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National Lampoon's Vacation · The Director's Chair Network

• 0:08 on our way to California in the morning. The big vacation. The whole family Wally World. If you're thinking of taking the tribe cross country, this is the 0:15 automobile you should be using. Dad, I forgot. Why are we flying? 0:21 Because getting there is half the fun. 0:26 I don't know why they call this stuff hamburger helper. It does just fine by itself, huh? You're the gourmet around here, Ed. 0:33 Okay, let's go. Come on, Edna. Play off. Play off. 0:45 I can't accept a check. 0:51 Vicki, can I help you with that Kool-Aid? 1:00 Sorry folks, park's closed. The moose out front should have told you. What? 1:05 This is no longer a vacation. It's a quest. 1:10 It's a quest for fun. The Griswalls are one hell of a family, huh? 1:26 I better check under the hood. 1:33 Okay, let's go. Come on. Don't you want to look at the Grand Canyon? 1:38 It's great. 1:53 Hello, hello. I'm Katie and welcome back to Retromade, your pop culture rewind. Episode overview: Why National Lampoon’s Vacation is a comedy classic 1:59 Consider this your summer kickoff episode where we will be covering a very 2:04 apt Hughes written screw ball roadtrip comedy that spawned five sequels, 2:09 National Lampoons Vacation from way back in 1983. Guest intro: Jim and Kevin from Pool Scene Podcast 2:16 I'm very happy to have returning guests to the show with me, Jim and Kevin from 2:21 the Pool Scene podcast. I always have a blast podcasting with these guys and 2:27 listening to their show, so you should too. Welcome back, guys. Hey, now. Hey, Katie. How's it going? 2:33 Hey. Well, I do. I have my I have my Pool Scene podcast t-shirt on. Looking great. Repping it perfectly. 2:39 Thank you. Appreciate it. Oh, yeah. Thank you for the t-shirt. I have you. 2:44 Uh, so if listeners forgot, Jim and Kevin and I did a crossover last season 2:49 for Escape from New York and Escape from LA. Did we do another one? Maybe. I can't 2:55 remember. I think we we cover I think we had New York on yours and LA on ours. I think 3:01 that's how we did it. Or vice versa. Yeah. Or vice versa. Yeah. Yeah. Uh-huh. Yes. Yeah. So, you're back for the John 3:07 Hughes. So, if people forgot, go back and listen to those episodes, but remind us what's 3:14 the story with Pool Scene podcast, you guys. Well, we've actually today, Katie, 3:20 as we're recording this, it is officially our fifth anniversary. So, we've been doing this for 5 years now. 3:26 And this coming episode coming up, which will be So, I Married an Ax Murderer will be episode number 250. 3:34 Good one. So, we're about ready to pump that out as we're on the journey to 300. And you 3:40 know, we started as movies and music videos and have definitely morphed way into 3:46 pop culture more pop culture and nostalgia, you know, a little bit of everything. And currently we're in the midst of banger season 2 3:53 where we're doing sort of like heavy hitters that we've missed along the journey that we're like we got to 3:59 we're going to do them this season. And then we've now started release episodes every 4:04 two weeks approximately give or take weekly. life is kind of we were pumping 4:10 them out every week and then it just when you start losing the excitement it's like I got to pump I got to pump 4:16 one out. I got to pump one out. That sounded inappropriate. I didn't mean for it to come across that way. But yeah, once a week is a lot when 4:22 you've got a full-time job, you've got family, everybody's got [ __ ] to do. So every two weeks is perfect. That's what 4:28 I do. It's it work it works out perfect. It gives us time to recharge, do what we need to do in our own lives, and then we 4:34 come back here and just do our thing. It's if anything it's kind of helped 4:39 elongate things even more too. So it's like we're not just going to be at episode 300 in 3 weeks or it's going to 4:46 be a season and a half maybe two to get there but yeah we're excited for coming up on season 19 too. So 4:52 wow. Well happy anniversary. That's five years. That's most podcasts do not make 4:58 it that long. Not even close. So born out of the pandemic. And I can truly say we do it for fun. I 5:03 mean we love doing it. We enjoy it. We would do it regardless, you know. No 5:08 listeners. It's just what we do. It's our hobby. It's our joy and our passion. It's two best friends doing something 5:14 that figured years and years of useless [ __ ] stored in your head. And both of us grew up making like our 5:21 own radio shows. We did. I cassette. I did mine on my Talk Boy. 5:26 I mean, we were early to podcasting. I mean, podcasters. Yes. We were cassette podcasters. 5:32 1994, 1995 podcast. the best ones. Well, so your show I I Retroid 5:38 listeners, if you're not subscribed to the Pool Scene Podcast, you have to pause this and go do that right now 5:44 because I feel like we mesh really well. We cover similar topics. So, if you like 5:49 RetroAde, you're going to like Pool Scene Podcast. Thank you very much, Katie. And and as always, it's awesome 5:56 to do this with you once again. It's it's awesome in the podcast space to end up collaborating with somebody who has 6:02 similar interests. we could bounce back and forth off one another and not miss a beat. So, it's it's not that it's rare, 6:08 but when you have a connection with somebody like that in this kind of space, it's it's awesome. 6:14 It really is. That's been my favorite part about starting my podcast is meeting other really awesome podcasters 1983 Time Capsule: Spinning the wheel for retro trivia 6:20 like you guys. So, shall we get into the time capsule from 1983? 6:25 Kevin maybe wasn't even born yet. Were you born yet, Kevin? I was born in 1983. I was born in 1981, so I was two. 6:32 Yeah. Jim and I are about the same, like almost exactly the same age, I think. So, all right. Well, what I'm going to do 6:39 this season, you guys, we have the wheel to spin for the time capsule. 6:45 And so, there's a bunch of categories I'm going to spin on your behalf and ask you some trivia questions to test your 6:51 knowledge about 1983. All right. Pop culture stuff. We have 6:58 Prime Time Rewind is your category. All right. All right. These are the top shows on 7:06 prime time for 1983. Okay. All right. Number one, which CBS News Prime Time Rewind: 1983 TV trivia (60 Minutes, Dallas, A-Team) 7:12 magazine program known for its investigative journalism and distinctive ticking stopwatch topped the Neielson 7:19 ratings in the 198283 season? 2020. 60 minutes. 7:25 60 minutes. It's the ticking time clock. Come on. 2020, right? 7:31 That's ABC. Oh god. There's only like three shows to pick from. I mean, back in ' 83 with network 7:37 television, there's three channels. Yeah. But yeah, Jim got it. 60. Number two, 7:43 soap opera set on a Texas cattle ranch became a cultural phenomenon with its 7:49 There's a specific cliffhanger that I'm not going to mention because it'll give it away, but do you know what it is? Dallas. 7:56 Yes. And the cliffhanger was Who shot JR? Yes. Yes. Also parodyied by The Simpsons. 8:03 Okay. Yep. This one, which action adventure series 8:08 featured a group of ex US Army special forces personnel working as soldiers of 8:14 fortune known for their catchphrase? I love it when a plan comes together. 8:20 A team. Yes. A team. God, you guys are good so far. Let's see. Number four. This is 8:27 very soap opera driven. Oh. In 83. Okay. It's set in a luxurious world of oil 8:34 rich Carrington family. Portrayal of wealth and power struggles. 8:40 What was this show? Was it Dynasty? It was Dynasty. I remember getting stuck watching that 8:46 on our Magnavox console TV with three networks. In order for me to get to like Dukes of Hazard or something, I had to 8:53 sit through my grandmother's enjoyment of Dynasty and Falcon's Crest. Mhm. Was it like a 19inch TV and that was like 8:59 the family TV? It literally was. It was one thing. It weighed about 500 lb. Nice wood cabinet. 9:06 Oh yeah. Yep. Oh yeah. Okay. The last one. Which detective series followed two brothers 9:12 running a private investigation agency in San Diego known for its blend of 9:17 action and humor? This is a tough one. I've never seen it. A brother. Brothers. Two brothers. Two brothers running a 9:24 private investigation agency. Was it Simon and Simon? Yes. I've actually never seen that. Have 9:30 you seen it? I remember that as a kid. Any type of adjacent television show that had some 9:35 sort of cool vehicle in it. I watch it cuz I remember they had a truck cuz it was almost I want to say it was almost 9:42 like a truck like the Fall Guy. I could be wrong. But I can remember watching Simon and Simon because this is how 9:47 nerdy I am. That came on after Knots Landing. Do you have a photographic memory? How 9:52 do you like remember which network things were on and everything? It's just one of those things where it just I watched it and I just had to, you 10:00 know, stuff that I ended up loving. I was like, "Okay, I have to sit through Dynasty. I have to sit through Knots Landing." So, I would just remember 10:06 because we had no VCR. We had no Betamax. So, it's like you have to watch it and remember it because there's no other way 10:13 to revisit it back then. True. True. All right. You You guys did very good. Let's do another category. 10:19 All righty. Totally Tasty: 1983 food and drink trivia (Fruit Roll-Ups, Tostitos) 10:27 Totally tasty. Okay. In 1983, the food and beverage 10:33 landscape was rich with products that have since become iconic. It's a snack 10:38 introduced in 1983. Fruit flavored snacks quickly became a favorite among 10:44 children, offering a sweet, chewy treat in a convenient portable form. 10:50 Fruit rollup. Yes. Oh my god. I loved fruit rollup. Pulled that right. I thought that was 10:56 Yeah, I thought that was like 10 years too soon. But yeah, boy. 83. That's nuts. Fruit rollups. Yep. 11:02 Anything harmful in them back then? Not at all. It build character. We're fine. 11:08 Uh launched by Fredo Lelay in 1980. This chip gained significant popularity 11:15 by 1983, becoming one of the company's top selling brands. 11:22 Doritos? No. Close. I don't know if that's Is that 11:27 Fredo? I don't know. Oh, I don't know. Fritos. Is it Fritos? 11:32 It's Tostitos. Tortilla chips. I was close. I was almost adjacent 11:38 somewhere. Very close. Very close. Postitos are basically Doritos without the junk on it. You're right. Without the nuclear junk. Yeah. 11:46 All right. Last one in this category. Known as the original American energy 11:51 drink. This drink was popular in the 80s for its high caffeine content. After a 11:58 period of dormcancy, it's making a comeback with updated branding and formulations. What is this? 12:04 It's got to be Jolt Cola, right? Very, very good. Jold Cola. There we go. 12:10 All right. All right. Let's do one more category. Maybe Return to Toon Time: 1983 cartoon trivia (She-Ra, Jem) 12:16 return to time is this category? H 12:22 interesting. Okay. Which popular cartoon from 1983 involved 12:30 an albino star and a group of alien heroes on a quest to defeat the evil 12:36 forces of a warlord named Skeletor. Okay. Masters of the universe. 