Vacation (1983)

  I must have completely forgotten what it was like to have a baby when I decided to start this blog.  I don’t have time to watch any movies!  Oh sure, I spend a lot of time in front of the TV, but only for short periods of time.  I nurse the baby in front of the TV for fifteen to twenty minutes and then the second that baby is asleep, I am rushing to  do one or more of the following things: eat, sleep, pee, or shower – none of which are conducive to watching an hour and a half movie.  So instead, I wind up watching bits and pieces of daytime TV – which depresses me.  Sigh.

  A couple of nights ago, however, I came across a gem.  The Biography Channel had a two-hour special on the making of National Lampoon’s Vacation.  I recorded it and over the past couple of days have watched it in segments.  From this documentary, I have gained three new insights into one of my all-time favorite films.

1.   It wasn’t until after John Hughes’ death in 2009 that I learned that Vacation was his first screenplay.  On one hand, it made sense to me.  He is my favorite screenwriter and Vacation is one of my favorite movies.  But on the other hand, there is something about Vacation that doesn’t match the teen movies of his early career.  And then I found out why.  .  .

John Hughes’ original screenplay was written from the perspective of the two teenagers in the backseat of the Family Truckster!  Of course!  That’s the Hughes we know and love.

Harold Ramis, the director of Vacation, cast Chevy Chase as Clark W. Griswold and decided to capitalize on Chevy’s popularity and comedic talent by shifting the perspective from the kids to the father.  He and Chevy rewrote much of the dialogue to reflect this change.  I have no idea if this made for a better movie or not, but it certainly maintains Hughes’ status as the voice of the American teenager.  

       2.  John Hughes originally wrote this as a short story and someone at National Lampoon said it would make a great movie and someone else said it wouldn’t because it was too “episodic.”  This got me thinking about the plot structure of Hughes’ movies (because plot is my number one problem in my own writing). 

Hughes typically has a simple plot line that is held together by numerous episodes.  The Griswold family is on a journey to Wallyworld.  The Breakfast Club must complete an essay before the end of the day.  Ferris Buehler intends to skip a day of school without getting caught.  In Pretty in Pink, Andie wants a date to the prom.  These plotlines are unremarkable in and of themselves – every day sort of stuff, but it is the hilarious, over the top, or heart wrenching episodes that hold the stories together.  This should be my model for my own plot structures from now on.  I have the scenes; I just need to find that overarching quest to hold the story together.  It doesn’t have to be some extravagant adventure or crisis, just a common, every day want that my protagonist has.  This realization may have just changed my life.

Also, I love the word “episodic.”

3.  After Vacation was completed, the filmmakers showed it to a test audience who laughed uproariously until the last twenty minutes of the movie.  The original ending had Clark, upon learning that Wallyworld was closed, purchasing a pellet gun and a Hollywood map to the stars’ homes.  He found Roy Wally at his home and made him entertain his family at gun point.  One movie goer remarked, “We’ve been waiting the whole movie to see Wallyworld.  We want to see Wallyworld!”

So John Hughes was rehired to write a new ending to the movie in which the Griswold family got to enjoy Wallyworld, even though it was closed.  Everyone agreed the new ending was much more satisfying.

Which leads me to my last lesson learned from the Vacation documentary – you need an audience to know whether or not your writing works.  How do you know it’s funny if there’s no one to laugh at the jokes?  How do you know it’s heart wrenching if there’s no one to weep?  How do you know what needs to be fixed if there’s no one to tell you what is broken? My writing can only get so good with me working on it at home by myself.  If I want to take it to the next level, I have to put it out to test audiences.  Thank goodness I have a writers’ critique group now, and that is helping a lot.  But I need fans, too.  Just people who like to read to see what they think and to let me know if things are coming across the way I intend them to.  This is the hardest thing for me.  I hate putting a friend or family member in the position to read what I’ve written and have to tell me that the ending doesn’t work or the main character isn’t loveable, or your story has no plot.  But if I don’t, I run the risk of trying to sell a novel that just doesn’t work and I’ll never get anywhere doing that.

And, if anyone is still reading at this point, here is my original review of National Lampoon’s Vacation from 2009:

Tribute to John Hughes: Vacation

August 17, 2009 at 10:52am

Vacation (1983)

Favorite Quote This Time Around: "Come on, honey. We can't close our eyes to the plight of the city! Kids, you noticing all this plight?"

