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.

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Plot Keywords:

house | christmas | france | vacation | home | 

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Taglines:

A Family Comedy Without The Family.

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Genres:

Comedy | Family

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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

Director Chris Columbus envisioned a scene in which the furnace came to life, gets up on all fours and chases Kevin to the stairs. The scene would have cost over a million dollars so it was trimmed down to the furnace simply lighting up and groaning Kevin's name.

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Goofs

Harry protects his burnt hand with a handkerchief when he climbs along the rope towards the tree house, but alternating shots show the tail of the handkerchief either sticking out or not.

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Quotes

Harry: [pointing to the McCallister house] That's the one, Marv, that's the silver tuna.
Marv: Oh, it's very gee.
Harry: Very gee, huh? It's loaded. It's got lot's of top-flight goods. Stereoes, VCRs...
Marv: Toys?
Harry: Probably looking at some very fine jewelry. Possible cash hoarde. Odd marketable securities... Who knows. It's a gem. Hand me a crow bar. Crow bars up.
[they clink their crow bars together]

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Connections

Spoofed in The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air: Hex and the Single Guy (1993)

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Soundtracks

"Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree"
Written by Johnny Marks
Performed by Brenda Lee
Courtesy of MCA Records

User Reviews

Surreal and hilarious

"Home Alone" is one of the most popular movies from the early 90's. Its success was phenomenal and it also made Macaulay Culkin a superstar.

The plot is quite original and surreal: a child who is home alone and capable of making the bandits's lives miserable? Sure, it's an impossible story, but who cares? Far from being a perfect movie, it is however okay and fun to watch, entertaining and contains slapstick humor too although I don't like some of the language used.

Our story takes place in Chicago at Christmas time, which makes this a Christmas film. In fact, the movie has lots of Christmas decorations, lights, snow and many other details which create the feeling and magic so characteristic of Christmas. To accent the Christmas atmosphere even more, there are a cup of nice Christmas carols such as "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree" (performed by Brenda Lee), "You're a mean one, Mr. Grinch", "White Christmas", "Carol of the Bells", "Oh Holly Night" and "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" and some brilliant instrumental musics.

Kevin McCallister is the hero of the story. He's not just any kid, he's a very smart one. He also knows all about the intentions of the "wet bandits" Harry and Marv and prepares them lots of unexpected "surprises". Their lives won't be easy with Kevin defending his house. Sure, they are the villains and as such they get what they deserve, but they do suffer a lot too. We almost feel sorry for them.

The "wet bandits" were nicknamed like that by Marv because their "calling card" (according to him) was to let the water running in every houses they robbed. That said, both "wet bandits" are hilarious. Harry is more cranky, while Marv is the most stupid of the two (although both are stupid) and maybe that's why people tend to sympathize more with him. Marv's stupidity also makes him the funniest of the two. Marv is the typical tall and clumsy guy with no brain, a bit like Averell Dalton from the Lucky Luke comics.

The movie has lots of funny moments. The funniest for me is when Harry and Marv pretend to be Santa Claus and his elf and the way Harry speaks in that scene, followed by the even funnier part when Kevin fires at Harry's pants. Whenever Kevin fools the bandits in a try to make them believe the whole family is at home when Kevin is all alone is funny too. For some reason, I also find funny whenever Kevin screams maniacally (particularly when he says he's not afraid anymore and sees Old Marley and screams out loud.

The scenes which Kevin fools and scares the Little Nero's Pizza boy and Marv with the gangster film "Angels with Filthy Souls" are hilarious, but in the case of the Pizza boy it is unfair for him. There was no need to scare the hell out of him - he was just delivering pizza and wasn't after Kevin.

Old Marley is an interesting character. I always felt sorry for him because of the lies Buzz tells about him. And the man never did anything bad to anyone. Buzz is a jerk and Uncle Frank is even worse. Buzz is mean for Kevin and Uncle Frank openly dislikes Kevin. When Uncle Frank tells Kevin «Look what you did, you little jerk!», Kevin's parents should tell him something like «Frank, stay out of this and shut up!».

The church is magnificent. It's one of the biggest and most beautiful churches I've ever seen in a movie.

Macaulay Culkin is terrific as the clever kid Kevin McCallister. Joe Pesci and Daniel Stern are awesome as the "wet bandits" and Roberts Blossom is great as the character Old Marley. It's also delightful to see John Candy as Gus Polinski, the «Polka King of the Midwest».