''National Lampoon's Vacation'', sometimes referred to as simply ''Vacation'', is a 1983 American

black comedy Black comedy, also known as black humor, bleak comedy, dark comedy, dark humor, gallows humor or morbid humor, is a style of comedy that makes light of subject matter that is generally considered taboo, particularly subjects that are normally ...

road film directed by Harold Ramis and starring

Chevy Chase Cornelius Crane "Chevy" Chase (; born October 8, 1943) is an American comedian, actor, and writer. He became the breakout cast member in the first season of ''Saturday Night Live'' (1975–1976), where his recurring ''Weekend Update'' segment b ...

, Beverly D'Angelo,

Imogene Coca Imogene Coca (born Emogeane Coca; November 18, 1908 – June 2, 2001) was an American comic actress best known for her role opposite Sid Caesar on ''Your Show of Shows''. Starting out in vaudeville as a child acrobat, she studied ballet and pursu ...

, Randy Quaid, John Candy, and Christie Brinkley in her acting debut with special appearances by Eddie Bracken, Brian Doyle-Murray,

Miriam Flynn Miriam Flynn is an American Voice acting, voice and character actor, character actress. She is best known as Cousin Catherine in the ''National Lampoon's Vacation (film series), National Lampoon's Vacation'' films and Grandma Longneck in ''The ...

, James Keach,

Eugene Levy Eugene Levy (born December 17, 1946) is a Canadian actor and comedian. Known for portraying flustered and unconventional figures, Levy has won multiple accolades throughout his career including four Primetime Emmy Awards, a Grammy Award, and ...

, and Frank McRae. It tells the fictitious story of the Griswold family on a cross-country trip to an amusement park and various locations as accidents occur along the way. The screenplay was written by John Hughes on the basis of his

short story A short story is a piece of prose fiction. It can typically be read in a single sitting and focuses on a self-contained incident or series of linked incidents, with the intent of evoking a single effect or mood. The short story is one of the old ...

"Vacation '58", which appeared in '' National Lampoon''. The film was a box-office hit, earning more than $60 million in the U.S. alone with an estimated budget of $15 million. As a result of its success, five sequels have been produced: '' European Vacation'' (1985), '' Christmas Vacation'' (1989), '' Vegas Vacation'' (1997), '' Christmas Vacation 2'' (2003), and ''

Vacation A vacation (American English) or holiday (British English) is either a leave of absence from a regular job or school or an instance of leisure travel away from home. People often take a vacation during specific holiday observances or for sp ...

'' (2015). In 2000, readers of ''

Total Film ''Total Film'' was a British film magazine published 13 times a year (published monthly with a summer issue added, between the July and August issues, every year since issue 91, 2004) by Future Publishing. The magazine was launched in 1997 and of ...

'' voted it the 46th greatest comedy film of all time.

Plot

Clark Griswold, wanting to spend more time with his wife Ellen and children Rusty and Audrey, decides to lead the family on a cross-country expedition from the Chicago suburbs to the

southern California Southern California (commonly shortened to SoCal) is a geographic and Cultural area, cultural List of regions of California, region that generally comprises the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. Its densely populated coastal reg ...

amusement park Walley World, billed as "America's Favorite Family Fun Park". Ellen wants to fly, but Clark insists on driving so he can bond with his family. He has ordered a new car in preparation for the trip, but the dealer claims it will not be ready for six weeks. Clark is forced to buy the "Wagon Queen Family Truckster", an ugly, oversized

station wagon A station wagon (American English, US, also wagon) or estate car (British English, UK, also estate) is an automotive Car body style, body-style variant of a Sedan (automobile), sedan with its roof extended rearward over a shared passenger/cargo ...

after the car he traded in has been crushed. During the family's travels, they experience numerous mishaps, such as being tagged by vandals after taking a wrong turn in

St. Louis, Missouri St. Louis ( , sometimes referred to as St. Louis City, Saint Louis or STL) is an Independent city (United States), independent city in the U.S. state of Missouri. It lies near the confluence of the Mississippi River, Mississippi and the Miss ...

