After Animal House was released in 1978 (and I promise to review that one of these days because it is hands down the funniest movie ever), there were a bunch of raunchy comedies that came out in the early-1980s. These comedies were influenced a lot by the (just new) sketch show Saturday Night Live. These films included Caddyshack (1980), Stripes (1981) and Porky's (1982) and starred actors like Bill Murray, John Candy and Chevy Chase.Vacation (or to use it's full title National Lampoon's Vacation) is written by Hughes and based on a story he wrote about his own family's ill-fated road trip to Disneyland. Chevy Chase plays his most memorable role ever; family man Clark Griswold (changed to Griswald in the sequels) who just wants to please his family. This time around he has planned to take them all to Walley World in California.
Hilarious gags and mishaps dog them all the way, including tying a dog to the bumper on the highway, the death of Aunt Edna (Imogene Coca) and getting stuck in downtown St Louis, as well as many, many more, like that creepy incest joke.
In addition to Chevy Chase's wide eyed Clark, Beverly D'Angelo plays his long suffering wife Ellen and his two kids Rusty and Audrey are played by Anthony Michael Hall and Dana Barron. The two other hilarious performances come from Randy Quaid's idiot character Cousin Eddie, who is the biggest redneck ever, and John Candy's ultra-officious Walley World security guard. There are also two great cameos from model Christie Brinkley and future funny man Eugene Levy.
Verdict: Not a traditional John Hughes movie as such, but the more adult oriented vision is fantastic, especially with Harold Ramis' superb direction.
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