National Lampoon's Vacation | S2E10 - Retromade

Episode Transcript
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Katie (01:53):
Hello.
Hello, I'm Katie andwelcome back to Retro Made.
You Are Pop Culture Rewind.
Consider this your summer kickoffepisode where we will be covering a very
APT Hughes written screwball road tripcomedy that spawned five sequels National
Lampoons vacation way back in 1983.

(02:16):
I'm very happy to have returningguests to the show with me, Jim and
Kevin from the Pool Scene podcast.
I always have a blast podcastingwith these guys and listening to
their show, so you should too.
Welcome back guys.

Pool Scene Podcast (02:30):
Hey now.
Hey Katie.
How's it going?
Hey,

Katie (02:34):
I have my, I have my pool scene podcast t-shirt on.

great.
Repping it perfectly.
Thank you.
Appreciate it.

Katie (02:40):
yeah, thank you for the t-shirt.
I

course.

Katie (02:43):
to, so if listeners forgot, Jim and Kevin and I did a
crossover last season for EscapeFrom New York and Escape from la.
we do another one?
Maybe I can't remember,

I think we, we cover, I think we had New
York on yours and LA on ours.
I think that's how we did it.

Katie (03:01):
or vice versa.

Or vice versa.

Katie (03:04):
Uhhuh.
So, you're back for the John Hughes

Yes, we are.

Katie (03:09):
so if people forgot, go back and listen to those episodes.
But remind us, what's thestory with Pool Scene podcast?
You guys?

Well, we've actually today, Katie, as we're recording this,
it is officially our fifth anniversary.
So we've been doing this for five yearsnow, and this coming episode coming
up, which will be, so I married an Actsmurderer, will be episode number 250.

Katie (03:34):
Ooh, good one.

so we're about ready to pump that out as we're
on the journey to 300 and, youknow, we started as movies Yeah.
And music videos.
And have definitely morphed wayinto, we have pop culture more
pop culture, nostalgia, youknow, a little bit of everything.
And currently we're in themidst of banger season two.
Yep.
Where we're doing sort of like heavyhitters that we've missed along

(03:57):
the journey that we're like, we gotit, we're gonna do a miss season.
And then we've now startedrelease episodes every two weeks.
Approximately.
Give or take nothing weekly.
Yeah.
Life is kind of, we were pumping'em out every week and then it just,
when you start losing the excitement,it's like, I gotta pump, I gotta
pump one out, I gotta pump one out.
That sounded inappropriate.

(04:17):
I didn't mean for it tocome across that way,

Katie (04:20):
But yeah, once a week is a lot.

Yeah.

Katie (04:23):
job, you've got

Yeah.

Katie (04:24):
shit to do.

It's like, yeah.

Katie (04:26):
every two weeks is perfect.
That's

Pool Scene Podcast: Yeah, it's it, it worked. (04:28):
undefined
It works out perfect.
It gives us time to recharge, do whatwe need to do in our own lives, and then
we come back here and just do our thing.
It's act.
If anything, it's kind of helpedelongate things even more too.
So it's like we're not just gonna beepisode 303 weeks where it's gonna be a
season and a half, maybe two to get there.
But yeah, we're excited forcoming up on Season 19 too, so,

Katie (04:52):
Wow.

yep.

Katie (04:53):
anniversary.
That's

Thank you.

Katie (04:56):
That's most podcasts do not make it that long.

Yeah.

Katie (04:58):
close.

Born out of the pandemic.
And I can truly say we do it for fun.
Yeah.
I mean, we love doing it.
Mm-hmm.
We enjoy it.
We would do it regardless.
Yeah.
You know, no listeners,it's just what we do.
It's our hobby, it'sour joy and our passion.
It's two best friends doing somethingthat figured years and years of
useless shit stored in your head.
And both of us grew up makinglike our own radio shows.

(05:22):
We did.
I, I, on cassette.
I did mine on my talk boy,when I was little kid.
So we were, I mean, wewere early to podcasting.
I mean like, yes, yes, yes.
We were cassette podcasters, 1994.
1995 podcasts.
Yes.
The best ones.

Katie (05:35):
Well, so your show, I, I retro made listeners, if you're not subscribed
to the pool scene podcast, you have tothis and go do that right now because
I feel like we mesh really well.
We cover similar topics.
So if you like Retro Made, you'regonna like pool scene podcast.

Thank you very much, Katie.
And, and as always, it'sawesome to do this with you.
Once again.
It's, it's awesome in the podcastspace to end up collaborating with
somebody who has similar interests.
We could bounce back and forth offone another and not miss the beat.
So it's, it's

Katie (06:07):
Mm-hmm.

that it's rare, but when you have a connection
with somebody like that in thiskind of space, it's, it's awesome.

