#8
Home Alone
The producer John Hughes was one of the most gifted movie
makers of the 1980’s and 90’s. Sure he had many duds to this career resume, but
he also was able to make some of the most memorable films of that time. Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, The Breakfast Club,
Planes Trains and Automobiles, and Uncle
Buck are several which come to mind. However, at this time of year, I try
to return to one holiday film which I’ve considered one of his best.
When it was released, Home Alone became the number one
comedy in America, and continued to hold that title until 2009. It was an instant
holiday classic, and made Macaulay Culkin an international film star at the age
of ten. The film was so successful, that it spawned a number of sequels, with
the second one being the best of those that followed.
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| Though, to be fair, the world was introduced to Scarlett Johnsson in the third movie. |
However, the first film is the one which is remembered the
most, as is the one that is the most beloved.
Home Alone is the story of Kevin McCallister. An eight year
old boy who is the youngest in the household. The film opens on an evening at
the family home in Chicago as the McCallister’s are getting ready for a
Christmas vacation to Paris France. Kevin is shown to be annoying and a bit of
a burden to his family and extended family who happen to be at the home, but to
be fair, they are so self-absorbed in their own petty problems as well.
The parents, Peter and Kate McCallister (John Heard and Catherine
O’Hara) oversleep and almost cause the family to miss their plane to France,
but in their rush, they forget to bring Kevin along. When he realizes this, he
is ecstatic as he now has the run of the house. So he does all the things he couldn’t
do while his family was there (like sled down the stairs, or go into his older
brother, Buzz’s room and mess with his things)
The McCallisters realize their error while enroute to
Paris, and so the movie cuts from scenes from them on the plane and in Paris,
and Kevin at home. Kevin, for his part, learns quickly how there are many scary
things in the world, and he needs to learn to cope all alone.
While all this is going on, two burglars, Harry and Marv
(Joe Pesci and Daniel Stern) have been breaking into homes in Kevin’s
neighborhood and have had their eyes on the McCallister house. Kevin manages to
thwart them a couple of times but they eventually learn he is home alone.
The two underestimate Kevin, and plan to enter the home
anyway. But little do they know that Kevin has plans for them, and through a
series of hilarious booby-traps throughout house, brings about the fall of the
two Wet Bandits.
There’s much that I love about Home Alone, and the majority
of it is watching how Kevin thwarts the two morons. But there are two other
aspects of the film that make it a the classic that it is today.
The first is the addition of a Hughes favorite in a cameo
role. The great John Candy plays a guy that meets Kate McCallister in an
airport while she is trying to get home to Kevin. This guy, Gus Polinski is
very similar to his character of Del Griffith in Planes, Trains and
Automobiles. Gus has a polka band that is quite popular in that field, and they
are on the road much of year. They are stuck in the airport too and offer Kate
a ride to Chicago in the back of their Ryder truck. While enroute, there are
some fantastic scenes between Kate and Gus where they talk about life, and
family, and such.
The second aspect of the film, and by far my favorite part
of the movie, is the addition of Roberts Blossom as Kevin’s neighbor, Old Man
Marley. Marley is a bit of a loner and early in the film, Kevin’s douche of a
brother Buzz tells a tale of how Marley killed his entire family many years
ago. It isn’t true of course, but Kevin doesn’t know that, and several times
when he meets Marley, he is scared out of his mind.
Before taking on Harry and Marv, Kevin has a crisis of
courage and goes inside a church while the choir is practicing for its
Christmas service. He sees Marley, and rather than get scared, allows the old
man to sit with him. He and Marley talk about things, and help each other out.
Kevin learns that Marley came alone because he wanted to hear his granddaughter
sing, but couldn’t during the service, as he and his son had a falling out many
years ago.
In his own simple way, Kevin helps Marley to understand how
things in the past are the past, and he should make an effort to make peace
with his son before it’s too late. By the end of the movie, Kevin looks out a
window in his home, and see’s the result of his advice.
Home Alone is a great film. It is funny, poignant, serious
when it needs to be, and holds a lot of heart. Chris Columbus may have directed
it, but you can clearly see Hughes influence at work. As any Hughes film, it is
an American classic, and gets better with each viewing every year.
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