Férias Frustradas

I have seen National Lampoon's Vacation several times over the years. My recent watch was an unedited version which contained nudity and swear words.

Watching the uncensored version actually made the movie funnier.

Clark Griswold (Chevy Chase) is the suburbanite who takes his wife Ellen (Beverly D'Angelo) and their son Rusty (Anthony Michael Hall) and their daughter Audrey (Dana Barron) to a family road trip from Chicago to Walley World theme park in California.

The trouble is Clark is well meaning but rather dim. Maybe he should had flown as his wife suggested.

Clark is fleeced before the trip starts by the car salesman. He gets fleeced along the way when he gets lost and when his car needs fixing by mechanics.

During a visit to see Ellen's cousin, Clark gets lumbered with elderly Aunt Edna (Imogene Coca) and her dog. The trouble never stops even after the family reach the theme park.

Directed by Harold Ramis and written by John Hughes. It contains the gross humour carried on from movies such as Animal House and Caddyshack.

Some of the humour is a bit hit and miss. There is no denying that there are several good laughs in the movie.

There are cameos from actors like John Candy, Eddie Bracken, Eugene Levy and Christie Brinkley as the flirty lady in a fast red car. Randy Quaid is grasping cousin Eddie. A young Jane Krakowski is the cousin who learned how to French kiss by her dad!

Just managed to watch this again after watching the first time around when I was 13/14 years old. Coincidentally, I watched this with my twin boys who are now approaching 14 too!

Brilliant. Chevy Chase's facial and bodily expressions are still as funny as they were back in the 80's.

My boys and I were cracking up through most of the film. A wonderful feel good road trip movie.

Beverley D'Angelo and Chevy Chase are simply sublime together.

I am very fortunate to have watched this again and especially with my twin boys.

Thank you Chevy!

Who by now hasn't seen Chase's quest to get his fam from Chicago to LA in just a weeks time to enjoy some amusement park fun? The encounters along the way are now classic, some to look for: Chase delirious in the desert, the station wagon launched into the air, the visit to Cousin Eddie's (a perfectly slobby Quaid) and the chick in the red ferrari. Maybe writer John Hughes driest script, with dead dogs and dead aunts tied various places, picnic baskets wet with the grossest of liquids, and a great foul mouthed response from Chase to his whiny family. 3 (so far) sequels have followed, which was good for Chase, seeing how this was his only real memorable character ('cept maybe for Fletch). And a testament to the films popularity: Wally Joyner, a baseball player for the California Angels who was enjoying a great rookie year in 1986, had the stadium he played in decked out in "Wally World" (the familys destination) signs by fans. So a big hit all around.

I have seen this movie many times on TV (the German dubbed version, of course) and I loved it every time...allthough the more often its shown, the more it gets cut on TV.

Now, for the first time (thanks to DVD), I have been able to watch it in its original language. And it was just awesome! The dialogues were even better and the characters were so much better outlined.

I swear that I will never see such a great movie in a dubbed version again!

To any Germans in here: go get it on DVD (even though it is just in Mono) - and delete the video tape if you have recorded it from TV.

Clark W Griswold is one of the great characters, funny, charming and more than a little crazy he wins you over with his heart felt dedication to being the best family man he can be.

He, along with Homer Simpson, is where I took many of my parenting tips from, especially at christmas.

NLV is a great movie that never gets old and is easy to recommend :)