12:45 Well, so that is probably correct. The answer I think it's the same world. Technically 12:51 the answer that I have here is Shirro, Princess of Power, but it's the same. No, you're right. It's the same 12:56 universe. But that's right, though. Yeah. Well, the Yeah. Yeah. Mhm. Oh, Shira, Princess of Power. 13:03 My girlfriend is gonna be so pissed. Also battled Skeletor. I did not know that. I that I don't know. Maybe I go, I 13:10 haven't seen it in so long. Correct me if I'm wrong. Anyone out there? I might have to find a way to watch some 13:16 episodes of Shirro. It's weird. I never really got into watching MOTU as a kid. It was like when 13:22 it came to animated stuff, it was like G.I. Joe. the whole story of Masters of the Universe that it was like cuz back 13:28 then it could be the toys first and then they were like, "Well, the toys are popular. Better follow it up with a cartoon." 13:33 Yep. Or it came from an obscure comic. Whatever. But I love the stories of the old cartoons. I do, too. All right. Here's another one 13:40 for you. What cartoon followed the exploits of an early8s punk rock group 13:46 led by a female with colorful hair who fought against a villainous corporate tycoon? 13:53 Is it It's Jim. Is it Jim? Yes. And and the holograms. 14:00 Yep. Gem and the holograms. Very good. She's truly outrageous. Yes, she is. 14:06 One more. Which animated series showcased a tiny group of creatures that lived inside human homes and caused 14:12 mischief while trying to avoid discovery? Oh, 14:19 I don't know. Trying to avoid discovery. I feel like I remember it, but I don't. I'm gonna throw it. I'm gonna throw a 14:26 flyer. Is it Fraggle Rock? No. I show that it's being the Wuzzles. 14:31 Oh, my girlfriend is going to torch me for this because she collects wuzzle toys. Oh, are those the ones where they're like a 14:38 mixed animal or is that something else? It's like a like a combination, I think, of two or three different animals into 14:44 one. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. The hint should have included that part. I feel like 14:49 that's our I mean we were almost the hint should have been Jim's girlfriend collects them pretty care bear wuzzles shirt tales you name it 14:57 good I love shirt tales Oh yeah sure tales tales I'm going to see if we can get one more category boom Boombox Bangers: 1983 music hits (Billie Jean, Karma Chameleon) 15:03 box bangers oh now we're talking banger season man all right let's do it 15:09 these are for the whole year of 1983 the top Billboard songs okay 15:16 I'm just going to say the artist and you'll probably get it. Michael Jackson 15:22 1983 multiples. Yeah. I'm going to Billy Jean. 15:27 Yeah. Billy Jean the thriller. Nope. It's Billy Jean. Billy Jean. Yep. The Police. One of their biggest 15:34 hits. Ready. Yep. Yep. Futuristic production. Infectious beat 15:42 was very successful. The song was by David Bowie. 15:47 It was just David Bowie, right? I think so. Yeah. Okay. So, it's not It's not going to be under pressure then. Dance. 15:53 It's not under pressure. Nope. It's not. It's just David Bowie. Is it Let's Dance. It is. It is Dance. 15:59 Yeah. You're You're pretty good at just pulling the songs out of nowhere. I had to think for a second. 16:04 New Wave Era. Culture Club. Karma Chameleon. 16:10 Yes. All right. The last one. Bonnie Tyler. 16:16 What's the name of the song? Total Eclipse of the Heart. Yeah. Yes. Such a good song. The title. 16:21 Good, good, good song. Because that's like her only song, isn't it? And don't you remember during the the Total Eclipse last year, you couldn't 16:28 avoid that song from two weeks out, everybody had to play it. I love the music video. Yeah, I remember the music video. 16:34 You know, the drafty home in the shadows mansion. I do not remember the music video. 16:40 God, I love those old music videos. They were so great. All right, you guys did phenomenal 16:47 with the time capsule here. Having all this crap in my in our heads 16:53 helps out a lot. Go figure. Useless information does come in handy for nostalgic pop culture trick. 17:01 It's going to pay off one of these days. It's, you know, I don't know. There's no prize for you here other than bragging 17:06 rights, but you go. All right, you guys. So, I'm not going to ask you about Kurt or Patrick this 17:13 time, but I am going to ask you what your familiarity or fandom or not of 17:19 John Hughes is. He's our he's our man of the season. We've covered I think three John Hughes 17:24 movies. We've done The Breakfast Club. What other ones have we done? Planes, Trains, and Automobiles. I mean, obviously very familiar with John 17:31 Hughes, you know, started writing movies. I think he directed eight movies. The weirdest thing about John 17:38 Hughes to me was his latestage career. Yeah. And when it was all just like writing 17:44 and producing credits and he was starting to get, I don't want to say like experimental, but he was doing much 17:50 different things because he obviously, you know, was in his wheelhouse in the 80s with this type of film. And then he 17:57 moved into the was it Miracle on 34th Street and started Curly Sue was his 18:04 last credit. forgot about Dennis the Menace stuff like that. Yeah. Yeah. And then I think right at the end 18:10 he was like, "All right, I'm going to get a little weird and do some a couple different credits." So, yeah, very familiar with John. 18:16 Oh, yeah. Shurmer High, his whole universe. Okay. All right. Awesome. Did you guys realize it as a kid that like the 18:23 connection like the whole Shmer High thing? As a kid, not really. I didn't It didn't 18:28 start really hitting until probably around 10 or 11 years old where I'm like, "Wait a minute, this the same high school." And of course back then you 18:35 don't think of like shared universe theory. Now when I listen to your 16 Candles episode and like in 16 candles you were 18:41 talking about the confusion between I do the same thing. 16 Candles pretty and pink. 18:47 I always swap those movies and I always think one's from one and one's from the other 18:52 and I kind of get my wires crossed. And I think that was the moment when I was younger when I realized these like you 19:00 don't know directors as a 10year-old or whatever, but you're like these movies are very like I feel like 19:07 they're the same thing. The same, but there's so many that with very similar. 19:12 It's like we've I'm starting to realize he has just kind of a let's just move these things around. Here's my template. 19:17 We'll take this from this, this from this, and bing bang boom, here's your movie. We do have some similarities too 19:24 with Anthony Michael Hall when it comes to him being in European vacation. Why 19:30 there was a conflict as to why he wasn't in that and he decided to go off and do 19:35 I believe it was 16 candles cuz they wanted to rec you know have the same kids but I think there was a conflict. 19:42 He decided to go do that. Then they said, "Well, we'll have Dana Baron." But then at the last moment, they decided, 19:47 "No, we'll recast both kids, have two different kids." Then European Vacation 19:53 was a thing. Funny, but I don't know if they needed European Vacation, but they didn't. 19:58 No, they in my opinion. No, it's bad. Let's get into National Lampoon's Deep dive into National Lampoon’s Vacation: Plot, characters, and chaos 20:04 vacation, you guys. 20:12 It was released July 29th, 1983, which we were talking about, you know, 20:18 the a lot of these questions we covered with Mr. Mom. Well, this movie was released within a couple of weeks of Mr. 20:25 Mom and both were scripted by Hughes based on actual events in his real life. So, that's interesting. 20:32 Which like same with planes, trains, and automobiles. I mean, a lot of his stories were like inspired by real events. And I know this is John Hughes 20:38 season, but we got to mention Harold Ramos, who directed this. Definitely Harold Ramos. He came out of the gate, 20:44 Animal House, Meatballs, Catty Shack, Stripes, Vacation, Ghostbusters, Back to School. Those were his first seven 20:50 movies, which is crazy. That's a hell of a run. That's like a legendary. 20:56 There's no misses. It's seven straight movies. Yeah. 21:01 And he acted. So, he's a man of many talents. You're right. So John Hughes wrote this, but he did not direct it. 21:07 Harold Ramis did, to your point, Kevin. And so he's an actor and a director. And 21:13 he was also like he was a regular performer with Eugene Levy and John Candy in SCTV. 21:21 So there's a connection there. Um Yeah. And he also directed Analyze This 21:28 Groundhog Day, Catty Shack, and a couple of episodes of The Office. Yes. Why? I 21:33 forgot he did that. Yeah, he did. He did a couple. That's cool. I feel like Harold Ramos never I mean, he was appreciated, but not as 21:40 much as I think he should have been. One of my favorite, we've talked about it on our our podcast before, but Harold Ramos talking about the difference 21:47 between Ghostbusters 1 and two because for most people, Ghostbusters one is this beloved movie and then Ghostbusters 21:54 2, everybody's kind of like, it's kind of crappy. Yeah. But Harold Ramis says he thinks the reason for that is because 22:00 Ghostbusters 1 is not about Ghostbusters. It's about a bunch of friends who start a job together and 22:05 that's what makes it such a great movie. Whereas in Ghostbusters 2, they started leaning into they got egos about how 22:12 many toys is this going to sell and licensing and the studio getting involved. It's no longer just about some 22:18 buddies who start a job. That tends to happen with the sequel of things. 22:24 Uh this is rated R. Mhm. Oh, yeah. Um, but it was before it was either it 22:30 was gonna it had to either be PG or R at this time. PG-13 did not yet exist. 22:36 So, there's a fair number of fbombs and boobs. So, well, there's the Fbomb scene. 22:42 Oh, the absolute great one of the greatest of all time. And then there's Yeah, obviously boobs. 22:49 Beverly D'Angelo's boobs. who a lot of people like to talk about, man, Stifler's mom might have been like the 22:55 ultimate movie type mil archetype. Beverly D'Angelo, man, let me tell you, 23:01 I will argue that these boobs are on par sort of with the Captain Ron boobs in 23:06 the completely unnecessary category. You don't need them. There was no reason for Bev Beverly D'Angelo to do nudity in this movie. 