. Clark aggravates a bartender in Dodge City, Kansas, and is tantalized on numerous occasions by a beautiful young woman driving a Ferrari 308 GTS. The Griswolds stop in Coolidge, Kansas, to visit Ellen's cousin Catherine and her husband Eddie, who foist cranky Aunt Edna and her mean dog Dinky on the Griswolds, asking them to drop her off at her son Norman's home in Phoenix. After stopping at a decrepit and dirty campground in South Fork, Colorado, for the night, Clark forgets to untie Dinky's leash from the rear bumper before driving off the following day, killing the dog. A motorcycle cop pulls the Griswolds over and angrily lectures Clark over

animal cruelty Cruelty to animals, also called animal abuse, animal neglect or animal cruelty, is the infliction of suffering or Injury, harm by humans upon animals, either by omission (neglect) or by commission. More narrowly, it can be the causing of harm ...

but accepts Clark's apology. Edna learns of this and becomes irate with Clark for killing her dog. Exiting Colorado, Ellen loses her bag with her credit cards, and Clark reports them as lost. While Ellen and Clark argue during a drive between

Utah Utah is a landlocked state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is one of the Four Corners states, sharing a border with Arizona, Colorado, and New Mexico. It also borders Wyoming to the northea ...

and

Arizona Arizona is a U.S. state, state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States, sharing the Four Corners region of the western United States with Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah. It also borders Nevada to the nort ...

, they crash and become stranded in the desert near Monument Valley. After looking for help for hours, Clark reunites with his family, who have been rescued and taken to a local mechanic. The mechanic, who is also the town sheriff, extorts Clark's remaining cash, only to render the car barely operational. Frustrated, the family stops at the

Grand Canyon The Grand Canyon is a steep-sided canyon carved by the Colorado River in Arizona, United States. The Grand Canyon is long, up to wide and attains a depth of over a mile (). The canyon and adjacent rim are contained within Grand Canyon Nati ...

. When Clark cannot convince a hotel clerk to cash a personal check because his credit cards have mistakenly been reported lost, he raids the cash register behind the clerk's back and leaves the check. Continuing their drive, the Griswolds find that Aunt Edna has died in her sleep. They tie her corpse to the roof of the car, wrapped in a tarpaulin. Discovering that Norman is out of town when they arrive at his home, they attach a note to the corpse and leave it in the back yard. Overwhelmed by the mishaps they have encountered, Ellen and the children want to go home, but Clark has become obsessed with reaching Walley World. After an argument with Ellen, Clark meets the Ferrari-driving blonde at a hotel bar, weaves several lies to impress her, and swims naked with her in the hotel pool. The family quickly discovers them due to Clark yelling about the cold temperature. Clark tells the woman the truth, and they part ways amicably. Ellen forgives Clark, and they go swimming naked themselves. The Griswolds arrive at Walley World, only to discover the park closed for repairs for the next two weeks. Slipping into madness over his efforts being for nothing, Clark buys a realistic-looking BB gun and demands that park security guard Russ Lasky take them through Walley World. An LAPD

SWAT A SWAT (''Special Weapons and Tactics'') team is a generic term for a police tactical unit within the United States, though the term has also been used by other nations. SWAT units are generally trained, equipped, and deployed to res ...

team soon arrives, but as the family is about to be arrested, park owner Roy Walley shows up to de-escalate the situation. Roy understands Clark's longing to achieve the perfect vacation, bringing back memories of his family vacation troubles. He decides not to file criminal charges against the Griswolds and lets the family and the SWAT team enjoy the park as his guests. The credits show a montage of snapshots taken during the trip, ending with one showing the Griswolds flying back to Chicago.

