American Christmas comedy - Home Alone

Home Alone is a 1990 American Christmas comedy film directed by Chris Columbus, and written and produced by John Hughes.

The first film in the Home Alone franchise, the film stars Macaulay Culkin as Kevin McCallister, an eight-year-old boy who defends his Chicago home from a home invasion by a pair of robbers after his family accidentally leaves him behind on their Christmas vacation to Paris. The cast also features Joe Pesci, Daniel Stern, John Heard, and Catherine O'Hara.

Hughes conceived Home Alone while on vacation, with Warner Bros. being originally intended to finance and distribute the film. Warner Bros. shut down the production after it exceeded its assigned budget, but it quickly resumed under 20th Century Fox following meetings with Hughes; Columbus and Culkin were hired soon afterwards. Filming took place between February and May 1990 on location across Illinois.

Home Alone had a sneak preview across 1,000 theaters on November 10, 1990, and was theatrically released in the United States on November 16. Although the film's reception was initially mixed, in later years its reception has been generally positive, with praise for its cast, humor, and music. Home Alone grossed $476.7 million worldwide, becoming the second-highest-grossing film of 1990. It made Culkin a child star, and was the highest-grossing live-action comedy for two decades. It was nominated for two Academy Awards and two Golden Globe Awards. Home Alone has since been considered one of the best Christmas films. In 2023, Home Alone was selected for preservation in the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant". A sequel, Home Alone 2: Lost in New York, was released in 1992.

Plot

The McCallister family prepares to spend Christmas in Paris, gathering at Kate and Peter's home in Winnetka, a Chicago suburb, on the night before their departure. Kate and Peter's youngest son Kevin is ridiculed by his siblings and cousins due to his immaturity. Kevin inadvertently ruins the family dinner after a scuffle with his oldest brother Buzz, resulting in Kate punishing him by sending him up to the attic. Frustrated with Kate for allowing the rest of the family to pick on him, Kevin wishes that his family would disappear. During the night, high winds cause a power outage, disabling the alarm clocks and causing the family to oversleep. In the confusion and rush to get to O'Hare Airport, Kevin is accidentally left behind.

Kevin wakes to find the house empty and the family cars still in the garage, unaware that they had rented vans to take them to the airport. Thinking that his wish has come true, he is overjoyed with his newfound freedom. Later, Kevin becomes frightened by his eccentric next-door neighbor, "Old Man" Marley, rumored to be a serial killer nicknamed the "South Bend Shovel Slayer" who murdered his own family. The McCallister home is soon stalked by the "Wet Bandits", Harry and Marv, a pair of burglars who have been breaking into other houses in the neighborhood where the families are on vacation. Kevin tricks them into thinking that his family is still home, forcing them to postpone their plans to rob the McCallister house.

Kate realizes mid-flight that Kevin was left behind, and upon arrival in Paris, Kate plans to return home immediately due to Kevin being home alone, but the family discovers that all flights for the next two days are booked, and that the phone lines are still down back home in Chicago. Peter and the rest of the family stay at his brother Rob's apartment in Paris while Kate stays at the airport in hopes of finding a seat on an outbound flight to Chicago more quickly. Kate is unsuccessful, but convinces a couple to trade tickets to Dallas, Texas with her. After then flying to Scranton, Pennsylvania, she meets Gus Polinski, the lead member of a traveling polka band, who offers to let her travel with them to Chicago in a moving van on the way to Milwaukee.

On Christmas Eve, Harry and Marv finally realize that only Kevin is in the McCallister home, and Kevin overhears them discussing plans to break into the house that night. He starts to miss his family and asks the local Santa Claus impersonator if he could bring them back for Christmas. Kevin attends a church choir performance, eventually re-encountering Marley, who proves the rumors about himself to be false. Marley points out his granddaughter in the choir and mentions he has never met her since she is the daughter of his estranged son. Kevin suggests he try to reconcile with his son.