Katie (06:14):
It really is.
That's been my favorite part aboutstarting my podcast is meeting other
really awesome podcasters like you guys.
So shall we get into thetime capsule from 1983?

Can't wait.

Katie (06:26):
even born yet.
Were you born yet?
Kevin?

I was born in 1983.
I was born in 1981, so I was two.

Katie (06:32):
Yeah, Jim and I are about the same, like

Yes.

Katie (06:35):
the same age.
I think so.
well, what I'm gonna do thisseason, you guys, we have the wheel

Ooh,

Katie (06:43):
for the

e.

Katie (06:43):
capsule
so there's a bunch of categories.
spin on your behalf and askyou some trivia questions to
test your knowledge about 1983.
Pop culture stuff.
We

Okay.

Katie (06:57):
prime time.
Rewind is your

Oh, all right.

Katie (07:02):
All right.
These are the top on prime time for 1983.

Okay.

Katie (07:09):
All right, number one, which CBS News magazine program known for
its investigative journalism anddistinctive ticking stopwatch topped the
Nielsen ratings in the 19 82 83 season.

20, 20, 60 minutes.

Katie (07:25):
60 minutes.
It's the ticking time clock.
Come

It's 2020, right?
That's a B, C.

Katie (07:32):
Oh

There's only like three, three shows to pick from.
I mean, back Yeah.
In 83 with network television.
That's true.
There's three channels.
Yeah.
But yeah, Jim got it.
60 Minutes.

Katie (07:41):
two soap opera set on a Texas cattle ranch became a cultural
phenomenon with its, a specificcliffhanger that I'm not gonna
mention 'cause it'll give it away.
But do you know what it is?

Dallas

Katie (07:55):
Yes.
And the cliffhanger was

who shot Jr.

Katie (07:59):
Yes.

Also Parroted by the Simpsons.

Katie (08:02):
Mm.
Okay.

Yep.

Katie (08:05):
Ooh, this one, which Action Adventure Series featured a group of
X US Army Special Forces personnelworking as soldiers of Fortune
known for their catchphrase.
I love it when a plan comes together.

A team.
Mm-hmm.

Katie (08:21):
Yes.
A team.
God, you guys are good so far.
Let's see.
Number four.
This is very soap opera driven

Oh,

Katie (08:29):
in 83,

okay.

Katie (08:31):
Is set in a luxurious world of oil rich Carrington, family portrayal
of wealth and power struggles.
What was this show?

was it Dynasty.

Katie (08:42):
was Dynasty.

I remember getting stuck watching that on our Magnavox
console TV with three networks.
In order for me to get to like Dukesof Hazard or something, I had to sit
through my grandmother's enjoymentof Dynasty and Falcons Crest.

Katie (08:56):
Mm-hmm.

So yeah,

Katie (08:57):
a 19 inch tv?
And that was like the

I.

Katie (09:00):
tv.

It literally was.
It was one thing.
It weighed about 500 pounds.
Nice.
Wood cabinet.
Oh yeah.

Katie (09:06):
Oh yeah.
The last one, which detective seriesfollowed Two brothers running a
private investigation agency in SanDiego, known for its blend of action.
And who Humor.
This is a tough one.

Oh,

Katie (09:20):
seen it.

a brother Brothers.

Katie (09:23):
Two brothers.
Running a private

I think I,

Katie (09:25):
agency.

is it Simon?
And Simon?

Katie (09:27):
Yes.

Yes.

Katie (09:29):
that.
Have you seen it?

I remember that as a kid.
Any type of adjacent television showthat had some sort of cool vehicle in it.
I watch it 'cause Iremember they had a truck.
'cause it was almost, I wanna say it wasalmost like a truck, like the fall guy.
I could be wrong, but I canremember watching Simon and Simon
because this is how nerdy I am.
That came on after Knots Landing.

Katie (09:50):
Do you have a photographic memory?
How do you like, remember whichnetwork things we're on and everything?

It's just one of those things where it just, I
watched it and I just had to, youknow, stuff that I ended up loving.
I was like, okay, I haveto sit through Dynasty.
I have to sit through Knots Landing.
So I would just remember, becausewe had no VCR, we had no Betamax.
So it's like you have to watch itand remember it because there's no
other way to revisit it back then.

Katie (10:15):
True, true.
All

Yeah.

Katie (10:17):
you guys did very good.
Let's do another category.

righty.

Katie (10:26):
Totally tasty.