Cast

as Clark W. Griswold, the Griswold family patriarch * Beverly D'Angelo as Ellen Griswold, Clark's wife *

Anthony Michael Hall Anthony Michael Hall (born Michael Anthony Thomas Charles Hall; April 14, 1968) is an American actor, producer and comedian. After his film debut in ''Six Pack (film), Six Pack'' (1982) and a supporting role as Russell "Rusty" Griswold in ''Nat ...

as Russell "Rusty" Griswold, Clark and Ellen's son * Dana Barron as Audrey Griswold, Clark and Ellen's daughter *

as Aunt Edna, Ellen's aunt * Randy Quaid as Cousin Eddie Johnson, Clark and Ellen's cousin-in-law * John Candy as Russ Lasky, a security guard at Walley World * Christie Brinkley as the unnamed woman in the red Ferrari *

as Ed, the car salesman *

as Cousin Catherine Johnson, Ellen's cousin and Eddie's wife * James Keach as the motorcycle cop * Brian Doyle-Murray as the Kamp Komfort clerk * Frank McRae as Grover, a security guard at Walley World * Eddie Bracken as Roy Walley, the owner of Walley World * Jane Krakowski as Cousin Vicki Johnson, Eddie and Catherine's daughter * John P. Navin Jr. as Cousin Dale Johnson, Eddie and Catherine's son * Violet Ramis (daughter of Harold Ramis) as Cousin Daisy Mabel Johnson, Eddie and Catherine's daughter, who was born without a tongue *

Mickey Jones Mickey Jones (June 10, 1941 – February 7, 2018) was an American musician and actor. He played drums with acts such as Trini Lopez and Bob Dylan, with whom he played on his 1966 world tour. He became a founding member of The First Edition ...

as the mechanic sheriff * John Diehl as the mechanic sheriff's assistant * Harold Ramis has offscreen voice cameos as a recorded message from park mascot Marty the Moose and as an offscreen police officer asking Mr. Walley if they should take the Griswold family downtown and book them.

Production

During the Chicago blizzard of 1979, writer John Hughes began developing a short story titled "Vacation '58" for an issue of the '' National Lampoon.'' While the story ended up being bumped from the initial vacation-themed issue, it was eventually published in September 1979 and subsequently optioned by Warner Bros. "When I brought it to Hollywood, the first guy I brought it to was Jeff Katzenberg who was at

Paramount Paramount (from the word ''paramount'' meaning "above all others") may refer to: Entertainment and music companies * Paramount Global, also known simply as Paramount, an American mass media company formerly known as ViacomCBS. **Paramount Picture ...

," recalled producer Matty Simmons, who worked as a publisher at the ''National Lampoon''. "He said it would never make a movie, it was too episodic, too consequential. I said, 'Yeah, it's a road trip. It's supposed to be episodic. You go from town to town, place to place.' But he didn't like it, so then my agent brought it to Warner Brothers, and I met with them. Most of them said the same thing, but there was one executive over there—a guy named Mark Canton—who really pulled for it and it got made." Upon Simmons's agreement with Warner Bros., Hughes was tasked with adapting his original story into a screenplay. Harold Ramis and Chevy Chase rewrote Hughes's first draft to place the story from the father's point of view rather than the son's.

Filming

Filming began on July 5, 1982, in Boone, Colorado, and lasted 55 days.The making of National Lampoon’s Vacation (1983)
. Pretty in Podcast. Listen at 25:08 mark. Accessed July 29, 2018. Parts of the film were shot in Monument Valley, Utah; Flagstaff, Sedona, and the

;

Santa Anita Racetrack Santa Anita Park is a Thoroughbred racetrack in Arcadia, California, United States. It offers some of the prominent horse racing events in the United States during early fall, winter and in spring. The track is home to numerous prestigious races ...

in Arcadia and Magic Mountain in

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

; Southern

Colorado Colorado is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States. It is one of the Mountain states, sharing the Four Corners region with Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah. It is also bordered by Wyoming to the north, Nebraska to the northeast, Kansas ...

, and St. Louis,

Missouri Missouri (''see #Etymology and pronunciation, pronunciation'') is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it border ...

