego known for its blend of
9:17
action and humor? This is a tough one. I've never seen it. A brother. Brothers. Two brothers. Two brothers running a
9:24
private investigation agency. Was it Simon and Simon? Yes. I've actually never seen that. Have
9:30
you seen it? I remember that as a kid. Any type of adjacent television show that had some
9:35
sort of cool vehicle in it. I watch it cuz I remember they had a truck cuz it was almost I want to say it was almost
9:42
like a truck like the Fall Guy. I could be wrong. But I can remember watching Simon and Simon because this is how
9:47
nerdy I am. That came on after Knots Landing. Do you have a photographic memory? How
9:52
do you like remember which network things were on and everything? It's just one of those things where it just I watched it and I just had to, you
10:00
know, stuff that I ended up loving. I was like, "Okay, I have to sit through Dynasty. I have to sit through Knots Landing." So, I would just remember
10:06
because we had no VCR. We had no Betamax. So, it's like you have to watch it and remember it because there's no other way
10:13
to revisit it back then. True. True. All right. You You guys did very good. Let's do another category.
10:19
All righty.
Totally Tasty: 1983 food and drink trivia (Fruit Roll-Ups, Tostitos)
10:27
Totally tasty. Okay. In 1983, the food and beverage
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landscape was rich with products that have since become iconic. It's a snack
10:38
introduced in 1983. Fruit flavored snacks quickly became a favorite among
10:44
children, offering a sweet, chewy treat in a convenient portable form.
10:50
Fruit rollup. Yes. Oh my god. I loved fruit rollup. Pulled that right. I thought that was
10:56
Yeah, I thought that was like 10 years too soon. But yeah, boy. 83. That's nuts. Fruit rollups. Yep.
11:02
Anything harmful in them back then? Not at all. It build character. We're fine.
11:08
Uh launched by Fredo Lelay in 1980. This chip gained significant popularity
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by 1983, becoming one of the company's top selling brands.
11:22
Doritos? No. Close. I don't know if that's Is that
11:27
Fredo? I don't know. Oh, I don't know. Fritos. Is it Fritos?
11:32
It's Tostitos. Tortilla chips. I was close. I was almost adjacent
11:38
somewhere. Very close. Very close. Postitos are basically Doritos without the junk on it. You're right. Without the nuclear junk. Yeah.
11:46
All right. Last one in this category. Known as the original American energy
11:51
drink. This drink was popular in the 80s for its high caffeine content. After a
11:58
period of dormcancy, it's making a comeback with updated branding and formulations. What is this?
12:04
It's got to be Jolt Cola, right? Very, very good. Jold Cola. There we go.
12:10
All right. All right. Let's do one more category. Maybe
Return to Toon Time: 1983 cartoon trivia (She-Ra, Jem)
12:16
return to time is this category? H
12:22
interesting. Okay. Which popular cartoon from 1983 involved
12:30
an albino star and a group of alien heroes on a quest to defeat the evil
12:36
forces of a warlord named Skeletor. Okay. Masters of the universe.
12:45
Well, so that is probably correct. The answer I think it's the same world. Technically
12:51
the answer that I have here is Shirro, Princess of Power, but it's the same. No, you're right. It's the same
12:56
universe. But that's right, though. Yeah. Well, the Yeah. Yeah. Mhm. Oh, Shira, Princess of Power.
13:03
My girlfriend is gonna be so pissed. Also battled Skeletor. I did not know that. I that I don't know. Maybe I go, I
13:10
haven't seen it in so long. Correct me if I'm wrong. Anyone out there? I might have to find a way to watch some
13:16
episodes of Shirro. It's weird. I never really got into watching MOTU as a kid. It was like when
13:22
it came to animated stuff, it was like G.I. Joe. the whole story of Masters of the Universe that it was like cuz back
13:28
then it could be the toys first and then they were like, "Well, the toys are popular. Better follow it up with a cartoon."
13:33
Yep. Or it came from an obscure comic. Whatever. But I love the stories of the old cartoons. I do, too. All right. Here's another one
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for you. What cartoon followed the exploits of an early8s punk rock group
13:46
led by a female with colorful hair who fought against a villainous corporate tycoon?
13:53
Is it It's Jim. Is it Jim? Yes. And and the holograms.
14:00
Yep. Gem and the holograms. Very good. She's truly outrageous. Yes, she is.
14:06
One more. Which animated series showcased a tiny group of creatures that lived inside human homes and caused
14:12
mischief while trying to avoid discovery? Oh,
14:19
I don't know. Trying to avoid discovery. I feel like I remember it, but I don't. I'm gonna throw it. I'm gonna throw a
14:26
flyer. Is it Fraggle Rock? No. I show that it's being the Wuzzles.
14:31
Oh, my girlfriend is going to torch me for this because she collects wuzzle toys. Oh, are those the ones where they're like a
14:38
mixed animal or is that something else? It's like a like a combination, I think, of two or three different animals into
14:44
one. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. The hint should have included that part. I feel like
14:49
that's our I mean we were almost the hint should have been Jim's girlfriend collects them pretty care bear wuzzles shirt tales you name it
14:57
good I love shirt tales Oh yeah sure tales tales I'm going to see if we can get one more category boom
Boombox Bangers: 1983 music hits (Billie Jean, Karma Chameleon)
15:03
box bangers oh now we're talking banger season man all right let's do it
15:09
these are for the whole year of 1983 the top Billboard songs okay
15:16
I'm just going to say the artist and you'll probably get it. Michael Jackson
15:22
1983 multiples. Yeah. I'm going to Billy Jean.
15:27
Yeah. Billy Jean the thriller. Nope. It's Billy Jean. Billy Jean. Yep. The Police. One of their biggest
15:34
hits. Ready. Yep. Yep. Futuristic production. Infectious beat
15:42
was very successful. The song was by David Bowie.
15:47
It was just David Bowie, right? I think so. Yeah. Okay. So, it's not It's not going to be under pressure then. Dance.
15:53
It's not under pressure. Nope. It's not. It's just David Bowie. Is it Let's Dance. It is. It is Dance.
15:59
Yeah. You're You're pretty good at just pulling the songs out of nowhere. I had to think for a second.
16:04
New Wave Era. Culture Club. Karma Chameleon.
16:10
Yes. All right. The last one. Bonnie Tyler.
16:16
What's the name of the song? Total Eclipse of the Heart. Yeah. Yes. Such a good song. The title.
16:21
Good, good, good song. Because that's like her only song, isn't it? And don't you remember during the the Total Eclipse last year, you couldn't
16:28
avoid that song from two weeks out, everybody had to play it. I love the music video. Yeah, I remember the music video.
16:34
You know, the drafty home in the shadows mansion. I do not remember the music video.
16:40
God, I love those old music videos. They were so great. All right, you guys did phenomenal
16:47
with the time capsule here. Having all this crap in my in our heads
16:53
helps out a lot. Go figure. Useless information does come in handy for nostalgic pop culture trick.
17:01
It's going to pay off one of these days. It's, you know, I don't know. There's no prize for you here other than bragging
17:06
rights, but you go. All right, you guys. So, I'm not going to ask you about Kurt or Patrick this
17:13
time, but I am going to ask you what your familiarity or fandom or not of
17:19
John Hughes is. He's our he's our man of the season. We've covered I think three John Hughes
17:24
movies. We've done The Breakfast Club. What other ones have we done? Planes, Trains, and Automobiles. I mean, obviously very familiar with John
17:31
Hughes, you know, started writing movies. I think he directed eight movies. The weirdest thing about John
17:38
Hughes to me was his latestage career. Yeah. And when it was all just like writing
17:44
and producing credits and he was starting to get, I don't want to say like experimental, but he was doing much
17:50
different things because he obviously, you know, was in his wheelhouse in the 80s with this type of film. And then he
17:57
moved into the was it Miracle on 34th Street and started Curly Sue was his
18:04
last credit. forgot about Dennis the Menace stuff like that. Yeah. Yeah. And then I think right at the end
18:10
he was like, "All right, I'm going to get a little weird and do some a couple different credits." So, yeah, very familiar with John.
18:16
Oh, yeah. Shurmer High, his whole universe. Okay. All right. Awesome. Did you guys realize it as a kid that like the
18:23
connection like the whole Shmer High thing? As a kid, not really. I didn't It didn't
18:28
start really hitting until probably around 10 or 11 years old where I'm like, "Wait a minute, this the same high school." And of course back then you
18:35
don't think of like shared universe theory. Now when I listen to your 16 Candles episode and like in 16 candles you were
18:41
talking about the confusion between I do the same thing. 16 Candles pretty and pink.
18:47
I always swap those movies and I always think one's from one and one's from the other
18:52
and I kind of get my wires crossed. And I think that was the moment when I was younger when I realized these like you
19:00
don't know directors as a 10year-old or whatever, but you're like these movies are very like I feel like
19:07
they're the same thing. The same, but there's so many that with very similar.
19:12
It's like we've I'm starting to realize he has just kind of a let's just move these things around. Here's my template.
19:17
We'll take this from this, this from this, and bing bang boom, here's your movie. We do have some similarities too
19:24
with Anthony Michael Hall when it comes to him being in European vacation. Why
19:30
there was a conflict as to why he wasn't in that and he decided to go off and do
19:35
I believe it was 16 candles cuz they wanted to rec you know have the same kids but I think there was a conflict.