Ooh.

Katie (10:30):
Okay.
In 1983, the food and beveragelandscape was rich with products that
have since become iconic it's a snack

Okay.

Katie (10:38):
in 1983.
Fruit flavored snacks quickly

I.

Katie (10:43):
a favorite among children, offering a sweet, chewy treat
in a convenient, portable form.

Fruit rollup.

Katie (10:52):
Yes.
Oh

Okay.
Was it?
Yeah.

Katie (10:54):
Fruit rollups.

Pulled that right up.
I thought that was, yeah, I thoughtthat was like 10 years too soon.
But yeah.
Boy, 83.
That's nuts.

Katie (11:01):
Fruit Rollups.
Yep.

Pool Scene Podcast: Anything harmful in them. (11:02):
undefined
Back in, not at all.
That built it.
Build character.
We're fine.

Katie (11:09):
Launched by Frito-Lay in 1980.
This chip gained significantpopularity by 1983, becoming one of
the company's top selling brands.

Doritos?
No.
Ooh.

Katie (11:25):
I don't know if that's, is that Frito-Lay?
I don't know.

Oh, I don't know.
Fritos.
Is it Fritos?

Katie (11:32):
It's Tostitos

Ah, I, it was, it was close.
I was almost adjacent.
Somewhat.
Yeah.

Katie (11:39):
very

Totinos are basically Doritos without the junk on them.

Katie (11:42):
You're

Pool Scene Podcast: without that nuclear junk. (11:43):
undefined
Yeah.

Katie (11:46):
Alright.
Last one.
In this category known as the originalAmerican Energy drink, drink was popular
in the eighties for its high caffeinecontent after a period of dormancy.
It's making a comeback withupdated branding and formulations.
What is this?

It's gotta be Jolt Cola, right?

Katie (12:06):
Very,

Yeah.

Katie (12:08):
Cola.

There we go.

Katie (12:10):
All right.
All right.
Let's do one more category.
Maybe.
Return to tune time

Ooh.
Okay.
Interesting.

Katie (12:24):
okay.
Which popular from 1983 involvedan albino star and a group of alien
heroes on a quest to defeat the evilforces of a warlord named Skeletor?

Okay.
Masters of the Universe,

Katie (12:44):
Well, so

well, as Heman and masters of,

Katie (12:48):
the answer.
I think it's the same world technically.
The answer that I havehere is Sherah Princess of

okay.
Okay.
No, you're right.
It's the same universe,but that's right though.
It's, yeah.
Well, the, yeah.
Yeah.

Katie (13:00):
Mm-hmm.
Oh, Shirah Princess of Power.

girlfriend is gonna be so pissed.
So she also, Shera also battled Skeletor.
I did not know that.

Katie (13:08):
I that, I don't know, maybe I, God, I haven't seen it in so long.
Correct me if I'm wrong.
Anyone out there, I might have to finda way to watch some episodes of Sherah.

It is weird.
I never really got intowatching MOTU as a kid.
It was like when it came toanimated stuff, it was like GI Joe.
I love the whole story of Masters of theUniverse that it was like, 'cause back
then it could be the toys first, and thenthey're like, well, the toys are popular.
Better followed it up with a cartoon

Katie (13:33):
Yep.

or it came from an obscure comic.
Yeah, whatever.
But I love the storiesof the old cartoons.

Katie (13:38):
I do two.
Here's another one for you.
What cartoon followed the exploits ofan early eighties punk rock group led by
a female with colorful hair who foughtagainst a villainous corporate tycoon.

Is it?
It's Jim.
Is it Jim?

Katie (13:56):
Yes.
And, and the,

Holograms.
Yeah, holograms.

Katie (14:00):
and the holograms.

Pool Scene Podcast: She's truly outrageous. (14:01):
undefined
Mm-hmm.

Katie (14:03):
Yes, she is.
One more.
Which animated series showcased atiny group of creatures that lived
inside human homes and caused mischiefwhile trying to avoid discovery?

Oh,
I don't know.
Trying to avoid discovery.
I feel like I remember it, but I don't,I'm gonna throw, I can't face it.
I'm gonna throw a flyer.
Is it Frale Rock?

Katie (14:28):
No.
I show that it's being the wls.

Oh.
Oh.
My girlfriend is gonna torch me forthis because she collects buz toys.
Oh.

Katie (14:36):
Are those the ones where they're like a mixed animal

Yes.
It's like a, like a combination,I think of two or three
different animals into one.

Katie (14:44):
Okay.