23:14 Not once, but twice. Twice. And then they wanted Christy Brinkley to do nudity in this and she 23:20 declined. And I guess they really pressured her for it. But good for her for saying no because again 23:26 it doesn't add anything. It wasn't you know Porky's or like Animal House or something like that. It's a literally 23:32 it's a vacation. It's a family vacation movie. Yeah. There's really no It didn't need to compete with movies 23:38 that were showing boobs. It didn't need to at all. So completely unnecessary nude scene. But she's a gorgeous woman so I don't 23:44 think dropped it. No, wasn't bad. She was a hottie. Yeah. And did you guys know that she and 23:50 Al Pacuccino had a long time relationship and they have twins together? No. 23:57 Had to do it. I I know she ended up marrying like an Italian prince or something. 24:03 Something like that. Some stuff. It was after they got divorced though. It was like that she and Pacino got 24:10 together. Yeah. Yeah. What a couple. So weird. Yep. So yeah, this movie has a 7.3 on IMDb, 24:19 which is really high. Yeah, it's good. And written by John Hughes. And the 24:24 whole National Lampoons thing comes from it was a magazine that he wrote for and 24:30 it the screenplay was inspired by an article that he wrote based on his real family's ill- fated trip to Disneyland 24:36 when he was little. And so he wrote a short story and it was called Vacation 58. 24:42 Yeah. Yeah. Yes. So you guys, if it has been, let's see, 1983. Wow. That is well 24:49 over 40. Wow. 40 years ago. 42 years. So if so, if it's been 40 years since 24:57 you've seen this or a while or if you haven't seen it and you live under a rock, vacation is about having it all 25:05 planned down to the last detail. Well-meaning Clark Griswald and his supportive wife Ellen take their two 25:11 teenagers, Rusty and Audrey, on a cross-country trip from the suburbs of 25:16 Chicago, all the way to sunny California's W-ally World, aka Disneyland amusement park. However, 25:23 anything that could go wrong does, and before long, Ellen's cousin Catherine and her husband Eddie enter the picture, 25:29 and Clark is on the verge of blowing a gasket. Roy Wallally's wonderful park seems farther and farther away. And 25:36 although the prospect of a clandestine meeting with the alluring blonde in the fast 1981 Ferrari sounds tempting, Clark 25:45 must do the right thing and find the promised land. How hard can it be to have the perfect vacation? 25:52 Very difficult, apparently. So, we have Chvy Chase, Clark Griswald. We talked about Ellen, his wife, Beverly 25:59 D'Angelo. Rusty is Michael Anthony Hall and Audrey is played by Dana Baron who I 26:08 really didn't know her from anything. Did you guys She kind of She kind of came out of nowhere. Like I can't remember her from 26:15 anything else. It was You are Okay. You are Audrey Griswald. That's who you are. 26:20 I did look her up. She was a series regular in a TV series in the late 80s. It was like an action series called 26:26 Crossbow. Not familiar with Crossbow. I'm not either, but it she was in like 50s 26:31 something episodes of it. It ran for a few years. And then there was a character on Beverly Hills 90210 in 1992 26:39 called Nikki Wit and she was in nine episodes. She played Nikki. 26:44 How bad nine episodes. I reference 90210 quite a bit, especially Jamie Walters's character, 26:50 Ray Puit, who I still will to this day. Jamie Walters got such a bre a bad rap. 26:56 The dude could sing, he can act, but the fact that his career got screwed because 27:02 he played a character who threw Donna down a flight of stairs and nobody seemed to understand it was a role 27:09 character. He was in it's to the point he left Hollywood and I'm pretty sure he's still 27:14 a firefighter in Los Angeles, I think. Really? Well, he was in that The Heights 27:20 didn't How do you talk to an angel? Yeah. How Do I Talk to an Angel went to number one on the Billboard Hot 100. 27:25 It's like that dude was awesome. But man, wasn't that a TV show? It was. I think it only lasted 10 27:30 episodes on Fox and it didn't get picked up. Such a good dude. But man, I should have 27:36 known that about Dana Baron because I used to love 90210. I have no recollection of Yeah, I Yeah, I can't recall that character, 27:42 but yeah. And then we have Aunt Edna played by Imagine Koka. Oh, what a legend. 27:48 Yeah. Goes way back. the only character like she has a familiar face and if 27:53 anybody remembers watching the Brady Bunch after school reruns of that there's an episode where Jan's being Jan 28:00 and is upset cuz she thinks she's ugly and there's Aunt Jenny is is her 28:05 unattractive twin aunt. She looks like Aunt Jenny and Koko plays Aunt Jenny in 28:10 that. She's the ultimate like aunt looking like grandmother looking archetype. I 28:16 feel like she was a forever aunt by far. Yep. Definitely. What do you guys think 28:21 of Cousin Eddie played by Randy Quaid? What do we think about the character or the man who he became? The real 28:28 question. Yeah. So, the lesser attractive Quaid brother. Yeah. He is awesome in this role. Like 28:35 he has cousin Eddie down to a fine tooth comb. Yes. He's such a good [ __ ] this the scene 28:42 where they're hinting that Eddie needs to borrow money and he's like pulls out his wallet and 28:48 he's going to what you need Eddie and he's like about 52,000 28:53 that's $52,000 which we find out later it was he gave him 500 bucks which in 1983 29:00 who knows what that's $5,000 something like that I also love the fact that during that whole scene when 29:06 they're in Kansas it is implied that he taught his daughter how to French kiss. 29:11 Oh my god. So gross. Yeah. Jen Kowski who who played Vicky 29:16 his daughter in the movie when she's on the teeter totter and she's literally looking at Audrey and go I go steady and 29:23 I French kiss. But everybody does that but daddy says I'm the best at it. It's like oh my god man. 29:29 Which there is consistency. I mean I know John Hughes wrote this. There's cons he has there's like little moments 29:34 like that throughout most John Hughes movies. Oh yeah. these like uncomfortable throwway lines don't really hold up 29:41 anymore. Yeah, he did go there. And then Eddie's son obviously has the 29:46 huge stack of stack of porn and the fact that he tell 29:52 Rusty wants to buy his porn. He goes, I use magazines. How do you use a magazine? He's like, 29:57 my friend taught me something really cool. Tell you or did he teach? Did he 30:03 show you? A shower or a teller? Yeah. What are we doing? But I believe the specific words were bopping his 30:08 baloney. That was the term. Yeah. Yeah. Mhm. Mhm. We So this is Jane 30:14 Kowsk's film debut as cousin Vicki. But that line 30:21 and then there's a there's like later when the sister is like telling on her brother. She's like Rusty wore his 30:28 underpants last night. What was that? I didn't I a did not understand what what 30:34 will like as opposed to what as opposed to mom, dad, Rusty's sleeping 30:39 naked again. Yeah, I have concerns cuz maybe their parents tell them they have to sleep without underwear. 30:45 Listen, they seem like a very open pajamas. Yeah, pajamas. They seem like a very open mom and dad 30:50 relationship. Like how many times in this movie they've caught that like just walking in having sex or when they were 30:56 going to fool around in the car and her head got trapped. They just seem oblivious. This happens all the time. 31:01 Yeah. Super weird. Yeah. He's trying to get his wife to go down on him with with the 31:06 kids in the back seat. But yeah, some super weird lines. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Did you guys know that 31:13 Randy Quaid uh got an Oscar nomination in 1974? 31:18 For what movie? Best actor in a supporting role for The Last Detail. 31:24 I've never heard of that movie at all. That I haven't either. And you guys just covered Kingpin. So he played Ishmael in 31:32 King. Yeah. Good old Ish. Ishmael Borg. What a great movie that his best role. I mean, it's probably 31:37 Cousin Eddie. But Independence Day. Oh, he's the best. It just that role was like written for 31:44 him in Independence Day cuz he's like a kooky. Yeah. He was abducted by aliens. Who was abducted by aliens? 31:49 I told you they were going to come back and then he ended up totally redeeming himself 31:55 in movies. Not in real life. Not in real life. No. In real life, he's screwed. But they'll still bring him into Steel 32:01 City Con in Pittsburgh every year and pretend like he's done nothing wrong. Was he from there or 32:07 No, he Steel City Con is now starting to pull this move. It's amazing. Like they'll bring all these people in pop 32:12 culture festival like big big names. And this last one they had a couple months ago, out of nowhere, they're 32:18 like, "Oh, we're bringing Kevin Spacy in." And everybody's like, "What the hell are you doing?" They're like, 32:23 "Listen, he was acquitted. It's, you know, he's found not guilty. It's like, yeah, consistency there with that type 32:29 of guest. I mean, we're like a couple cons away from it being like a bunch of them at one. 32:35 Yeah, pretty much. We got Diddy and Kevin Spy. They're all coming. Hey, whatever. 32:42 Predator Con. Yeah, pretty much. Yeah, there you go. Wow. Wow. Yes. So, we also get some John 32:49 Candy in this, which is par for the course with with John Hughes. He plays the security guard at Wall-E World. 32:56 He He was paid a million dollars for his very brief so mindblowing 33:02 in 1983. In 193 this is 83 John Candy who hasn't really hit big at all yet. 33:09 He's coming off SCTV. But nobody really knows John Candy that well. And for a role that he was 33:15 probably on screen for how long? About 10 minutes, 8 minutes. Russ Laskkey. 