19:42
He decided to go do that. Then they said, "Well, we'll have Dana Baron." But then at the last moment, they decided,
19:47
"No, we'll recast both kids, have two different kids." Then European Vacation
19:53
was a thing. Funny, but I don't know if they needed European Vacation, but they didn't.
19:58
No, they in my opinion. No, it's bad. Let's get into National Lampoon's
Deep dive into National Lampoon’s Vacation: Plot, characters, and chaos
20:04
vacation, you guys.
20:12
It was released July 29th, 1983, which we were talking about, you know,
20:18
the a lot of these questions we covered with Mr. Mom. Well, this movie was released within a couple of weeks of Mr.
20:25
Mom and both were scripted by Hughes based on actual events in his real life. So, that's interesting.
20:32
Which like same with planes, trains, and automobiles. I mean, a lot of his stories were like inspired by real events. And I know this is John Hughes
20:38
season, but we got to mention Harold Ramos, who directed this. Definitely Harold Ramos. He came out of the gate,
20:44
Animal House, Meatballs, Catty Shack, Stripes, Vacation, Ghostbusters, Back to School. Those were his first seven
20:50
movies, which is crazy. That's a hell of a run. That's like a legendary.
20:56
There's no misses. It's seven straight movies. Yeah.
21:01
And he acted. So, he's a man of many talents. You're right. So John Hughes wrote this, but he did not direct it.
21:07
Harold Ramis did, to your point, Kevin. And so he's an actor and a director. And
21:13
he was also like he was a regular performer with Eugene Levy and John Candy in SCTV.
21:21
So there's a connection there. Um Yeah. And he also directed Analyze This
21:28
Groundhog Day, Catty Shack, and a couple of episodes of The Office. Yes. Why? I
21:33
forgot he did that. Yeah, he did. He did a couple. That's cool. I feel like Harold Ramos never I mean, he was appreciated, but not as
21:40
much as I think he should have been. One of my favorite, we've talked about it on our our podcast before, but Harold Ramos talking about the difference
21:47
between Ghostbusters 1 and two because for most people, Ghostbusters one is this beloved movie and then Ghostbusters
21:54
2, everybody's kind of like, it's kind of crappy. Yeah. But Harold Ramis says he thinks the reason for that is because
22:00
Ghostbusters 1 is not about Ghostbusters. It's about a bunch of friends who start a job together and
22:05
that's what makes it such a great movie. Whereas in Ghostbusters 2, they started leaning into they got egos about how
22:12
many toys is this going to sell and licensing and the studio getting involved. It's no longer just about some
22:18
buddies who start a job. That tends to happen with the sequel of things.
22:24
Uh this is rated R. Mhm. Oh, yeah. Um, but it was before it was either it
22:30
was gonna it had to either be PG or R at this time. PG-13 did not yet exist.
22:36
So, there's a fair number of fbombs and boobs. So, well, there's the Fbomb scene.
22:42
Oh, the absolute great one of the greatest of all time. And then there's Yeah, obviously boobs.
22:49
Beverly D'Angelo's boobs. who a lot of people like to talk about, man, Stifler's mom might have been like the
22:55
ultimate movie type mil archetype. Beverly D'Angelo, man, let me tell you,
23:01
I will argue that these boobs are on par sort of with the Captain Ron boobs in
23:06
the completely unnecessary category. You don't need them. There was no reason for Bev Beverly D'Angelo to do nudity in this movie.
23:14
Not once, but twice. Twice. And then they wanted Christy Brinkley to do nudity in this and she
23:20
declined. And I guess they really pressured her for it. But good for her for saying no because again
23:26
it doesn't add anything. It wasn't you know Porky's or like Animal House or something like that. It's a literally
23:32
it's a vacation. It's a family vacation movie. Yeah. There's really no It didn't need to compete with movies
23:38
that were showing boobs. It didn't need to at all. So completely unnecessary nude scene. But she's a gorgeous woman so I don't
23:44
think dropped it. No, wasn't bad. She was a hottie. Yeah. And did you guys know that she and
23:50
Al Pacuccino had a long time relationship and they have twins together? No.
23:57
Had to do it. I I know she ended up marrying like an Italian prince or something.
24:03
Something like that. Some stuff. It was after they got divorced though. It was like that she and Pacino got
24:10
together. Yeah. Yeah. What a couple. So weird. Yep. So yeah, this movie has a 7.3 on IMDb,
24:19
which is really high. Yeah, it's good. And written by John Hughes. And the
24:24
whole National Lampoons thing comes from it was a magazine that he wrote for and
24:30
it the screenplay was inspired by an article that he wrote based on his real family's ill- fated trip to Disneyland
24:36
when he was little. And so he wrote a short story and it was called Vacation 58.
24:42
Yeah. Yeah. Yes. So you guys, if it has been, let's see, 1983. Wow. That is well
24:49
over 40. Wow. 40 years ago. 42 years. So if so, if it's been 40 years since
24:57
you've seen this or a while or if you haven't seen it and you live under a rock, vacation is about having it all
25:05
planned down to the last detail. Well-meaning Clark Griswald and his supportive wife Ellen take their two
25:11
teenagers, Rusty and Audrey, on a cross-country trip from the suburbs of
25:16
Chicago, all the way to sunny California's W-ally World, aka Disneyland amusement park. However,
25:23
anything that could go wrong does, and before long, Ellen's cousin Catherine and her husband Eddie enter the picture,
25:29
and Clark is on the verge of blowing a gasket. Roy Wallally's wonderful park seems farther and farther away. And
25:36
although the prospect of a clandestine meeting with the alluring blonde in the fast 1981 Ferrari sounds tempting, Clark
25:45
must do the right thing and find the promised land. How hard can it be to have the perfect vacation?
25:52
Very difficult, apparently. So, we have Chvy Chase, Clark Griswald. We talked about Ellen, his wife, Beverly
25:59
D'Angelo. Rusty is Michael Anthony Hall and Audrey is played by Dana Baron who I
26:08
really didn't know her from anything. Did you guys She kind of She kind of came out of nowhere. Like I can't remember her from
26:15
anything else. It was You are Okay. You are Audrey Griswald. That's who you are.
26:20
I did look her up. She was a series regular in a TV series in the late 80s. It was like an action series called
26:26
Crossbow. Not familiar with Crossbow. I'm not either, but it she was in like 50s
26:31
something episodes of it. It ran for a few years. And then there was a character on Beverly Hills 90210 in 1992
26:39
called Nikki Wit and she was in nine episodes. She played Nikki.
26:44
How bad nine episodes. I reference 90210 quite a bit, especially Jamie Walters's character,
26:50
Ray Puit, who I still will to this day. Jamie Walters got such a bre a bad rap.
26:56
The dude could sing, he can act, but the fact that his career got screwed because
27:02
he played a character who threw Donna down a flight of stairs and nobody seemed to understand it was a role
27:09
character. He was in it's to the point he left Hollywood and I'm pretty sure he's still
27:14
a firefighter in Los Angeles, I think. Really? Well, he was in that The Heights
27:20
didn't How do you talk to an angel? Yeah. How Do I Talk to an Angel went to number one on the Billboard Hot 100.
27:25
It's like that dude was awesome. But man, wasn't that a TV show? It was. I think it only lasted 10
27:30
episodes on Fox and it didn't get picked up. Such a good dude. But man, I should have
27:36
known that about Dana Baron because I used to love 90210. I have no recollection of Yeah, I Yeah, I can't recall that character,
27:42
but yeah. And then we have Aunt Edna played by Imagine Koka. Oh, what a legend.
27:48
Yeah. Goes way back. the only character like she has a familiar face and if
27:53
anybody remembers watching the Brady Bunch after school reruns of that there's an episode where Jan's being Jan
28:00
and is upset cuz she thinks she's ugly and there's Aunt Jenny is is her
28:05
unattractive twin aunt. She looks like Aunt Jenny and Koko plays Aunt Jenny in
28:10
that. She's the ultimate like aunt looking like grandmother looking archetype. I
28:16
feel like she was a forever aunt by far. Yep. Definitely. What do you guys think
28:21
of Cousin Eddie played by Randy Quaid? What do we think about the character or the man who he became? The real
28:28
question. Yeah. So, the lesser attractive Quaid brother. Yeah. He is awesome in this role. Like
28:35
he has cousin Eddie down to a fine tooth comb. Yes. He's such a good [ __ ] this the scene
28:42
where they're hinting that Eddie needs to borrow money and he's like pulls out his wallet and
28:48
he's going to what you need Eddie and he's like about 52,000
28:53
that's $52,000 which we find out later it was he gave him 500 bucks which in 1983
29:00
who knows what that's $5,000 something like that I also love the fact that during that whole scene when
29:06
they're in Kansas it is implied that he taught his daughter how to French kiss.
29:11
Oh my god. So gross. Yeah. Jen Kowski who who played Vicky
29:16
his daughter in the movie when she's on the teeter totter and she's literally looking at Audrey and go I go steady and
29:23
I French kiss. But everybody does that but daddy says I'm the best at it. It's like oh my god man.