Yeah,

Katie (14:46):
The hint should have included that part.
I feel like.

that's our, I mean, we were almost, well, the hint should
have been Jim's girlfriend collects those

Katie (14:53):
Yes.

Care Bear Wuz.
Shirt, tails.
You name it the good Lord.
Shirt, tails.
Oh yeah.
Shirt tails.

Katie (15:00):
tails.
I'm gonna see if we canget one more category.
Boombox Bangers.

now we're talking.
That's great.
Banger season, man.
All right.
Let's do it.

Katie (15:09):
These are for the whole year of 1983.
The Top Billboards songs.
Okay.
I'm just gonna say the artist,and you'll probably get it.
Michael Jackson,

There's multiples.
Yeah.
I'm gonna Billy Jean?
Yeah.
Billy Jean Or Thriller.
Okay.

Katie (15:29):
It's Billie Jean.

Okay.

Katie (15:30):
Jean.
Yep.
The police, one of their biggest hits

breath you take

Katie (15:36):
Yep, yep.
Futuristic production.
Infectious Beat was very successful.
The song was by David Bowie?

it was just David Bowie, right?

Katie (15:49):
I think so.
Yeah.
Yeah.

So it's not, it's not gonna be under pressure then.
Let's dance

Katie (15:53):
Pressure.
Nope.
It's not.
It's just David Bowie.

is it?
Let's dance.

Katie (15:57):
It is, it

There it is.

Katie (15:59):
Yeah.
You're, you're pretty good at justpulling the songs out of nowhere.

I had to think for a second.

Katie (16:04):
new Wave Era Culture Club.

Karma Chameleon,

Katie (16:10):
Yes.
right.
The last one, Bonnie Tyler.

What's the name of the song?
Total Eclipse of the Heart.
Yeah.

Katie (16:19):
Such a

come up with a title.

Katie (16:21):
Good, good,

Turn around.

Katie (16:22):
that's like her only song, isn't it?

And don't you remember during the, the total
eclipse last year, you couldn'tavoid that song for two weeks out.
Everybody had to play it.
I love the music video.
Yeah, I remember the music video.
Yeah.
You know, the drafty home and the Shadows.
Oh God.
Run through mansion's, right?
Yeah.

Katie (16:38):
do not remember the music video

God, I love those old music videos.
They were so great.

Katie (16:43):
Alright.
You guys did phenomenal

you.

Katie (16:47):
with the time capsule here.

Having all this crap in my, in our heads helps out a lot.
Go figure.

Katie (16:55):
useless Information does come in handy for nostalgic pup culture

It does.
It's gonna pay off one of these days.

Katie (17:03):
you know, I don't know.
There's no prize for you hereother than bragging rights,

There we go.

Katie (17:09):
all right, you guys, so I'm not gonna ask you about Kurt or
Patrick this time, but I am gonnaask you what your familiarity
or fandom, or of John Hughes is.
He's our, he's our

We've,

Katie (17:21):
season.

covered I think three John Hughes movies.
We've done the Breakfast Club.
Mm-hmm.
What other ones have we done?
Did plane strains and automobiles.
Yep.
I mean, obviously very familiar.
Yeah.
I mean, with John Hughes, by far,you know, started writing movies.
I think he directed eight movies.

Katie (17:36):
Mm-hmm.

thing about John Hughes to me was his late stage career

Katie (17:41):
Yeah.

and when it was all just like writing and producing credits
and he was starting to get, I don'twanna say like experimental, but he was
doing much different things because heobviously, you know, was in his wheelhouse
in the eighties with this type of film.
And then he moved into the was it Miracleon 34th Street and start curly Sue.

(18:03):
He was his last

Katie (18:04):
movies,

Pool Scene Podcast: Forgot about Curly Sue. (18:05):
undefined
Yeah.
Kid movies.

Katie (18:06):
The Menace,

Yes.

Katie (18:07):
that.

Yeah.
And then I think right at theend he was like, all right, I'm
gonna get a little weird and dosome, a couple different credits.
So yeah.
Very familiar with John Lewis.
Oh yeah.
Shermer High, his whole universe.

Katie (18:19):
All right.
Awesome.
Did you guys realize it as a kidthat like the connection, like
the whole Schirmer high thing,

As a kid, not really.
I didn't, it, it didn't start reallyhitting until probably around 10 or
11 years old where I'm like, wait aminute, this is the same high school.
And of course back then you don't thinkof sh like Shared Universe theory Now
when I listen to your 16 candles episodeand like in 16 Candles, you're talking
about the confusion between, I do thesame thing, 16 candles, pretty and pink.

