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We’ve already watched National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation three times this year, and we’ll probably watch it again during at least one of our family Christmases. Here are a few things you probably never knew about Clark and the Griswold family.
1. The Capra family must have Christmas in their genes. The assistant director of Christmas Vacation, Frank Capra III, is the grandson of the legendary Frank Capra, who directed It’s a Wonderful Life. The part where Clark “fixes” the newel post by sawing it off with a chainsaw is an homage to It’s a Wonderful Life – the newel post at the Bailey’s house was also loose. Also, Russ is watching It’s a Wonderful Life on TV when his grandparents arrive.
2. In the scene where Clark has his total breakdown after receiving his “Christmas bonus” – membership in a jelly of the month club – he rattles off a jawbreaking, tongue-twister of an insult about his boss. The crew had placed cue cards all over the set behind the camera so Chevy Chase could read the whole insult without stopping. In its entirety, the quote is:
“Hey. If any of you are looking for any last-minute gift ideas for me, I have one. I’d like Frank Shirley, my boss, right here tonight. I want him brought from his happy holiday slumber over there on Melody Lane with all the other rich people and I want him brought right here, with a big ribbon on his head, and I want to look him straight in the eye and I want to tell him what a cheap, lying, no-good, rotten, four-flushing, low-life, snake-licking, dirt-eating, inbred, overstuffed, ignorant, blood-sucking, dog-kissing, brainless, d**kless, hopeless, heartless, fat-ass, bug-eyed, stiff-legged, spotty-lipped, worm-headed sack of monkey s**t he is. Hallelujah. Holy s**t. Where’s the Tylenol?”
3. You gotta love/hate cousin Eddie. He’s just so deliciously white trash. Eddie’s “dress clothes” – a white sweater with a black dickey, with the dickey very obviously showing through the sweater – was Randy Quaid’s wife’s idea. A genius detail. Cousin Eddie went on to star in his own made-for-TV Christmas Vacation – Cousin Eddie’s Island Adventure. Haven’t seen it; heard it was awful. I have to admit, the beauty of Cousin Eddie is that you get him in little doses. A whole Cousin Eddie movie would be a bit much.
4. I can always relate to the scene where the two grandpas are asleep in the armchairs while the Christmas parade is on TV in the background. This always happens at our Thanksgivings and Christmases – grandpas, dads, uncles. What makes the scene even funnier is that the actors who played the grandpas were both really asleep.
5. Aunt Bethany (“Is your house on fire, Clark?”) is played by Mae Questel, the voice of Betty Boop and Olive Oyl. Christmas Vacation was her last movie.
6. Being from the Midwest, friends and I always laugh when we see the Griswolds driving to get their Christmas tree at the beginning of the movie. Check out the large mountains in the scenery. I don’t know about you guys, but I’ve never seen mountains like that in these parts. Turns out this part of the film was shot in Breckenridge, Colorado, which makes much more sense. The house scenes were shot on set in California. This is evident during outdoor scenes – you never see any of the cast’s breath when they are standing around waiting for Clark to show them the lights on the house. There are also a few shots where you see non-evergreen trees with full leaves and no snow on them.
7. Pretty much the whole movie is quotable, but here are some of the lines used regularly around our house:
“Don’t throw me down, Clark.” – Aunt Bethany
“I don’t KNOW, Margo.” – Todd the yuppie next-door neighbor
“SQUIRREL!!!” – Clark Sr.
“Lot of sap in here. Looks great… little full. Lotta sap.” – Clark
“They want you to say grace. THE BLESSING.” – Uncle Lewis (complete with finger gesturing, of course).
8. The kids in Christmas Vacation (Juliette Lewis and Johnny Galecki) are the third set of kids. The first Audrey and Rusty were Dana Barron and Anthony Michael Hall in Vacation, the second are Dana Hill and Jason Lively. When Vegas Vacation was released n 1997, the kids were played by Marisol Nichols and Ethan Embry.
* * * * *
So, do you love Christmas Vacation or hate it? What’s your favorite part?
This article first appeared last December.