29:29
Which there is consistency. I mean I know John Hughes wrote this. There's cons he has there's like little moments
29:34
like that throughout most John Hughes movies. Oh yeah. these like uncomfortable throwway lines don't really hold up
29:41
anymore. Yeah, he did go there. And then Eddie's son obviously has the
29:46
huge stack of stack of porn and the fact that he tell
29:52
Rusty wants to buy his porn. He goes, I use magazines. How do you use a magazine? He's like,
29:57
my friend taught me something really cool. Tell you or did he teach? Did he
30:03
show you? A shower or a teller? Yeah. What are we doing? But I believe the specific words were bopping his
30:08
baloney. That was the term. Yeah. Yeah. Mhm. Mhm. We So this is Jane
30:14
Kowsk's film debut as cousin Vicki. But that line
30:21
and then there's a there's like later when the sister is like telling on her brother. She's like Rusty wore his
30:28
underpants last night. What was that? I didn't I a did not understand what what
30:34
will like as opposed to what as opposed to mom, dad, Rusty's sleeping
30:39
naked again. Yeah, I have concerns cuz maybe their parents tell them they have to sleep without underwear.
30:45
Listen, they seem like a very open pajamas. Yeah, pajamas. They seem like a very open mom and dad
30:50
relationship. Like how many times in this movie they've caught that like just walking in having sex or when they were
30:56
going to fool around in the car and her head got trapped. They just seem oblivious. This happens all the time.
31:01
Yeah. Super weird. Yeah. He's trying to get his wife to go down on him with with the
31:06
kids in the back seat. But yeah, some super weird lines. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Did you guys know that
31:13
Randy Quaid uh got an Oscar nomination in 1974?
31:18
For what movie? Best actor in a supporting role for The Last Detail.
31:24
I've never heard of that movie at all. That I haven't either. And you guys just covered Kingpin. So he played Ishmael in
31:32
King. Yeah. Good old Ish. Ishmael Borg. What a great movie that his best role. I mean, it's probably
31:37
Cousin Eddie. But Independence Day. Oh, he's the best. It just that role was like written for
31:44
him in Independence Day cuz he's like a kooky. Yeah. He was abducted by aliens. Who was abducted by aliens?
31:49
I told you they were going to come back and then he ended up totally redeeming himself
31:55
in movies. Not in real life. Not in real life. No. In real life, he's screwed. But they'll still bring him into Steel
32:01
City Con in Pittsburgh every year and pretend like he's done nothing wrong. Was he from there or
32:07
No, he Steel City Con is now starting to pull this move. It's amazing. Like they'll bring all these people in pop
32:12
culture festival like big big names. And this last one they had a couple months ago, out of nowhere, they're
32:18
like, "Oh, we're bringing Kevin Spacy in." And everybody's like, "What the hell are you doing?" They're like,
32:23
"Listen, he was acquitted. It's, you know, he's found not guilty. It's like, yeah, consistency there with that type
32:29
of guest. I mean, we're like a couple cons away from it being like a bunch of them at one.
32:35
Yeah, pretty much. We got Diddy and Kevin Spy. They're all coming. Hey, whatever.
32:42
Predator Con. Yeah, pretty much. Yeah, there you go. Wow. Wow. Yes. So, we also get some John
32:49
Candy in this, which is par for the course with with John Hughes. He plays the security guard at Wall-E World.
32:56
He He was paid a million dollars for his very brief so mindblowing
33:02
in 1983. In 193 this is 83 John Candy who hasn't really hit big at all yet.
33:09
He's coming off SCTV. But nobody really knows John Candy that well. And for a role that he was
33:15
probably on screen for how long? About 10 minutes, 8 minutes. Russ Laskkey.
33:21
But great lines though, you know. Uh, Mr. Wallley, I mentioned the company Christmas party last year. I saw a BB gun clark. Like, he has some really
33:27
great a favor from John Hughes and from Harold Ramos to put him
33:33
in the movie and not just put him in the movie, pay him a million dollars. I think so because the ending that we
33:39
have with John Candy was not the original ending. Y So, I think they scrambled, which we'll get into that, but I think it was, you
33:46
know, like four months later, they were like, "Shit, we need a new ending." And so, they came up with this. And yeah,
John Candy’s iconic cameo and the alternate ending reveal
33:51
you're right. It had to have been a favor. And you could tell by Anthony Michael Hall's growth spurt. He's taller than Beverly D'Angelo at
33:58
points and not as tall as her at other points. We just So we did So I Married an Axe Murderer and John Candy was supposed to
34:04
be in that because Mike Meyers grew up idolizing John Candy because in Canada
34:10
SCTV and John Candy was supposed to play the police captain in So I Married an Axe
34:15
murder. It ended up being an Alan Arc. But there were a number of movies like where John Candy pops up for just a
34:20
little bit. Just a little lunch. Uh uh Little Shop of Horrors is so good. He just pops up for a couple
34:27
minutes and then Yeah. shows you how great he was where I truly think John Candy was like a
34:34
future Oscar winner cuz I think he had the range to play serious roles. I mean
34:39
look at the Plan Trains and Automobiles at the end. I mean look at Robin Williams. I mean
34:44
right there nothing but a comedy guy. Ends up doing dramatic roles. His dramatic roles. I mean, Goodwill Hunting, but even like the creepy ones,
34:51
1 hour photo, final cut, like some of these I forgot about that one. Yeah. So good. And I think you're right. John
34:57
Candy would have found that dramatic role probably in the later 90s where I
35:03
think he would have been an Oscar. No doubt because he has that heartwarming I I'm a big I'm a way bigger fan of John Candy
35:09
than I am of Robin Williams. I don't know. He just has this like likability about him. And he was in I just covered
35:14
career opportunities. Yep. And he was in that for about 5 minutes as well. not even maybe two minutes as
35:20
the manager of the target. So, it's it's great to see him pop up. Wouldn't it be a dream to be that type
35:26
of character who gets to show up on set for one day or two days, but you can also tell he doesn't halfass
35:32
it? Like, he puts everything into it. Exactly. You get paid a mass sum of money and you go home and you move on to
35:37
the next thing. Yeah. Awesome. That's a heck of a career. Now, Christy Brinkley is in this as the
35:44
beautiful girl driving the Ferrari. And I had that Ferrari, you guys. Wait a minute.
35:50
Oh, you Oh, you I was about my mouth was starting to water. I'm like, "Oh my god." You had
35:56
literally But I that I had the Barbie Ferrari. That is like that. It was that model. It was that that one. Oh, so
36:03
cool. Such a great car. But Christy Brinkley, beautiful. Oh my god. Gorgeous.
36:08
Spitballing here. Is Christy Brinkley in the Ferrari imaginary?
36:14
You think it's con? Well, no, because everybody at the hotel there's a beautiful woman. But as Clark is watching the beautiful
36:21
woman in the Ferrari, he's daydreaming of scenarios. Okay. Does that Ferrari and the woman in the
36:27
Ferrari actually exist? This is a really, really good question,
36:32
Kevin. I will say because I know what the original ending was and she was in
36:38
it, she is a real person, but given the cut we have now, she could be imaginary. the
36:45
the woman. I mean, he obviously has the the I don't know what you call the
36:50
splash at the hotel. He does with this beautiful woman, but you know, every time he sees the
36:55
woman in the Ferrari, he seems to be the only person. I mean, other than the Oh, but the Rusty and Audrey are talking
37:04
to each other about what about mom? Are they going to get a divorce? So, they clearly saw him with someone in the
37:10
pool, right? In the pool. Yeah. I mean, it's that whole that whole scene at the hotel. It's like, all
37:15
right, Clark's finally just he's had it. He's had his aunt Edna's dead. He's They literally were just trying to get cross
37:21
country and then there's this woman nearly It was Here's the real question. If she wouldn't have yelled in the pool
37:29
and woke up everybody, including Ellen, would he have gone through with it?
37:34
I think he would have. Do you think he would have had to have gotten another room or her room or whatever? because
37:40
she doesn't buy the she doesn't buy the [ __ ] story that he owns the hotel and his family is a
37:45
cover for his brother. And it's also interesting that Ellen's reaction to catching him in the pool
37:51
with another woman is to then want to play the role of the woman in the pool.
37:56
She gets topless and jumps in the pool with him. I want to have fun. She's like weird.
38:01
She's mad for like 20 seconds and then she's like down. I dude I would be I
38:09
rate and it's the most quiet mad too because she just seems to be somewhat
38:14
consiliatory to the fact that he had this like fantasy and he kind of lived
38:19
it but he says oh she's ugly I didn't like her and she's like okay I can be
38:24
exciting too in the pool. It's just like what are you doing? Why aren't you trying to beat the [ __ ] out of this guy?
38:30
Either that or it's meant to make us feel like she's so
38:35
comfortable and trusting of their relationship that she doesn't believe that anything could have ever happened.
38:42
That's true. That's a good point. I don't know. But dude, I don't I can trust you.
38:49
Know that you wouldn't, but you're naked with another woman in
38:54
full on naked like everything. My reaction to catching my partner in something isn't for me to be like, I
39:02
will take the role of that person. That's a great idea. I'm going to do that, too. Meanwhile, the kids are just
39:07
like, whatever. And I do love that in the 80s there was this magical thing where, you know,
39:12
somebody like Christy Brinkley could get cast as the woman in the red Ferrari and it's just a career maker.
39:18
Yeah. And she didn't even have a name. No, it's just like the roles. Like you just pop up in a commercial, you pop up
39:23
in a movie, and then all of a sudden you're just like a superstar. And you're married to David Copperfield. Yeah. Yeah.