(18:47):
I always swap those movies and I alwaysthink one's from one and one's from the
other, and I kind of get my wires crossed.
And I think that was the moment when I wasyounger when I realized these, like you
don't know directors as a 10-year-old no.
Or whatever, but you're like,these movies are very alike.
They feel like they'rethe same thing, the same

Katie (19:08):
there's

plus.

Katie (19:10):
that with very similar, it's like we've, I'm starting to
realize he has just kind of a,let's just move these things around.
Here's my template.
We'll take this from this, this from this.
And bing bang, boom, here's your movie.

We do have some similarities too with Anthony Michael
Hall, when it comes to him beingin European vacation, why there was
a conflict as to why he wasn't inthat and he decided to go off and
do, I believe it was 16 candles.
'cause they wanted to recap, youknow, have the same kids, but
I think there was a conflict.

(19:42):
He decided to go do that.
Then they'd said, well,we'll have Dana Baron.
But then at the last moment theydecided, no, we'll recast, both
kids have two different kids.
Then European vacation was a thing.
Funny.
But I don't know if they neededEuropean vacation, but they didn't.
No, not in my opinion.
No, it's

Katie (20:02):
Let's get into National Lampoon's vacation, you guys.
It was released July 29th, 1983,which we were talking about.
You know, the, a lot of thesequestions we covered with Mr.
Mom.
Well, this movie was releasedwithin a couple of weeks of Mr.

(20:25):
Mom and both were scripted by Hughesbased on actual events in his real life.
So, that's

Which like same with plane trains and automobiles.
I mean, a lot of his stories werelike inspired by real events.
And I know this is John Hughes season,but we gotta mention Harold Ramis,
who directed this Har Harold Ramis.
He came out of the Gate Animal HouseMeatballs, caddy Shacks, stripes,
vacation, Ghostbusters, back to school.
Those were his first sevenmovies, which is crazy.

(20:52):
That's a hell of a run.
That's like a legendary,there's no misses.
It's seven straight great movies.
Yeah.

Katie (21:01):
And he acted.
So he's a man of many talents.
You're right.
So John Hughes wrote this,but he did not direct it.
Harold Ramis did, to your point, Kevin.
And so he's an actor and a director.
And he was also like, he was aregular performer with Eugene

Mm-hmm.
Oh, yeah.

Katie (21:18):
Candy in SCTV.
So there was a connection there.
yeah.
And he also directed Analyze thisGround, Hugg Day, caddy Shack, and
a couple of episodes of the office.

I didn't know why.
I forgot he did that.
Yeah, he did.
He did a couple.
That's cool.
I feel like Harold Ramis never, Imean, he was appreciated, but not as
much as I think he should have been.
One of my favorite.
Oh, we've talked about it on our artpodcast before, but Harold Ramis talking
about the difference between Ghostbustersone and two, because for most people.
Ghostbusters one is this beloved movie,and then Ghostbusters two, everybody's

(21:54):
kind of like, eh, it's kind of crappy.
Yeah.
But Harold Ramis says he thinks thereason for that is because Ghostbusters
one is not about Ghostbusters.
It's about a bunch of friends whostart a job together, and that's
what makes it such a great movie.
Whereas in Ghostbusters two, theystarted leaning into they got egos about
how many toys is this gonna sell, andlicensing and the studio getting involved.

(22:16):
It's no longer just aboutsome buddies who start a job,

Katie (22:19):
That

so,

Katie (22:20):
sequel of things.
Mm-hmm.
This is rated r.

Oh yeah.

Katie (22:27):
but it was before it was either P it was gonna e
it had to either be PG or r.
At this time, PG 13 did notyet exist, so there's a fair
number of F-bombs and boobs,

Oh, well there's the F-bomb scene.
Oh, the absolute great.
One of the greatest of all time.
And then there's yeah.
Obviously boobs.
So Beverly DeAngelo's boobs, who alot of people like to talk about.
Man, Stiller's mom might've been likethe ultimate movie type, milf archetype.
Beverly DeAngelo.
Man, let me tell you, I'llargue that these boobs Wow.

(23:03):
Are on par sort of withthe Captain Ron Boobs.
Yes.
In the completely unnecessary category.
You don't need 'em.
There was no reason for Bev BeverlyDeAngelo to do nudity in this movie.
Not once, but twice.
Twice, yeah.
And then they wanted Kristy Brinkleyto do nudity in this, and she declined.
And I guess they really pressured herfor it, but good for her for saying no.

