National Lampoon's Vacation (1983)
Trivia
All the cast members had terrible experiences when it came to filming the scenes inside Walley World, where they rode all of the roller coasters and other rides. In the commentary, Chevy Chase mentions that many of the rides made him and the other cast members vomit, especially since they all had to ride them several times for each take. Dana Barron mentioned in the commentary that the coasters made her so sick, she had to take motion sickness pills, and would pass out on nearby benches between takes. Finally, Anthony Michael Hall mentions that in the shots on the roller coaster, where he looks scared, he wasn't acting, his fear in those shots was genuine.
Many bits in the film were improvised, including Clark's dance with his sandwich, Clark's send-off to Aunt Edna, and Rusty's chugging of the beer.
Imogene Coca originally turned down the part of Aunt Edna, because she did not think she could portray such a mean character. Even during filming, she was often concerned that she was being too mean to her fellow cast members.
In the Walley World scenes, Anthony Michael Hall is taller than Beverly D'Angelo; in previous scenes with her, he was the same height as her. This was because Hall grew three inches after principal photography finished. The ending was re-shot four months afterward, because the original ending failed with test audiences.
In the scene where the Griswolds are in the parking lot staring at Walley World, they are actually looking at the Santa Anita Racetrack. Harold Ramis said they cut the racetrack out of the frame, and replaced it with a hand painted picture of Walley World.
The theme park that served as Walley World was actually Six Flags Magic Mountain in Valencia, California. The roller coaster, referred by Clark as the "Whipper Snapper", is actually called "The Revolution", and was the first roller coaster to have a 360-degree vertical loop.
Although the original ending has never been released to the public, Chevy Chase says in the DVD commentary that he has a tape of the movie with the original ending.
In the DVD commentary, Chevy Chase mentions that the scene in which Rusty puts his feet up on top of the driver's seat was originally not in the script, but the producers liked it, so it was kept in the movie.
Daisy Mabel (Cousin Eddie's tongueless daughter) was played by director Harold Ramis' daughter Violet.
John Candy was paid $1 million for his brief appearance at the end of the movie.
The original ending, in which the Griswolds hold Roy Walley and his family hostage in their house, was re-created as part of the ending to National Lampoons Christmas Vacation
Originally, the producers wanted Christie Brinkley to appear naked in the film, but she refused. A compromise was reached, where she stripped down to her bra and panties before jumping in the pool with Clark.
Chevy Chase appears in some scenes wearing a blue Chicago Bears ball cap. He wears the same Chicago Bears cap throughout all four Vacation movies.
In the DVD commentary, Harold Ramis mentions that for the scene in which the Family Truckster jumps into the air, several of the crew members had made bets against second unit director Dick Ziker, that he couldn't jump the car more than fifty feet (even drawing lines in the sand to measure the distance). Ziker ended up winning that bet, as he jumped the car more than fifty feet.
Imogene Coca suffered what is believed to have been a stroke during production. Harold Ramis said they filmed a scene that morning, and by that afternoon she couldn't remember anything they did. After getting out of the hospital, she and her husband worked together to re-learn her lines, and get her back on-set to finish the movie.
The Walley World parking lot was actually the parking lot at the Santa Anita Racetrack. According to Harold Ramis, when filming Clark and Rusty's footrace, the temperature outside was 105 degrees Fahrenheit (40.5 degrees Celsius), and the pavement was 130 degrees Fahrenheit (54.4 degrees Celsius).
According to Dana Barron, originally Audrey was the older sibling, but in the re-shot ending, they had to change it to Rusty being older, because Anthony Michael Hall had a growth spurt, and was now taller than her and Beverly D'Angelo.
Based on the article "Vacation 58" by John Hughes, which appeared in the September 1979 issue of National Lampoon Magazine.
According to Anthony Michael Hall, the beer can from which he drank was empty.
Chevy Chase and James Keach stated in interviews that during the "Dog tied to the bumper" scene, both he and Chevy were legitimately tearing up, and that Chevy consistently biting his lips and his shortness of breath were genuine. All because they were trying so hard to contain themselves from laughing.