39:29
Wait, she married David Copperfield? I thought that was Claudia Schiffer. Oh, wait. Is it Claudia Schiffer? Oh, I might have been wrong. I confused them
39:34
all. Brinkley was Brinkley was also married the Who's the ugliest singer? Piano man
39:40
guy. What's his name? Billy Joel. Oh, that's right. Was it Billy? It was Billy Joel. That's right. Your favorite,
39:45
Kevin. Kevin's favorite of all time. She was an uptown girl. That's right. I confused him. That's my
39:51
bad. Sorry, Kevin. We'd reference Billy Joel. So, I thought we'd get away from it on this podcast.
39:57
Are you yay or nay? Billy Joel. Nay, Billy Joel. I mean, with the with the fire of 10,000 sons, this one cannot stand Billy Joel.
40:04
Meanwhile, I adore Billy Joel. I think in the middle of the night, Billy Joel, like early 90s, Billy Joel,
40:10
I think really soured his entire career for me. Okay. All right. Um, also
40:19
speaking of Christy Brinkley buying that, like she's super into him for some reason.
40:24
Yeah. Also, so is Ellen. They're both crazy hot and he is mediocre at best.
40:32
And that seems to be a thing at this time. He is the common man with dopey elements
40:38
to him. Like he can easily be persuaded. Like the the car for instance, he didn't even order the right car.
40:45
First, there's a whole logic issue with the whole the car thing just because you trade in your car, they automatically go
40:52
demolish it. He orders a blue metallic blue super sports wagon. They give him a
40:57
metallic P truckster. He's like, I'm over this. They flatten his car. Comes back to Ellen and said, "No, that you
41:03
didn't want. Car was much too small. This is much better." So he's so easily persuaded to accept dumb [ __ ] even
41:09
though it's completely wrong. Dopey is a good word for it. Yeah. Chevy
41:14
Chase 39 playing in this movie. It's insane that he was 39. One of my favorite things in old movies
41:20
is trying to figure out how old people were when they played this role. I mean cuz he looked this way for quite a
41:27
while. Yeah. But now if you look at him and I chase 82 I think like he hit this age barrier where all
41:34
of a sudden it's like boom it's like Tom Cruz now it's like okay age finally has got Tom Cruz Florida.
41:40
Yeah I know I he it did it age got him finally. Yep. Yep. Um some other super
41:46
fun characters here. Eugene Levy as the car salesman.
41:51
So great. He goes up to introduces himself to Clark and he goes to shake Russy's hand. He's like, "Hey, Ruben,
41:58
right? Rusty." Yeah. Whatever. It's I love Eugene Levy. He's the best. I really do. One of my favorite movies I
42:04
got to find a a way to incorporate it into a season is Splash. Oh, yes. With John Candy, too. Also in that one.
42:11
Weirdly enough, this past weekend, I showed my girlfriend for the first time Armed and Dangerous, which is John Candy
42:18
and Eugene Levy, which is I've seen that. It's an amazing movie. Eugene Levy plays
42:24
a lawyer who loses his job. John Kenny plays a cop who loses his job and they all become security guards and they end
42:30
up getting involved in this whole racketeering thing. It's a comedy. It is so good. Zeus, who is a tiny listister,
42:38
he's in it, too. Robert Loia is in it. It's a Oh, how have I not seen this?
42:43
It's from 1986. It's really good. Yeah, Mark Lester directs it. It's really good
42:48
movie. I'm totally going to find it this weekend. So, we already talked about cousin
42:53
Eddie, but his wife Catherine is played by Miriam Flynn, who was also in Mr. Mom. She played
42:59
Annette in Mr. Mom. So good. It's so good. It's beyond so good.
43:05
Reprises her cousin Katherine role in Vegas Vacation in 97, so like several
43:12
years later. And then I didn't know, but she is the voice of Ma in Babe, the pig
43:18
movie. Oh, really? Oh, okay. Mhm. I've only ever seen just like Vegas Vacation. I've only seen it once. I've
43:24
never se I've only seen I've seen Vegas Vacation once. I've seen because I didn't I didn't I don't know if this is going to come up. All right, Jim, gun your head.
43:30
Here we go. Rank the vacation movies. First one. Vacation. Chris, are we just
43:36
in what? How many are we counting here? We're doing the Prime. Yeah. Vacation, Christmas, Vacation, European
43:43
Vacation, Vegas Vacation. Okay. Katie, have you seen them all? She hasn't seen European.
43:49
Okay. I have just been Yeah. I I would say Yeah. one and I would say vacation
43:55
and Christmas vacation are pretty close for me. Yeah. And then the other ones I have vague
44:00
memories like I have to rewatch them to remember. I probably go Christmas original Vegas
44:05
European. Yeah. European. I just don't I don't know why that's just an anomaly type
44:11
movie. And you know, fascinating thing about vacation is I think originally they tried to pitch it to Paramount and
44:18
Paramount basically was like it's there it's just a bunch of like
44:23
stops. They're just driving. They stop a place. They do something. There's no like linear storytelling.
44:28
It's road trip movie, which is true. And road trip movie is probably like maybe my favorite genre. I
44:34
love road trip movies. Magic Mike XXL is like maybe my favorite movie. It's like the ultimate. I love
44:40
it. ultimate road trip movie. And I love road trip movies. But
44:46
what Paramount said about vacation? I feel to me that's sort of like what I feel about European vacation. Okay.
44:52
As like linear storytelling, it's it's just not it's so disjointed. Did the Griswalds need to go on a European vacation? Not
44:59
at all. They were on a game show that they won and they won this vacation. It's like, who cares? Yeah. Well, you got to capitalize on the
45:05
popularity of You know what? I think the I think the biggest disconnect was the kids not being the same character. So, it's like
45:11
I don't care about these other to do that. In every movie they're
45:17
different. Yeah, I agree that I'm glad their ages always changed. They never were the same, but it's just ah for me it's a
45:22
dumb thing, but not seeing Anthony Michael Hall or Dana Baron in European Vacation even made it worse for me.
45:29
Okay, that's fair. Yeah. Um, a few other smaller characters
45:34
that I just like the motorcycle cop that the scene Oh, boy. That scene where we
45:40
find out that Clark killed the dog. Yeah, he tied it to the bumper and just went off with it. I did not remember that. And I was
45:47
horrified. I I was not That's dark. Dragged the dog to death.
45:53
Yeah. I thank God you don't hear any like squealing, but when Aunt Edna does the
46:01
line, it will always and forever be stuck in your head when you hear her yell when they stop to
46:06
get food. It's one of the best delivered lines.
46:12
But I always thought that cop if cuz I remember he was in the movie Moving Violations with Bill Murray's brother
46:19
John. Okay. Okay. You put a mustache on him like he did in that movie. He kind of looks like Thomas Lennon aka Lieutenant
46:24
Jim Dangle. Dangle. Yeah. Yeah, he does. He does look like Dangle. The actor's name is James Keech. Um, and
46:32
he also played Jesse James in the 1980 Longwriters movie and the Warden and
46:37
Walk the Line. That's I wonder if he's related to Stacy Keith. I know. I wondered that. I should have
46:43
looked it up, but I didn't. I could see like physical similarities. I would assume it's probably his brother. Makes sense.
46:50
Some relation. What were you gonna say, Kevin? I was just gonna say I like Edna's line where it's like it smells in this room.
46:56
This is your room. Whatever it is. I love that part. I love No, Ellen says, "The tent, the tent
47:03
smells." And then Clark is like, "This will be Edna's." Yeah, that's right. Edna's tent or whatnot.
47:08
I love when Frank McCrae pops up in a movie because I'm a big Rocky nerd.
47:13
But he plays Grover, a security guard at Wally World also. Yep. Um, we talked about him last season
47:19
because he was the teacher in the first scene of Red Dawn. That's right. He was
47:25
Mhm. He gets killed right away. And then he was in a ton of movies with Sylvester Sloan, including Rocky, too.
47:31
He Yes, he was. Was his boss who fires him from the meat meat plant. What could have been? He could have been
47:37
employee a month in a meat factory and then his whole life could have changed and never fought greed. He Yeah,
47:44
boy. It would have been better. No, I'm just kidding. Yeah. And then we have Roy Wall-E, the owner of Wall-E World, and
47:51
he goes back to the 30s with his roles. He's most known for a lot of movies from
47:57
the 40s, excuse me. And I recognized him because I'm a big Golden Girls fan. And
48:04
he plays Buzz in one of the episodes of Golden Girls as Rose's love interest.
48:10
And then he's also in Home Alone 2. He's like the toy Mr. Dun. Mr. Dun. Mr. Duncan.
48:16
We we we had thoughts about Mr. Duncan when we covered Home Alone 2. Eddie Bracken is so good. I love the fact that
48:23
they made him look like Roy Disney in this movie. Oh, exactly. The mustache, the hair. I I mean, I
48:32
think the original script literally it was supposed to be Disneyland and they're just like there's Disneyland said no.
48:38
Yeah. Which Okay, I can understand cuz the boobs and everything, they're like, "Listen, we can't have boobs in a Disney
48:43
product." And now look at Disney. episodes change. But yeah, Eddie Bracken, thanks. Excellent. There's a great movie, I
48:49
believe it's called Escape from Tomorrow that was illegally filmed in Disneyland.