. The original ending of the film, which involved the Griswolds taking Roy Walley hostage, was judged poorly by test audiences. A new ending featuring John Candy was filmed in its place; in this revised ending, shot several months after the rest of the film,

has become noticeably taller. The original ending is discussed in the film's commentary track, but has not been issued in any format since the test screenings.

Walley World

In Hughes's original short story, the

theme park An amusement park is a park that features various attractions, such as rides and games, and events for entertainment purposes. A theme park is a type of amusement park that bases its structures and attractions around a central theme, often fea ...

was

Disneyland Disneyland is a amusement park, theme park at the Disneyland Resort in Anaheim, California. It was the first theme park opened by the Walt Disney Company and the only one designed and constructed under the direct supervision of Walt Disney, ...

. To avoid legal troubles, all of the names associated with Disneyland were altered to sound-alikes. For instance, the park became Walley World, itself a good-natured parody of the Anaheim location, and the mascot, Marty Moose, is reminiscent of

Walt Disney Walter Elias Disney ( ; December 5, 1901December 15, 1966) was an American animator, film producer, voice actor, and entrepreneur. A pioneer of the Golden age of American animation, American animation industry, he introduced several develop ...

's own

Mickey Mouse Mickey Mouse is an American cartoon character co-created in 1928 by Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks. The longtime icon and mascot of the Walt Disney Company, Mickey is an anthropomorphic mouse who typically wears red shorts, large shoes, and white ...

. Similarly, Roy Walley's appearance bears similarities to that of Disney and his name is similar to that of his brother Roy Disney. In the film, the Walley World theme park is represented by Santa Anita Park in

Arcadia, California Arcadia is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States, located about northeast of downtown Los Angeles in the San Gabriel Valley and at the base of the San Gabriel Mountains. It contains a series of adjacent parks consisting of t ...

and Six Flags Magic Mountain in Valencia, California. Santa Anita Park's large parking lot and blue-tinged fascia served as the exterior of Walley World, while all park interior scenes were shot at Magic Mountain. The two roller coasters seen in the film are the steel coaster La Revolución, (now known as The New Revolution) which can be recognized by the vertical loop, and the wooden coaster Colossus (which is now the Hybrid coaster Twisted Colossus), the double-track wooden roller coaster. The movie's popularity gave rise to an ongoing cultural running gag of using the name "Wally World" (spelled without an "e") as a nickname for real-life retailer

Walmart Walmart Inc. (; formerly Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.) is an American multinational retail corporation that operates a chain of hypermarkets (also called supercenters), discount department stores, and grocery stores in the United States and 23 other ...

Wagon Queen Family Truckster

Griswold-Vacation-Truckster-SteveGriswold

The Wagon Queen Family Truckster

was created specifically for the film. It is based on a 1979 Ford LTD Country Squire station wagon. The car was designed by Warner Bros. The Truckster features a "metallic pea" green paint scheme, extensive imitation wood-paneling decals, eight headlights (the second pair was taken from another Crown Victoria/Country Squire and mounted upside-down above the stock pair), a grille area largely covered by bodywork with only two small openings close to the bumper, an oddly placed fuel filler door and an airbag made from a trashcan liner.

Music

The musical score for ''National Lampoon's Vacation'' was composed by Ralph Burns, featuring original songs by

Lindsey Buckingham Lindsey Adams Buckingham (born October 3, 1949) is an American musician, record producer, and the lead guitarist and co-lead vocalist of the Rock music, rock band Fleetwood Mac from 1975 to 1987 and 1997 to 2018. In addition to his tenure with ...

. A soundtrack album was released in 1983 by Warner Bros. Records. While the album did not chart, Buckingham's single " Holiday Road" reached number 82 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100. # " Holiday Road" –

# " Mr. Blue" – The Fleetwoods # " Blitzkrieg Bop" –

Ramones The Ramones were an American punk rock band formed in the New York City neighborhood Forest Hills, Queens in 1974. Known for helping establish the punk movement in the United States and elsewhere, the Ramones are often recognized as one of th ...

