Home Alone

Home Alone
The Home Alone movie poster. (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 (US) December 7, 1990 (UK) December 13, 1990 (AUS)
Running time	103 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$18,000,000 US (estimated)
Box office	$477,561,243 (worldwide)

Home Alone is a 1990 Christmas film written and produced by John Hughes and directed by Chris Columbus. The film features Macaulay Culkin as Kevin McCallister, an eight-year-old boy who is mistakenly left behind when his family flies to Paris for their Christmas vacation. While initially relishing time by himself, he is later greeted by two house intruders. Kevin eventually manages to outwit them with a series of booby traps. The film also features Daniel Stern, Joe Pesci, Catherine O'Hara, John Heard and Roberts Blossom.

Plot

This film begins with the McCallister family rushing around the house in preparation of a holiday trip to France. Eight year-old Kevin McCallister is constantly teased by his older siblings, and is supposedly mistreated by his family. A burglar posing as a policeman (Joe Pesci) tries to get everyone's attention, but he fails. The family does not realize that he is a burglar named Harry, who is trying to raid houses by obtaining as much information from them as possible about the security of their homes.

After an argument with his bullying older brother, Buzz, over pizza, Kevin is sent up to the third floor of his house for the night as punishment (even if he didn't get punished, he would have had to sleep on the third floor at his original bedtime). Upset with his family's unfair and neglectful treatment toward him, he wishes that his family would simply disappear.

During the night, the strong winds force a tree branch to fall on nearby power lines, cutting power to the street, causing the electric alarm clocks to fail and the family to oversleep and be late in leaving for their vacation. Kevin eventually ends up being left at home by himself when the eldest child, Heather, miscounts, mistaking a neighborhood child for Kevin. Kevin is initially pleased with the results. He begins to do things he would not have been permitted to do otherwise. Several hours later, Kate (Kevin's mother) tells Peter (Kevin's father) that she feels like she forgot something, and after a moment's thought realizes that they forgot Kevin.

Meanwhile, Harry and his partner, Marv (Daniel Stern), begin to search the neighborhood, looking for which houses to raid, focusing mainly on the McCallisters' house, and calling it the "silver tuna". The two then begin to raid the other vacant houses in the neighborhood, and then decide to head to the McCallisters' house. However, Kevin sees their shadows, and scares them away by turning on the lights. He then runs and hides under his parents' bed. When Kevin walks outside, proclaiming that he is not afraid anymore, he is scared again, this time by "Old Man" Marley (Roberts Blossom), a man in the neighborhood who, according to a rumor Buzz told Kevin, killed his entire family with a snow shovel. When the Chicago Police Department tries to investigate the house for him upon his parents' request, he refuses to answer the door, because he is still scared from earlier.

The next day, Kevin unintentionally shoplifts a toothbrush after being scared away from the drugstore by Marley while shopping with some of Buzz's money. On his way home, he is nearly hit by Harry and Marv's van, and is warned by them to be careful. Harry then wishes Kevin "Merry Christmas!" and smiles at him, flashing his gold tooth, causing Kevin to run away. Harry and Marv trail Kevin for a few blocks until he hides in a church's outdoor nativity scene to get away from them.

The next morning the two intruders scout the house again, this time finding it quiet and arousing Harry's suspicions. Marv decides to try and break in by himself, but Kevin distracts him, scaring Marv away. Kevin's trick prompts Marv to believe that the prank was real, saying that someone was murdered by a robber in the house. This angers Harry, who says that the neighborhood was for the two to rob and no one else. So they decide to wait and see who was responsible for the 'murder' in the McCallisters' house.

Meanwhile, in Paris, Kate is desperately trying to catch a flight back to Chicago as soon as possible, although her husband is only able to book a flight leaving two days later. Eventually, she manages to swap her watch that looks like a Rolex, $500, and some jewelry for an economy seat back to Dallas. Her next flight puts her in Scranton on Christmas Eve, where her journey home is halted because there are no flights out of Scranton to Chicago. Gus Polinski (John Candy), who claims to be the 'polka king of the midwest' and his stranded group of fellow polka musicians on their way to Milwaukee for a polka festival, offer to help her get home in their van.

Back in Chicago, Harry and Marv are still trying to figure out what is going on. Harry realizes that Kevin is in fact home alone and is also an easy target. Kevin overhears Harry and Marv planning their next move, which is to come back that night.