(23:23):
Yeah.
Say no because again,it doesn't add anything.
It wasn't you know, porkies or No, likeanimal house or something like that.
It's a literally, it's a vacation.
It's a family vacation movie.
Yeah.
There's really no, it didn'tneed to compete with movies
that were showing boobs.
It didn't need to at all.
So completely unnecessary nude scene.

Katie (23:42):
But she's a gorgeous woman,

Oh, absolutely.
Drop dead.
No, wasn't bad.
Oh yeah.
She was hotty.

Katie (23:48):
Yeah.
And did you guys know that she and AlPacino had a, a long time relationship
and they have twins together?

No,

Katie (23:56):
Did

I had to do it.
I, I know She ended up marrying,like an Italian prince or something.
Something like that.
Yeah.
Some obscure stuff.

Katie (24:05):
it was after they got divorced though.

Yeah, it was,

Katie (24:08):
she and Pacino got together.

man, what, a couple.
So weird.
Yeah.

Katie (24:13):
Yep.
So yeah, this movie has a 7.3
on IMDB, which is really high

Yeah.
It's good.
Yeah.

Katie (24:21):
and written by John Hughes.
And the whole National Lampoons thingcomes from, it was a magazine that he
wrote for, and it, this screenplay wasinspired by an article that he wrote
based on his real family's ill-fatedtrip to Disneyland when he was little.
And so he wrote a short storyand it was called Vacation 58.

Okay.

Katie (24:42):
yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
So you guys, if it hasbeen, let's see, 1983.
Wow.
That is well over 40.

Yeah.

Katie (24:51):
40 years ago.

Been 42, 2 years.

Katie (24:54):
so if you, so if it's been 40 years since you've seen this
or a while, or if you haven'tseen it and you live under a rock.
Vacation is about having it all planned.
Down to the last detail, well-meaningClark Griswold and his supportive
wife Ellen take their two teenagers,rusty and Audrey, on a cross country
trip from the suburbs of Chicagoall the way to Sunny California's

(25:19):
Wally world, a K Disneyland park.
However, anything that could gowrong does, and before long, Ellen's
cousin Catherine and her husbandEddie, enter the picture and Clark
is on the verge of blowing a gasket.
Roy Wally's wonderful park seems fartherand farther away, and although the
prospect of a clandestine meeting withthe alluring blonde in the fast 1981

(25:42):
Ferrari sounds tempting, Clark must do theright thing and find the promised land.
How hard can it be tohave the perfect vacation?

Very difficult.
Apparently, yes.

Katie (25:55):
So we have Chevy Chase, Clark Griswold, we talked about
Ellen, his wife, Beverly DeAngelo.
Rusty is Michael Anthony Hall, andAudrey is played by Dana Baron, who I
really didn't know her from anything.
Did you

She kind of ca, she kind of came outta nowhere.
I can't remember her from anything else.
It was You are, okay.
You are Audrey Griswold.
That's who you are.

Katie (26:20):
I did look her up.
She was a series regular in aTV series in the late eighties.
It was like an actionseries called Crossbow

Wow.
Not familiar with Crossbow.

Katie (26:29):
not either, but it, she was in like 50 something episodes

Oh, man.
Wow.

Katie (26:34):
And then there was a character on Beverly Hills 9 0 2 1 oh in 1992 called
Nikki Witt, and she was in nine episodes.
She played Nikki

How bad.

Katie (26:45):
episodes.

referenced 9 0 2 1 oh quite a bit.
Especially Jamie Walters' character, RayPruitt, who I still will to this day.
Jamie Walters got such a bra, a bad rap.
The dude could sing, he can act, but thefact that his career got screwed because
he played a character who threw Donnadown a flight of stairs and nobody seemed

(27:06):
to understand it was a role character.
He was an, it's to thepoint he left Hollywood.
I'm pretty sure he's still afirefighter in Los Angeles, I think.

Katie (27:18):
Well

Yes.

Katie (27:18):
that, the Heights

Yes, he, how do you talk to an angel?
Yeah.
How do I talk to an angel?
Went to number one on the billboard.
Hot 100.
It's like, that dude wasawesome, but man, he got,

Katie (27:27):
a TV show

it was, I think it only lasted 10 episodes
on Fox and it didn't get picked up.

Katie (27:33):
Hmm.

Such a good dude.
But man, I should haveknown that about Dana Baron.
'cause I used to love 9 0 2 1.
Oh yeah.
I have no recollection of, yeah.

Katie (27:40):
yeah, I can't recall that character, but yeah.
And then we have Aunt Ednaplayed by Imogene Coca.

Oh, what a legend.

