Summer Rental (1985)

An overworked air-traffic controller takes his family on a beach vacation but is soon beset by series of mishaps.

Director:

Carl Reiner

Writers:

Jeremy Stevens, Mark Reisman

Stars:

John Candy, Richard Crenna, Rip Torn

3 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
John Candy	...	Jack Chester
Karen Austin	...	Sandy Chester
Kerri Green	...	Jennifer Chester
Joey Lawrence	...	Bobby Chester
Aubrey Jene	...	Laurie Chester
Richard Crenna	...	Al Pellet
Rip Torn	...	Scully
John Larroquette	...	Don Moore
Richard Herd	...	Angus MacLachlan
Santos Morales	...	Cortez
Lois Hamilton	...	Vicki
Carmine Caridi	...	Ed
Francis X. McCarthy	...	Hal (as Frank McCarthy)
Pierrino Mascarino	...	Maitre D'
Harry Yorku	...	Pirate Musician

Storyline

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.

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Plot Keywords:

summer vacation | air traffic controller | vacation | sailboat race | restaurant | 

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Taglines:

Life Is A Beach.

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Genres:

Comedy

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Certificate:

PG

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English Spanish

Release Date:

9 August 1985 (USA)

Also Known As:

Summer Rental

Filming Locations:

18220 Sunset Boulevard, Redington Shores, Florida, USA

Box Office

Opening Weekend USA:

$5,754,259, 11 August 1985

Gross USA:

$24,689,703

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$24,689,703

Company Credits

Production Co:

Paramount Pictures, St. Petersburg Clearwater Film Commission

Technical Specs

Runtime:

87 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Karen Austin (Sandy Chester) was only 29 when the movie was filmed, and is less than 12 years older than Kerri Green, who played her daughter.

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Goofs

During the middle of the movie when Jack is shown sleeping his hangover off after a night of drinking with Scully, he has an earring in his right ear. However, during the final scene when Jack's boat (the barnacle) is passing Mr Pellet's boat we see a close up of Jacks face in which his earring is in his left ear.

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Quotes

Jack Chester: Don't serve those.
Al: What are you doing?
Jack Chester: These are my lobsters.
Al: Your lobsters?
Jack Chester: That's right you've got my table but you're not getting my lobsters.
Al: Oh and this is your table?
Jack Chester: [Slams his hands on the table] My table!

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Crazy Credits

Pictures of the family are shown during end credits

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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.

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Connections

References Lolita (1962)

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Soundtracks

Dolores
Written by Frank Loesser & Louis Alter
Performed by Carl Reiner

User Reviews

Hilarious comedy!

This is one movie that shows how your summer vacation all goes wrong. John Candy plays Jack Chester, an over-worked man who decides to bring his family on vacation...and fails miserably. Instead of bringing them on vacation, he leads them strait to the gates of hell. Through several acts of trying to do good, Jack only makes things worse for himself. This movie was one of the best movies of John Candy's career. There was no over-acting and no artsy stuff. Just a good old fashioned comedy. Just how they should be. This is an old fashioned romp of a good belly laughing comedy. See it, if you are a Candy fan. See it anyway, even if you aren't. SUMMER RENTAL is one of the best comedies that John Candy ever did. 5/5.