Vacation (1983)

Director:

Harold Ramis

Writers:

John Hughes (screenplay)
John Hughes (short story "Vacation '58")

Release Date:

29 July 1983 (USA)

Genre:

Adventure | Comedy | Romance

Tagline:

Every summer Chevy Chase takes his family on a little trip. This year he went too far.

Plot:

The Griswold family's cross-country drive to the Walley World theme park proves to be much more arduous than they ever anticipated.

Plot Keywords:

Vacation | Arizona | Kansas | Picnic | Quest

Cast

Chevy Chase	...	Clark Griswold
Beverly D'Angelo	...	Ellen Griswold
Imogene Coca	...	Aunt Edna
Randy Quaid	...	Cousin Eddie
Anthony Michael Hall	...	Russell 'Rusty' Griswold
Dana Barron	...	Audrey Griswold
Eddie Bracken	...	Roy Walley
Brian Doyle-Murray	...	Kamp Komfort Clerk
Miriam Flynn	...	Cousin Catherine
James Keach	...	Motorcycle Cop
Eugene Levy	...	Car Salesman
Frank McRae	...	Grover
John Candy	...	Lasky, Guard at Walleyworld
Christie Brinkley	...	The Girl in the Ferrari
Jane Krakowski	...	Cousin Vicki

Also Known As:

National Lampoon's Vacation (UK) (USA) (complete title)
American Vacation (Europe: English title) (video title)

Runtime:

98 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Iceland:L | Canada:A (Nova Scotia) | Germany:16 | Finland:K-7 (2006) (DVD) | Finland:S (1983) | Netherlands:AL | Australia:M | Canada:AA (Ontario) | Canada:G (Quebec) | Canada:PA (Manitoba) | Singapore:NC-16 | Spain:T | Sweden:7 | UK:15 | West Germany:6 | USA:R (certificate number 27018)

Filming Locations:

Alamosa, Colorado, USA

Company:

Warner Bros. Pictures

Trivia:

The opening scene was filmed at Star Ford in Glendale, CA. The dealership is still there (as of early 2009) with the same buildings that were in the movie.

Goofs:

Errors made by characters (possibly deliberate errors by the filmmakers): At the beginning of the movie when Clark and Ellen are doing the dishes you can see Ellen just brush the leftover food into the sink and then hand the plate to Clark. She does not wash the dish. Clark is in front of an open dishwasher but he just wipes the dirty dishes with a towel and puts them in the cabinet.

Quotes:

[Clark has just been pulled over by a Colorado motorcycle cop]
Clark: Hi officer, what's the problem?
Motorcycle Cop: Get out of the car!
[Clark exits from the car]
Clark: I don't think I was speeding. Was I weaving or something?
Motorcycle Cop: Shut your mouth, sir! You know, if I weren't in uniform, I'd split your skull with the butt of this revolver faster than you can say, "police brutality!"
Clark: Well whatever I did, I'm sure I can explain...
[the motorcycle cop forcibily takes Clark by the arm and leads him to the rear of the car, which has a dog leash still tied to it]
[...]

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Johnson Family Vacation (2004)

Soundtrack:

HOLIDAY ROAD

Just one word: Awesome!

I have seen this movie many times on TV (the German dubbed version, of course) and I loved it every time...allthough the more often its shown, the more it gets cut on TV.

Now, for the first time (thanks to DVD), I have been able to watch it in its original language. And it was just awesome! The dialogues were even better and the characters were so much better outlined.

I swear that I will never see such a great movie in a dubbed version again!

To any Germans in here: go get it on DVD (even though it is just in Mono) - and delete the video tape if you have recorded it from TV.