Home Alone

Home Alone
The Home Alone movie poster is a parody of the Edvard Munch painting The Scream. (Poster includes the Ontario Film Review Board classification)
Directed by	Chris Columbus
Written by	John Hughes
Produced by	John Hughes
Starring	Macaulay Culkin Joe Pesci Daniel Stern John Heard Catherine O'Hara Roberts Blossom John Candy
Cinematography	Julio Macat
Edited by	Raja Gosnell
Music by	John Williams
Distributed by	20th Century Fox
Release dates	November 16, 1990
Running time	103 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$15,000,000 US (estimated)
Box office	$477,561,243 (worldwide)

Home Alone is a 1990 comedy film written and produced by John Hughes and directed by Chris Columbus. It stars Macaulay Culkin as Kevin McCallister, an eight-year-old who is mistakenly left behind when his family flies to Paris, France for their Christmas holiday. While initially relishing his time alone, he is later greeted by two house thieves. He eventually manages to outwit them with a series of booby traps.

As is the case with most of Hughes' films, Home Alone was set, and most of the film was shot, in the greater Chicago area. Any other shots, such as those of Paris, are either stock footage or movie trickery.

Tagline

• "A Family Comedy Without the Family!"
• "When Kevin's family left for vacation, they forget one minor detail: Kevin. But don't worry... He cooks. He cleans. He kicks some butt!"

Plot

After a squabble with his bullying older brother, Buzz -- who had eaten his pizza -- Kevin ends up spilling milk all over his family's passports and airplane tickets for their trip the next day to Paris for Christmas vacation. As punishment, he is sent up to the third floor of his house for the night. Disgusted by his family's unfairness and "hatred" toward him, he wishes that his "family would simply disappear."

An electric-power failure occurs in the middle of the night that in turn neutralizes the alarm clocks,and the family oversleeps. This forces them to leave late for their vacation. Kevin ultimately ends up being left home alone when the eldest child, Heather, miscounts, due to another child being in the way. At first Kevin is pleased, and believes that his wish has come true. He begins to do things he would not have been permitted to do otherwise, such as jumping on his parents' bed, eating junk food, riding down the stairs on a sled, and watching an R-rated gangster film called Angels with Filthy Souls (which he had not been permitted to see with his family the night before). He later sees the shadow of two men who are trying to rob his house, and scares them off by turning the lights on. He then hides, and when the Chicago Police try to investigate the house for him (upon his parents' request), he refuses to answer the door. He then gets up the nerve to go outside, but then fearfully runs immediately back in when he sees "Old Man" Marley, a neighbor who as told by Buzz, was to have been the "South Bend Shovel Slayer". According to Buzz, "back in 1958, he murdered his whole family and half the people on his block...with a snow-shovel." He breaks the fourth wall when he runs upstairs screaming, pauses, then begins screaming again in reaction to the camera and/or audience (he is looking directly into the camera at this point). He also goes shopping (with some money that he steals from Buzz's room, which he ends up wrecking in the process), and unintentionally shoplifts a toothbrush after being scared away from the drugstore by Marley.

Kevin later finds out that two house thieves (known as the "Wet Bandits") -- Harry Lime (Joe Pesci) and Marv Merchants (Daniel Stern) -- have their eyes on the neighborhood, and know that the McCallisters are away. Kevin turns on the lights in the basement to make the thieves think that the family is still in the house. The thieves return the following night, and are fooled by the life-size figures that are being moved about by Kevin, which are actually mannequins and cut outs of basketball players. When the thieves return yet again, Kevin makes Merv think that somebody was shot inside the house by playing a scene from the old gangster movie really loud. Harry decides that they are better off telling the police about an alleged murder if they are later questioned about it.

Meanwhile, in Paris, Kevin's mother is desperately trying to catch a flight back to the United States. Eventually, she manages to swap her Rolex watch, $500, and some more jewelry for an economy seat back to Dallas, and then to Scranton.

Back at the house, Harry decides to check up on things, and looks through one of the first-floor windows, where Kevin is putting decorations on a Christmas tree. Kevin tries to make it appear that he is not alone by calling for his father. Harry, however, is not fooled, and the thieves plan to return later that night to steal goods from the house, but Kevin overhears the plan. He later decides to visit the church, where he runs into Marley, and finds out that he is in fact a nice man, and that all of those terrible rumors about him are false. He tells Kevin about an argument he had with his son years ago, and how they have not spoken since. Kevin suggests he should get in contact with him anyway.

He runs home to set up a series of traps around the house, such as Micro Machines across the floor; a light switch in the basement that he ties to a heated clothes iron in a laundry chute; and a high-power blowtorch inside the back door. The two thieves eventually fall for every single trap that has been set. Though these traps are successful in knocking the thieves back, one must note that both Henry and Merv get stronger when they are hurt. Eventually, Merv & Henry, battered and bruised by all of Kevin's traps, are able to capture Kevin. Just as they are planning to take revenge by doing "exactly what he did to us", Marley appears and knocks them out with his snow-shovel. He then returns Kevin home safely. The police arrive, and arrest both thieves.