Kevin returns home and rigs the house with handmade booby traps. Harry and Marv break in, spring the traps, and suffer various injuries. Kevin calls the police and lures the duo into a neighboring house that they had previously broken into. Harry and Marv ambush Kevin and prepare to get their revenge, but Marley intervenes and knocks them out with his snow shovel. The police arrive and arrest Harry and Marv, having identified all the houses that they broke into due to Marv's habit of flooding them by leaving sinks running after plugging up the drains.

On Christmas Day, Kevin is initially disappointed after waking to find that his family is still gone. However, Kate arrives home a few minutes later and they reconcile. The rest of the family then returns only a few minutes after that, having waited in Paris for a direct flight to Chicago. Kevin keeps silent about his encounter with Harry and Marv, although Peter finds Harry's knocked-out gold tooth. Kevin then happily watches Marley reuniting with his family.

Directed by  Chris Columbus
Written by John Hughes
Produced by John Hughes

Cinematography Julio Macat
Edited by Raja Gosnell
Music byJohn Williams

Production companies

• 20th Century Fox
• Hughes Entertainment

Distributed by20th Century Fox

Release dates

• November 10, 1990 (sneak preview)
• November 16, 1990 (United States)

Running time - 103 minutes
Country United States
Language English
Budget $ 18 million
Box office $ 476.7 million

Cast

• Macaulay Culkin as Kevin, an eight-year-old with a penchant for creating harmful inventions
• Joe Pesci as Harry, a thief who targets the McCallisters' home with Marv
• Daniel Stern as Marv, a thief who targets the McCallisters' home with Harry
• John Heard as Peter, Kevin's father
• Roberts Blossom as Marley, Kevin's elderly neighbor
• Catherine O'Hara as Kate, Kevin's mother
• Angela Goethals as Linnie, Kevin's older sister
• Devin Ratray as Buzz, Kevin's oldest brother who often gets him into trouble
• Gerry Bamman as Uncle Frank, Peter's rude, cruel, cantankerous, cheap, and selfish older brother and Kevin's uncle
• Hillary Wolf as Megan, Kevin's oldest sister
• John Candy as Gus Polinski, a kind-hearted polka musician who helps Kate
• Larry Hankin as Officer Balzak
• Michael C. Maronna as Jeff, Kevin's older brother
• Kristin Minter as Heather, Kevin's oldest cousin
• Daiana Campeanu as Sondra, Kevin's older cousin
• Jedidiah Cohen as Rod, Kevin's older cousin and Rob's older son who is living with Uncle Frank and Aunt Leslie
• Kieran Culkin as Fuller, Kevin's youngest cousin
• Senta Moses as Tracy, Kevin's older cousin
• Anna Slotky as Brook, Kevin's younger cousin
• Terrie Snell as Aunt Leslie, Uncle Frank's wife and Kevin's aunt
• Jeffrey Wiseman as Mitch Murphy, eight-year-old neighbor of the McCallisters whom Heather mistakes for Kevin during the headcount
• Virginia Smith as Georgette, Kevin's aunt, wife of Uncle Rob, and mother of Heather, Rod, and Steffan
• Matt Doherty as Steffan, Kevin's older cousin and the son of Rob and Georgette
• Ralph Foody as gangster #1 (Johnny; character in the film Angels with Filthy Souls)
• Michael Guido as gangster #2 (Snakes; character in the film Angels with Filthy Souls)
• Ray Toler as Uncle Rob, Kevin's uncle, younger brother of Peter and Uncle Frank, and father of Heather, Rod, and Steffan
• Billie Bird as woman in airport (Irene, who sells Kate her ticket to Dallas)
• Bill Erwin as man in airport (Ed, Irene's husband who reluctantly agrees with Irene's ticket sale)
• Gerry Becker as officer #1
• Alan Wilder as Scranton ticket agent
• Hope Davis as French ticket agent
• Kenneth Hudson Campbell as Santa (local Claus impersonator to whom Kevin expresses his wish for a family reunion)
• Jim Ortlieb as Herb the drugstore clerk

Credits adapted from the American Film Institute.