Meanwhile, Kevin decides to try and do whatever it takes to try to get his family back home, going first to the town's Santa Claus, and then to the neighborhood church to listen to the rehearsal of a choir. While there, he once again comes across Marley, and the two strike up a conversation. Kevin learns through the course of the conversation that none of the rumors about Marley are true - and in fact that he is a nice person once someone gets to know him. Kevin also learns that Marley's granddaughter is in the choir and that he has come to watch her sing, but he will not be there later because he is lonely as a result of a falling out with his son years ago. Kevin suggests that Marley should try and get in touch with him if he can just to see what would happen, and Marley agrees.

After Kevin leaves the church it is now 8:00, and he runs home to set up a series of booby traps around the house. He finishes just in time to eat dinner, but the clock chimes 9:00 and he prepares himself with a BB-gun.

Right on time, the two burglars knock on the door, saying that they know he is in there and cracking some jokes. While the two are reminiscing, Kevin slips his gun through the dog flap and shoots Harry in the crotch. Marv is completely dumbstruck and puts his head through the dog flap to see what is going on. Kevin's BB gun hits Marv in the head and he collapses in pain. Harry and Marv decide to change their plan, as Harry goes to the front door and Marv enters from the basement. Harry slips and falls on the extremely slippery stairs that Kevin poured water on.

Marv tries to go in through the basement, but he also slips and falls on slippery stairs. Marv finally manages to get in, and pulls a light switch. An iron falls down a laundry chute and hits Marv in the face, leaving burn an imprint on his entire face.

Meanwhile Harry is at the front door, and slips yet another time, snapping his back as he hits the ground. In determination, Harry finally climbs up the stairs without falling, and staring into the house, he is oblivious to the burning hot element on the other side of the door. As Harry puts his hand on the doorknob, he cries out in pain, and sinks his hand into the snow, leaving a mark on his hand. He lets out a sigh of relief. Kevin, on the other side, yells out in triumph. Harry, still determined, goes to the back door again, and opens the door, but just as he does, a blowtorch attached to the door hinge turns on, and Harry lets out another anguished cry as his head is burned. He runs back outside and sinks his head in the snow. When he sinks his head into the snow, he notices that his cap is burned off along with patches of his hair. He becomes very angry and charges in, the door pulling the blowtorch from the wall yelling, "Where are you, you little creep?!"

Meanwhile Marv, enraged, climbs up the stairs barefoot, his shoes and socks having been stuck in the tar. As he climbs, his foot touches a nail, planted there by Kevin. Marv falls down the stairs and decides that it is too dangerous to go through the basement, so he leaves, still barefoot, and finds an open window, shouting to Harry that he is coming in.

Harry walks in the house and is at the dining room door. Kevin stands patiently on the other side, pretending that he is scared. Harry, realizing that the kid is mocking him, gets very angry and opens the door, but a piece of plastic wrap with glue on it sticks to his face. He mutters incoherently in anger and, after taking off the plastic wrap, continues walking, until he notices a fan with a box of feathers in front of it, and the fan turns on, blasting an array of feathers into his face and all over his body. Marv climbs in through the window, and, still barefoot, steps on the sharp ornaments and toys placed there by Kevin. Marv cries in pain, but keeps walking, regardless of the line of sharp objects. Harry and Marv meet at the stairs, and Harry comments about Marv being barefoot, and Marv asking Harry why he looks like a chicken. They both look up at Kevin at the top of the stairs, who smiles and taunts them. They glance at each other, reaching an agreement to get the kid. They head toward the stairs, but slip and fall on the micro machines that are laid out on the ground. Kevin says a notable line in the story: "You guys give up or you thirsty for more?" Harry and Marv get up, and climb up the stairs, muttering angrily. They do not notice a swinging paint can, and as Kevin pushes it towards the burglars, Harry ducks and warns Marv, who gets struck on the head by the paint can. Harry responds to Marv saying that he will catch the kid for him. However they do not notice a second paint can, and as Marv yells out at Harry to duck, Harry gets hit on the head by the flying paint can. Harry plunges down the stairs, landing right on top of Marv. As they both struggle to get up, Kevin runs up the stairs calls the police, and runs up to the attic, where an escape rope and pulley leading from the attic to the treehouse was deployed.