According to Rena Fruchter's 2007 biography "I'm Chevy Chase...and You're Not", Harold Ramis and Chevy Chase did uncredited re-writes of the screenplay, shifting the focus from the teenagers to the parents. For instance, the Ferrari Girl (Christie Brinkley) was originally to be a thirteen-year-old love interest for Rusty instead of Clark.
DIRECTOR CAMEO (Harold Ramis): Off-camera voice of one of the police officers at Walley World.
John Candy's cameo at the end of the film was only made possible due to the poor reception the original ending produced from test audiences. Harold Ramis turned to Candy, because he found his character Wally Wypyzypychwk, a Canadian security guard, which Candy had created for his stand-up and television appearances, to be just right for the part. Candy basically modeled his performance as Lasky after the nervy security guard character he had been portraying for years.
Jeffrey Katzenberg was working at Paramount when Matty Simmons brought him John Hughes' script. He rejected it on the grounds that it was too episodic, which Simmons countered by saying that it was a road movie, so it was, by definition, episodic. Simmons then took the property to Warner Brothers, where it was snapped up.
The Star Ford car dealership in Glendale, California, the location scene where Clark purchases the Wagon Queen Family Truckster, is located two blocks north of Chevy Chase Drive.
There was a Walley World Water Park in London, Ontario, Canada, which opened several years after the movie was released. John Candy was invited to the opening of the park, but the park owners couldn't afford his appearance fee.
On February 7, 2010, Chevy Chase and Beverly D'Angelo reprised their characters from Vacation in a Super Bowl ad for the vacation rental website HomeAway.com, and even the Wagon Queen Family Truckster made an appearance in the ad as well. Following the Super Bowl, the website also featured a two-part Vacation mini-movie called "Hotel Hell Vacation".
According to Anthony Michael Hall, originally it was supposed to be Chevy Chase in the front seat of the roller coaster with John Candy. With the combined size of both men, they couldn't fit, so the changed was made with Rusty being in the front seat, instead of Clark.
Exterior filming of the Griswolds "on the road" took the greater part of three months during production, crossing numerous states including California, Arizona, Colorado, Missouri, and Illinois, which was filmed by a second unit. While most of the principle filming took place in California, the cast did travel on-location for scenes set in Colorado, Utah, and Arizona.
In the opening credits of "Married With Children", when the camera pans back from the on ramp, you can see the Family Truxter on the ramp. It's the same footage as in the movie when The Ramones' song starts to play.
When Clark drives to the sporting goods store after leaving Walley World, the Truckster makes a hard left through a red light and nearly hits an oncoming Ford LTD Country Squire station wagon, the same vehicle from which the Wagon Queen Family Truckster was modified.
The St. Louis inner city and the Dodge City main street were created and filmed on the Warner Brothers' studio backlot.
John Hughes' script was inspired by an equally ill-fated family trip to Disneyland when he was five years old, which was what his National Lampoon Magazine article "Vacation '58" was about.
When Clark arrives at the gas station after walking through the desert, the sign on the door says: "Sorry, We Are Open".
The character of Roy Walley was based on a combination of the brothers Roy O. Disney and Walt Disney, as well as Roy's son Roy Edward Disney, right down to the thin mustache.
The poster art was by fantasy illustrator Boris Vallejo, and is a parody of the poster art for Conan the Barbarian (1982).
Imogene Coca was very afraid of car travel.
DIRECTOR CAMEO (Harold Ramis): The voice of the recorded message of Marty Moose saying Walley World is closed for maintenance.
For the scene in Dodge City, where Clark taunts the ornery bartender, who ends up shooting him with a blank-loaded shotgun, one of the prop guys ended up playing a practical joke on the cast members during one of the takes. During that particular take, after the bartender shoots at Clark, the prop guy tossed down a dummy from the second level of the set, and the entire cast jumped in surprise afterward.
In the scene where the car vaults off the closed road, Rusty says to Clark "Gee, Dad, you must've jump this thing about fifty yards!" The crew had made a bet off camera as to whether the car would travel more than fifty feet, which it did.
Dana Barron plays Audrey, the younger sister of Rusty, played by Anthony Michael Hall. In fact, Barron was sixteen, and Hall was fourteen.
