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 | regatta | family man | sunburned man | man uses crutches | 

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Taglines:

Join John Candy for a holiday hilarity!

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Genres:

Comedy

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Certificate:

PG

Did You Know?

Trivia

The duration of the Chester family summer rental summer vacation was for four weeks.

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Goofs

After kicking out the guy watching the "Smurfs", the cigarettes on the bed change positions between shots while the dog is laying in bed next to them.

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Quotes

Vicki: Can I have your honest opinion about something?
Jack Chester: Sure.
Vicki: [lifts her bikini top] What do you think of these? Well, how do they look?
Jack Chester: About what?
Vicki: These!
Jack Chester: Oh, those.
Vicki: Yeah. How do they look?
Jack Chester: Uh, similar?
Vicki: No, I mean, do they look good? I just got them.
Jack Chester: Who had them before you?
[...]

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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

Referenced in The Cinema Snob: The Jerk, Too (2020)

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Soundtracks

Axel F
Written by Harold Faltermeyer

User Reviews

John Candy and Carl Reiner: what could be a better combo?

For most of his career, John Candy played a bunch of rather silly roles that - while they were completely goofy - were great nevertheless. "Summer Rental" is one such role. Candy plays overworked air traffic controller Jack Chester, who takes his family on vacation in Florida. Naturally, it ends up being not as much of a vacation as they hoped. Finally, Jack and his family decide to take one last chance to restore their dignity.

I will admit that "Summer Rental" is pretty much a big excuse to be silly, but you gotta love it. This is John Candy doing what he does best. It's really too bad that he died; he really had a good track record.

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