33:21 But great lines though, you know. Uh, Mr. Wallley, I mentioned the company Christmas party last year. I saw a BB gun clark. Like, he has some really 33:27 great a favor from John Hughes and from Harold Ramos to put him 33:33 in the movie and not just put him in the movie, pay him a million dollars. I think so because the ending that we 33:39 have with John Candy was not the original ending. Y So, I think they scrambled, which we'll get into that, but I think it was, you 33:46 know, like four months later, they were like, "Shit, we need a new ending." And so, they came up with this. And yeah, John Candy’s iconic cameo and the alternate ending reveal 33:51 you're right. It had to have been a favor. And you could tell by Anthony Michael Hall's growth spurt. He's taller than Beverly D'Angelo at 33:58 points and not as tall as her at other points. We just So we did So I Married an Axe Murderer and John Candy was supposed to 34:04 be in that because Mike Meyers grew up idolizing John Candy because in Canada 34:10 SCTV and John Candy was supposed to play the police captain in So I Married an Axe 34:15 murder. It ended up being an Alan Arc. But there were a number of movies like where John Candy pops up for just a 34:20 little bit. Just a little lunch. Uh uh Little Shop of Horrors is so good. He just pops up for a couple 34:27 minutes and then Yeah. shows you how great he was where I truly think John Candy was like a 34:34 future Oscar winner cuz I think he had the range to play serious roles. I mean 34:39 look at the Plan Trains and Automobiles at the end. I mean look at Robin Williams. I mean 34:44 right there nothing but a comedy guy. Ends up doing dramatic roles. His dramatic roles. I mean, Goodwill Hunting, but even like the creepy ones, 34:51 1 hour photo, final cut, like some of these I forgot about that one. Yeah. So good. And I think you're right. John 34:57 Candy would have found that dramatic role probably in the later 90s where I 35:03 think he would have been an Oscar. No doubt because he has that heartwarming I I'm a big I'm a way bigger fan of John Candy 35:09 than I am of Robin Williams. I don't know. He just has this like likability about him. And he was in I just covered 35:14 career opportunities. Yep. And he was in that for about 5 minutes as well. not even maybe two minutes as 35:20 the manager of the target. So, it's it's great to see him pop up. Wouldn't it be a dream to be that type 35:26 of character who gets to show up on set for one day or two days, but you can also tell he doesn't halfass 35:32 it? Like, he puts everything into it. Exactly. You get paid a mass sum of money and you go home and you move on to 35:37 the next thing. Yeah. Awesome. That's a heck of a career. Now, Christy Brinkley is in this as the 35:44 beautiful girl driving the Ferrari. And I had that Ferrari, you guys. Wait a minute. 35:50 Oh, you Oh, you I was about my mouth was starting to water. I'm like, "Oh my god." You had 35:56 literally But I that I had the Barbie Ferrari. That is like that. It was that model. It was that that one. Oh, so 36:03 cool. Such a great car. But Christy Brinkley, beautiful. Oh my god. Gorgeous. 36:08 Spitballing here. Is Christy Brinkley in the Ferrari imaginary? 36:14 You think it's con? Well, no, because everybody at the hotel there's a beautiful woman. But as Clark is watching the beautiful 36:21 woman in the Ferrari, he's daydreaming of scenarios. Okay. Does that Ferrari and the woman in the 36:27 Ferrari actually exist? This is a really, really good question, 36:32 Kevin. I will say because I know what the original ending was and she was in 36:38 it, she is a real person, but given the cut we have now, she could be imaginary. the 36:45 the woman. I mean, he obviously has the the I don't know what you call the 36:50 splash at the hotel. He does with this beautiful woman, but you know, every time he sees the 36:55 woman in the Ferrari, he seems to be the only person. I mean, other than the Oh, but the Rusty and Audrey are talking 37:04 to each other about what about mom? Are they going to get a divorce? So, they clearly saw him with someone in the 37:10 pool, right? In the pool. Yeah. I mean, it's that whole that whole scene at the hotel. It's like, all 37:15 right, Clark's finally just he's had it. He's had his aunt Edna's dead. He's They literally were just trying to get cross 37:21 country and then there's this woman nearly It was Here's the real question. If she wouldn't have yelled in the pool 37:29 and woke up everybody, including Ellen, would he have gone through with it? 37:34 I think he would have. Do you think he would have had to have gotten another room or her room or whatever? because 37:40 she doesn't buy the she doesn't buy the [ __ ] story that he owns the hotel and his family is a 37:45 cover for his brother. And it's also interesting that Ellen's reaction to catching him in the pool 37:51 with another woman is to then want to play the role of the woman in the pool. 37:56 She gets topless and jumps in the pool with him. I want to have fun. She's like weird. 38:01 She's mad for like 20 seconds and then she's like down. I dude I would be I 38:09 rate and it's the most quiet mad too because she just seems to be somewhat 38:14 consiliatory to the fact that he had this like fantasy and he kind of lived 38:19 it but he says oh she's ugly I didn't like her and she's like okay I can be 38:24 exciting too in the pool. It's just like what are you doing? Why aren't you trying to beat the [ __ ] out of this guy? 38:30 Either that or it's meant to make us feel like she's so 38:35 comfortable and trusting of their relationship that she doesn't believe that anything could have ever happened. 38:42 That's true. That's a good point. I don't know. But dude, I don't I can trust you. 38:49 Know that you wouldn't, but you're naked with another woman in 38:54 full on naked like everything. My reaction to catching my partner in something isn't for me to be like, I 39:02 will take the role of that person. That's a great idea. I'm going to do that, too. Meanwhile, the kids are just 39:07 like, whatever. And I do love that in the 80s there was this magical thing where, you know, 39:12 somebody like Christy Brinkley could get cast as the woman in the red Ferrari and it's just a career maker. 39:18 Yeah. And she didn't even have a name. No, it's just like the roles. Like you just pop up in a commercial, you pop up 39:23 in a movie, and then all of a sudden you're just like a superstar. And you're married to David Copperfield. Yeah. Yeah. 39:29 Wait, she married David Copperfield? I thought that was Claudia Schiffer. Oh, wait. Is it Claudia Schiffer? Oh, I might have been wrong. I confused them 39:34 all. Brinkley was Brinkley was also married the Who's the ugliest singer? Piano man 39:40 guy. What's his name? Billy Joel. Oh, that's right. Was it Billy? It was Billy Joel. That's right. Your favorite, 39:45 Kevin. Kevin's favorite of all time. She was an uptown girl. That's right. I confused him. That's my 39:51 bad. Sorry, Kevin. We'd reference Billy Joel. So, I thought we'd get away from it on this podcast. 39:57 Are you yay or nay? Billy Joel. Nay, Billy Joel. I mean, with the with the fire of 10,000 sons, this one cannot stand Billy Joel. 40:04 Meanwhile, I adore Billy Joel. I think in the middle of the night, Billy Joel, like early 90s, Billy Joel, 40:10 I think really soured his entire career for me. Okay. All right. Um, also 40:19 speaking of Christy Brinkley buying that, like she's super into him for some reason. 40:24 Yeah. Also, so is Ellen. They're both crazy hot and he is mediocre at best. 40:32 And that seems to be a thing at this time. He is the common man with dopey elements 40:38 to him. Like he can easily be persuaded. Like the the car for instance, he didn't even order the right car. 40:45 First, there's a whole logic issue with the whole the car thing just because you trade in your car, they automatically go 40:52 demolish it. He orders a blue metallic blue super sports wagon. They give him a 40:57 metallic P truckster. He's like, I'm over this. They flatten his car. Comes back to Ellen and said, "No, that you 41:03 didn't want. Car was much too small. This is much better." So he's so easily persuaded to accept dumb [ __ ] even 41:09 though it's completely wrong. Dopey is a good word for it. Yeah. Chevy 41:14 Chase 39 playing in this movie. It's insane that he was 39. One of my favorite things in old movies 41:20 is trying to figure out how old people were when they played this role. I mean cuz he looked this way for quite a 41:27 while. Yeah. But now if you look at him and I chase 82 I think like he hit this age barrier where all 41:34 of a sudden it's like boom it's like Tom Cruz now it's like okay age finally has got Tom Cruz Florida. 41:40 Yeah I know I he it did it age got him finally. Yep. Yep. Um some other super 41:46 fun characters here. Eugene Levy as the car salesman. 41:51 So great. He goes up to introduces himself to Clark and he goes to shake Russy's hand. He's like, "Hey, Ruben, 41:58 right? Rusty." Yeah. Whatever. It's I love Eugene Levy. He's the best. I really do. One of my favorite movies I 42:04 got to find a a way to incorporate it into a season is Splash. Oh, yes. With John Candy, too. Also in that one. 42:11 Weirdly enough, this past weekend, I showed my girlfriend for the first time Armed and Dangerous, which is John Candy 42:18 and Eugene Levy, which is I've seen that. It's an amazing movie. Eugene Levy plays 42:24 a lawyer who loses his job. John Kenny plays a cop who loses his job and they all become security guards and they end 42:30 up getting involved in this whole racketeering thing. It's a comedy. It is so good. Zeus, who is a tiny listister, 42:38 he's in it, too. Robert Loia is in it. It's a Oh, how have I not seen this? 42:43 It's from 1986. It's really good. Yeah, Mark Lester directs it. It's really good 42:48 movie. I'm totally going to find it this weekend. So, we already talked about cousin 42:53 Eddie, but his wife Catherine is played by Miriam Flynn, who was also in Mr. Mom. She played 42:59 Annette in Mr. Mom. So good. It's so good. It's beyond so good. 43:05 Reprises her cousin Katherine role in Vegas Vacation in 97, so like several 43:12 years later. And then I didn't know, but she is the voice of Ma in Babe, the pig 43:18 movie. Oh, really? Oh, okay. Mhm. I've only ever seen just like Vegas Vacation. I've only seen it once. I've 43:24 never se I've only seen I've seen Vegas Vacation once. I've seen because I didn't I didn't I don't know if this is going to come up. All right, Jim, gun your head. 43:30 Here we go. Rank the vacation movies. First one. Vacation. Chris, are we just 43:36 in what? How many are we counting here? We're doing the Prime. Yeah. Vacation, Christmas, Vacation, European 43:43 Vacation, Vegas Vacation. Okay. Katie, have you seen them all? She hasn't seen European. 43:49 Okay. I have just been Yeah. I I would say Yeah. one and I would say vacation 43:55 and Christmas vacation are pretty close for me. Yeah. And then the other ones I have vague 44:00 memories like I have to rewatch them to remember. I probably go Christmas original Vegas 44:05 European. Yeah. European. I just don't I don't know why that's just an anomaly type 44:11 movie. And you know, fascinating thing about vacation is I think originally they tried to pitch it to Paramount and 44:18 Paramount basically was like it's there it's just a bunch of like 44:23 stops. They're just driving. They stop a place. They do something. There's no like linear storytelling. 