Katie (27:48):
Yeah.
Goes way back.
The only character, like she has afamiliar face and if anybody remembers
watching the Brady Bunch afterschool reruns the mat, there's an
episode where Jan's being Jan and isupset 'cause she thinks she's ugly.
And

God.

Katie (28:03):
Aunt Jenny is, is her unattractive twin aunt.
She looks like Aunt Jenny and,

my God.

Katie (28:10):
plays Aunt Jenny in

She's the ultimate like aunt looking like
grandmother looking archetype.
I feel like she was a forever aunt by far.

Katie (28:19):
Yep, definitely.
What do you guys think of Cousin Eddie?
Played by Randy Quaid?

What do we think about the character or the
man who he became the real question?

Katie (28:29):
yeah.
So the lesser attractive Quaid brother.

yeah.
He is awesome.
He is in this role, like he has cousinEddie down to a fine tooth comb.

Katie (28:38):
Yes.

Pool Scene Podcast: He's such a good moron. (28:39):
undefined
Well, this the scene where they're hintingthat Eddie needs to borrow money and I.
Yeah.
He like pulls out his wallet and he'slike, he's just gonna kill done 20 bucks.
You know what, what You need Eddie?
And he's like about 52,000.
52,000.
$52,000.
Which we find out later itwas, he gave him 500 bucks.
Yeah.
Which in 1983, he knowswhat that's adjusted.

(29:01):
$2,000, something like that.
I also love the fact that duringthat whole scene when they're in
Kansas, it is implied that he taughthis daughter how to French kiss.

Katie (29:11):
Oh my God.
So gross.

Yeah.
Jen Kakowski, who, who played Vicki,his daughter in the movie when she's on
the teeter totter and she's literallylooking at Audrey and go, I go steady and
I French kiss, but everybody does that.
But daddy says I'm the best at it.
It's like, oh my God, man.
Which there's consistency.
I mean, I know John Hughes wrote this.
There's cons he has, there'slike little moments like that

(29:34):
throughout most John Hughes movies.
Oh yeah.
These like uncomfortable throw away lunch.
Did he anymore?
Yeah.
Yeah.

Katie (29:42):
go there.

then obvious.
And then Eddie's son obviously hasthe huge stack of stack of porn.
Yeah.
And the fact that he tell heRusty wants to buy his porn.
Yeah.
And he goes, I use magazines.
How do you use a magazine?
He is like, my friend taughtme something really cool.
I, there it is again.
Did he tell you or did he teachyou, show you did he show you,

(30:03):
did he show her or a teller?
Yeah.
What are we doing?
I believe the specific wordswere bopping his baloney.
That was the term.
Yeah.

Katie (30:11):
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
We, so this is Jane Khaki's film day

Yep.

Katie (30:17):
as cousin Vicki.
But that line.
Then there's a, there's like laterwhen the sister is like telling
on her brother, she's like, rustywore his underpants last night.
What was that?
I didn't under, I a didnot understand what, what,

As opposed.

Katie (30:35):
to what?

As opposed to mom, dad, Rusty's sleeping naked again.
Well, I have, yeah, I have concerns.
'cause maybe their parents tell themthey have to sleep without underwear.
Listen, they seem like a very open Yeah.
Pajama.
Yeah.
They seem like a very openmom and dad relationship.
Like how many times did this movie,they've caught that, like just walking in,
having sex or when they were gonna foolaround in the car, their head got trapped.

(30:59):
They just seem oblivious.
This happens all the time.
Yeah,

Katie (31:02):
Super weird.
Yeah.
He's trying to get his wife to godown on him with, with the kids

yeah,

Katie (31:07):
the backseat.
But yeah, some super weird lines.
Yeah.
Yeah.
So, yeah.
Did you guys know that Randy Quaid,got an Oscar nomination in 1974?

For what movie?

Katie (31:20):
Best actor in a supporting role for the last detail?

I've never heard of that movie at all.
Familiar with that?

Katie (31:27):
I haven't either.
And you guys just covered Kingpin,

Yes.

Katie (31:30):
he played

Mm-hmm.
Yeah.
Good old ish.
Ishmael Borg.
What a great movie.
That was his best role.
I mean, it's probably CousinEddie, but Independence Day.
Oh, he's the best.
It's just right.
That role was like writtenfor him in Independence Day.
'cause he is like a kooky Yeah.
He was abducted by Aliens andTheory who was abducted by aliens.
I told you they were gonna come back.
Yeah.
And then he ended up totallyredeeming himself in movies.

(31:56):
Not in real life.
Not in real life.
No.
In real life.
He's screwed.
But they'll still bring him into SteelCity Con in Pittsburgh every year and
pretend like he's done nothing wrong.

