NATIONAL LAMPOON'S VACATION

'''National Lampoon's Vacation''' (1983, Warner Bros.) is a comedy film directed by Harold Ramis and starring Chevy Chase, Beverly D'Angelo, Anthony Michael Hall, Dana Barron, Randy Quaid and Imogene Coca.
The screenplay, written by John Hughes, is reportedly about his own family's ill-fated trip to the fictional Walley World (originally planned to be Disneyland) when he was a boy, written in short-story form for ''National Lampoon'' magazine. The story was originally titled, "Vacation '58", and was set in 1958 rather than 1983, the year of the film. The success of the movie helped launch his screenwriting career.
The film was a significant box office hit, earning over $61 million in the United States with an estimated budget of $15 million. In 2000, readers of ''Total Film'' magazine voted ''National Lampoon's Vacation'' the 46th greatest comedy film of all time. It is widely considered to be the best film in National Lampoon's series of Vacation films. It continues to be a popular film and is shown on many cable television channels. It also has a fresh rating of 100% on Rotten Tomatoes. [1] Wally World Water Park opened in Canada several years after the release of the movie.

Contents

Plot

Cast

Sequels

TV pilot

Songs

External links

Plot

Hoping to spend quality time with his family, food additives researcher Clark Griswold (Chevy Chase) decides to lead his wife Ellen (Beverly D'Angelo) and children Russ (Anthony Michael Hall) and Audrey (Dana Barron) on a cross-country expedition from the suburbs of Chicago to fictional Wally World - billed as "America's Favorite Family Fun Park" - in Los Angeles. The Griswolds' vacation begins to go awry before they even depart.
Clark goes to pick up the new car he has purchased only to find the dealership made an error and had the wrong car delivered, and while he complains to the salesman his old car is flattened in a car crusher. Because the family is leaving for California the next morning, Clark reluctantly agrees to take the car on hand: the Wagon Queen Family Truckster - a hideous "metallic pea"-colored station wagon clad in faux wood paneling.
Clark brings the car home only to find that the engine continues to run after the car has been turned off, and the air bag deploys at inappropriate times. Clark brushes off Ellen's last-ditch attempt to pursuade him to let the family fly to California, and the next morning they depart.
In St. Louis, the Griswolds get lost and end up having their car vandalized.
Clark has periodic encounters with a voluptuous young woman (Christie Brinkley) driving a red Ferrari, and casually flirts with her while his wife is asleep in the passenger seat.
An overnight stop in Kansas to visit Ellen's cousins Catherine and Eddie (Randy Quaid) gets more complicated when Eddie hits Clark up for money and then foists their crotchety Aunt Edna (Imogene Coca) and her vicious dog "Dinky" on the Griswolds so they can drive her to her son's home in Phoenix. Clark inadvertently drives off a closed road and wrecks the car. The crash breaks Rusty's nose and causes Audrey to get her first period. The family is stranded in the desert. He gets lost looking for help but eventually the Griswolds reunite at a gas station several miles away. There, Clark spends the last of his money on repairs to the car.
The Griswolds are only a few hours from Phoenix when Aunt Edna dies in her sleep. An increasingly frustrated Clark covers the old woman in a tarp and ties her to the roof of the car, despite protests from his wife. In Phoenix, the Griswolds discover Ellen's cousin Normie is out of town, so Aunt Edna's body is unceremoniously left sitting in a lawn chair in his backyard with a note pinned to her sleeve explaining what happened.
Disillusioned by the disastrous turn of events, Ellen and the kids suggest that they go back to Chicago before anything else can go wrong. Clark, however, is determined to see his vacation through and insists that they press on. The next day, the Griswolds arrive at Wally World only to find the park is closed for routine maintenance and will re-open in two weeks. An incredulous Clark buys a realistic-looking BB gun and returns to the park, where he holds security guard Russ Lasky (played by John Candy) at gunpoint and demands that he allow them to use the theme park. The Griswolds ride several roller coasters, but eventually a SWAT team arrives. Clark is about to be arrested before Roy Wally himself (Eddie Bracken) intervenes and opts not to press charges after hearing about the circumstances of the Griswolds' vacation. The Griswolds, the SWAT team, and Mr. Wally enjoy the rest of the afternoon at Wally World.

Cast

Actor	Role
Chevy Chase	Clark W. Griswold, Jr.
Beverly D'Angelo	Ellen Griswold
Imogene Coca	Aunt Edna
Randy Quaid	Cousin Eddie
Anthony Michael Hall	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
John Candy	Guard Lasky
Christie Brinkley	The Girl in the Ferrari
Jane Krakowski	Cousin Vicki

Sequels

''National Lampoon's Vacation'' spawned a number of sequels:

★ ''National Lampoon's European Vacation'' (1985)

★ ''National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation'' (1989)

★ ''Vegas Vacation'' (1997)

★ '' (2003)
With the exception of the last film, Chevy Chase and Beverly D'Angelo reprised their roles as Clark and Ellen Griswold in each sequel. The "Rusty" and "Audrey" characters are not played by the same set of actors, except for Audrey in the last sequel. (Anthony Michael Hall played "Rusty" and Dana Barron played "Audrey" in ''Vacation''; Jason Lively played "Rusty" and Dana Hill played "Audrey" in ''European''; Johnny Galecki played "Rusty" and Juliette Lewis played "Audrey" in ''Christmas''; Ethan Embry played "Rusty" and Marisol Nichols played "Audrey" in ''Vegas''; Dana Barron played "Audrey" in ''Christmas 2''.) This is referenced in ''Vegas Vacation'' when Clark tells the two kids that he hardly recognizes them anymore. The last sequel, ''Christmas 2'', was an NBC TV movie. Miriam Flynn and Randy Quaid reprise their roles as cousins Catherine and Eddie in each film aside from ''European Vacation''. Each sequel also manages to reference "Walley World" in some way. Also in every sequel the Griswolds reside in suburban Chicago.

TV pilot

A television pilot based on the ''Vacation'' films titled ''American Adventure'' starring Gary Cole and Helen Slater was produced in 2000, but the pilot was not picked up.

Songs

The song "Holiday Road" by Lindsey Buckingham was featured in this movie and served as the main theme song. It was also used in two of the sequels: 1985's ''National Lampoon's European Vacation'' and 1997's ''Vegas Vacation''.
Buckingham also composed "Dancin' Across The USA", another song on the ''Vacation'' soundtrack.

External links

★

★ "Vacation '58" by John Hughes (online text)

★ "Rusty and Audrey Griswold: Where Are They Now?"(online link)