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.
A high-school gym teacher has big plans for the summer, but is forced to cancel them to teach a "bonehead" English class for misfit goof-off students. Fortunately, his unconventional brand ... See full summary »
Kim Taylor inherits her grandfather's drive-in theatre. She must raise $25,000 over one weekend or the bank will take the property from her. She also has to deal with pesky capitalist J.B. Winston.
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
During the race, Jack says the sailboat in front of them has 'stolen their wind'. Technically, that is a racing term for someone BEHIND you who has gotten between the wind and your sail, effectively blocking your wind. It's also a racing strategy. But it is impossible for someone to steal your wind from in front of you. See more »
Quotes
Jack:
Get the hell out of here now!
Fat Man:
You get out of here fella. I'm trying to watch the Smurfs.
Jack:
You're trying to watch the Smurfs?
Fat Man:
Yeah.
Jack:
Did you see the one where Papa Smurf took a crutch and smashed the shit out of a guy with a red hat? Did you see that one? You want to see that one? (Fat Man runs away.)
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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.
The type of movie you can watch once a year and never get tired of. Typical John Candy film. Why did he always get mediocre scripts, save the John Hughes films? Was Hughes the only director who saw his talent? Either way, Candy rises above the material and makes the film fun to watch, but not necessarily a great film by any means. Great line regarding "The Smurfs."
3/5 stars -
John Ulmer
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The type of movie you can watch once a year and never get tired of. Typical John Candy film. Why did he always get mediocre scripts, save the John Hughes films? Was Hughes the only director who saw his talent? Either way, Candy rises above the material and makes the film fun to watch, but not necessarily a great film by any means. Great line regarding "The Smurfs."
3/5 stars -
John Ulmer