48:54
Really? Yeah. Independent filmmakers snuck some camera equipment inside of Disney. Disney knew about it, but Disney
49:01
actually didn't do anything because they thought by suing or raising a stink, it would put more eyeballs on the movie.
49:09
And the fact that these people were able to sneak all this film equipment into Disney, kudos to them. It's basically about a
49:15
father who's unraveling after a couple of days at Disney.
49:20
I've never been and there's a reason I've never been. I I would also unravel I think.
49:25
Yeah, it takes a a special breed for sure. Having been there multiple times and with kids like that I can only
49:32
imagine. I c I can't actually like there's I would never even attempt it. I I would be the worst.
49:38
My children would get lost. It does make you, you know, just segue back to this question Clark's just like sanity
49:45
overall. Not only to take his family of all places, you get your vacation, you're going to go to Wally World, but
49:51
on top of it, we're going to drive Yeah. cross country to Chicago to Los Angeles.
49:57
To Los Angeles, we're going to drive it. And they said, "Well, don't people fly to their vacation." Well, she even says in the very
50:03
beginning when they're kitchen, Clark, we have 10 weeks. We have the whole summer to plan this. We don't have to leave. And the fact that he wants to
50:10
stop at the world's biggest house of mud. He stops and dodge [ __ ] he can. Just like all this weird [ __ ] that I
50:17
understand like he even says and it's really heartwarming. He's like listen Ellen you basically and I'm paraphrasing
50:22
you get to see the kids all the time. I see him an hour a night here, an hour a day here. This is my chance to be with
50:27
our kids for a whole extended time. And I appreciate that because quite frankly, a
50:33
lot of parents anymore, not every parent, just doesn't want to be bothered. It's like, I have these kids,
50:39
just leave me alone. Let me go do my own thing. But the fact that you have a guy who, like I said, dopey as hell, but
50:45
he's willing to do whatever it takes to take this whole even buy the wrong damn
50:50
car and go cross country with it. I mean, Clark Griswald, I mean, that's the best. He was more into going to Wally World
50:56
than the kids were, I think. But yeah, I think it wasn't just about Wally. That
51:01
was the ultimate destination, but it was about the journey. Yes. And the family time like you said, and
51:07
they saw other things and they saw cousin Eddie and and cousin Vicky, played by Jane Kowski.
51:13
Yeah. Don't you like when your punch is stirred with just a person's hand? Just mix it.
51:19
And Oh, and I like Hamburger Helper. It's way better than Tuna Helper. And it's it's good on its own. You don't even need to add Hamburger to it.
51:27
That whole I always find it weird too and this is one thing like when I watch it I've seen this 1500 times.
51:33
So Eddie and Catherine's last name I believe are Johnson or Jackson according to what it's build.
51:39
I remember houses back then the screen door holder would have the initial of the last name of the family.
51:45
In this movie it has the initial H. And I can't wrap my head around as to why it
51:50
has the initial H. Did it just come with the house which I'm assuming it came with the house. Just Eddie doesn't know any better and
51:56
he's not going to go buy a door when he's teaching his daughter how to French kiss. Yeah. And they don't have They have how
52:04
many? Like six kids or five and one on the way or something? Kids. A ton of kids.
52:09
Ton of kids. Hey, but at least Eddie let Catherine get rid of one of her night jobs. So, good good on him.
52:15
When the baby comes. Yeah. Oh my god. And then he can afford to buy buy those
52:20
I don't know. It looked like those expensive shoes. Those patent white leather shoes. Oh my god, they're awful.
52:27
I don't know. I kind of dug them actually. Maybe they helped seal the deal in the pool because that's when he got pissed
52:33
at Ellen. He broke the shoes out and he's like, "Watch this, honey." Boom. However, he does strip down naked to get
52:40
in the pool except his socks that he keeps on for some reason. Why is that? I wonder.
52:45
I don't know. But here's this what I once again, we're talking about Chvy Chase getting naked, so let's just go
52:51
all in. So he gets completely naked twig and berries with Christy Brinkley. But
52:56
when his wife says I can do that too, she doesn't get completely naked. He doesn't get completely naked. He keeps
53:02
his boxer brief on and socks. So why do you not get to not totally naked with
53:08
your own wife? At that rate, everybody at the hotel knows what you look like, so it doesn't matter. Good point. Yeah, good point. Great
53:15
point. The music here was done by Ralph Burns, who won an Oscar for his work on 1973's
53:23
Cabaret. Yeah. And he also compon composed music for All That Jazz, which also won an Oscar.
53:29
Urban Cowboy, The Muppets Take Manhattan. Yes.
53:34
And All Dogs Go to Heaven, which was like my childhood. Yeah. Carface.
53:40
Yeah. All hits. Those are all hits. Ralph Burns. This soundtrack is so good. I mean,
53:45
right when off the bat, you hear Holiday Road by Lindsay Buckingham. And the fact that that that song's only 2 minutes and 30 seconds long. It's one
53:53
of those iconic songs that any vacation you ever go on, no matter what, that's
53:58
the first thing you play when you leave the house is Holiday Road. I feel like people who grew up in our
54:04
generation, it's that what's that life is a highway song. Oh, by Tom Cochran. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
54:10
It's a great song. Yeah, that's a lot of people forget that Lindsay Buckingham also did the end credit song
54:16
with Dancing Across the USA, which is Mhm. so good. Like it's Nobody talks about
54:22
that song, but it's it's so good. So, while the end credits came up, I
54:27
didn't notice this for a very long time, having seen this movie like you several times. They flew home.
54:33
That's part of the alternate ending. That last scene in the credits as part of the the actual ending that Chvy Chase
54:40
is the only one to own the copy of that final ending. Yeah, they did fly home. Yep.
54:45
I I just have so many questions logistically about that because one, how did they repair the car in the first place?
54:50
They did. That's first off, that's why they flew home. But the Wagon Queen family truckster
54:56
might be the most unreliable reliable car in history.
55:01
They've jumped it. It's been it's been spray painted somehow when they jumped it and it got repaired. They never put
55:08
all four wheels on properly. Still went dead in a straight line. Most of the front of the car was
55:14
completely gone. So, but where did the car go when they flew home? Abandoned it. He bought a new car. They probably pulled right up to the
55:20
terminal and said, "Keep it." Back then, there's probably $2,000. It wasn't worth anything by the end of
55:25
their vacation. So, so yeah, fly home, buy it, get the car he actually did order, I guess.
55:32
because this this movie is set in Chicago. That's one of the I think that's I think I brought it up before, but I think subconsciously that's why I
55:39
like all these movies because I love or that's why I love Chicago is because I grew up watching all of these Chicago based movies.
55:45
So, this movie also was I'm kind of surprised given that it's a road trip
55:50
movie and they did actually shoot some things in locations, but it was made for $15 million and it grossed
55:58
61.4 worldwide. So that's thus the sequels. Yep.
56:04
I also like as a video game nerd that Kevin and I are, I love the fact that
56:09
they plan the family vacation on a Ballet Astrocade. Yeah. The Clark's Valley Astrocade that
56:15
connects to the Yes. Connects to the TV. 12-in family TV. Ellen, come in. We're talking about day
56:20
one. It's literally three bits in an interactive map. And it also becomes a video game.
56:26
It also becomes a video game. You have Rusty and Audrey taking shots at one another in the game. Yeah. Wait, what did you I wondered if it was
56:33
a Commodore 64. What was the computer? It was It was called a Ballet Astrocade cuz the one thing that sticks out, the
56:40
keyboard he's typing on is an Apple 2, but the actual video game system is a
56:45
Ballet Astrocade. The reason it stands out, it's the one-hand controller with the knob on the very top,
56:51
cuz a lot of people thought it was one of the first video game systems, and I'm I'm going down a rabbit hole. It was called the Fair Channel. the Fairchild
56:58
Channel F, which was the first video game system that used cartridges. This was the second one after that, the
57:04
Ballet Astrocade. Okay. Yes. Okay. Cuz the Commodore 64 uses used
57:10
cartridges, too. It uses cartridges and floppies cuz I still have my Commodore 64 as a kid. So,
57:16
my parents have ours. Yeah. I love my The Commodore. You Great thing about that. Load a game, go cook dinner,
57:22
eat dinner, and then when you go back upstairs, the game's ready to go. It might be ready to It might be ready to go.
57:27
Oh, we haven't turned it on in 30 years, but we obviously was getting his Christmas bonus back then before the Jelly of the
57:34
Month Club because you know those home systems like that were not cheap. No, if you adjust that valley for inflation,
57:42
I want to say that'd be like a $15 or $1,600 system now. Yeah. Oh, wow. Well, they live in an upscale
57:48
Chicago suburb, so I think they're they're fine. They got the moneys. Yeah, for sure. Um,
57:55
I hadn't seen this. You guys, it sounds like, have seen this multiple times. I don't think I've seen it, but maybe a
58:01
couple of times. It wasn't until a long time. It wasn't until I texted you recently
Alternate ending discussion: What could’ve been?