44:28 It's road trip movie, which is true. And road trip movie is probably like maybe my favorite genre. I 44:34 love road trip movies. Magic Mike XXL is like maybe my favorite movie. It's like the ultimate. I love 44:40 it. ultimate road trip movie. And I love road trip movies. But 44:46 what Paramount said about vacation? I feel to me that's sort of like what I feel about European vacation. Okay. 44:52 As like linear storytelling, it's it's just not it's so disjointed. Did the Griswalds need to go on a European vacation? Not 44:59 at all. They were on a game show that they won and they won this vacation. It's like, who cares? Yeah. Well, you got to capitalize on the 45:05 popularity of You know what? I think the I think the biggest disconnect was the kids not being the same character. So, it's like 45:11 I don't care about these other to do that. In every movie they're 45:17 different. Yeah, I agree that I'm glad their ages always changed. They never were the same, but it's just ah for me it's a 45:22 dumb thing, but not seeing Anthony Michael Hall or Dana Baron in European Vacation even made it worse for me. 45:29 Okay, that's fair. Yeah. Um, a few other smaller characters 45:34 that I just like the motorcycle cop that the scene Oh, boy. That scene where we 45:40 find out that Clark killed the dog. Yeah, he tied it to the bumper and just went off with it. I did not remember that. And I was 45:47 horrified. I I was not That's dark. Dragged the dog to death. 45:53 Yeah. I thank God you don't hear any like squealing, but when Aunt Edna does the 46:01 line, it will always and forever be stuck in your head when you hear her yell when they stop to 46:06 get food. It's one of the best delivered lines. 46:12 But I always thought that cop if cuz I remember he was in the movie Moving Violations with Bill Murray's brother 46:19 John. Okay. Okay. You put a mustache on him like he did in that movie. He kind of looks like Thomas Lennon aka Lieutenant 46:24 Jim Dangle. Dangle. Yeah. Yeah, he does. He does look like Dangle. The actor's name is James Keech. Um, and 46:32 he also played Jesse James in the 1980 Longwriters movie and the Warden and 46:37 Walk the Line. That's I wonder if he's related to Stacy Keith. I know. I wondered that. I should have 46:43 looked it up, but I didn't. I could see like physical similarities. I would assume it's probably his brother. Makes sense. 46:50 Some relation. What were you gonna say, Kevin? I was just gonna say I like Edna's line where it's like it smells in this room. 46:56 This is your room. Whatever it is. I love that part. I love No, Ellen says, "The tent, the tent 47:03 smells." And then Clark is like, "This will be Edna's." Yeah, that's right. Edna's tent or whatnot. 47:08 I love when Frank McCrae pops up in a movie because I'm a big Rocky nerd. 47:13 But he plays Grover, a security guard at Wally World also. Yep. Um, we talked about him last season 47:19 because he was the teacher in the first scene of Red Dawn. That's right. He was 47:25 Mhm. He gets killed right away. And then he was in a ton of movies with Sylvester Sloan, including Rocky, too. 47:31 He Yes, he was. Was his boss who fires him from the meat meat plant. What could have been? He could have been 47:37 employee a month in a meat factory and then his whole life could have changed and never fought greed. He Yeah, 47:44 boy. It would have been better. No, I'm just kidding. Yeah. And then we have Roy Wall-E, the owner of Wall-E World, and 47:51 he goes back to the 30s with his roles. He's most known for a lot of movies from 47:57 the 40s, excuse me. And I recognized him because I'm a big Golden Girls fan. And 48:04 he plays Buzz in one of the episodes of Golden Girls as Rose's love interest. 48:10 And then he's also in Home Alone 2. He's like the toy Mr. Dun. Mr. Dun. Mr. Duncan. 48:16 We we we had thoughts about Mr. Duncan when we covered Home Alone 2. Eddie Bracken is so good. I love the fact that 48:23 they made him look like Roy Disney in this movie. Oh, exactly. The mustache, the hair. I I mean, I 48:32 think the original script literally it was supposed to be Disneyland and they're just like there's Disneyland said no. 48:38 Yeah. Which Okay, I can understand cuz the boobs and everything, they're like, "Listen, we can't have boobs in a Disney 48:43 product." And now look at Disney. episodes change. But yeah, Eddie Bracken, thanks. Excellent. There's a great movie, I 48:49 believe it's called Escape from Tomorrow that was illegally filmed in Disneyland. 48:54 Really? Yeah. Independent filmmakers snuck some camera equipment inside of Disney. Disney knew about it, but Disney 49:01 actually didn't do anything because they thought by suing or raising a stink, it would put more eyeballs on the movie. 49:09 And the fact that these people were able to sneak all this film equipment into Disney, kudos to them. It's basically about a 49:15 father who's unraveling after a couple of days at Disney. 49:20 I've never been and there's a reason I've never been. I I would also unravel I think. 49:25 Yeah, it takes a a special breed for sure. Having been there multiple times and with kids like that I can only 49:32 imagine. I c I can't actually like there's I would never even attempt it. I I would be the worst. 49:38 My children would get lost. It does make you, you know, just segue back to this question Clark's just like sanity 49:45 overall. Not only to take his family of all places, you get your vacation, you're going to go to Wally World, but 49:51 on top of it, we're going to drive Yeah. cross country to Chicago to Los Angeles. 49:57 To Los Angeles, we're going to drive it. And they said, "Well, don't people fly to their vacation." Well, she even says in the very 50:03 beginning when they're kitchen, Clark, we have 10 weeks. We have the whole summer to plan this. We don't have to leave. And the fact that he wants to 50:10 stop at the world's biggest house of mud. He stops and dodge [ __ ] he can. Just like all this weird [ __ ] that I 50:17 understand like he even says and it's really heartwarming. He's like listen Ellen you basically and I'm paraphrasing 50:22 you get to see the kids all the time. I see him an hour a night here, an hour a day here. This is my chance to be with 50:27 our kids for a whole extended time. And I appreciate that because quite frankly, a 50:33 lot of parents anymore, not every parent, just doesn't want to be bothered. It's like, I have these kids, 50:39 just leave me alone. Let me go do my own thing. But the fact that you have a guy who, like I said, dopey as hell, but 50:45 he's willing to do whatever it takes to take this whole even buy the wrong damn 50:50 car and go cross country with it. I mean, Clark Griswald, I mean, that's the best. He was more into going to Wally World 50:56 than the kids were, I think. But yeah, I think it wasn't just about Wally. That 51:01 was the ultimate destination, but it was about the journey. Yes. And the family time like you said, and 51:07 they saw other things and they saw cousin Eddie and and cousin Vicky, played by Jane Kowski. 51:13 Yeah. Don't you like when your punch is stirred with just a person's hand? Just mix it. 51:19 And Oh, and I like Hamburger Helper. It's way better than Tuna Helper. And it's it's good on its own. You don't even need to add Hamburger to it. 51:27 That whole I always find it weird too and this is one thing like when I watch it I've seen this 1500 times. 51:33 So Eddie and Catherine's last name I believe are Johnson or Jackson according to what it's build. 51:39 I remember houses back then the screen door holder would have the initial of the last name of the family. 51:45 In this movie it has the initial H. And I can't wrap my head around as to why it 51:50 has the initial H. Did it just come with the house which I'm assuming it came with the house. Just Eddie doesn't know any better and 51:56 he's not going to go buy a door when he's teaching his daughter how to French kiss. Yeah. And they don't have They have how 52:04 many? Like six kids or five and one on the way or something? Kids. A ton of kids. 52:09 Ton of kids. Hey, but at least Eddie let Catherine get rid of one of her night jobs. So, good good on him. 52:15 When the baby comes. Yeah. Oh my god. And then he can afford to buy buy those 52:20 I don't know. It looked like those expensive shoes. Those patent white leather shoes. Oh my god, they're awful. 52:27 I don't know. I kind of dug them actually. Maybe they helped seal the deal in the pool because that's when he got pissed 52:33 at Ellen. He broke the shoes out and he's like, "Watch this, honey." Boom. However, he does strip down naked to get 52:40 in the pool except his socks that he keeps on for some reason. Why is that? I wonder. 52:45 I don't know. But here's this what I once again, we're talking about Chvy Chase getting naked, so let's just go 52:51 all in. So he gets completely naked twig and berries with Christy Brinkley. But 52:56 when his wife says I can do that too, she doesn't get completely naked. He doesn't get completely naked. He keeps 53:02 his boxer brief on and socks. So why do you not get to not totally naked with 53:08 your own wife? At that rate, everybody at the hotel knows what you look like, so it doesn't matter. Good point. Yeah, good point. Great 53:15 point. The music here was done by Ralph Burns, who won an Oscar for his work on 1973's 53:23 Cabaret. Yeah. And he also compon composed music for All That Jazz, which also won an Oscar. 53:29 Urban Cowboy, The Muppets Take Manhattan. Yes. 53:34 And All Dogs Go to Heaven, which was like my childhood. Yeah. Carface. 53:40 Yeah. All hits. Those are all hits. Ralph Burns. This soundtrack is so good. I mean, 53:45 right when off the bat, you hear Holiday Road by Lindsay Buckingham. And the fact that that that song's only 2 minutes and 30 seconds long. It's one 53:53 of those iconic songs that any vacation you ever go on, no matter what, that's 53:58 the first thing you play when you leave the house is Holiday Road. I feel like people who grew up in our 54:04 generation, it's that what's that life is a highway song. Oh, by Tom Cochran. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. 54:10 It's a great song. Yeah, that's a lot of people forget that Lindsay Buckingham also did the end credit song 54:16 with Dancing Across the USA, which is Mhm. so good. Like it's Nobody talks about 54:22 that song, but it's it's so good. So, while the end credits came up, I 54:27 didn't notice this for a very long time, having seen this movie like you several times. They flew home. 54:33 That's part of the alternate ending. That last scene in the credits as part of the the actual ending that Chvy Chase 54:40 is the only one to own the copy of that final ending. Yeah, they did fly home. Yep. 54:45 I I just have so many questions logistically about that because one, how did they repair the car in the first place? 54:50 They did. That's first off, that's why they flew home. But the Wagon Queen family truckster 54:56 might be the most unreliable reliable car in history. 55:01 They've jumped it. It's been it's been spray painted somehow when they jumped it and it got repaired. They never put 55:08 all four wheels on properly. Still went dead in a straight line. Most of the front of the car was 55:14 completely gone. So, but where did the car go when they flew home? Abandoned it. He bought a new car. They probably pulled right up to the 55:20 terminal and said, "Keep it." Back then, there's probably $2,000. It wasn't worth anything by the end of 55:25 their vacation. So, so yeah, fly home, buy it, get the car he actually did order, I guess. 