Character I Most Identify With: The mom

Friday nights at my dad’s house were “movie nights.” Blake and I got to pick the movies; Dad ordered the pizza. I remember one night when we had chosen “Vacation” for the 500th time. My dad said, “’Vacation’ again? You know there are other movies besides this one, right?” Yeah, we knew there were other movies, but we also knew NONE of them were as funny as this one!

I watched it again while I was packing for this summer’s family vacation to Yellowstone National Park. I think this movie might be the reason for my neurosis while planning and getting ready for any family vacation. I make lists, I make reservations, I double check first aid kits, I plan for any contingency. I make myself so crazy in preparation that I almost dread the actual trip. I pack more diapers than any human baby would ever need in one week’s time. I pack snacks as though we might be stranded in the woods for months with no convenience store in sight. I stash emergency entertainment throughout the truck, (which proved invaluable this time around).

I relate to “Vacation” on a whole new level now that I’m a parent. Poor Clark. He desperately wants to show his kids a good time, expose them to new sights, give them a vacation to remember, and not only does everything go wrong, but his kids don’t care about Dodge City, or Wally World, for that matter. I had to smile and shake my head while in the Upper Geyser Basin of YNP. Hayden sat with his back to the most active geyser basin in the entire world and played in the dirt and rocks. Justice was a million times more impressed with her ice cream cone than the eruption of Old Faithful.

Ultimately a family vacation is about spending time together as a family. The mishaps become part of the story that makes remembering the vacation fun. This vacation will always be remembered in our family as the vacation in which our plans coincided with the First Family’s. Not only did we see geysers, bison, and elk, we saw C5’s, Apache Helicopters, and Secret Service Agents. Can you imagine the packing list the Obamas need for family vacation?!

Ferris Bueller's Day Off (1986)

Tribute to John Hughes: Ferris Bueller's Day Off

August 22, 2009 at 1:08pm

Ferris Bueller’s Day Off (1986)

Favorite Tirade: “I do have a test today, that wasn't bullshit. It's on European socialism. I mean, really, what's the point? I'm not European. I don't plan on being European. So who gives a crap if they're socialists? They could be fascist anarchists, it still doesn't change the fact that I don't own a car. Not that I condone fascism, or any -ism for that matter. -Ism's in my opinion are not good. A person should not believe in an -ism, he should believe in himself. I quote John Lennon, "I don't believe in Beatles, I just believe in me." Good point there. After all, he was the walrus. I could be the walrus. I'd still have to bum rides off people.”

Character I Most Identify With: Cameron (“When Cameron was in Egypt’s land, let my Cameron go.”)

When is the last time you took a day off? Not HAD a day off, but TOOK a day off? And not took a day off because you had an appointment or to chip away at your to-do list, but took a day off and behaved like a tourist in your own city? It’s been a while since I’ve done it. I know that sounds a little snotty after being home for ten weeks, but it’s different when you don’t have to work. There’s something extra satisfying about doing something fun when you should be somewhere else. Like when they’re at the baseball game and Ferris says to Cameron, “Do you realize if we played by the rules we’d be in gym right now?” Then they giggle. That’s what makes this movie so great, because everybody can relate to the feeling of euphoria when you get away with something fun when you should be doing something else.

I do that in my classroom sometimes. It’s usually spontaneous and it’s usually in the spring. I look at my class and I say, “I don’t feel like it today.” And, of course, they say, “We don’t either,” and then we play a game instead of the lesson that was planned for the day. It’s way more fun than if I plan a game day. We all feel like we’re getting away with something together.

The truth is most of us are a lot more like Cameron than we are like Ferris. We are wound up tight and play by the rules for fear we’ll get in trouble. Sometimes we can’t even enjoy taking a day off because we feel guilty that we should be doing something else or we worry that we’ll get caught. This movie is really about Cameron. Through the course of his day off, he learns to be a little more like Ferris. We know at the end of the movie, that even though he’s just totaled his father’s Ferrari and is in more trouble than he has ever been in his whole life, he is more okay now that when he woke up in the morning.

So, here’s a challenge to all you Camerons out there: sometime in the next year, take a Ferris Bueller Day Off. Don’t plan it. One morning, you will wake up and think, “I don’t feel like it today.” Call in sick. Maybe call a friend or two and peer pressure them into joining you. Then go check out your own city with new eyes. Go somewhere nice for lunch. Join a parade. Don’t do anything productive. I think you will be better off. I really do.

On a final note: I started listening to the band, Save Ferris, simply because they named themselves after this movie. They do a great cover of Dexy Midnight Runners’ “Come On Eileen.”