58:07
where I stumbled across the alternate ending to this movie. Like, I never knew about it until recently. And it's 45
58:15
minutes of additional shock that I am stunned that the original movie never
58:22
ended in Wally World or it was because they had to refilm all the ending Wall-E
58:27
World shots because you can tell Anthony Michael Hall aid. He hit a gross burn. True. Mhm. So he gets the BB gun, but
58:36
instead of going back to Wally World, he goes to Roy Wallally's house, holds him at gunpoint and says, "You are going to
58:42
entertain my family. We drove all the way out here. We lost an aunt. We need
58:48
some official Roy Wall-E entertainment." So that's how the movie was initially
58:53
screened. It's like And the girl, the girl, Christy Brinkley, was his daughter. So, she was
58:59
there and she convinced her dad. She's the one that kind of convinced
59:04
him, you know, not to press charges or whatever. Katie, they did end up in the park then, right? It just ended at their his his
59:10
house, right? I I don't I'm not entirely certain. Loosely this ending became Christmas
59:17
Vacation's ending. It did. They used that. Yeah. It's a kidnapping in the home, you
59:23
know, the whole And in the last scene of the credits where you see them on the plane, that was the actual end of the original cut
59:29
of the movie. Oh, I did read something about the plane ride home. The Griswalds realize that
59:35
they're on the wrong flight and Clark snaps and hijacks the plane.
59:41
What the hell was happening? Holding a guy in his house at gunpoint and he's hijacking planes. This ending
59:48
did not go over well with test audiences. Thus, the switch to the amusement park with John Candy and every
59:56
the SWAT team and the police them almost getting arrested and then at the end
1:00:01
everybody including the police officers and everybody's riding rides together all happy. Do you think, and I doubt
1:00:07
that he does this, but when the day does come that Chvy Chase passes, A, do you
1:00:13
think do you think he still knows that he has this cut still, or B,
1:00:18
who is going to get this? Got to come out eventually, right? You wonder what like
1:00:25
version it's in, though. Yeah. I mean, it could be just completely like if it's raw footage or is it an edited
1:00:32
ready to be released? I mean, they they showed it apparently. It didn't go over. It didn't definitely didn't go over.
1:00:38
I think I remember I remember which movie it was. Maybe it's when we did Ferris Beller
1:00:44
that John Hughes had a lot of this sort of thing, versions of things,
1:00:51
unwritten things like sort of like Prince's Vault. Oh yeah. Where just vault of information and footage and all this stuff.
1:00:58
But unfortunately, you know, John Hughes passed away. Yeah. Yeah. I feel like there was like a
1:01:04
three-hour cut of it and there was so much that that got cut. Yeah. Um Yeah.
1:01:09
One thing that I noted when I was watching this was the Lacost brand polo
1:01:16
shirts. Were they like a sponsor of this movie or or or was that just so 80s?
1:01:22
I think that was so 80s. The alligator Lacost has tried to make a comeback but
1:01:27
it hasn't really like stuck. I don't know. But yeah, Lacost was everywhere. I think I might have had
1:01:33
three or four of those in my arsenal at that age though. But they like every everybody in the
1:01:38
whole family was wearing those shirts. Lac brand. Yeah. I tell you what. Now here's a scene that
1:01:47
So I looked up trivia after I watched the movie and a lot of times I do it beforehand and I would have been looking
1:01:52
for it. But here I did note this last night when I watched the movie. The night before they go
1:01:59
when they go on vacation, they're in the kitchen and Clark and Ellen are like doing dishes. Did you notice that Ellen
1:02:05
scrapes food off of the dishes, hands Clark the plate, and he just puts that
1:02:10
back in the c the cabinet? That sounds fine to me. Nothing wrong. It's clean. We're good. There's no remnant that
1:02:16
Well, there was a Apparently there's a joke cuz he says, "Oh, I never wa I never wash the dishes." is he just kind
1:02:22
of like goes like this with a towel and puts it back in the in the cabinet. He's saving water. God bless that man.
1:02:28
And I noticed it. I'm like, "Well, what the hell?" But, you know, I I later then
1:02:33
later read in the trivia that Chubby Chase doesn't think that anyone notices it. And I did, but I can see that a lot
1:02:41
of people may not notice. Yeah. Yeah, it just it's you always hear
1:02:48
these things like later on in life and we've talked about this on our show where you know they always say you know
1:02:54
don't meet your heroes cuz they might you know disappoint you. Chevy Chase definitely seems like that
1:03:00
one where you hear like all like the stories of on the set of community how he was
1:03:06
so damn difficult to work with and he's notorious difficult. Yeah. And it's like we found out listen
1:03:13
like after Val Kilmer died he said you know one of his biggest regrets as he was progressing you know near the end of
1:03:19
his life was I wish I wasn't so damn difficult on set cuz I never really got to enjoy the movies I used to do cuz I
1:03:25
was an [ __ ] Yeah. So it's like I don't know if Chvy Chase will ever have that type of regret as
1:03:31
he's getting older and older. But it's like man that's such a shame because Chevy Chase would have been one of those
1:03:36
guys where I'd be like oh my god it'd be such an honor to meet you. Chvy Chase
1:03:42
pretty much steadily worked. He did forever. And that's what if I were a director, producer, anything,
1:03:50
I'm not wired that way. I would not deal with [ __ ] Yeah. I just if you're going to be difficult like
1:03:55
your value Yeah. There's no actor that's maybe Daniel D.
1:04:00
Lewis or something, but there's no one that's so good that you can't be replaced and it's got to be you. But
1:04:07
like Val Kilmer and Chvy Chase and a number of others who were difficult, they continued to work. So somebody
1:04:14
Yeah. was willing to, you know, Money Train was still coming in. Yeah. I feel like for that to happen, it has
1:04:22
to I don't know. I may be speaking out of turn, but like a director who isn't
1:04:28
well known, like he's trying to cut his teeth or something, and so he he has to put up with it, so to speak.
1:04:33
Perfect example, Mike Myers. Yeah. Mike Myers famously very difficult and when
1:04:39
they did So I Married an Axe murderer that was that guy's I think only directing movie directing credit ever
1:04:45
and he like the tabloids leaked how difficult Mike Myers was being on set cuz coming off Wayne's world a massive
1:04:52
success he's a big star and the director even said
1:04:58
yes he all it's all true he was very difficult however he's like
1:05:03
he didn't bury him and and talk about what an [ __ ] he was. He said, "Well, you have to understand this is very out
1:05:09
of the box for him. He's playing a much different role. It had to be difficult." Like he
1:05:16
was basically feigning sympathy to him. Mhm. So, yeah, I I think your point, you
1:05:21
know, in a roundabout sort of way from what I said, but like your point is that Yeah, it's I think directors
1:05:28
would be lucky to say I got Chvy Chase in my movie. I got Val Kilmer in my movie. And the truth is because nobody else wants them
1:05:34
anymore. And then that builds your credibility and then you can go on to work with these actors, you know, once you've kind
1:05:41
of proven yourself. I again like there were a lot of things I didn't remember, including them leaving a dead person in
1:05:47
the rain on a back porch. I mean, you can't let you can't let it ruin a whole you've driven that far.
1:05:53
What are you going to do with her? She fit perfectly on the roof. I mean, really dark humor. It's really
1:05:59
There's a lot of dark stuff in this. The dog. The dog's got to be the worst. The dog's worse than I Edna by far.
1:06:05
Probably. But it he left a note on her body. So he left her cousin Normmy.
1:06:12
So who is her son? Can you even imagine coming home from wherever the hell he
1:06:18
was? He's just wrapped in this bag. A dead person after, you know, in in
1:06:24
Arizona in this is Phoenix, so the next day it's probably gonna be hot. Oh yeah. And you have a dead person there. Yeah,
1:06:30
but after that he delivers the best
1:06:36
series of lines. It's where we get our only [ __ ] in the movie.
1:06:42
So good for [ __ ] fun. Yeah. What? What do you think? What do you think? I think you're all [ __ ] in the head. We're 10 hours from the
1:06:47
[ __ ] fun park and you all want to bail out for me. This is no longer a vacation. It's a quest. A quest for fun.
1:06:54
I'm going to have fun and you're going to have fun. We're all going to have so much [ __ ] fun. feeding the surgeon to
1:06:59
remove her goddamn smiles. It's so good. Oh my god, he breaks.
1:07:04
It's really, really good. Some trivia about that. There was profanity in the film. There's there was like five in a
1:07:10
row in that scene and then there was one other time I noticed it that they actually had to film it two
1:07:16
different ways preparing for this to be shown on TV. On TV. Yeah. And they they let him Chevy. That
1:07:24
was just him just like riffing riffing. Yeah. Yeah. Well, it's good they kind of brought that back and cuz I don't remember he doing that in European
1:07:30
vacation, but he did that in a rant in Christmas Vacation, which is another epic rant, but
1:07:36
a little bit of a John Hughes thing, too, because in plain strength and automobiles with Edie McLaren. Yeah, it was Edie McLaren. Yeah, the
1:07:42
whole Yeah. The whole car rental fiasco and
1:07:47
something about TV edits though are tremendously great. It's Kevin and I
1:07:53
recite this a lot. The Die Hard 2 TBS Superstation edit of Yippi Cay
1:07:59
[ __ ] is Yippi Cayle Mr. Falcon. It's like Big Labowski.
1:08:05
Yeah. Big Labowski is this is what happens when you [ __ ] stranger in the ass. Yeah, that's that one.
1:08:10
And they change it for television to this is what happens when you find a stranger in the Alps. What?
