Home Alone (1990)

User Rating:

6.9/10   

Director:

Chris Columbus

Writer (WGA):

John Hughes (written by)

Release Date:

16 November 1990 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Crime | Family

Tagline:

A Family Comedy Without The Family.

Plot:

An eight year-old, who is accidentally left behind while his family flies to France for Christmas, has to defend his home against idiotic burglars.

Plot Keywords:

House | Christmas | Vacation | Holiday | Boy

Awards:

Nominated for 2 Oscars. Another 10 wins & 3 nominations

Cast

Macaulay Culkin	...	Kevin McCallister
Joe Pesci	...	Harry
Daniel Stern	...	Marv
John Heard	...	Peter McCallister
Roberts Blossom	...	Marley
Catherine O'Hara	...	Kate McCallister
Angela Goethals	...	Linnie
Devin Ratray	...	Buzz
Gerry Bamman	...	Uncle Frank
Hillary Wolf	...	Megan
John Candy	...	Gus Polinski
Larry Hankin	...	Officer Balzak
Michael C. Maronna	...	Jeff (as Michael C. Maronna)
Kristin Minter	...	Heather
Daiana Campeanu	...	Sondra

Runtime:

103 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

Brazil:Livre | Iceland:L | Australia:PG | South Korea:All | Portugal:M/6 | New Zealand:PG | Netherlands:AL (original rating) | Netherlands:6 (re-rating) | Argentina:Atp | Australia:G | Australia:PG (DVD rating) | Canada:G | Chile:TE | Finland:S | Germany:12 | Norway:10 | Peru:PT | Singapore:PG | Sweden:11 | UK:PG | USA:PG

Filming Locations:

656 Lincoln Avenue, Winnetka, Illinois, USA

Company:

Hughes Entertainment

Trivia:

The car that ''Santa'' (the guy Kevin talks to about getting his family back) starts before it stalls out is a 1980 Honda Civic hatchback.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: Obvious stunt double in the long shots of Kevin swinging across to the tree-house.

Quotes:

Rod McCallister: Who's gonna feed your spider while we're gone?
Buzz McCallister: He just ate a whole load of mice guts. He should be good for a couple of weeks. Say isn't it true that French babes don't shave their pits?
Rod McCallister: Some don't.
Buzz McCallister: But they got nude beaches?
Rod McCallister: Not in the winter.
[Buzz sulks]

Movie Connections:

Spoofed in "Robot Chicken: Toy Meets Girl (#1.11)" (2005)

Soundtrack:

Carol of the Bells

Joe Pesci and Daniel Stern as the Grinches Who Almost Steal Christmas...

The overwhelming success of 'Home Alone' (it spawned two sequels), is enough to guarantee that most people will love this story of a family that departs for Paris on the Christmas holidays, mistakenly leaving an eight-year old boy to fend for himself. And fend he does, when burglars threaten to break in unless he can rig enough booby-traps to keep them out.

That's the simple plot in a nutshell. Macaulay Culkin seems to have no problem carrying most of the film with a wide variety of looks, gestures and expressions--but for my money it's Daniel Stern and Joe Pesci who get the main laughs as the bumbling burglars intent on outwitting the kid's traps.

Others in the cast don't have as much to do but do well enough by their roles, particularly Catherine O'Hara and John Heard as the parents who only discover on the plane that Kevin is missing. The laughs are steady, the color photography is great and the slight story is probably every boy's fantasy of what it might be like to be left home alone. Add to that the holiday flavor of Christmas and a pleasant musical score by John Williams and you have the makings of a classic.

The proof is in the pudding--they must have done something right!!