Home Alone

 

Home Alone

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article is about the 1990 film. For the series, see Home Alone (franchise). For other uses, see Home Alone (disambiguation).

Home Alone
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Chris Columbus
Produced by	John Hughes
Written by	John Hughes
Starring	Macaulay Culkin Joe Pesci Daniel Stern John Heard Catherine O'Hara
Music by	John Williams
Cinematography	Julio Macat
Editing by	Raja Gosnell
Studio	Hughes Entertainment
Distributed by	20th Century Fox
Release date(s)	November 16, 1990 (1990-11-16)
Running time	102 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$18 million[1]
Box office	$476,684,675[1]

Home Alone is a 1990 American family comedy film written and produced by John Hughes and directed by Chris Columbus. The film stars 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 would-be burglars played by Daniel Stern and Joe Pesci. The film also features Catherine O'Hara and John Heard as Kevin's parents. As of 2009, Home Alone was the highest grossing comedy of all time.^[2]

 

Plot

^{The night before their flight to Paris for the Christmas holiday, the McCallister family gathers at the Chicago suburb home of Peter and Kate McCallister. Their eight-year-old son Kevin is ridiculed by his siblings and cousins. After a fight with his older brother Buzz, Kevin is sent to the third floor of the house, where he wishes his family would disappear. During the night, a power outage resets the alarm clocks and causes the family to oversleep. In the confusion and rush to reach their flight on time, Kevin is left behind and the family does not realize it until they are already airborne. once in Paris, Peter and Kate desperately try to book a flight home, but find all the flights booked for the next 2 days. The clerks put Kate on standby for any possible seat opening. The rest of the family go to their relative's home in Paris.}

^{Meanwhile, Kevin wakes up to find the house empty and is overjoyed with his new freedom. He practices shooting with Buzz's BB gun, jumps on the bed, watches a gangster film, and eats a large serving of junk food, but accidentally wrecks Buzz's room. The Chicago Police Department arrive to check on him but are unable to find him and consider his parents' call a hoax. Kevin also deals with his fear of his next door neighbor "Old Man" Marley, who is rumored to have murdered his family many years earlier, and the Wet Bandits, Harry and Marv, criminals named for Marv's tendency to intentionally flood the homes they rob. The pair are robbing the area's vacant homes and have targeted Kevin's. Kevin keeps the pair at bay by tricking them into thinking the house is still inhabited, but they eventually realize Kevin is alone.}

^{Kate gets a flight to the USA, but ends up in Pennsylvania. She tries to book a flight to Chicago but they are again all booked. Kate refuses to accept the situation, and she is overheard by Gus Polinski, the lead member of a traveling polka band, who offers to let her travel with them to Chicago on their way to Milwaukee. Kate happily accepts.}

^{On Christmas Eve, Kevin overhears Harry and Marv discussing plans for breaking into his house that night. Kevin goes to church and watches a choir perform. Marley sits beside Kevin and the pair talk; he learns that Marley is actually a nice person and the rumors about him are false. He tells Kevin he is watching the choir because his granddaughter is in it, and he never gets to see her because he and his son have not spoken in years after they had a quarrel. Kevin advises him to reconcile with his son.}

^{Kevin returns home and rigs the building with various booby traps. Harry and Marv break in, triggering various traps and suffering burns, impalement and a lost tooth. While the pair close in on Kevin, he calls the police and escapes the house into a neighboring vacant home. Harry and Marv manage to catch him and discuss how they will get their revenge. Marley sneaks up behind the pair and knocks them out with a snow shovel. Shortly after, Harry and Marv are arrested, and tied to the multiple other robberies because of Marv's flooding habit.}

^{On Christmas Day, Kevin is disappointed to find that his family is still gone. He then hears Kate enter the house and call for him; the pair hug. Immediately after, the rest of the McCallisters arrive, having flown directly from Paris to Chicago. Kevin keeps silent about his encounter with Harry and Marv, although Peter finds Harry's missing gold tooth. Kevin and Buzz forgive each other for their earlier argument. Kevin then observes Marley reuniting with his son and his family. Marley notices Kevin and the pair acknowledge each other. Buzz suddenly calls out, "Kevin, what did you do to my room?", at which point Kevin runs off.}

 

Cast

• Macaulay Culkin as Kevin McCallister: The eight-year-old youngest son of the McAllister family.
• Joe Pesci as Harry Lime: The short leader of the Wet Bandits.
• Daniel Stern as Marv Merchants: The tall member of the Wet Bandits.
• John Heard as Peter McCallister: Kevin's father.
• Catherine O'Hara as Kate McCallister: Kevin's mother.

The McAllister family is portrayed by: Devin Ratray as Buzz and Mike Maronna as Jeff, Kevin's brothers; Hillary Wolf as Megan and Angela Goethals as Linnie, Kevin's sisters; Gerry Bamman as Uncle Frank; Terrie Snell as Aunt Leslie; and Kevin's cousins are portrayed by Jedidiah Cohen as Rod, Senta Moses as Tracy, Daiana Campeanu as Sondra, Kieran Culkin as Fuller, Anna Slotky as Brooke, and Kristin Minter as Heather. The cast also includes: Roberts Blossom as Kevin's elderly neighbor Marley; John Candy as Gus Polinski, a polka player; Larry Hankin as Larry Balzak, a police sergeant who works in family crisis; and Ken Hudson Campbell as Santa Claus.