1:08:15
Which it's like between Mr. Falcon and the Alps. It's just like wow. Also, I grew up watching an edited
1:08:23
for TV version of The Breakfast Club, you know, taped from TV and when Bender
1:08:30
says really loud to what what's his face? The principal guy. Yeah.
1:08:36
Like, [ __ ] you. Really loud and it like reverberates through the hallway. The edited version is filled you.
1:08:46
Even Even as a 5-year-old, I'm like, what does that mean? I I really like Major League is an
1:08:52
oldtimer and Major League consistently, you know, curses throughout and there's the part where Dorne walks onto the
1:08:59
mound to Ricky and he says, "Strike this [ __ ] out." And it's on TV. It's like, "Strike this
1:09:06
guy out." Just really long. They filled [ __ ] with guy.
1:09:12
And you got to love when they You can obviously tell, listen, we're near the end of this movie. I'm not writing anymore, but to me, Mr. Falcon from
1:09:19
[ __ ] you get Mr. Falcon just because there's an M and an F in it. Tremendous. Phoebe Bridger's named an album after
1:09:25
Stranger in the Alps. Really? Yeah. Because really? Yeah. Yeah. Stranger in the Alps because
1:09:31
Yeah. This is what happens when you find a stranger in the Alps. Oh my god. No. If I had that job, if they're like,
1:09:37
"Hey, you got to edit this for TV. Bring it on." That's like my dream job is to like
1:09:43
write the alternative version. Yeah. Fill you. filled filled you. I mean, I
1:09:49
don't know. You should just yell that randomly at somebody and see what the reaction is.
1:09:54
Just for shits and you go filled you. What' you say? Like, what the [ __ ] is wrong with this
1:10:00
guy? What the f is wrong with you? That's right. What the f is wrong with me? What the f is wrong with you? So, yeah.
1:10:06
Chubby Chase known to be difficult, but I did find this very sweet. Apparently,
1:10:12
and I want this to be true, he adopted Dinky, the dog, after filming was completed.
1:10:17
Oh, okay. See, you don't expect that to happen. I mean, I don't know why he didn't have a home. I don't know what the story was
1:10:23
there, but Yeah, go figure. He had a heart.
1:10:29
And the poster I always wondered about. Did you guys ever hear Yeah. Did you hear about
1:10:34
Don't know the story. Well, I mean, there's not really a story, but I guess it was it was done by this fantasy
1:10:40
illustrator, Boris VJO, and it's a parody from Conan the Barbarian in 19.
1:10:47
Yeah, I can see where he got that from. Definitely. It's so good. It when you look at national when you think of a
1:10:53
vacation road trip movie, you look at that cover, you're like, it's this this literally is a quest at this rate. The
1:10:58
way that looks like a fantasy movie, like Master of the Universe type. Very much Masters of the Universe type.
1:11:04
Yeah. I guess Conan the Barbarian. But yeah. Now, how would you guys rate this among comedy films?
1:11:12
Like for you personally, like in your top X number,
1:11:18
you know, if I'm doing just like straight like comedies, I would definitely probably put this in a top 25. I would say top
1:11:26
20, top 25. That's right where I'd put it. Yeah, I can I can definitely understand its importance in shaping
1:11:34
like what was to come for comedy. I think it opened a lot of comedy doors, but yeah, it's not I mean I did watch it
1:11:42
a lot like in the past growing up, but it's not something that I'm like got to go back and watch Vacation like
1:11:47
high rewatchability again. I think more so I can understand its like it's like cultural relevance and
1:11:54
significance. If anything, there is a case to be made if you that Christmas
1:12:00
Vacation would go way higher than this one. Now, Christmas Vacation's interesting
1:12:05
though because how many people watch it because of Christmas and the tradition of it
1:12:10
because would it be watched the same way if it wasn't, you know, associated with Well, we're almost coming up on the
1:12:16
Christmas in July phenomenon. So, we get watching Christmas. You know, people could, it's not a
1:12:21
thing, but we could make it a thing. A summer kickoff movie. This is our summer kickoff episode.
1:12:27
So maybe we're going to bring back sitting inside during summer and watching movies.
1:12:33
Here we go again. Just 5 years ago for us. Now, you know, we were talking about that earlier like with, you know, I was
1:12:40
a big like cable baby for sure and watched so many movies growing up because it's what they played on HBO and
1:12:46
Cinemax and TBS and and what I'd watch on TV. Now they would consistently play
1:12:52
European Vacation all the time. all the time, especially vacation was always always and original 83 vacation was not
1:13:01
not the same way that European vacation. No, the rights with those things are kind of funny, too. Yeah. Like they there'd be
1:13:08
Rocky marathons, but it would they'd miss one. It would skip one of them. They sure play a lot of five. They
1:13:13
played five way too much. They play a lot of five. Yeah. Well, you guys, I also am on a
1:13:19
podcast called One More Round, the Rocky Series podcast, and we just finished up season five, which is Rocky 5. So, yeah.
1:13:26
Rocky five soundtrack. That song, go for it. It I believe that song slaps. That song is so good. I think it's by MC
1:13:33
Light. It's so damn good. Touch me, I'll sue. Touch me. Oh my god, that's so funny. I'm going to
1:13:39
totally bring that up in our next episode, Jim, because we make fun of the horrible early '9s rap and that that It
1:13:47
is the ultimate form of early 90s. Early 90s. Yeah.
1:13:52
It's like the influence is heavy by hammer on that one. Yep. Indeed. Well, the reason I asked
1:13:58
you guys about your ranking is because in there are a couple of like lists that
1:14:04
this movie is on. In 2000, readers of Total Film, whatever that is, voted it
1:14:09
the 46th greatest comedy film of all time. Oo.
1:14:14
and pre P premiere voted this movie as one of the 50 greatest comedies of all
1:14:19
time and that was in 2006. Okay. And I Yeah, I don't I mean maybe in the
1:14:24
in the top 50. I think I agree with you guys about its like relevance culturally
1:14:30
and and like what it spawned. Um and maybe it's just the 83 of it all.
1:14:35
Yeah. You know, but I very much enjoy it. Uh and I'm going to probably rewatch it
1:14:41
more going forward. Maybe it'll be my new summer kickoff um tradition.
Casting what-ifs: Bill Murray, Kim Cattrall, and more
1:14:46
Yeah, there you go. There's a couple of casting whatifs before we finish up, you guys. There we go. I love this.
1:14:54
Actually, one other piece of trivia. Do Did you Okay, so when Ellen wakes up, when when Clark is like looking at
1:15:01
Christy Brinkley um cuz he's like trying to speed to keep to keep up with her and see her,
1:15:06
Ellen is like, "You're going 80 miles an hour. Slow down." And 80 80 is like
1:15:12
normal, right? Well, at that time, I guess 55 was the interstate speed.
1:15:17
Yeah. Is that Can you imagine getting that wagon up to 80 miles an hour? That thing probably shaking like crazy.
1:15:23
55. Oh, nice. Sammy H. 55 is so slow. It's nuts. Yeah. Although I was just recently in Costa
1:15:29
Rica and they don't have like interstates like we do. That's more just like highways and they're I think it's
1:15:35
55 is their speed limit. That's crazy. Yeah. I just got a camera ticket a couple weeks ago cuz we've got a lot of
1:15:40
camera Oh, I last time I got one, I never paid it. You didn't pay it? No, cuz it was cuz it was Well, we have
1:15:47
a town bias in Gerard, Ohio. So, the problem was they were using a third party company to get these speeding
1:15:54
cameras. So, there was like a lawsuit that came down and said if it was issued by a third party company, it's not
1:16:00
abiding to the city in which that ticket was issued. So, I never paid it. It never hit
1:16:07
anything and that happened to a lot of people. Then I think after that came out, Gerard found a way to loophole to
1:16:12
get back in. So if you get hit by their camera, you have to pay directly to the city. They can only give you a camera ticket
1:16:18
if a cop is present. Yeah. So he doesn't have to do anything. But if he just sit if there's a cop in the
1:16:25
area, you know, and then if you want to battle them and say there was no cop there, I Yeah. Then it's your word against there
1:16:31
is you'll lose every time. Yeah. Oh, we have a lot of certain areas here. Like I'm in Denver, but in every
1:16:37
every time I go to Boulder, I get a camera ticket. You No cop has to be It's just cameras everywhere.
1:16:43
Yeah. And I almost always I'm just like they've got to be made cuz no like you said to your 0.55 like no
1:16:49
one I don't think they get you until you're like 10 or more over. But they've got to
1:16:54
be clearing I don't know three four billion dollars a day. Tons like on all these cars. Oh, this was these are more like the
1:17:01
stoplight ones. cameras and I always am going speed limit should be minimum 70 to 75
1:17:07
now by far I think so auto I'm autobond it up man it's it's not the speed that
1:17:13
will kill you it's the sudden stop that will Mhm. Yeah, you're right. Okay, so Clark
1:17:18
Griswald potential. I mean, I can't we can't picture anybody
1:17:24
else being Clark because he's chubby chase to us. But some people who were considered, not
1:17:30
surprisingly, Bill Murray. Okay. Okay. But very surprisingly to me, Robert
1:17:36
Klene and Richard Bellzer. The Bells. Belzer as Clark Griswald. Now, Robert
1:17:43
Klein. Now, he has that kind of I wouldn't say Chvy Chase look, but he's
1:17:48
Chvy Chase adjacent because I remember seeing him in Bert Reynolds's movie Hooper. Guy used to be a huge Bert
1:17:55
Reynolds guy, but Bellser, these and these are such huge whatifs because
1:18:01
I can't picture anybody but Chvy Chase in this. But if somebody else was in it, do the other movies happen? Does
1:18:07
Christmas Vacation ever happen with Bill Murray? I don't think it does. Yeah, that's He's also kind of hard to work with,
1:18:14
isn't he? Is he another one? Yeah. Well, for the longest time he wanted nothing more to do with the Ghostbusters
1:18:19
franchise. And then I think it was one of those things where it's like Dan said he would come back and then Ernie said he would come back
1:18:26
and that's when he came back and they did the the newer Ghostbusters. Plus, he probably saw the money on the
1:18:31
check, too, and went, "Wait a minute." Yeah. Oh, I need a new beach house or whatnot. Yeah.
