“Home Alone” is a film that no doubt will entertain the young and young at heart, and having grown up with this film, I appreciate the film more as I get older. “Home Alone” is a fantastic holiday film for the entire family that is worth watching!
PURCHASE THIS FILM ON AMAZON PRIME
TITLE: Home Alone
FILM YEAR: 1990
DURATION: 102 Minutes
BLU-RAY DISC INFORMATION: 1080p High Definition
COMPANY: 20th Century Fox
RATED: PG
Directed by Chris Columbus
Written by John Hughes
Executive Producer: Tarquin Gotch, Mark Levinson, Scott M. Rosenfelt
Producer: John Hughes
Associate Producer: Mark Radcliffe
Music by John Williams
Cinematography by Julio Macat
Edited by Raja Gosnell
Casting by Janet Hirshenson, Jane Jenkins
Production Design by John Muto
Set Decoration by Eve Cauley, Daniel B. Clancy
Costume Design by Jay Hurley
Starring:
Macaulay Culkin as Kevin
Joe Pesci as Harry
Daniel Stern as Peter
Roberts Blossom as Marley
Catherine O’Hara as Kate
Angela Goethals as Linnie
Devin Ratray as Buzz
Gerry Bamman as Uncle Frank
Hillary Wolf as Megan
John Candy as Gus Polinski
Larry Hankin as Officer Balzak
Michael C. Maronna as Jeff
Kristin Minter as Heather
Diana Rein as Sondra
Kieran Culkin as Fuller
Senta Moses Mikan as Tracy
When bratty 8-year-old Kevin McCallister (Macaulay Culkin) acts out the night before a family trip to Paris, his mother (Catherine O’Hara) makes him sleep in the attic. After the McCallisters mistakenly leave for the airport without Kevin, he awakens to an empty house and assumes his wish to have no family has come true. But his excitement sours when he realizes that two con men (Joe Pesci, Daniel Stern) plan to rob the McCallister residence, and that he alone must protect the family home.
For Day 39, what best than to review the Christmas classic “Home Alone”.
Way before he would go on to direct the first two “Harry Potter” films, “Mrs. Doubtfire” and “Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief”, Chris Columbus would direct his third film, after thge success of “Adventures in Babysitting” and “Heartbreak Hotel”.
For writer John Hughes, who wrote hits such as “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off”, “Planes, Trains & Automobiles”, “Uncle Buck” and “The Breakfast Club”, but one day preparing for vacation and making a list of things not to forget, wondered “what if I left my 10-year-old son at home? What would he do?”.
This idea would become the 1990 film “Home Alone” and for video releases, it was the first video to be direct-to-sell versus going on the video rental market first and sold 11 million copies back in 1991.
Since then, it has been an annual film shown on television during the holidays and became an instant holiday classic.
The film would revolve around the McCallister family (multiple families) preparing for a big family trip to Paris. And while everyone is gathered at Peter (portrayed by John Heard) and Kate’s (portrayed by Catherine O’Hara) home and things are a bit chaotic, burglar Harry (portrayed by Joe Pesci) impersonating a copy, decides to get more information on how long the family will be gone.
Unfortunately, as the families are trying to prepare for their trip and eat a quick pizza the night before, Kevin (portrayed by Macaulay Culkin) gets into trouble for getting in a shoving match with his older brother Buzz (portrayed by Devin Ratray) and spilling milk on the food and on others and causing trouble. So as punishment, his mother has Kevin sleeping in the attic as punishment.
On the morning when everyone is to leave to the airport, as everyone is doing a count and making sure everyone is ready to go, the neighbor’s kid is included in the count (while Kevin is still in the attic sleeping) and everyone leaves to the airport to head off to Paris.
When Kevin wakes up, he notices no one is home. He remembers what happened the night before and thinks he made his family disappear. Immediately, Kevin starts doing the things inside the house that he was not supposed to.
Meanwhile,on the plane, Kate feels that there is something they forgot and she realizes they forgot Kevin.
As Kevin is home alone, burglars Harry and his partner, Marv (portrayed by Daniel Stern) observe the McCallister home, as they intend to rob it.
How will Kevin do, while home alone with no family? And will his mother Kate find a way to get back home for Kevin with hardly any flights available for the holidays?
I absolutely love “Home Alone”. It has the ’90s style of Christmas extravagance with the big ’90s home, Christmas decorations, tartan and plaid clothing that is no doubt signature of Ralph Lauren holiday style and it’s one of the few film where I was enamored by the overall style, may it be set design or costume design.
But of course, it’s the adventure of Kevin that you gravitate to. A young boy having to live by himself and how far will he be able to go? What can he do? Or how much damage can he cause?
Meanwhile, he has the fear of his neighbor due to Buzz’s horror story and you have two house burglars trying to get into the McCallister home.
And then you have the opposite side through the eyes of mother Kate, who realizes that she left her young son at home and is now desperate to go back to him.
This film is so entertaining and holds up 31 years after it was first released in theaters. Similar to the 1983 film “A Christmas Story”, the love of Christmas through the eyes of a child makes us nostalgic of the Christmas that we absolutely loved and enjoyed and were entertained.
“Home Alone” is a film that no doubt will entertain the young and young at heart, and having grown up with this film, I appreciate the film more as I get older. “Home Alone” is a fantastic holiday film for the entire family that is worth watching!
PURCHASE THIS FILM ON AMAZON PRIME