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Comments (34)
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my grandparents always told us that Christmas Vacation was supposed to be filmed in our area in Upper Michigan because we had both an outdoor skating rink, and a ski hill.
i dunno how true that is, but if it had happened, several members of our family’s homes would have been featured in the background. that’s a big thrill for small town folks, i guess.
posted by Em on 12-20-2008 at 2:38 am
I can’t even count how many my brother and I quote this movie in a year! We grew up watching all of the Vacation movies. Love Them.
posted by Lizi on 12-20-2008 at 8:35 am
We first saw this movie in the theater with our whole family. And when Clark cut open the turkey, my dad laughed so hard we all wanted to move a few seats away so that people wouldn’t think we were with him. Also, I can’t hear the song “Mele Kalikimaka” without picturing Cousin Eddie in his swim suit. Too bad…it’s actually a rather catchy tune.
posted by Steve on 12-20-2008 at 9:33 am
LOVE IT! Fav part would have to be Clark running up the stairs, not knowing the squirrel is on his back.
posted by Laura on 12-20-2008 at 10:41 am
Love It! Love Cousin Eddie!
In my family we cannot say Merry Christams without following it up with Shitter’s Full.
posted by Tim on 12-20-2008 at 11:09 am
I loved that movie- there are so many delicious moments in it but I have to say the most memorable part to me was the sound of a tuba tooting “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” while casual Uncle Eddie was in his robe, boots and hat with his coffee (or was it a beer?) in one hand with his RV’s hose gushing toxic sewage into the neighborhood storm drain. It just seemed like veiled attempt at scatological humor…. it made me laugh so hard-
posted by Sarah C. on 12-20-2008 at 11:16 am
This is right up there with one of my all time favorite movies. It always makes me think of my dad, as this is probably one of his favorite movies. I’ll have to go find Cousin Eddie’s Vacation.
posted by Robert on 12-20-2008 at 11:48 am
I just love this whole movie and cannot pick a favorite scene! I finally bought a copy of the movie this Chrismas and have watched it several times already.
Anybody know where I can get a set of the moose punch glasses out of which Clark and Eddie drink eggnog? My life would be complete if I could find some of those!
posted by bzzyb on 12-20-2008 at 11:53 am
My Dad used to use the word “yarking” a lot. He doesn’t so much any more. My sister has even used it. (”She was yarking the entire time!”)
posted by Sara on 12-20-2008 at 12:07 pm
We have several cats, so in my house “shitter’s full” is used often to convey that the litter box needs to be changed.
posted by Deb on 12-20-2008 at 1:25 pm
In my family we have watched this movie in a loop on Christmas day since it came out. My mom and I both love when Ellen says, in response to Audrey’s complaints about sleeping with her brother, “well, I’m sleeping with your father.”
Great post!!!
posted by LaForce on 12-20-2008 at 4:58 pm
Next time you watch this, pay attention to Clark and Eddie when they’re shopping. Clark puts a package of light bulbs in the cart and right after Eddie puts a large bag of dog food right on top of them! The look on Clark’s face is priceless!! Great movie…
posted by Nate on 12-20-2008 at 6:26 pm
To buzzyb, I saw mugs modeled on these at http://www.melkmugs.com. I haven’t bought them, and have no idea if they are any good, but you might take a look.
posted by marko on 12-20-2008 at 6:28 pm
I can’t stand this movie! It’s long, drawn out and totally pointless.
posted by sandra on 12-21-2008 at 9:00 pm
sandra- so is Titanic, but people still flocked to see that.
posted by Em on 12-22-2008 at 4:41 am
Best Christmas movie ever. I watch it repeatedly throughout the xmas season. It’s tradition to follow up a glass of egg nog with “It’s good…It’s good” in my house. Hehe. So many good quotes.
posted by Dan on 12-22-2008 at 7:56 am
I laugh the hardest when Clark goes to pull down the attic stairs and gets hit in the head with them as they slide down. My kids always look at me like I’m nuts.
@bzzyb – the mugs are a reference to National Lampoon’s Vacation. The moose is supposed to be Morty Moose from Wallyworld that they travel to in that movie. In the past I have seen them available somewhere. Always meant to buy some but never did.
posted by crocostimpy on 12-22-2008 at 8:54 am
no one has quoted the best line yet?!?!?
“Hey Griswold, where are you going to put a tree that big?”
“Bend over and I’ll show ya!”
posted by Emmie on 12-22-2008 at 9:33 am
My favorite detail, which you can hear about from Beverly D’Angelo (Ellen) in the DVD commentary, is the Evian bottle Randy Quaid (Cousing Eddie) has down his pants during the shopping scene. Never noticed it, and now that I know, I can’t miss it.