Harry and Marv run up the stairs, and Harry is caught in the rope trap, but Marv manages to get out, grabbing one of Kevin's legs before he can escape to the attic. Then, during the struggle, Kevin notices Buzz's pet tarantula at the middle of the stairs, and as Marv is yelling at Harry, who is unconscious, to get up and help, Kevin attempts to reach the tarantula. He grabs the tarantula and puts it on Marv's face, scaring him and Harry. Kevin runs upstairs and musters up the courage to climb the rope to the treehouse. Marv, in panic, drops the spider, and it lands on Harry's stomach. Harry, still unconscious, does not react to the spider. Marv picks up his crowbar and as Harry begins to wake up, Marv slams his crowbar into Harry's stomach. Harry, not knowing what is going on, gets angry at Marv, and as Marv tries to explain the situation, Harry takes the crowbar and hits Marv before throwing it away. They run up the stairs. Meanwhile Kevin reaches the treehouse, crashing and knocking out some wood.

Harry and Marv are in the attic overlooking the treehouse, and both wonder where Kevin is. Marv guesses that Kevin committed suicide, and Harry is doubtful, until he sees the rope. Kevin tells them: "Come and get me!" and Harry figures that going downstairs is just what he wants them to do: go downstairs and get bruised up by his various traps. Harry decides to use the rope, however Marv is scared because the pulley is on Kevin's side, so he and Harry would have to travel by hand. Harry calls Marv a scaredy-cat, and this finally convinces Marv to go through with it. As they are both climbing the rope, Marv whimpers and makes several suggestions to go back. Then, Kevin steps out of the treehouse with a pair of shears and says: "Hey guys, check this out!" Harry ironically tells Marv to go back to the attic. Kevin cuts the rope, and Harry and Marv hit a wall, still hanging on the rope, and then they fall to the ground, exhausted.

Meanwhile Kevin climbs down from the treehouse and is able to escape and runs across the street to the Murphys' house that Harry and Marv had raided before. However, he is stopped by the burglars. They tell Kevin that they are going to do everything that was dealt to him. They were going to burn his head with a blowtorch, smash his face with an iron, shove a nail through his foot, and bite every single finger in his hand. Just as they are about to take revenge, Marley appears and hits them with his snow shovel and returns Kevin home safely. The police arrive and arrest the two burglars, with Kevin watching across the street, smiling. He hangs up the stockings and leaves milk and cookies on the table. He goes to his parents' bedroom and takes out a picture of his mother and father. He prays that he would have a family again.

Kevin wakes up the next morning and immediately runs downstairs, hoping that his wish to get his family back had come true. It has not, but the van pulls up to the house and Kate runs inside and finds him. Moments later, the rest of the family arrives at the house, having taken the other flight home, and Kevin tells them of his food shopping which impresses everyone. He does not tell them what happened the night before with Harry and Marv, but his father finds Harry's gold tooth on the floor.

The final scene shows Kevin looking out his window next door toward Old Man Marley's house, where his son and family are reunited for the first time in years. While watching the scene and happy that Marley had, at last, took him up on his suggestion, Kevin hears Buzz yell, "Kevin, what did you do to my room?!" Kevin runs off and the film ends.

Production

As with most of Hughes's 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. The scene where Kevin wades through a flooded basement when trying to outsmart the burglars was actually shot in the swimming pool in New Trier High School. A mock-up of the McDonnell Douglas DC10 business class was also put together in the school, on the basketball courts.

The Home Alone House, or more precisely 671 Lincoln Avenue, is a three-story single family detached house used for shooting the movies Home Alone (1990) and parts of Home Alone 2: Lost in New York (1992). It is located in the inner-ring suburbs of Chicago, in the village of Winnetka which is located around 19 miles (30km) north of the city of New Trier Township, Cook County. The private property is worth just under $2.3 million as of August 2008, and was purchased by a single family on December 15th, 1988, who still own the house today. It was built in 1920 and features 3 bedrooms, 3 full bathrooms and 2 half bathrooms, a fully-converted attic, a fireplace, a detached double garage and a greenhouse.. "Kevin's treehouse" no longer exists in the backyard, as it was built specifically for the film. 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".