# "Deep River Blues" – Ralph Burns # "Summer Hearts" – Nicolette Larson # "Little Boy Sweet" – June Pointer # "The Trip (Theme from ''Vacation'')" – Ralph Burns # "He's So Dull" – Vanity 6 # "Christie's Song" – Ralph Burns # "Dancin' Across the USA" – Lindsey Buckingham

Release

Home media

''National Lampoon's Vacation'' was first released on VHS, Betamax, Laserdisc, and CED in late 1983. It was released again on VHS in 1986, 1991, 1995 and 1999. It was first released on DVD in 1997. The DVD was presented in an open-matte full-screen presentation. Its only feature was the film's theatrical trailer. A 20th anniversary DVD was released in 2003. It included an anamorphic widescreen transfer. Its bonus features included an audio commentary with director Harold Ramis, producer Matty Simmons, and stars Chevy Chase, Anthony Michael Hall, Dana Barron, and Randy Quaid. It also included an introduction with Chase, Simmons, and Quaid, a family truckster interactive featurette gallery, and the film's theatrical trailer. A Blu-ray was released in 2013. It included the same features from the 20th Anniversary DVD and included the A&E documentary ''Inside Story: National Lampoon's Vacation''. The film was later released in 4K by Warner Bros. in 2023.

Reception

Box office

''National Lampoon's Vacation'' opened theatrically in 1,175 venues on July 29, 1983, and earned $8,333,358 in its opening weekend, ranking number one at the domestic box office. The film grossed $61,399,552.

Critical response

''National Lampoon's Vacation'' received positive reviews from critics. On

review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews and ratings of products and services, such as films, books, video games, music, software, hardware, or cars. This system then stores the reviews to be used for supporting a website where user ...

website

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...

, the film holds a score of 94% based on 48 reviews, with an average rating of 7.4/10. The site's consensus reads, "Blessed by a brilliantly befuddled star turn from Chevy Chase, ''National Lampoon's Vacation'' is one of the more consistent – and thoroughly quotable – screwball comedies of the 1980s." On

Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...

it has a 55 out of 100 rating based on 13 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Audiences polled by

CinemaScore CinemaScore is an American market research firm based in Las Vegas. It surveys film audiences to rate their viewing experiences with letter grades, reports the results, and forecasts box office receipts from the data. Background Ed Mintz, who ...

gave the film an average grade of "C+" on an A+ to F scale; the company's founder, Ed Mintz, said in 2016, "I loved it ... I couldn't figure out for anything why people didn't love that more". Janet Maslin of ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' gave the film a positive review, saying, "''National Lampoon's Vacation'', which is more controlled than other Lampoon movies have been, is careful not to stray too far from its target. The result is a confident humor and throwaway style that helps sustain the laughs – of which there are quite a few." Entertainment magazine '' Variety'' called the film "an enjoyable trip through familiar comedy landscapes" and praised "director Harold Ramis for populating the film with a host of well-known comedic performers in passing parts." Conversely, Richard Rayner of '' Time Out'' magazine said, "The visual gags come thick and fast, and are about as subtly signposted as the exit markers on a freeway. An exercise in the comedy of humiliation which is the stuff of shamefaced giggles."

References

External links

* * * * "Vacation '58" by John Hughes
online text
{{Authority control 1983 films 1980s English-language films 1980s adventure comedy films 1983 black comedy films 1980s comedy road movies 1980s satirical films American satirical films American adventure comedy films American black comedy films American comedy road movies Films about families Films about vacationing Films based on American short stories Films directed by Harold Ramis Films scored by Ralph Burns Films set in Arizona Films set in California Films set in Colorado Films set in Illinois Films set in Kansas Films set in Missouri Films set in Chicago Films set in amusement parks Films shot in Utah Films shot in Arizona Films shot in California Films shot in Missouri National Lampoon's Vacation (film series) Films with screenplays by John Hughes (filmmaker) Warner Bros. films Films shot in St. Louis Films shot in Colorado Films shot in Los Angeles County, California Films set in St. Louis Films set in Utah 1980s American films Films shot in Monument Valley English-language black comedy films English-language adventure comedy films