'' 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
France for a
Christmas vacation. While initially relishing his time alone, he is later threatened with two house
Burglar s, whom he outwits by rigging the house with
Booby Trap s.
Most of the film was shot in the Chicago suburbs of
Winnetka, Illinois and
Wilmette, Illinois . Any other shots, such as those of Paris, are either
Stock Footage or faked.
The movie made Culkin a world-renowned actor. The film also features
Joe Pesci and
Daniel Stern as the "Wet Bandits," a bumbling pair of fugitive burglars named Harry and Marv who want to rob the McCallister home, believing it to be an easy target with the entire family seemingly absent. However, the duo run into numerous booby traps set throughout the house by the resourceful Kevin. Bruised and battered, they end up being re-captured by the police.
Catherine O'Hara ,
Roberts Blossom , and
John Heard also co-star.
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 a
Polka band player.
John Williams created the musical score, which was nominated for an Oscar.
After a fight with his older brother, Buzz, in front of the rest of the family results in him being sent up to the third floor for the night, Kevin McCallister wishes his family would simply disappear. After a power line failure which neutralizes all the alarm clocks, the rest of the family rushes to leave to go on a Christmas vacation to
Paris, France . During the confusion, Kevin is accidentally left home alone and experiences what it is like to be independent for the first time. This independence has some good sides (such as being able to sleep in his parents' king-sized bed) and some bad sides (such as having to go into the scary
Basement alone). He also is wary of his neighbor, Marley, a.k.a. The South Bend Shovel Slayer. The evening before being left alone, Kevin had overheard two of his brothers talking about Marley, saying that he had murdered his whole family and several of his neighbours in
1958 , but hadn't been imprisoned since there was not enough evidence for such a conviction, despite all of the local people supposedly being certain of his guilt. Kevin and Marley end up meeting each other at church on
Christmas Eve . Marley turns out to be a good person, who did not murder his family, but had an argument with them a few years earlier (not as far back as
1958 ), especially with his son, and now lives in seclusion over the fear of what might happen if he talks to them again. Kevin suggests that Marley try to contact them and make up, since things aren't going to get any better for him or his family if he does nothing.
Kevin suddenly remembers Harry saying that they will return to strikes nine. Then, the plan begins. Eventually the Wet Bandits, injured by all of Kevin's traps, follow him into Mr. Murphy's house (a neighbor's house the two had robbed earlier in the week) and capture Kevin. Just as they are talking about revenge, Marley arrives to hit each of the burglars on the head with his shovel, knocking the burglars out. A few minutes later, the police arrive and arrest both burglars. Kevin is finally reunited with his family, who have since returned from Paris. In the last scene, Marley, reunited with his family, waves to Kevin and smiles, then Buzz shouts about Kevin messing up his room, reflecting on one of the events that happened earlier in the film.
The main characters include:
- whose parents accidentally leave him at home when they go on a family vacation to Paris .
- Joe Pesci as : the smarter of the two criminals known as the "Wet Bandits," whose plan it is to loot every house on the McCallister's wealthy suburban neighborhood before the residents come home from their Christmas vacations. He often mutters "ratcha fatcha" whenever he falls into one of Kevin's traps.
- moment was where he to tried to stop Harry from robbing the McCallister's house with Kevin inside it.
- Roberts Blossom as : the a local man who was thought to be the alleged "South Bend Shovel Slayer."
- . She desperately tries to get back to him at all costs, even if she has to "sell her soul to the devil himself."
- A Family Comedy Without the Family.
- When the McCallister family left on their Christmas vacation, they forgot one minor detail...Kevin. But don't worry. He cooks, he cleans, he kicks some butt!
- Yesterday, he was just a kid. But, tonight, he's a home security system!
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 Computer s.
- 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 .
- '''' (1992)
- '' Home Alone 3 '' (1997)
- '' Home Alone 4 '' (2002)
Culkin, Pesci, Stern, and most of the McCallister family members only appeared in the first sequel. ''Home Alone 3'' had an entirely different plot-line and cast, whereas ''Home Alone 4'' was a continuation of the first two films, but with completely different actors.
In its opening weekend, ''Home Alone'' made $17 million from 1,202 theatres, averaging $14,211 per site and just 6% of the final total. In total, its cinema run grossed $477,561,243 worldwide.
Home Alone at BoxOfficeMojo.com
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.
''Home Alone'' proved so popular that it stayed in theatres well past the Christmas season, and stayed at the #1 spot at the box office 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 falling out of the top 10 for good.
Home Alone total gross at BoxOfficeMojo.com
- Gets shot in the crotch by Kevin with Buzz's BB air rifle in the back door.
- Slips on the icy front door steps twice.
- Burns his right hand on the red-hot front doorknob heated by an electric charcoal starter heating element, leaving an M-shaped Brand on his palm (the knob was presumably monogrammed for the McCallisters), that is seen in the next movie.
- Sets his head on fire by a blow-torch activated by a string tied to the back door, ripping his hat open and burning his scalp.
- Runs into a piece of plastic wrap coated with glue/caulk, then gets blasted with feathers blown from a large fan; effectively being Tarred And Feathered .
- Gets tripped by a string stretched across the upstairs hallway.
- Gets hit in the stomach by Marv with a crowbar when the latter was trying to kill Axl, Buzz’s tarantula.
- Gets shot in the forehead by Kevin with Buzz's BB air rifle in the back door.
- Slips on the icy stairs leading to basement door.
- Gets hit in the face by an iron falling down the laundry chute while trying to turn on a light.
- After losing his shoes and socks on tar-covered steps, he attempts to get up to a door. Halfway up he steps on a nail, which goes into his foot. He falls backwards landing on his back.
- Slips on the icy basement stairs again while leaving the basement.
- Steps on glass Christmas ornaments while trying to sneak in through a window, hurting his feet.
- Kevin places Axl (Buzz’s tarantula) on his head which, although not seriously hurting him, scares him silly.
- Gets hit in the left arm three times by Harry with his crowbar after failing to kill Axl.
- Slip on Micro Machines toy cars laid by Kevin in the main entrance.
- Get hit in the face with 2 paint cans (Harry loses his gold tooth in the process, which infuriates him).
- While the two are trying to get to the tree house using a Zip Line connecting the tree house with the main house, Kevin cuts the rope causing them to swing into a brick wall and fall on the ground.
- Get knocked out by Marley with a snow shovel in the Murphy's house.
- Uncle Buck - has similar characteristics (e.g. Macaulay Culkin, John Candy, similar house, etc.)
- - A sequel to this movie also starring Macaulay Culkin , Joe Pesci and Daniel Stern .
- Home Alone 3 - A sequel to this movie with totally different cast and characters.
- - The third sequel to this movie with the same characters as in this and its sequel only with different cast.
- Latchkey Kid - can also refer to children left at home alone after school and for extended periods of time.
