National Lampoon's Vacation

Groucho Reviews started their review by saying, “For those of us who aren't jet-setters, the road-trip family vacation is a part of our collective consciousness: piling in a car or van or station wagon and hitting the road to see dubious attractions whilst siblings bicker and parents try to hold it together. John Hughes' short story "Vacation '58," published in the National Lampoon, tapped into this archetypal vein, looking back not in anger but in wry fondness for family foibles. It proved to be lucrative fodder for the big screen (and later small screens), and though lacking in narrative and comic sophistication, National Lampoon's Vacation has something arguably more important: built-in, instant audience identification.”

The first film in what became a franchise has the benefit of the late Harold Ramis behind the camera, and “National Lampoon’s Vacation,” released in 1983, has some of the same hairy appeal as his “Caddyshack” and “Stripes:” for better or worse, they’re not careful films (they’re certainly not over-thought), and however, they’re permanent for their confident, zany approach to a comic story. Groucho admits, “Chevy Chase has never been my cup of tea, but it's hard to argue that he's at the top of his form here as goofy patriarch Clark Griswold, a workaholic food-additive developer who sees the family trip to Walley World (home of—ahem—Marty Moose) as a kind of penance for lost time. He's determined to make the trip perfect or—when that hope is dashed—at least to reach their detstination, consarnit!” Things begin badly when Eugene Levy’s dishonest car dealer pawns off on Clark the bright Wagon Queen Family Truckster, a fake-wood-paneled station wagon that is meant to break down in pieces. Even as he’s being scammed, Clark insists, “I’m not your ordinary everyday fool.” He may be right: in the rising Murphy’s Law scenes that follow, he proves to be a skillful fool.

Chase gets helpful support from Beverly D’Angelo as patient wife Ellen, Anthony Michael Hall as the impish Rusty, and Dana Barron as the neglected Audrey. Clark really walks al over his daughter to bond with his son (foreshadowing Homer Simpson, Clark forgets Audrey’s name). Groucho notes, “Clark and Rusty's "good talk"s—including "sharing" a beer in Monument Valley—prove to be some of the film's best scenes, though they also reflect the phallo-centrism of the R-rated '80s comedy, with its gratuitous nudity (now, I'm not complaining, mind you) and casual sidelining of the female point-of-view.” The film’s most famous running joke conserves the hot Christie Brinkley, in her prime, as the object of male attraction, as her character’s red Ferrari keeps appearing to tempt Clark to adultery. (The musical theme indirectly excusing these scenes is Little Boy Sweet, while the constant repeating of Lindsay Buckingham’s Holiday Road also helps to give the movie some artificial help.)

What’s riskier than the adultery is the scene – meant for laughs – of the white, square, Chicago residents accidentally driving through “the ghetto” and meeting scary black people. Groucho mentions, “The idea of the Griswolds as tourists who get suckered, squeezed and plain ripped off at every turn could have done without this jive-talking passage. The satire of suburban attitudes remains mostly implicit, though it bubbles to the surface with another race-themed gag: when a Native American (Michael Talbott) sizes up Clark with three little words: "What an @$$hole."”

Groucho continues, “Lots of the gags in Vacation seem obvious now, though partly because they've been repeated ad nauseam over the years (a random Psycho spoof, defective "magic fingers"...).” The best moments are on a realistic look (an implosive family singalong). The stereotyping of the Griswolds’ Kansas cousins as rednecks is more uncomfortably mean than it is funny, but it’s there that the travelers pick up cruel old Aunt Edna, played by the comedy legend Imogene Coca, cast against type, a type of comedic predicaments. Also among the Kansas cousins: Jane Krakowski’s Vicki and Randy Quaid’s Eddie, who would become a primary in the ongoing franchise. James Keach, Brian Doyle Murray, John Candy and Eddie Bracken (Groucho describes, “as conspicuously Disney-esque Roy Walley”) make funny cameos, but Chase does most of the comic delivery, most effectively in the subject of physical stuff. By the time his desperate protagonist does what can only be described as a sandwich dance, you might as well give in.

This is another classic in the franchise. I had known about the one Christie Brinkley scene at the hotel from a website I visited where they listed scenes of females scantily clad, and there was a scene of that at the end of “Animal House.” If you haven’t seen this movie, you’re missing out. This is a classic in the franchise. Check it out if you haven’t because I think everyone will have a great time watching this. It is funny, and you will never forget this after you have seen it. I would definitely give this a recommendation and would love to see this film again.

Unfortunately, not all the films in this franchise was good. Case in point: stay tuned next week for when I talk about the next film in the “Griswold Family franchise” in “National Lampoon’s Month.”