55:32 because this this movie is set in Chicago. That's one of the I think that's I think I brought it up before, but I think subconsciously that's why I 55:39 like all these movies because I love or that's why I love Chicago is because I grew up watching all of these Chicago based movies. 55:45 So, this movie also was I'm kind of surprised given that it's a road trip 55:50 movie and they did actually shoot some things in locations, but it was made for $15 million and it grossed 55:58 61.4 worldwide. So that's thus the sequels. Yep. 56:04 I also like as a video game nerd that Kevin and I are, I love the fact that 56:09 they plan the family vacation on a Ballet Astrocade. Yeah. The Clark's Valley Astrocade that 56:15 connects to the Yes. Connects to the TV. 12-in family TV. Ellen, come in. We're talking about day 56:20 one. It's literally three bits in an interactive map. And it also becomes a video game. 56:26 It also becomes a video game. You have Rusty and Audrey taking shots at one another in the game. Yeah. Wait, what did you I wondered if it was 56:33 a Commodore 64. What was the computer? It was It was called a Ballet Astrocade cuz the one thing that sticks out, the 56:40 keyboard he's typing on is an Apple 2, but the actual video game system is a 56:45 Ballet Astrocade. The reason it stands out, it's the one-hand controller with the knob on the very top, 56:51 cuz a lot of people thought it was one of the first video game systems, and I'm I'm going down a rabbit hole. It was called the Fair Channel. the Fairchild 56:58 Channel F, which was the first video game system that used cartridges. This was the second one after that, the 57:04 Ballet Astrocade. Okay. Yes. Okay. Cuz the Commodore 64 uses used 57:10 cartridges, too. It uses cartridges and floppies cuz I still have my Commodore 64 as a kid. So, 57:16 my parents have ours. Yeah. I love my The Commodore. You Great thing about that. Load a game, go cook dinner, 57:22 eat dinner, and then when you go back upstairs, the game's ready to go. It might be ready to It might be ready to go. 57:27 Oh, we haven't turned it on in 30 years, but we obviously was getting his Christmas bonus back then before the Jelly of the 57:34 Month Club because you know those home systems like that were not cheap. No, if you adjust that valley for inflation, 57:42 I want to say that'd be like a $15 or $1,600 system now. Yeah. Oh, wow. Well, they live in an upscale 57:48 Chicago suburb, so I think they're they're fine. They got the moneys. Yeah, for sure. Um, 57:55 I hadn't seen this. You guys, it sounds like, have seen this multiple times. I don't think I've seen it, but maybe a 58:01 couple of times. It wasn't until a long time. It wasn't until I texted you recently Alternate ending discussion: What could’ve been? 58:07 where I stumbled across the alternate ending to this movie. Like, I never knew about it until recently. And it's 45 58:15 minutes of additional shock that I am stunned that the original movie never 58:22 ended in Wally World or it was because they had to refilm all the ending Wall-E 58:27 World shots because you can tell Anthony Michael Hall aid. He hit a gross burn. True. Mhm. So he gets the BB gun, but 58:36 instead of going back to Wally World, he goes to Roy Wallally's house, holds him at gunpoint and says, "You are going to 58:42 entertain my family. We drove all the way out here. We lost an aunt. We need 58:48 some official Roy Wall-E entertainment." So that's how the movie was initially 58:53 screened. It's like And the girl, the girl, Christy Brinkley, was his daughter. So, she was 58:59 there and she convinced her dad. She's the one that kind of convinced 59:04 him, you know, not to press charges or whatever. Katie, they did end up in the park then, right? It just ended at their his his 59:10 house, right? I I don't I'm not entirely certain. Loosely this ending became Christmas 59:17 Vacation's ending. It did. They used that. Yeah. It's a kidnapping in the home, you 59:23 know, the whole And in the last scene of the credits where you see them on the plane, that was the actual end of the original cut 59:29 of the movie. Oh, I did read something about the plane ride home. The Griswalds realize that 59:35 they're on the wrong flight and Clark snaps and hijacks the plane. 59:41 What the hell was happening? Holding a guy in his house at gunpoint and he's hijacking planes. This ending 59:48 did not go over well with test audiences. Thus, the switch to the amusement park with John Candy and every 59:56 the SWAT team and the police them almost getting arrested and then at the end 1:00:01 everybody including the police officers and everybody's riding rides together all happy. Do you think, and I doubt 1:00:07 that he does this, but when the day does come that Chvy Chase passes, A, do you 1:00:13 think do you think he still knows that he has this cut still, or B, 1:00:18 who is going to get this? Got to come out eventually, right? You wonder what like 1:00:25 version it's in, though. Yeah. I mean, it could be just completely like if it's raw footage or is it an edited 1:00:32 ready to be released? I mean, they they showed it apparently. It didn't go over. It didn't definitely didn't go over. 1:00:38 I think I remember I remember which movie it was. Maybe it's when we did Ferris Beller 1:00:44 that John Hughes had a lot of this sort of thing, versions of things, 1:00:51 unwritten things like sort of like Prince's Vault. Oh yeah. Where just vault of information and footage and all this stuff. 1:00:58 But unfortunately, you know, John Hughes passed away. Yeah. Yeah. I feel like there was like a 1:01:04 three-hour cut of it and there was so much that that got cut. Yeah. Um Yeah. 1:01:09 One thing that I noted when I was watching this was the Lacost brand polo 1:01:16 shirts. Were they like a sponsor of this movie or or or was that just so 80s? 1:01:22 I think that was so 80s. The alligator Lacost has tried to make a comeback but 1:01:27 it hasn't really like stuck. I don't know. But yeah, Lacost was everywhere. I think I might have had 1:01:33 three or four of those in my arsenal at that age though. But they like every everybody in the 1:01:38 whole family was wearing those shirts. Lac brand. Yeah. I tell you what. Now here's a scene that 1:01:47 So I looked up trivia after I watched the movie and a lot of times I do it beforehand and I would have been looking 1:01:52 for it. But here I did note this last night when I watched the movie. The night before they go 1:01:59 when they go on vacation, they're in the kitchen and Clark and Ellen are like doing dishes. Did you notice that Ellen 1:02:05 scrapes food off of the dishes, hands Clark the plate, and he just puts that 1:02:10 back in the c the cabinet? That sounds fine to me. Nothing wrong. It's clean. We're good. There's no remnant that 1:02:16 Well, there was a Apparently there's a joke cuz he says, "Oh, I never wa I never wash the dishes." is he just kind 1:02:22 of like goes like this with a towel and puts it back in the in the cabinet. He's saving water. God bless that man. 1:02:28 And I noticed it. I'm like, "Well, what the hell?" But, you know, I I later then 1:02:33 later read in the trivia that Chubby Chase doesn't think that anyone notices it. And I did, but I can see that a lot 1:02:41 of people may not notice. Yeah. Yeah, it just it's you always hear 1:02:48 these things like later on in life and we've talked about this on our show where you know they always say you know 1:02:54 don't meet your heroes cuz they might you know disappoint you. Chevy Chase definitely seems like that 1:03:00 one where you hear like all like the stories of on the set of community how he was 1:03:06 so damn difficult to work with and he's notorious difficult. Yeah. And it's like we found out listen 1:03:13 like after Val Kilmer died he said you know one of his biggest regrets as he was progressing you know near the end of 1:03:19 his life was I wish I wasn't so damn difficult on set cuz I never really got to enjoy the movies I used to do cuz I 1:03:25 was an [ __ ] Yeah. So it's like I don't know if Chvy Chase will ever have that type of regret as 1:03:31 he's getting older and older. But it's like man that's such a shame because Chevy Chase would have been one of those 1:03:36 guys where I'd be like oh my god it'd be such an honor to meet you. Chvy Chase 1:03:42 pretty much steadily worked. He did forever. And that's what if I were a director, producer, anything, 1:03:50 I'm not wired that way. I would not deal with [ __ ] Yeah. I just if you're going to be difficult like 1:03:55 your value Yeah. There's no actor that's maybe Daniel D. 1:04:00 Lewis or something, but there's no one that's so good that you can't be replaced and it's got to be you. But 1:04:07 like Val Kilmer and Chvy Chase and a number of others who were difficult, they continued to work. So somebody 1:04:14 Yeah. was willing to, you know, Money Train was still coming in. Yeah. I feel like for that to happen, it has 1:04:22 to I don't know. I may be speaking out of turn, but like a director who isn't 1:04:28 well known, like he's trying to cut his teeth or something, and so he he has to put up with it, so to speak. 1:04:33 Perfect example, Mike Myers. Yeah. Mike Myers famously very difficult and when 1:04:39 they did So I Married an Axe murderer that was that guy's I think only directing movie directing credit ever 1:04:45 and he like the tabloids leaked how difficult Mike Myers was being on set cuz coming off Wayne's world a massive 1:04:52 success he's a big star and the director even said 1:04:58 yes he all it's all true he was very difficult however he's like 1:05:03 he didn't bury him and and talk about what an [ __ ] he was. He said, "Well, you have to understand this is very out 1:05:09 of the box for him. He's playing a much different role. It had to be difficult." Like he 1:05:16 was basically feigning sympathy to him. Mhm. So, yeah, I I think your point, you 1:05:21 know, in a roundabout sort of way from what I said, but like your point is that Yeah, it's I think directors 1:05:28 would be lucky to say I got Chvy Chase in my movie. I got Val Kilmer in my movie. And the truth is because nobody else wants them 1:05:34 anymore. And then that builds your credibility and then you can go on to work with these actors, you know, once you've kind 1:05:41 of proven yourself. I again like there were a lot of things I didn't remember, including them leaving a dead person in 1:05:47 the rain on a back porch. I mean, you can't let you can't let it ruin a whole you've driven that far. 1:05:53 What are you going to do with her? She fit perfectly on the roof. I mean, really dark humor. It's really 1:05:59 There's a lot of dark stuff in this. The dog. The dog's got to be the worst. The dog's worse than I Edna by far. 1:06:05 Probably. But it he left a note on her body. So he left her cousin Normmy. 