Production

Writer and producer John Hughes conceived Home Alone while preparing to go on vacation. He said: "I was going away on vacation, and making a list of everything I didn't want to forget. I thought, 'Well, I'd better not forget my kids.' Then I thought, 'What if I left my 10-year-old son at home? What would he do?'" Hughes wrote eight pages of notes that developed into the screenplay. Imagining that children are naturally most scared of robbers, Hughes also worked that aspect into the plot of the film.

Home Alone was initially set to be financed and distributed by Warner Bros. Hughes promised that he could make the movie for less than $10 million, considerably less than most feature film production budgets of that era. Concerned that the film might exceed that amount, Hughes met secretly with 20th Century Fox before production to see if they would fund the project if Warner Bros. proved inflexible. According to executive producer Scott Rosenfelt, a copy of the script was "clandestinely" delivered to Fox, bypassing the legal restrictions that would have otherwise prevented Fox from seeing it until the project was in turnaround. Early in production, the budget grew to $14.7 million. Warner Bros. demanded that it be cut by $1.2 million; the producers responded with a memo arguing that the budget could not be cut any further. Unconvinced, Warner Bros. shut down production the next day, but it quickly resumed when Fox took up Hughes on his offer. The final budget grew to $18 million.

Hughes had asked Patrick Read Johnson to direct, but he was committed to directing Spaced Invaders (1990). He turned to Chris Columbus, who had left National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation (1989) before shooting started because of a personality clash with starring actor Chevy Chase, who Columbus said treated him "like dirt". Hughes gave him the scripts for both Home Alone and Reach the Rock (1998); Columbus chose to direct Home Alone, as he found it funnier and liked the Christmas theme. Columbus did an uncredited rewrite of the script; among his contributions was the character of Old Man Marley, which he created to give the story a more serious layer, as well as a more emotional, happier ending.

Casting

Hughes suggested to Columbus that they cast Macaulay Culkin as Kevin, because of his experience while shooting Uncle Buck (1989). Columbus met with 200 other actors for the part, as he felt it was his "directorial responsibility". John Mulaney was asked to audition for the role of Kevin after being scouted in a children's sketch comedy group, but his parents refused the opportunity. Columbus finally met with Culkin and agreed he was the right choice.

After Robert De Niro and Jon Lovitz turned down the role of Harry, Joe Pesci accepted it. The role of Uncle Frank was written for Kelsey Grammer, but was given to Gerry Bamman when Grammer was unavailable.

Daniel Stern was cast as Marv, but before shooting started, he was told that the production schedule had been extended from six weeks to eight. He dropped out after as he would not be paid more for the extended schedule. Daniel Roebuck was hired to replace him, but after two days of rehearsal, Columbus felt he was lacking chemistry with Pesci and brought back Stern. Roebuck later said that, although he was upset to be fired from the production, he now believed the experience was "a little blip of unimportance". Chris Farley auditioned for the role of the Santa Claus impersonator, but he failed to impress Columbus.

John Candy was available for only one day to film his scenes, which took 23 hours to shoot. He was paid only $414, since he did the film as a favor to Hughes. In return, he was the only actor Hughes allowed to go off-script; according to Columbus, all his dialogue was improvised.

Filming

Principal photography took place from February 14, 1990, to May 8, 1990, over a course of 83 days on an $18.3 million budget. The house exterior scenes were filmed on location at a three-story single-family house located at 671 Lincoln Avenue in the North Shore village of Winnetka, Illinois, where many of Hughes' previous films had also been shot, but at different houses. The only interiors of the house used for filming that made it to the finished film were the main staircase, attic and most of the first floor landing, while all the other interiors of the house were duplicated on a sound stage to allow more room for equipment and crew. These sets were built in the then-disused gym of New Trier High School's west campus, previously used by Hughes for Uncle Buck and Ferris Bueller's Day Off, where the production company had already set up its offices. 671 Lincoln Avenue later became a tourist attraction. The tree house in the backyard was built specifically for the film and dismantled after filming ended.