There was a deleted scene that took place after the redneck mechanics clean Clark out of all his money for the car repairs, and Clark mentions that they're going to run out of gas. In the deleted scene, they do run out of gas, and Clark, Ellen, and the kids are forced to push the car (with Edna still inside of it) to the nearest gas station. The attendant fills the car up with gas, and then Clark drives away very fast without paying for it, because he has no money. The attendant then runs after them on foot, but of course doesn't catch them. That gas station is also where Clark got those sandwiches, because later after leaving the Grand Canyon motel, he tells Russ to get out the sandwiches he got at the gas station.
According to Harold Ramis, he cast John Candy in the role of Laskey the security guard because he had enjoyed working with Candy on Second City TV (1976) (Canada's version of Saturday Night Live (1975)) and that he also loved Candy's "Paul Fistinyourface" character from the show. Ramis had Candy play the character as a sort of relative to Paul Fistinyourface. Also worth mentioning is that Eugene Levy (the car salesman) also worked with Candy and Ramis on SCTV. Plus, Ramis had enjoyed working with Candy on Stripes (1981).
Despite playing their mother, Beverly D'Angelo is only 15 years older than Dana Barron and 17 years older than Anthony Michael Hall.
There were two scenes which were in the original script and shot, but were cut from the final version of the film. One scene had the Kamp Komfort Manager (Brian Doyle-Murray) dress up in a moose costume and sneak into Clark and Ellen's tent to scare them (which explains the "wildlife fun" the Manager mentioned as they checked in). That scene was cut, because it made the sequence run too long, so it was re-written to have Dinky sneak into the tent instead. The second scene was one featuring the two Native Americans (the same ones who see Clark wandering aimlessly through the desert and say "What an asshole") as well as a camel rider, who finds Ellen and the rest of the family, and rescues them. That scene was cut, because, according to Harold Ramis, the camel had been raised in Burbank, and had only ever walked on pavement, and the camel did not take to walking on hot sand very well. All the shots of the camel were unusable. Remnants of both cut scenes appear as photos during the ending credits photo montage.
According to Harold Ramis, he was inspired to shoot wide-angle shots of Clark alone in the desert by La guerre du feu (1981).
The scene where the station wagon goes airborne in the Arizona desert actually caused some production changes, due to the hard nose-landing that wasn't expected. Among those were matching the exact front-end damage on other station wagons used in other scenes.
All of the distant shots of Walley World, including the sign under which the Family Truckster drives, were matte paintings.
During the scene where Clark is showing the family the vacation route on the computer, and Rusty is chasing the Family Truckster with his game character, some of the sounds are from Mattel Intellivision games. Some are: Football and Basketball (referee whistle), Las Vegas Poker and Blackjack (gong sound), and Donkey Kong (Jump sound).
There was a deleted scene, scripted, probably filmed, but cut, in which Rusty is seduced by a prostitute at the final motel. (From simplyscripts dot com National Lampoon's Vacation, FOURTH DRAFT APRIL 30, 1982.) It's Immediately after Clark and Christie Brinkley were in the motel pool together: -EXT. MOTEL BALCONY -...Rusty, alone now, glances to his left and sees the Hooker looking him over. -HOOKER: "Hey, Cowboy, Wanna have a party?" -RUSTY: "Where?" -HOOKER: "In my bed." -RUSTY: "Who's coming?" -HOOKER: "Just you." -Rusty disappears into her room just as Clark rounds the corner.
The below scene, occurring a little later, is all that is actually seen of the Hooker (played by Tessa Richarde): -EXT. MOTEL BALCONY -Audrey, Rusty and the Hooker watch in total amazement as Clark and Ellen splash around in the pool yelling expletives.
The below scene, occurring a little later, is all that is actually seen of the Hooker (played by Tessa Richarde): -EXT. MOTEL BALCONY -Audrey, Rusty and the Hooker watch in total amazement as Clark and Ellen splash around in the pool yelling expletives.
The childhood pictures of Audrey on the living room wall were portfolio shots of Dana Barron when she was making commercials as a child.
Kim Cattrall was the original choice for Ellen Griswold.