1:06:12 So who is her son? Can you even imagine coming home from wherever the hell he 1:06:18 was? He's just wrapped in this bag. A dead person after, you know, in in 1:06:24 Arizona in this is Phoenix, so the next day it's probably gonna be hot. Oh yeah. And you have a dead person there. Yeah, 1:06:30 but after that he delivers the best 1:06:36 series of lines. It's where we get our only [ __ ] in the movie. 1:06:42 So good for [ __ ] fun. Yeah. What? What do you think? What do you think? I think you're all [ __ ] in the head. We're 10 hours from the 1:06:47 [ __ ] fun park and you all want to bail out for me. This is no longer a vacation. It's a quest. A quest for fun. 1:06:54 I'm going to have fun and you're going to have fun. We're all going to have so much [ __ ] fun. feeding the surgeon to 1:06:59 remove her goddamn smiles. It's so good. Oh my god, he breaks. 1:07:04 It's really, really good. Some trivia about that. There was profanity in the film. There's there was like five in a 1:07:10 row in that scene and then there was one other time I noticed it that they actually had to film it two 1:07:16 different ways preparing for this to be shown on TV. On TV. Yeah. And they they let him Chevy. That 1:07:24 was just him just like riffing riffing. Yeah. Yeah. Well, it's good they kind of brought that back and cuz I don't remember he doing that in European 1:07:30 vacation, but he did that in a rant in Christmas Vacation, which is another epic rant, but 1:07:36 a little bit of a John Hughes thing, too, because in plain strength and automobiles with Edie McLaren. Yeah, it was Edie McLaren. Yeah, the 1:07:42 whole Yeah. The whole car rental fiasco and 1:07:47 something about TV edits though are tremendously great. It's Kevin and I 1:07:53 recite this a lot. The Die Hard 2 TBS Superstation edit of Yippi Cay 1:07:59 [ __ ] is Yippi Cayle Mr. Falcon. It's like Big Labowski. 1:08:05 Yeah. Big Labowski is this is what happens when you [ __ ] stranger in the ass. Yeah, that's that one. 1:08:10 And they change it for television to this is what happens when you find a stranger in the Alps. What? 1:08:15 Which it's like between Mr. Falcon and the Alps. It's just like wow. Also, I grew up watching an edited 1:08:23 for TV version of The Breakfast Club, you know, taped from TV and when Bender 1:08:30 says really loud to what what's his face? The principal guy. Yeah. 1:08:36 Like, [ __ ] you. Really loud and it like reverberates through the hallway. The edited version is filled you. 1:08:46 Even Even as a 5-year-old, I'm like, what does that mean? I I really like Major League is an 1:08:52 oldtimer and Major League consistently, you know, curses throughout and there's the part where Dorne walks onto the 1:08:59 mound to Ricky and he says, "Strike this [ __ ] out." And it's on TV. It's like, "Strike this 1:09:06 guy out." Just really long. They filled [ __ ] with guy. 1:09:12 And you got to love when they You can obviously tell, listen, we're near the end of this movie. I'm not writing anymore, but to me, Mr. Falcon from 1:09:19 [ __ ] you get Mr. Falcon just because there's an M and an F in it. Tremendous. Phoebe Bridger's named an album after 1:09:25 Stranger in the Alps. Really? Yeah. Because really? Yeah. Yeah. Stranger in the Alps because 1:09:31 Yeah. This is what happens when you find a stranger in the Alps. Oh my god. No. If I had that job, if they're like, 1:09:37 "Hey, you got to edit this for TV. Bring it on." That's like my dream job is to like 1:09:43 write the alternative version. Yeah. Fill you. filled filled you. I mean, I 1:09:49 don't know. You should just yell that randomly at somebody and see what the reaction is. 1:09:54 Just for shits and you go filled you. What' you say? Like, what the [ __ ] is wrong with this 1:10:00 guy? What the f is wrong with you? That's right. What the f is wrong with me? What the f is wrong with you? So, yeah. 1:10:06 Chubby Chase known to be difficult, but I did find this very sweet. Apparently, 1:10:12 and I want this to be true, he adopted Dinky, the dog, after filming was completed. 1:10:17 Oh, okay. See, you don't expect that to happen. I mean, I don't know why he didn't have a home. I don't know what the story was 1:10:23 there, but Yeah, go figure. He had a heart. 1:10:29 And the poster I always wondered about. Did you guys ever hear Yeah. Did you hear about 1:10:34 Don't know the story. Well, I mean, there's not really a story, but I guess it was it was done by this fantasy 1:10:40 illustrator, Boris VJO, and it's a parody from Conan the Barbarian in 19. 1:10:47 Yeah, I can see where he got that from. Definitely. It's so good. It when you look at national when you think of a 1:10:53 vacation road trip movie, you look at that cover, you're like, it's this this literally is a quest at this rate. The 1:10:58 way that looks like a fantasy movie, like Master of the Universe type. Very much Masters of the Universe type. 1:11:04 Yeah. I guess Conan the Barbarian. But yeah. Now, how would you guys rate this among comedy films? 1:11:12 Like for you personally, like in your top X number, 1:11:18 you know, if I'm doing just like straight like comedies, I would definitely probably put this in a top 25. I would say top 1:11:26 20, top 25. That's right where I'd put it. Yeah, I can I can definitely understand its importance in shaping 1:11:34 like what was to come for comedy. I think it opened a lot of comedy doors, but yeah, it's not I mean I did watch it 1:11:42 a lot like in the past growing up, but it's not something that I'm like got to go back and watch Vacation like 1:11:47 high rewatchability again. I think more so I can understand its like it's like cultural relevance and 1:11:54 significance. If anything, there is a case to be made if you that Christmas 1:12:00 Vacation would go way higher than this one. Now, Christmas Vacation's interesting 1:12:05 though because how many people watch it because of Christmas and the tradition of it 1:12:10 because would it be watched the same way if it wasn't, you know, associated with Well, we're almost coming up on the 1:12:16 Christmas in July phenomenon. So, we get watching Christmas. You know, people could, it's not a 1:12:21 thing, but we could make it a thing. A summer kickoff movie. This is our summer kickoff episode. 1:12:27 So maybe we're going to bring back sitting inside during summer and watching movies. 1:12:33 Here we go again. Just 5 years ago for us. Now, you know, we were talking about that earlier like with, you know, I was 1:12:40 a big like cable baby for sure and watched so many movies growing up because it's what they played on HBO and 1:12:46 Cinemax and TBS and and what I'd watch on TV. Now they would consistently play 1:12:52 European Vacation all the time. all the time, especially vacation was always always and original 83 vacation was not 1:13:01 not the same way that European vacation. No, the rights with those things are kind of funny, too. Yeah. Like they there'd be 1:13:08 Rocky marathons, but it would they'd miss one. It would skip one of them. They sure play a lot of five. They 1:13:13 played five way too much. They play a lot of five. Yeah. Well, you guys, I also am on a 1:13:19 podcast called One More Round, the Rocky Series podcast, and we just finished up season five, which is Rocky 5. So, yeah. 1:13:26 Rocky five soundtrack. That song, go for it. It I believe that song slaps. That song is so good. I think it's by MC 1:13:33 Light. It's so damn good. Touch me, I'll sue. Touch me. Oh my god, that's so funny. I'm going to 1:13:39 totally bring that up in our next episode, Jim, because we make fun of the horrible early '9s rap and that that It 1:13:47 is the ultimate form of early 90s. Early 90s. Yeah. 1:13:52 It's like the influence is heavy by hammer on that one. Yep. Indeed. Well, the reason I asked 1:13:58 you guys about your ranking is because in there are a couple of like lists that 1:14:04 this movie is on. In 2000, readers of Total Film, whatever that is, voted it 1:14:09 the 46th greatest comedy film of all time. Oo. 1:14:14 and pre P premiere voted this movie as one of the 50 greatest comedies of all 1:14:19 time and that was in 2006. Okay. And I Yeah, I don't I mean maybe in the 1:14:24 in the top 50. I think I agree with you guys about its like relevance culturally 1:14:30 and and like what it spawned. Um and maybe it's just the 83 of it all. 1:14:35 Yeah. You know, but I very much enjoy it. Uh and I'm going to probably rewatch it 1:14:41 more going forward. Maybe it'll be my new summer kickoff um tradition. Casting what-ifs: Bill Murray, Kim Cattrall, and more 1:14:46 Yeah, there you go. There's a couple of casting whatifs before we finish up, you guys. There we go. I love this. 1:14:54 Actually, one other piece of trivia. Do Did you Okay, so when Ellen wakes up, when when Clark is like looking at 1:15:01 Christy Brinkley um cuz he's like trying to speed to keep to keep up with her and see her, 1:15:06 Ellen is like, "You're going 80 miles an hour. Slow down." And 80 80 is like 1:15:12 normal, right? Well, at that time, I guess 55 was the interstate speed. 1:15:17 Yeah. Is that Can you imagine getting that wagon up to 80 miles an hour? That thing probably shaking like crazy. 1:15:23 55. Oh, nice. Sammy H. 55 is so slow. It's nuts. Yeah. Although I was just recently in Costa 1:15:29 Rica and they don't have like interstates like we do. That's more just like highways and they're I think it's 1:15:35 55 is their speed limit. That's crazy. Yeah. I just got a camera ticket a couple weeks ago cuz we've got a lot of 1:15:40 camera Oh, I last time I got one, I never paid it. You didn't pay it? No, cuz it was cuz it was Well, we have 1:15:47 a town bias in Gerard, Ohio. So, the problem was they were using a third party company to get these speeding 1:15:54 cameras. So, there was like a lawsuit that came down and said if it was issued by a third party company, it's not 1:16:00 abiding to the city in which that ticket was issued. So, I never paid it. It never hit 1:16:07 anything and that happened to a lot of people. Then I think after that came out, Gerard found a way to loophole to 1:16:12 get back in. So if you get hit by their camera, you have to pay directly to the city. They can only give you a camera ticket 1:16:18 if a cop is present. Yeah. So he doesn't have to do anything. But if he just sit if there's a cop in the 1:16:25 area, you know, and then if you want to battle them and say there was no cop there, I Yeah. Then it's your word against there 1:16:31 is you'll lose every time. Yeah. Oh, we have a lot of certain areas here. Like I'm in Denver, but in every 1:16:37 every time I go to Boulder, I get a camera ticket. You No cop has to be It's just cameras everywhere. 