Kevin runs away from his third encounter with Marley in Hubbard Woods Park in Winnetka. In addition, the scene where Kevin wades in his neighbor's flooded basement was shot at the empty swimming pool of the aforementioned campus of New Trier High School, with the American Airlines DC-10 first class cabin interiors done on the basketball courts. The church exteriors were shot at Trinity United Methodist Church in Wilmette, Illinois, while the interiors were shot at Grace Episcopal Church in Oak Park, Illinois. Filming also took place over four sixteen-hour days at O'Hare International Airport, which served for both itself and Orly Airport in Paris. John Candy filmed his cameo appearance for the film over the course of one day at Meigs Field.

For the film within a film, Angels with Filthy Souls (the title of which parodies the 1938 crime film Angels with Dirty Faces), shooting took only one day, on the final "test day" prior to the official start of principal photography. To create the illusion that the film was an authentic 1940s gangster film, the scene was filmed on black-and-white negative film, and Johnny's office featured props from that era. Like much of the film, most of the sequence was shot with low, wide angles that, according to journalist Darryn King, "capture the action as if a child were perceiving it". Originally, Ralph Foody was to play Snakes and Michael Guido was to play Johnny, but since Foody had recently undergone knee replacement surgery, he was unable to do the death scene where Snakes drops to his knees, leading to the roles being switched.

Cinematographer Julio Macat recalled that Pesci was more difficult to work with than Culkin. The older actor believed some of the dialogue was not of a quality commensurate with his acting ability. He also resented the early unit calls, since they prevented him from starting his day with nine holes of golf as he preferred to do. After he took the assistant director by the collar one day to complain about this, daily call times were moved back from 7 to 9 a.m. to accommodate his rounds. On the other end of the schedule, the crew had limited time to film the many nighttime scenes, since Culkin could not work any later than 10 p.m. due to his age.

Pesci said in a 2022 interview with People of working with Culkin, "I intentionally limited my interactions with him to preserve the dynamic" and made sure not "to come across on the screen that we were in any way friendly" in order to "maintain the integrity of the adversarial relationship".

On the set, Pesci and Stern both had difficulty refraining from cursing, which became annoying to Pesci, since Culkin was on set as well. In fact, the only curse words that made it into the film were "shit", accidentally said by Daniel Stern when his shoe fell through the pet door, and "hell", which was said by both Pesci and Stern after their characters encounter one another after going through Kevin's booby traps and by Johnny to the character of Snakes in Angels with Filthy Souls. Pesci's use of "cartoon cursing", or menacing gibberish, garnered comparisons to Looney Tunes character Yosemite Sam.

The film's stunts also created tension for the crew during shooting. Columbus said, "Every time the stunt guys did one of those stunts it wasn't funny. We'd watch it, and I would just pray that the guys were alive." Stunts were originally prepared with safety harnesses, but because of their visibility on camera, the film's final stunts were performed without them. Troy Brown and Leon Delaney were stuntmen for Pesci and Stern, respectively. An injury had occurred between Pesci and Culkin during one of the rehearsals for the scene in which Harry tries to bite off Kevin's finger; Culkin still has the scar. The tarantula that walks on Stern's face was real.

Senta Moses, who played Tracy, recalled in 2020 that one of the most difficult scenes to shoot was the family's run through O'Hare International Airport to catch their flight. While it does not last long, it required several days to film. "There were thousands of extras, all expertly choreographed so none of us would be in danger running at full speed through the American Airlines terminal", she told The Hollywood Reporter. "And we ran at full speed. Sometimes we'd bump into each other, like a multi-car pileup on the expressway, and just crack up laughing ... There were so many setups and narrowly missed moments of disaster, but to my knowledge, no one got hurt."