The following morning, Christmas Day, a van full of polka musicians drives Kevin's mother home. She enters the house, then finds and hugs Kevin. Only a few seconds later, the rest of the family arrives home. Kevin does not tell the family about his encounter with the bandits, but he does impress them by telling them that he went shopping, even though he, as Buzz says, "...doesn't know how to tie his shoe". In the final scene, Kevin sees that Marley has been reunited with his son and granddaughter, and Buzz screams out from off-camera, "Kevin! What did you do to my room?". Kevin panics, and the credits roll.

Cast

The movie made Macaulay Culkin a world-renowned actor. The film also features Joe Pesci and Daniel Stern as the "Wet Bandits". Catherine O'Hara, John Heard, and Roberts Blossom also co-star as Kevin's parents and neighbor next door.

• Macaulay Culkin - Kevin McCallister: Kevin is an eight-year-old smart-mouthed and extraordinarily clever kid living in suburban Chicago, whose parents accidentally leave him home when they travel to Paris, France.
• Joe Pesci - Harry Lime: Harry is the shorter and smarter of the two criminals. He had the plan to steal goods from all the houses in the neighborhood. In an obvious reference to Muttley, the canine sidekick of Dick Dastardly, he often mutters "ratcha fatcha" repeatedly when he gets hurt.
• Daniel Stern - Marv Merchants: Marv is the taller and more dull of the two.He always stole tweeters from the houses he and Harry went to but the most sensible thing he did was to try and convince Harry not to steal from the McCallister's house while Kevin is at home.
• Roberts Blossom - "Old Man" Marley: Marley is a local man, who was thought, thanks to a story told by Buzz, to be the alleged "South Bend Shovel Slayer", but who turns out to be an elderly loner who didn't kill his family as believed, but merely had an argument with his son and isolated himself. He befriends Kevin in the church, and ultimately saves him from a beaten and battered Harry and Marv's wrath. The last scene shows him and his family reunited.
• Catherine O'Hara - Kate McCallister: Kate is Kevin's mother. She gets stuck in a blizzard at the airport in Scranton, Pennsylvania during her desperate attempts to get back home to her son. She is finally able to do so thanks to Gus Polinski, who offers her a ride in a truck with his band, as they were on their way to Milwaukee. She also apologizes to Kevin for not forgiving him when he apologized for spilling milk on the family's passports.

Minor roles are played by Gerry Bamman, Devin Ratray, Kieran Culkin (Macaulay's younger brother), Michael C. Maronna, Hillary Wolf, and Angela Goethals. In addition, John Candy, a frequent collaborator of Hughes, has a supporting role as Gus Polinski, the "Polka King of the Midwest". John Williams created the musical score, which was nominated for an Oscar.

Original Soundtrack

• Label: Sony Music Entertainment (Canada)
• Released in : 1990

1. Home Alone Main Title ("Somewhere In My Memory") (4:53)•
2. Holiday Flight (0:59)
3. The House (2:27)
4. Star Of Bethlehem (Orchestral Version) (2:51)
5. Man Of The House (4:33)
6. White Christmas (2:40)
7. Scammed By A Kindergartner (3:55)
8. Please Come Home For Christmas (2:41)
9. Follow That Kid! (2:03)
10. Making The Plane (0:52)
11. O Holy Night (2:48)
12. Carol Of The Bells (1:25)
13. Star Of Bethlehem (2:59)
14. Setting The Trap (2:16)
15. Somewhere In My Memory (1:04)
16. The Attack On The House (6:53)
17. Mom Returns And Finale (4:19)
18. Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas (3:05)
19. We Wish You A Merry Christmas/ End Title (4:15)

Most of the tracks are composed by John Williams

Video games

Home Alone video games were released for the Nintendo Entertainment System, the Sega Genesis, the Super Nintendo Entertainment System, Sega Game Gear, the Game Boy, the Sega Master System, the Amiga as well as personal computers.

• The first Home Alone game was released in 1991.
• The Home Alone NES game is a cult classic game beloved in vintage game circles for its odd gameplay, quirky glitches, and extreme difficulty.
• The Home Alone game on the SNES system was the first to use screen captures and character's voices from the movie in its gameplay.
• A video game titled Home Alone was released for the Playstation 2 in 2006. It was not released in the United States.

Sequels

• Home Alone 2: Lost in New York (1992)
• Home Alone 3 (1997)
• Home Alone 4: Taking back the House (2002)

Home Alone 2 brings back the original cast from the first movie. The 3rd has completely different actors, and a different storyline. Home Alone 4 goes back to Kevin, but has a new cast and is considered non-canon.