When Clark and Rusty are racing to get to Wally World's entrance in slow motion to the theme music in "Chariots of Fire," a "Vacation"commentary mentioned that the pavement on which they were running was at least 130 degrees. There were several retakes of that scene, and Anthony Michael Hall had to go to the hospital to be treated for heat stroke. Several cast and crew members faced ill-effects from the extreme heat and the long-term effects of traveling from state to state with no ways to stay cool.
In the scene where the Griswolds first stop for directions in downtown St. Louis, a bar called "Ron Frazier's Downtown Bar" can be seen in the background. Ron Frazier is an uncredited propmaker foreman on the film.
Despite only having a few scenes, Christie Brinkley stayed for the entire length of the film shoot. She spent her days off going horseback riding and whitewater rafting.
As the Griswolds are leaving Chicago, you can see the Buckingham fountain (a popular attraction in Chicago's Grant Park used in the intro to Married with Children (1987)) in the background at one point.
When the Griswolds first enter the saloon in Dodge City, one can see clearly see Christie Brinkley featured in a Coppertone advertisement on the front desk.
Elmer Bernstein was first approached by Harold Ramis to do the score for this film, but he turned it down as he was busy working on the score for Trading Places (1983). Ramis then hired Ralph Burns to do the score as he had been impressed with his work on Urban Cowboy (1980).
The scenes at Cousin Eddie's house were shot at a farm house in Boone, Colorado, just east of Pueblo. A modified Family Truckster station wagon was used as the crew travelled, which had no engine compartment, and had camera tracks around all sides of the vehicle. The crew gathered shots as they traveled the United States.
According to the commentary, the heat was unbearable traveling through several states. Huge trucks carrying cast, crew, food, equipment, and supplies were used. Anthony Michael Hall remembers it being well over 120 degrees Fahrenheit (48.9 degrees Celsius) in the shade. Cast and crew passed out from the heat. Imogene Coca suffered a mild stroke and amnesia. She couldn't remember her lines, or the scenes they had previously shot. She came back after recovery, and amazingly remembered her lines as if nothing had happened. Tempers flared once between Harold Ramis and Chevy Chase, and Chevy threw a suitcase at him.
The opening scene at the Chicago car dealership was filmed at Star Ford in Glendale, California. The location is still there (as of 2014) with the same buildings that were in the movie. However, Star Ford moved down the street, and the former Star Ford is now Glendale Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram dealership.
The gas station and sporting goods store, where Clark purchases his BB gun, were located at the intersection of Ocean Avenue and Santa Monica Boulevard in Santa Monica, California. Both buildings have since been torn down, and replaced by high-rise apartments. (In truth, the buildings were never torn down. They were once restaurants that have become other restaurants).
The roller coasters featured are the Revolution and Colossus at Six Flags Magic Mountain. Revolution, the first modern coaster to feature a vertical loop, still operates, while Collossus closed in 2014, and was rebuilt with steel tracks and an altered layout, including two inversions, in 2015 as Twisted Colossus.
Matty Simmons and Warner Brothers executive Mark Canton wanted John Landis to direct this movie. Simmons talked to him about it, but Landis turned it down because he was working on An American Werewolf in London (1981) at the same time.
In the Blu-ray commentary, Chevy Chase mentions that Randy Lowell, a.k.a. Randolph Lowell Dreyfuss, is actually the brother of Richard Dreyfuss.
Harold Ramis said in the DVD commentary that the scene where the Griswolds get off the wrong exit in St. Louis, and get lost in the hood, was one of the most politically incorrect sequences he ever shot, and that it practically demonized everyone involved. He also admitted that he wasn't proud of shooting it the way it appears in the film, and that he was not even sure if he would shoot that particular scene today, and if he did, he would shoot it, or write it out in a different and more politically correct way.
Included among the American Film Institute's 2000 list of the 500 movies nominated for the Top 100 Funniest American Movies.
With an inflation rate of 3% per year, the $52,000 Eddie mentioned needing in 1983 would be worth roughly $137,921 in 2016.
When Grover (Frank McRae) first appears near the end of the film, he asks "What's going on here?" before being held at gun point and being forced by Clark Griswold to "lie down, roll over, and stay." McRae played a teacher in Red Dawn (1984), where he would ask the same question before getting shot for real.
