Harry Crumb is a bumbling and inept private investigator who is hired to solve the kidnapping of a young heiress which he's not expected to solve because his employer is the mastermind behind the kidnapping.
Freddy the gym teacher has to teach remedial English in summer (high) school, if he wants tenure. As he can only teach gym and his students want fun, emphasis is on "field trips" - until he's fired unless all his students pass the test.
1962, after Yale graduation, womanizing Lawrence flees a gambling debt that his rich dad won't pay. He takes his roomie's place as Peace Corps Volunteer in Thai Golden Triangle with 2 other PCVs. Will he survive 2 years?
A minor league baseball player has to spend thirty million dollars in thirty days, in order to inherit three hundred million dollars. However, he's not allowed to tell anyone about the deal.
Jack Chester, an overworked air traffic controller, takes his family on vacation to the beach. Things immediately start to go wrong for the Chesters, and steadily get worse. Jack ends up in a feud with a local yachtsman, and has to race him to regain his pride and family's respect.Written by
Rob Hartill
This film was shot in March 1985 with filming wrapping around April and quickly going into post-production with Paramount releasing the film in August. This would be the first with such a quick turn around schedule to be released that year with the surprise hit, Commando Starring Arnold Schwarzenegger being the other which was released by Fox in October after a quick shooting schedule. See more »
Goofs
The morning of the race, John Candy is seen on the beach, gazing at the sunrise. Clearwater is on the west coast so John could not watch a sunrise facing west. See more »
Quotes
Jennifer Chester:
Did they even say how many rooms they're are?
Jack Chester:
It's three bedrooms and it's on the beach. That's all I know.
Sandy Chester:
Well it was very nice of Hal to find the place.
Jack Chester:
It was very nice of him to tell me that I'm cracking up.
Sandy Chester:
You are not cracking up. You just need this rest.
Jack Chester:
Rest? Didn't we just get back from Hawaii?
Sandy Chester:
Jack, that was our honeymoon.
See more »
Crazy Credits
Pictures of the family are shown during end credits See more »
Alternate Versions
There are many scenes that were cut from the movie that mostly dealt with the development of John Candy's character and the family before the vacation. There is about 5 minutes snipped out of the first 15-20 min of the film. They include:
Jack Chester pulling over to the side of the highway, telling the kids that the car is not moving until he has five seconds of silence.
Also on the way to Citrus Cove, Florida, they get fast food. The dog farts at this time, causing the family to stick their heads out the window.
When they arrive at the "wrong" house, they shows snips here and there through the course of their stay of Archie "the dog" chewing the leg off the couch.
Then, after Jack Chester unloads the trailer, there is another deleted scene involving Bobby and Jennifer about who gets the color TV.
Also, before they leave the house, Dan Gardner, "the owner" of the wrong house, they are staying at tells them that it is their house and not the Chesters', you see both of their expressions as to what they are felling at that moment when he and Jack Chester are in disagreement.
When the family leaves to go to the right house, Jack Chester says, "Have a nice summer". Following that, the two owners that own the house laugh and the couch breaks (a result of Archie's gnawing on the couch leg) and they fall backwards.
Finally, the scene where they arrive at the Barnacle for their dinner, there is a scene added to fill in for the edited scene where Laurie says, "This place sucks," instead of showing that they added a very brief scene of Rip Torn's character "Scully" approaching their table.
At 86 minutes and half a dozen subplots not being wrapped up or developed in any way at all. For example the subplot involving John Laroquette is never given the chance to become anything. His whole presence in the movie is totally pointless and I suspect there was a whole 'Candy's wife may be cheating on him' plot that was cut out because it just too similar Chase/D'Angelo in Vacation.
We never know what happens to Richard Crenna or Rip Torn after the Regatta and we never know how the rest of the Summer Rental went. It's like the writers knew there was no plot, chucked in this Regatta crap and thought that would be a good place to end the film when it's over. And what was wrong with the popcorn Candy and Crenna eat? I found that pretty weird.
Although I have already made comparisons to Vacation I still feel like this film is good enough without being a copycat movie. It's seems more realistic and doesn't have any slapstick humor. Candy feels more like a real guy who needs a real vacation. We want him to relax but still can't help laughing when everything goes wrong. My fave scene is when he returns home to find it transformed into some kind of free-for-all Funhouse.
But for a film set in Florida there is a huge lack of nice scenery and the photography isn't so cool. I wonder why Kerri Green (who starred in The Goonies the same year) never made another mainstream movie tho. Joey Laurence did so why not her?
If you like comedies, but hate the scatological humor that most present day comedies have, then this is a good enough escape. I miss John Candy and wish he made more movies before he died.
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At 86 minutes and half a dozen subplots not being wrapped up or developed in any way at all. For example the subplot involving John Laroquette is never given the chance to become anything. His whole presence in the movie is totally pointless and I suspect there was a whole 'Candy's wife may be cheating on him' plot that was cut out because it just too similar Chase/D'Angelo in Vacation.
We never know what happens to Richard Crenna or Rip Torn after the Regatta and we never know how the rest of the Summer Rental went. It's like the writers knew there was no plot, chucked in this Regatta crap and thought that would be a good place to end the film when it's over. And what was wrong with the popcorn Candy and Crenna eat? I found that pretty weird.
Although I have already made comparisons to Vacation I still feel like this film is good enough without being a copycat movie. It's seems more realistic and doesn't have any slapstick humor. Candy feels more like a real guy who needs a real vacation. We want him to relax but still can't help laughing when everything goes wrong. My fave scene is when he returns home to find it transformed into some kind of free-for-all Funhouse.
But for a film set in Florida there is a huge lack of nice scenery and the photography isn't so cool. I wonder why Kerri Green (who starred in The Goonies the same year) never made another mainstream movie tho. Joey Laurence did so why not her?
If you like comedies, but hate the scatological humor that most present day comedies have, then this is a good enough escape. I miss John Candy and wish he made more movies before he died.