I actually broke out the “It’s not going in our yard, it’s going in our living room” line over the weekend discussing Christmas trees.
posted by Matt on 12-22-2008 at 9:33 am
I LOVE the part when Clark is trying to light the lights and has everyone outside and sings in that overly-dramatic voice “JOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOYYYYYYYYY TOOOOOOO THEEEEE WORLDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD!”
posted by Kelly J on 12-22-2008 at 9:40 am
My best friend’s family’s favorite line has rubbed off on me. When the family is sitting down to dinner and Clark mentions the radio report that Santa has been spotted and Cousin Eddie says, “You serious, Clark?”
posted by Fruppi on 12-22-2008 at 10:27 am
Haha, Emmie, followed by:
“You’ve got a lot of nerve talking to me like that, Griswold.”
“I wasn’t talking to you.”
posted by stacy on 12-22-2008 at 10:41 am
Some other favorite quotes:
Police Officer to Clark’s boss about cutting Clark’s bonus: “That’s pretty low, Mister. If I had a rubber hose, I would beat you . . . ”
And Uncle Lewis:
“you couldn’t hear a dump truck drive through a nitro glycerin plant”
posted by John on 12-22-2008 at 11:37 am
My favorite Cousin Eddie quotes:
“Every time Catherine would turn on the microwave, I’d piss my pants and forget who I was for about half an hour.”
“Better take a raincheck on that, Art. He’s got a lip fungus they ain’t identified yet.”
posted by Stacy on 12-22-2008 at 11:50 am
I love the scene where Cousin Eddie & Clark are talking about the kids’ “careers” and Eddie sticks his finger in the windmill and the whole structure breaks. (It looks funnier than when I just typed it.)
posted by ej on 12-22-2008 at 1:05 pm
SLEDDING! The best part of the movie is when they go sledding! You can totally see the rope pulling it but its hilarious!
posted by Des on 12-22-2008 at 3:39 pm
Jelly of the month club: “That’s the gift that keeps on giving all year round”
posted by Rusty on 12-22-2008 at 4:42 pm
I absolutely LOVE this part:
Aunt Bethany: What’s that sound? You hear it? It’s a funny squeaky sound.
Uncle Lewis: You couldn’t hear a dump truck driving through a nitroglycerin plant.
posted by susan on 12-22-2008 at 4:56 pm
My family LOVES this movie! Clark’s rant has to be one of my faves. Also when he pulls the attic ladder down and when he’s later when he’s sitting on the ladder and Ellen pulls it down and he disappears.
The line about the nitroglycerin plant cracks me up every time too :)
posted by Bethy on 12-22-2008 at 5:36 pm
This is my altime favorite movie!! My favorite line…
“She falls in a well, eyes grow crossed. She gets kicked by a mule, they go back to normal. I don’t know.”
And when Eddie asks Clark are you suprised?
“If I woke up with my head sewn to the carpet I wounld’t be more suprised than I am right now.”
posted by Meli on 12-31-2008 at 12:07 am
Where do you think you’re going? Nobody’s leaving. Nobody’s walking out on this fun, old-fashioned family Christmas. No, no. We’re all in this together. This is a full-blown, four-alarm holiday emergency here. We’re gonna press on, and we’re gonna have the hap, hap, happiest Christmas since Bing Crosby tap-danced with Danny f’ing Kaye. And when Santa squeezes his fat white ass down that chimney tonight, he’s gonna find the jolliest bunch of assholes this side of the nuthouse.
Possibly the funniest line ever.
posted by wheel on 1-6-2009 at 4:37 pm
anyone that doesnt like christmas vacation… airplane…. the jerk… AND austin powers (the first one) is just flat out retarded.
i try to focus on a different charactor everytime i watch christmas vacation..
the windmill is the funniest scene, and since nobody said these quotes…
“the little lights arent twinkling”
and
“is your house on fire, clark?”
on yeah, the energy dials too
posted by brian on 7-11-2009 at 2:32 am
My all-time favorite part is when the police bust into the house to the tune of “Here Comes Santa Claus”.
I’ve probably watched this movie 50 times, but I laugh until tears every time I see that part.
posted by Vi on 8-7-2009 at 3:08 am
THE BLESSING!!!
posted by Brandon on 11-2-2009 at 9:31 pm