Home Alone House

The Home Alone House, or more precisely 671 Lincoln Avenue, is a three-storey detached house that was used while shooting the movies Home Alone (1990) and parts of Home Alone 2: Lost in New York (1992). It exists in Illinois on the outer suburbs of Chicago, in the village of Winnetka which is located around 19 miles (30km) north of the city in Cook County. The private property is worth just over $2.3 million as of June 2008, and was purchased by a single family in the winter of 1988. It was built in 1920 and boasts 5 bedrooms, 3.5 bathrooms, a fully-converted attic, a fireplace, a detached double garage and also a greenhouse. It is listed as a Chicago-area tourist destination, as well as being cited as an example of "How to Get Your Home in the Movies".

Box office performance

In its opening weekend, Home Alone grossed $17 million in 1,202 theatres, averaging $14,211 per site and just 6% of the final total. Home Alone proved so popular that it stayed in theaters well past the Christmas season. It was the #1 film at the box office for 12 straight weeks, from its release weekend of November 16-18, 1990 through the weekend of February 1-3, 1991. It would remain a top 10 draw at the box office until the weekend of April 26 that year, which was well past Easter weekend. It would make two more appearances in the top 10 (the weekend of May 31-June 2 and the weekend of June 14-16) before finally falling out of the top 10. The film ended up making a final gross of $285,761,243, the top grossing film of its year

By the time it had run its course in theatres, Home Alone was the third highest grossing movie of all time, according to the home video box. In the year 1990 the film was the highest grossing film. In total, its cinema run grossed $477,561,243 worldwide.

Reception

Though the film was a great success in theaters the film received mixed reviews from critics like Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times. On Rotten Tomatoes the film got a "Rotten" score of 47%, although the user section on the site was much more positive with a "Fresh" score of 83%.

Parodies

In a comedy scene entitled Home Alone Again with Michael Jackson on the sketch comedy television series, In Living Color, Tommy Davidson as Michael Jackson performed the blunder scenes of Marv and Harry. Jonathan Taylor Thomas played the role of Macaulay as Kevin McCallister. On YouTube, a poster related to this can be found. The poster is Kevin in his usual pose as the regular poster, but with Michael Jackson in the window.

In the spy-parody film Spy Hard, the role of Kevin was parodied by a kid named McCluckey (performed by Mason Gamble). His booby traps backfired on him when he was chased by goons.

The 1995 Goosebumps episode The Cuckoo Clock of Doom had a scene, when Michael Webster realizes he becomes six years old, looks in the mirror at his now-young reflection, and turns to the camera and does Kevin's famous scream and pose.

In the animated series "The Critic", Jay Sherman reviews the movie "Home Alone 5". The scene then cuts to Kevin's parents on a jet. Kevin's mother then states, "We left Kevin home alone! He is only 23!" The next scene shows an adult Kevin with a 5 o'clock shadow and a smoke hanging out of his mouth looking in the mirror. He looks at his reflection and recreates the scene when Kevin puts on aftershave in "Home Alone". The scene the cuts back to Jay Sherman where he gives his opinion on the movie, "It stinks."

Angels with Filthy Souls

File:Angels with Filthy Souls.jpg

Johnny informing Snakes that he isn't welcome anymore.

Angels with Filthy Souls, a parody of the 1938 Warner Bros. film Angels with Dirty Faces, is a fictional gangster film that appears in the 1990 comedy film Home Alone.

The film was noteworthy to Home Alone, as Kevin used it repeatedly to make outside characters think that there were adults in the house by either playing the whole tape or fast forwarding to the useful parts.

A sequel was made for Home Alone 2, entitled Angels with Even Filthier Souls.

Plot

The film involves several gangsters who apparently have business to be dealt with. Snakes enters Johnny's office and questions him about the money owed for getting the stuff. Johnny smugly replies that Acey no longer has any authority, and implies that he isn't about to give Snakes any money. Snakes shows discomfort when he finds out that Acey is upstairs taking a bath and almost immediately Johnny takes out his Tommy Gun.

Johnny tells Snakes to get out before he counts to 10, however, Johnny cuts the count short and fires repeatedly while laughing maniacally. Snakes' dead body is shown lying dead on the ground, while Johnny continues to fire.

At the end of the clip, Johnny says "Keep the change you filthy animal!"

Characters

The main characters include:

• Johnny — (Ralph Foody) new mobster boss that wastes no time in informing Snakes that he isn't welcome anymore.
• Snakes — (Michael Guido) dressed in a coat and hat, he has come to collect his 10% dues from Johnny and Acey.
• Acey — repeatedly referred to by Snakes as the man in charge who owes him money. Apparently Acey is either upstairs taking a bath or elsewhere. Regardless, he is out of the picture.

External links

• Home Alone at IMDb
• Home Alone at Rotten Tomatoes