1:16:43 Yeah. And I almost always I'm just like they've got to be made cuz no like you said to your 0.55 like no 1:16:49 one I don't think they get you until you're like 10 or more over. But they've got to 1:16:54 be clearing I don't know three four billion dollars a day. Tons like on all these cars. Oh, this was these are more like the 1:17:01 stoplight ones. cameras and I always am going speed limit should be minimum 70 to 75 1:17:07 now by far I think so auto I'm autobond it up man it's it's not the speed that 1:17:13 will kill you it's the sudden stop that will Mhm. Yeah, you're right. Okay, so Clark 1:17:18 Griswald potential. I mean, I can't we can't picture anybody 1:17:24 else being Clark because he's chubby chase to us. But some people who were considered, not 1:17:30 surprisingly, Bill Murray. Okay. Okay. But very surprisingly to me, Robert 1:17:36 Klene and Richard Bellzer. The Bells. Belzer as Clark Griswald. Now, Robert 1:17:43 Klein. Now, he has that kind of I wouldn't say Chvy Chase look, but he's 1:17:48 Chvy Chase adjacent because I remember seeing him in Bert Reynolds's movie Hooper. Guy used to be a huge Bert 1:17:55 Reynolds guy, but Bellser, these and these are such huge whatifs because 1:18:01 I can't picture anybody but Chvy Chase in this. But if somebody else was in it, do the other movies happen? Does 1:18:07 Christmas Vacation ever happen with Bill Murray? I don't think it does. Yeah, that's He's also kind of hard to work with, 1:18:14 isn't he? Is he another one? Yeah. Well, for the longest time he wanted nothing more to do with the Ghostbusters 1:18:19 franchise. And then I think it was one of those things where it's like Dan said he would come back and then Ernie said he would come back 1:18:26 and that's when he came back and they did the the newer Ghostbusters. Plus, he probably saw the money on the 1:18:31 check, too, and went, "Wait a minute." Yeah. Oh, I need a new beach house or whatnot. Yeah. 1:18:36 Yeah. Ellen Griswald. Apparently, Kim Catrell was the original 1:18:43 choice. Oh, 8. She would have been young. She would have been real young, right? Well, Beverly isn't I was reading that 1:18:51 she was only like 15 years older than Dana. Yeah. 1:18:56 Well, you know what? Kim Catrell, you think, you know, if she would have been casted here four years later, would have 1:19:02 been mannequin. Yeah. And Kim Catrell was like, well, I also Kim Catrell was in Police Academy, 1:19:08 the first one, a year after this movie came out. So, I could, now that I'm thinking about it, 1:19:13 I could see Kim Catrell as Ellen. Yeah, she and they kind of have a similar like 1:19:18 They do motherly but sexyness to them. Also, Moren McCormack was 1:19:24 considered Mara. Oh, Marsha. Marsha. Marsha. Yeah, that would have been interesting. I poor poor poor Moren. Once you play 1:19:33 Marshall Brady, you you done. Yeah. Yeah. But do you like There was a very short-lived They 1:19:39 attempted to bring the Bradies back. It was 1990. They did that very Brady Christmas movie 1:19:44 which every year I watch like me and my girlfriend like in a tradition. So they brought back the Bradies. It 1:19:50 lasted six episodes. The only one didn't come back. Marie McCormack said, "I'm out. I'm I don't want to be Marsha 1:19:56 anymore. I'm I'm done with this." because they ended up making I think the character of Marsha in that 1:20:02 movie play I can't I don't remember who ended up playing her like a recovering like alcoholic and stuff like that. So 1:20:07 she's like wait you're going to make me a recovering like alcohol and drug addict? No, I'm I'm out. 1:20:12 But look, can you name I can't name her in anything else off the top of my head. Well, I can only because this was 1:20:18 Patrick Seesy's first movie 1979 Skate Town USA. 1:20:24 That's right. Moren McCormack was in that as was Scott Beao. There was like a number of like people from back in the 1:20:30 day that that were in that. Yep. Okay. But but but that's really obscure. Like 1:20:35 nobody else would know that. And then Cousin Eddie. I don't know who Kenneth Mars is. 1:20:42 Name very familiar. And so was Robin Williams. 1:20:48 That would have like off Morgan Mindy. Yeah. He could play Goofy. He can play. 1:20:55 Yeah. It would have been a totally different vibe, but I could still see him as cousin A. I can see Robin Williams pulling it off. 1:21:01 Mhm. Mhm. Well, you guys, this has been a blast. Loved it as always. 1:21:06 Please tell us if you have any closing thoughts on National Lampoon's Vacation 1:21:11 and then Where Can We Find You? Well, I know like for this movie, this could 1:21:17 have been like one of my earliest memories of like amusement parks as a kid because 1:21:24 in my local well actually I should say our local park at the time we went to all the time was Giaga Lake which was in 1:21:29 Aurora, Ohio which is a suburb of God it's like 10 15 minutes outside of Cleveland. 1:21:34 Okay. Um we were I was there almost growing up all the time. So that was our thing. We 1:21:40 actually had an amusement park in the Youngsttown, Ohio region called Idora Park, but I burned down. It burned down. We had that. 1:21:46 But this might have been one of my earliest memories of seeing an amusement park and for me that stuck out. And I 1:21:52 grew up in a single like before my my dad legally adopted me and my parents got married. I was raised by a mom, a 1:21:58 grandmother, and a grandfather. And we just didn't have the money to do road trips. So when I was old enough where my mom 1:22:04 was like, "Okay, you can watch it, but I'm going to sit and watch it with you you know that kind of supervision thing. Mhm. 1:22:10 It was nice to live vicariously through a movie like this. Oh, look this a a dad. I didn't have a dad and he got to 1:22:16 go on a a cross country road trip. Something that I always wanted to do and dream of. So for me, Vacation was a very 1:22:24 a very like sentimental type hoping what could be one day type movie. And that's 1:22:30 like watching it. I've seen this movie probably 50 60 times. So it holds a lot of weight to me. I mean, I can remember 1:22:37 watching this movie growing up as a a pretty small child, sort of like you, but rather than being like, "Oh my god, 1:22:42 this is so great." I remember having like logic issue questions. When they pull into the parking lot and 1:22:48 they're the only car there, I'm like, "How do they know it's not like can't they realize it's Isn't there a 1:22:53 newspaper?" You even as a kid were like, "The thing is closed. It's got to be closed, right?" 1:22:58 So they park and I and I and I still to this day like Kevin and I have done this. We'll park the farthest away 1:23:05 because then you could be the first one out. Clark says Clark's like first in first out. Yeah, that's the that's the best thing. 1:23:10 But the fact that you play Chariots of Fire and you're running through this massive parking lot 1:23:15 and nothing occurs to you until you see sorry folks. And it's funny cuz in that shot that's the Wall-E World is a painting. Yeah. 1:23:22 And it's like some raceway. It is Santa Anita or something like that. But also, who operates the rides? 1:23:28 Apparently, he does. They know how to operate rides. John Candy apparently knows how to do it. Ride though, too. 1:23:34 Yeah. Yeah. Maybe they should Frank McCrae maybe was doing it cuz he plays the other security guard. 1:23:40 He treated me like a dog, Mr. Wild. He crushed my human dignity. But you're right. I logic issues when 1:23:46 you're a kid. Also, the when he falls asleep and he about kills a bunch of people and then parks perfectly at the 1:23:52 motel. Perfect ride. And we also got to give a shout out to when they they go off the 1:23:58 wrong exit and they end up in St. Louis. Yeah. For somehow someway they don't hear the 1:24:04 hubcaps getting stolen and somebody spray painting on the side of the car. Yeah. Mhm. 1:24:10 I mean, you don't hear that. That that one of those that scene is like I don't 1:24:16 know if it's I don't know if you could do a scene like that anymore cuz it's very kind of I I think you definitely if you haven't 1:24:22 seen it, any listeners who haven't seen it, you got to watch it just to understand like stuff like The Hangover 1:24:29 wouldn't exist without vacation. So many comedy movies would not exist without 1:24:35 Magic Mike XXL does not exist without this. I mean, it's a screw ball. It's very 1:24:40 much of its time. Yeah, for sure. Yeah. And the the franchise, so it spawned 1:24:47 National Ampoons as a film franchise. Well, Animal House was first. Animal House Vacation, you know, the 1:24:54 success of these movies. We covered National Aoon Senior Senior Trip. I love it. Which is also a road trip movie. But then yeah, some of 1:25:01 these, you know, xeroxed like versions of these video stores, 1:25:08 whatever is so funny and they all exist because of the success of Animal House and Vacation. And it is 1:25:15 weird being that this is, you know, as part of your John Hughes season. This 1:25:21 like barely feels like John. There are things obviously discussed in the last, you know, hour or whatever where there 1:25:27 are John Hughes trademarks, but This is the if you were to say, "Okay, 1:25:32 John Hughes movies go Breakfast Club." Vacation's probably 10th. It's down 1:25:38 there. It's probably 10th. There were things that I noticed just 1:25:43 because I've been doing all these John Hughes movies and we already covered The Great Outdoors. There's some similarities. I'm I can see 1:25:50 that John, like I said, like he has like a movie template and he kind of picks things from certain 1:25:56 movies and combos them up into into a movie. And so there were a lot of things 1:26:02 from this like real similar beats in in The Great Outdoors, I thought. Oh, yeah. I agree. 1:26:08 So, where can we find you and the Pool Scene podcast? Well, we're coming up. Like we said 1:26:14 earlier, So Married Axe Murder is going to be coming out next week, which will be episode number 250 as of recording 1:26:21 today. This is our fifth year anniversary. You can find us. Anywhere you can find podcast. Anywhere podcasts are found, you can 1:26:27 find us. That's where we're everywhere. Awesome. And it sounds like you have some super fun episodes coming up with 1:26:32 your bangar season. So we got some stuff coming up. We still got a little bit left to do in this season, then we're on to 19. 1:26:39 Yep. Awesome. Awesome. Well, I think that's a wrap you guys on this road trip with the Wrap-up: Final thoughts and where to find Pool Scene Podcast 1:26:45 Griswalds, Car Troubles, Moose themed Disappointment and all. And in the 1:26:50 meantime though, if you do like this episode, please follow the show, leave a review, or shoot me an email. It does 1:26:56 help other retro movie lovers find the show, and I'd love to hear what you remember about these classics. Until 1:27:04 next time, be kind. Rewind.