Home Alone (1990)

An 8-year-old boy, who is accidentally left behind while his family flies to France for Christmas, has to defend his home against idiotic burglars.

Director:

Chris Columbus

Writer:

John Hughes

Stars:

Macaulay Culkin, Joe Pesci, Daniel Stern

Nominated for 2 Oscars. Another 10 wins & 4 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Macaulay Culkin	...	Kevin McCallister
Joe Pesci	...	Harry
Daniel Stern	...	Marv
John Heard	...	Peter McCallister
Roberts Blossom	...	Marley
Catherine O'Hara	...	Kate McCallister
Angela Goethals	...	Linnie
Devin Ratray	...	Buzz
Gerry Bamman	...	Uncle Frank
Hillary Wolf	...	Megan
John Candy	...	Gus Polinski
Larry Hankin	...	Officer Balzak
Michael C. Maronna	...	Jeff
Kristin Minter	...	Heather
Diana Rein	...	Sondra (as Daiana Campeanu)

Storyline

It is Christmas time and the McAllister family is preparing for a vacation in Paris, France. But the youngest in the family named Kevin got into a scuffle with his older brother Buzz and was sent to his room which is on the third floor of his house. Then, the next morning, while the rest of the family was in a rush to make it to the airport on time, they completely forgot about Kevin who now has the house all to himself. Being home alone was fun for Kevin, having a pizza all to himself, jumping on his parents' bed, and making a mess. Then, Kevin discovers about two burglars, Harry and Marv, about to rob his house on Christmas Eve. Kevin acts quickly by wiring his own house with makeshift booby traps to stop the burglars and to bring them to justice.

---

Plot Keywords:

house | christmas | france | vacation | home | 

---

Taglines:

When Kevin's Family Left For Vacation, They Forgot One Minor Detail: Kevin. But Don't Worry... He Cooks. He Cleans. He Kicks Some Butt.

---

Genres:

Comedy | Family

---

Certificate:

PG

Details

Official Sites:

Official Facebook

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

16 November 1990 (USA)

Also Known As:

Mi pobre angelito

Filming Locations:

656 Lincoln Avenue, Winnetka, Illinois, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$15,000,000 (estimated)

Gross:

$285,761,243 (USA)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Hughes Entertainment, Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation

Technical Specs

Runtime:

103 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The wax-and-plastic artificial snow used in this film was given to the Lyric Opera of Chicago when shooting finished. It has since been used in numerous opera productions.

---

Goofs

Throughout most of the film, the pictures hung on the wall going up the main staircase are consistently fifteen in number, with John Heard and Catherine O'Hara (Peter & Kate) being the lower-most bottom-row photos, and Macaulay Culkin (Kevin) being the one at the very top end, by itself. However, in a couple of scenes there are only 14 pictures - no Kevin up top; completely different (non-closeup) photos where Pete and Kate should be; and several other pictures are different too. (The two scenes are: When Kevin is crazily running around celebrating his newfound freedom (22:23), and later when he's running upstairs screaming after having seen Old Man Marley in front of the house (32:07).)

---

Quotes

Leslie McCallister: Peter, Kate, do you guys have a voltage adapter?
Peter McCallister: [hands her Kevin] Here, here's a voltage adapter.
Leslie McCallister: My, but you're getting heavy. Go pack your suit case.
Kevin McCallister: [stares in horror] *Pack* my *suitcase*?

---

Connections

Referenced in Parker Lewis Can't Lose: Full Mental Jacket (1991)

---

Soundtracks

"Run Rudolph Run"
Written by Johnny Marks
Performed by Chuck Berry
Courtesy of MCA Records

User Reviews

Joe Pesci and Daniel Stern as the Grinches Who Almost Steal Christmas...

The overwhelming success of 'Home Alone' (it spawned two sequels), is enough to guarantee that most people will love this story of a family that departs for Paris on the Christmas holidays, mistakenly leaving an eight-year old boy to fend for himself. And fend he does, when burglars threaten to break in unless he can rig enough booby-traps to keep them out.

That's the simple plot in a nutshell. Macaulay Culkin seems to have no problem carrying most of the film with a wide variety of looks, gestures and expressions--but for my money it's Daniel Stern and Joe Pesci who get the main laughs as the bumbling burglars intent on outwitting the kid's traps.

Others in the cast don't have as much to do but do well enough by their roles, particularly Catherine O'Hara and John Heard as the parents who only discover on the plane that Kevin is missing. The laughs are steady, the color photography is great and the slight story is probably every boy's fantasy of what it might be like to be left home alone. Add to that the holiday flavor of Christmas and a pleasant musical score by John Williams and you have the makings of a classic.

The proof is in the pudding--they must have done something right!!