Cast

• Macaulay Culkin as Kevin McCallister
• Joe Pesci as Harry
• Daniel Stern as Marv
• Roberts Blossom as Old Man Marley
• Catherine O'Hara as Kate McCallister
• John Heard as Peter McCallister
• Devin Ratray as Buzz McCallister
• Hillary Wolf as Megan McCallister
• Angela Goethals as Linnie McCallister
• Michael C. Maronna as Jeff McCallister
• Gerry Bamman as Frank McCallister
• Terrie Snell as Leslie McCallister
• Jedidiah Cohen as Rod McCallister
• Senta Moses as Tracy McCallister
• Daiana Campeanu as Sondra McCallister
• Kieran Culkin as Fuller McCallister
• Anna Slotky as Brooke McCallister

Music

Home Alone: Official Soundtrack

Released by Sony Music Entertainment in 1990, the soundtrack contained 19 tracks consisting of the original score composed by John Williams and other Christmas songs used in the film.

1. "Home Alone Main Titles" (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)

Somewhere In My Memory

The film's signature or theme tune, entitled 'Somewhere In My Memory', was actually written to 'run alongside the film' by John Williams (Home Alone's conductor), and was created to its entirety parallel to the motion picture. The song's lyrics could be considered a masterpiece because of its close connection to the movie itself, and is symbolic of Home Alone. It can be heard in numerous sections of the film, either in full length or indescretely played, forming the backbone for the movie's soundtrack and setting an innocent, nostalgic mood, mainly depicting Kevin's struggles and his sorrow. The lyrics to the song show this, and can be found here. Somewhere In My Memory today is performed in many Christmas concerts in schools or professional orchestras/choirs alike across the globe, and brings a feeling of nostalgia for those who may have seen the film already, and know all too well this modern carol. Here is an example, recently performed by the Prague Philharmonic Orchestra (P.F.O.). ,

Novelization and deleted scenes

A children's novelization of Home Alone was published several months prior to the film's initial November 1990 opening. This adaptation features chapters and pictures that showcase several large scenes that were filmed but deleted from the final film. One of the many notable cut scenes features Marv impersonating a police officer. This particular scene takes place directly after Kevin's family leaves for their vacation in Paris. The novelization also includes the surnames of the burglars: Joe Pesci's character, named Harry Lyme, is a reference to the 1940s film The Third Man.

Video games

The first Home Alone game was released in 1991. Home Alone video games were released for the Nintendo Entertainment System, the Sega Genesis, the Super Nintendo Entertainment System, and Sega Game Gear, the Game Boy, the Sega Master System, the Amiga and personal computers. The Home Alone game on the SNES system used still images and character's voices from the film in its gameplay. It also features the characters from the movie as well as new enemies created for the game including a fat gangster, ghosts, large rats and very large tarantulas.

A video game simply titled Home Alone was released for the PlayStation 2 in 2006. It was not released in the United States.

Reception

In its opening weekend, Home Alone grossed $17 million in 1,202 theaters, 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 theaters, 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.

Though the film was a great success in theaters, the film received mixed reviews from critics. Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times felt that the plot was too implausible and the entire movie too contrived.

On the review aggregator 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%.

Sequels

The film was followed by a sequel, the 1992 release Home Alone 2: Lost in New York, which brings back the original cast from the first film. Home Alone 3, release in 1997 has completely different actors, and a different storyline. A fourth film followed in 2002, Home Alone 4: Taking back the House. This film features some of the same characters featured in the first two films, but with a new cast and storyline that does not fall into the same continuity.

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 within the movie and was made specifically for Home Alone.

The film acted dramatically within 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.

In the Home Alone sequel Home Alone 2, Kevin rented and watched a film titled Angels with Even Filthier Souls.

Plot

The film involves several Chicago 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 is not 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, counting to two, then jumping straight to 10, and fires repeatedly while laughing maniacally. Snakes' body is shown lying dead on the ground, while Johnny continues to fire.

At the end of the clip, Johnny says, "Keep the change, ya filthy animal!" For humorous effect, Kevin mouths this line to the audience upon scaring Marv away.

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.
• A.C. - repeatedly referred to by Snakes as the original man in charge who owes him money. While it is never stated in the movie's dialogue, it is implied that A.C. is dead.

External links

• Home Alone at IMDb
• Home Alone at Rotten Tomatoes