1:18:36
Yeah. Ellen Griswald. Apparently, Kim Catrell was the original
1:18:43
choice. Oh, 8. She would have been young. She would have been real young, right? Well, Beverly isn't I was reading that
1:18:51
she was only like 15 years older than Dana. Yeah.
1:18:56
Well, you know what? Kim Catrell, you think, you know, if she would have been casted here four years later, would have
1:19:02
been mannequin. Yeah. And Kim Catrell was like, well, I also Kim Catrell was in Police Academy,
1:19:08
the first one, a year after this movie came out. So, I could, now that I'm thinking about it,
1:19:13
I could see Kim Catrell as Ellen. Yeah, she and they kind of have a similar like
1:19:18
They do motherly but sexyness to them. Also, Moren McCormack was
1:19:24
considered Mara. Oh, Marsha. Marsha. Marsha. Yeah, that would have been interesting. I poor poor poor Moren. Once you play
1:19:33
Marshall Brady, you you done. Yeah. Yeah. But do you like There was a very short-lived They
1:19:39
attempted to bring the Bradies back. It was 1990. They did that very Brady Christmas movie
1:19:44
which every year I watch like me and my girlfriend like in a tradition. So they brought back the Bradies. It
1:19:50
lasted six episodes. The only one didn't come back. Marie McCormack said, "I'm out. I'm I don't want to be Marsha
1:19:56
anymore. I'm I'm done with this." because they ended up making I think the character of Marsha in that
1:20:02
movie play I can't I don't remember who ended up playing her like a recovering like alcoholic and stuff like that. So
1:20:07
she's like wait you're going to make me a recovering like alcohol and drug addict? No, I'm I'm out.
1:20:12
But look, can you name I can't name her in anything else off the top of my head. Well, I can only because this was
1:20:18
Patrick Seesy's first movie 1979 Skate Town USA.
1:20:24
That's right. Moren McCormack was in that as was Scott Beao. There was like a number of like people from back in the
1:20:30
day that that were in that. Yep. Okay. But but but that's really obscure. Like
1:20:35
nobody else would know that. And then Cousin Eddie. I don't know who Kenneth Mars is.
1:20:42
Name very familiar. And so was Robin Williams.
1:20:48
That would have like off Morgan Mindy. Yeah. He could play Goofy. He can play.
1:20:55
Yeah. It would have been a totally different vibe, but I could still see him as cousin A. I can see Robin Williams pulling it off.
1:21:01
Mhm. Mhm. Well, you guys, this has been a blast. Loved it as always.
1:21:06
Please tell us if you have any closing thoughts on National Lampoon's Vacation
1:21:11
and then Where Can We Find You? Well, I know like for this movie, this could
1:21:17
have been like one of my earliest memories of like amusement parks as a kid because
1:21:24
in my local well actually I should say our local park at the time we went to all the time was Giaga Lake which was in
1:21:29
Aurora, Ohio which is a suburb of God it's like 10 15 minutes outside of Cleveland.
1:21:34
Okay. Um we were I was there almost growing up all the time. So that was our thing. We
1:21:40
actually had an amusement park in the Youngsttown, Ohio region called Idora Park, but I burned down. It burned down. We had that.
1:21:46
But this might have been one of my earliest memories of seeing an amusement park and for me that stuck out. And I
1:21:52
grew up in a single like before my my dad legally adopted me and my parents got married. I was raised by a mom, a
1:21:58
grandmother, and a grandfather. And we just didn't have the money to do road trips. So when I was old enough where my mom
1:22:04
was like, "Okay, you can watch it, but I'm going to sit and watch it with you you know that kind of supervision thing. Mhm.
1:22:10
It was nice to live vicariously through a movie like this. Oh, look this a a dad. I didn't have a dad and he got to
1:22:16
go on a a cross country road trip. Something that I always wanted to do and dream of. So for me, Vacation was a very
1:22:24
a very like sentimental type hoping what could be one day type movie. And that's
1:22:30
like watching it. I've seen this movie probably 50 60 times. So it holds a lot of weight to me. I mean, I can remember
1:22:37
watching this movie growing up as a a pretty small child, sort of like you, but rather than being like, "Oh my god,
1:22:42
this is so great." I remember having like logic issue questions. When they pull into the parking lot and
1:22:48
they're the only car there, I'm like, "How do they know it's not like can't they realize it's Isn't there a
1:22:53
newspaper?" You even as a kid were like, "The thing is closed. It's got to be closed, right?"
1:22:58
So they park and I and I and I still to this day like Kevin and I have done this. We'll park the farthest away
1:23:05
because then you could be the first one out. Clark says Clark's like first in first out. Yeah, that's the that's the best thing.
1:23:10
But the fact that you play Chariots of Fire and you're running through this massive parking lot
1:23:15
and nothing occurs to you until you see sorry folks. And it's funny cuz in that shot that's the Wall-E World is a painting. Yeah.
1:23:22
And it's like some raceway. It is Santa Anita or something like that. But also, who operates the rides?
1:23:28
Apparently, he does. They know how to operate rides. John Candy apparently knows how to do it. Ride though, too.
1:23:34
Yeah. Yeah. Maybe they should Frank McCrae maybe was doing it cuz he plays the other security guard.
1:23:40
He treated me like a dog, Mr. Wild. He crushed my human dignity. But you're right. I logic issues when
1:23:46
you're a kid. Also, the when he falls asleep and he about kills a bunch of people and then parks perfectly at the
1:23:52
motel. Perfect ride. And we also got to give a shout out to when they they go off the
1:23:58
wrong exit and they end up in St. Louis. Yeah. For somehow someway they don't hear the
1:24:04
hubcaps getting stolen and somebody spray painting on the side of the car. Yeah. Mhm.
1:24:10
I mean, you don't hear that. That that one of those that scene is like I don't
1:24:16
know if it's I don't know if you could do a scene like that anymore cuz it's very kind of I I think you definitely if you haven't
1:24:22
seen it, any listeners who haven't seen it, you got to watch it just to understand like stuff like The Hangover
1:24:29
wouldn't exist without vacation. So many comedy movies would not exist without
1:24:35
Magic Mike XXL does not exist without this. I mean, it's a screw ball. It's very
1:24:40
much of its time. Yeah, for sure. Yeah. And the the franchise, so it spawned
1:24:47
National Ampoons as a film franchise. Well, Animal House was first. Animal House Vacation, you know, the
1:24:54
success of these movies. We covered National Aoon Senior Senior Trip. I love it. Which is also a road trip movie. But then yeah, some of
1:25:01
these, you know, xeroxed like versions of these video stores,
1:25:08
whatever is so funny and they all exist because of the success of Animal House and Vacation. And it is
1:25:15
weird being that this is, you know, as part of your John Hughes season. This
1:25:21
like barely feels like John. There are things obviously discussed in the last, you know, hour or whatever where there
1:25:27
are John Hughes trademarks, but This is the if you were to say, "Okay,
1:25:32
John Hughes movies go Breakfast Club." Vacation's probably 10th. It's down
1:25:38
there. It's probably 10th. There were things that I noticed just
1:25:43
because I've been doing all these John Hughes movies and we already covered The Great Outdoors. There's some similarities. I'm I can see
1:25:50
that John, like I said, like he has like a movie template and he kind of picks things from certain
1:25:56
movies and combos them up into into a movie. And so there were a lot of things
1:26:02
from this like real similar beats in in The Great Outdoors, I thought. Oh, yeah. I agree.
1:26:08
So, where can we find you and the Pool Scene podcast? Well, we're coming up. Like we said
1:26:14
earlier, So Married Axe Murder is going to be coming out next week, which will be episode number 250 as of recording
1:26:21
today. This is our fifth year anniversary. You can find us. Anywhere you can find podcast. Anywhere podcasts are found, you can
1:26:27
find us. That's where we're everywhere. Awesome. And it sounds like you have some super fun episodes coming up with
1:26:32
your bangar season. So we got some stuff coming up. We still got a little bit left to do in this season, then we're on to 19.
1:26:39
Yep. Awesome. Awesome. Well, I think that's a wrap you guys on this road trip with the
Wrap-up: Final thoughts and where to find Pool Scene Podcast
1:26:45
Griswalds, Car Troubles, Moose themed Disappointment and all. And in the
1:26:50
meantime though, if you do like this episode, please follow the show, leave a review, or shoot me an email. It does
1:26:56
help other retro movie lovers find the show, and I'd love to hear what you remember about these classics. Until
1:27:04
next time, be kind. Rewind.