The man giving bad directions in downtown St. Louis says the ironic line, "You don't wanna know from me man, this ain't even my neighborhood. I'm from the west side of Chicago, here on vacation." The Griswolds are also from the west side of Chicago, (here) on vacation. (Most likely the black dude had them pegged as West Chicago natives and was toying with them).
When Ellen notices that Aunt Edna has passed away, Clark suddenly veers off the paved highway before coming to a stop on a rocky dirt strip. This shot was filmed from the Schnebly Hill Vista along Schnebly Hill Road near Sedona, Arizona. The point where the car stops is actually several miles down a dirt road between highway 17 and the town of Sedona.
Harold Ramis deeply regretted the Missouri ghetto scene, as it came off as racist.
The campground clerk, played by Brian Doyle-Murray, later played the role of Clark's cheapskate boss Mr. Shirley in Christmas Vacation.
When Clark brings the new car home, the house next door features a tower with a large "beam" (also known as a "Yagi") antenna. This type of antenna is widely used by amateur (ham) radio operators to communicate worldwide via shortwave.
John Candy (Lasky) and Eddie Bracken (Roy Walley) also appeared in the 'Home Alone' movies. The Griswold 'Vacation' and 'Home Alone' films are the only two film franchises in which John Hughes was involved for at least two entries. Candy appeared in "Home Alone" (1990) and Bracken appeared in "Home Alone 2: Lost in New York" (1992). Larry Hankin, who played the wedding chapel preacher in "Vegas Vacation" (1997) also appeared in the first 'Home Alone' film. Candy, Bracken, and Hankin are the only 3 actors who appeared in both the Griswold 'Vacation' and 'Home Alone' film franchises.
Brian Doyle-Murray and John Candy shared the same birthday: October 31 (although five years apart). They also appeared in JFK (1991). They had no screentime together in either film.
John Diehl and Michael Talbott, who play Switek and Zito respectively on Miami Vice (1984), appear in this movie. They do not share any scenes.
There is a scene when Clark first meets 'The Girl in the Ferrari' and is trying to keep up with her. As she drives away Ellen wakes up and says to Clark, "You're going 80mph. Slow down!". At the time that the movie was made the speed limit on an interstate was 55mph. As of 2020 a common speed limit on an interstate is 70mph in the Western United States. Therefore, 80mph would not be considered too fast.
Cameo
Lorenzo Salviati: Beverly D'Angelo's husband at the time is the musician playing the piano at the hotel bar during the scene where Clark meets up and chats with the Ferrari Girl (Christie Brinkley).
Spoilers
The original ending of the film consisted of the Griswold family, after seeing that Walley World is closed, going to the Hollywood house of Roy Walley. Clark points a BB gun at Walley, then forces him, a security guard, and Walley's business associates to sing and dance Walley World theme songs, before the police arrive to arrest Clark. The Girl in the Red Ferrari then arrives and turned out to be Walley's daughter, and she convinces him not to press charges against Clark. On the plane ride home, the Griswolds realize they are on the wrong flight. Clark snaps and hijacks the plane. This did not go over well with test audiences, and the scenes in the park with John Candy, were a last-minute alternate ending filmed over two weeks, four months after production ended. The original ending was deleted, and is believed to be lost. However, Chevy Chase has said that he has a videotape of the movie with the original ending. A photo of the Griswolds on the plane is shown during the end credits.
It was originally scripted, that after Aunt Edna was tied to the roof of the car, there was a shot of her fingers moving, implying she was, in fact, still alive. This was considered "cruel" to have a live person on the roof of a car by the ratings board, so it was cut, and she remained dead.
For the scene where Clark ties Dinky's leash to the rear bumper and forgets all about it before driving off, Producer Matty Simmons said that after the movie's release, he received numerous letters from people who had seen the movie, and admitted that they had made the same grievous error with their pets, as Clark did in the movie.
The script originally called for Disneyland as the Griswolds' destination, but Disney objected, pointing out that they are open 365 days a year.
Imogene Coca played Aunt Edna in this film, and her long-time comic partner, Sid Caesar, played Mr. Ellis in Vegas Vacation (1997). Both of the characters die of old age in each film.