Katie (32:05):
is he from there

No, he steel City Con is now starting to pull this move.
It's amazing.
Like they'll bring all these people inPop culture festival, like big, big names.
This last one they had a couplemonths ago outta nowhere.
They're like, oh, we'rebringing Kevin Spacey in.
Yeah.
And everybody's like, whatthe hell are you doing?

Katie (32:22):
Yeah.

Pool Scene Podcast: listen, he was acquitted. (32:23):
undefined
It's you know, he is found not guilty.
It's like, yeah, I'm not going.
There's some consistencythere with that type of guest.
I mean, we're like a couple cons awayfrom it being like a bunch of them at one.
Yeah, pretty much.
So we got Diddy and KevinSpacey and they're all coming.
Enjoy.
They're all coming.
Hey, whatever.

Katie (32:42):
Predator Con.

Yeah.
There you go.
Pretty much.
Yeah.
There you go.

Katie (32:45):
Wow, wow.
Yeah.
So we also get some John Candy in this,

Yep.

Katie (32:51):
par for the course with with John Hughes.
He plays the securityguard at Wally World.

Oh, so good.

Katie (32:57):
he was paid a million

It's un

Katie (32:59):
brief

so mind blowing.
Unbelievable.
And this is this,

Katie (33:03):
In

Pool Scene Podcast: this is 80, this is 83. (33:03):
undefined
John Candy, who hasn'treally hit big at all yet.
Yeah.
He's coming off CTV.
But nobody really knowsJohn Candy that well.
And for a role that he wasprobably on screen for how long?
About 10 minutes, eightminutes If if Yeah.
Russ Lasky.
But great lines though, you know?
Yeah.
Ah, Mr.
Walling.

(33:23):
I mentioned the companyChristmas party last year.
I saw a BB Gun Clark.
I like, he has some really greatlines have been a favor from, had
to have been John Hughes and fromHarold Ramis to put him in the movie
and not just put him in the movie.
Pay him a million dollars.

Katie (33:36):
I think so, because the ending that we have with John Candy was
not the original ending, so I thinkthey scrambled, which we'll get into
that, but I think it was, you know,like four months later, they were
like, shit, we need a new ending.

Yeah.

Katie (33:50):
they came up with this and yeah, you're

So

Katie (33:52):
had to have been a

on our, and you could tell by Anthony
Michael Hall's growth spurt.
Yeah.
He's taller than BeverlyDeAngelo at points and Yep.
And not as tall as her at other points.
Mm-hmm.
We just, so we did, so I married an axmurderer and John Candy was supposed
to be in that because Mike Meyers,grew up idolizing John Candy because.
In Canada, SCTV and John Candy wassupposed to play the police captain in.

(34:14):
So I married an ax murder and thenit'd be an Alan Arkin instead.
But there were a number of movies likewhere John Candy pops up for just a
little bit home alone, just a littlelunch, uh uh, A little Shop of Horrors.
Yep.
It's so good.
He just pops up for a coupleminutes and then Yeah.
Shows you how great he was.
Where I truly think John Candywas like a future Oscar winner.

(34:35):
'cause I think he had therange to play serious roles.
I mean, look at the soliloquy and playingstrains and automobiles at the end.
I mean, look at Robin Williams.
Yeah.
I mean, right there.
Nothing but a comedy guyends up doing dramatic roles.
His dramatic roles, I mean,goodwill hunting, but even like
the creepy ones, one hour photo,final cut, like some of these.

Katie (34:54):
that one.

So good.
And I think you're right, John Candywould've found that dramatic role
probably in the later nineties.
Yeah.
Where I think he would've been an Oscar.
No doubt.

Katie (35:05):
Because he has that heartwarming I, I'm a big, I'm a way bigger fan of
John Candy than I am of Robin Williams.
I don't know.
He just has this like likability about him

Mm.

Katie (35:13):
was in I just covered career opportunities and he was in that
for about five minutes as well.

Yeah,

Katie (35:18):
maybe two minutes as the manager of the target.
So it's,

the, I mean,

Katie (35:23):
up.

wouldn't it be a dream to be that type of character?
Oh, who gets to show up onset for one day or two days?
But you could also tellhe doesn't half-ass it.
Like he puts everything into it.
Exactly.
You get paid a mass sum of money and yougo home and you move on to the next thing.
Yeah.
That's awesome.
That's a heck of a career.

Katie (35:41):
Now, Christie Brinkley is in this as the beautiful girl driving the
Ferrari and I had that Ferrari, you guys,

Wait a minute.
Oh yeah.
Oh, you, I was about ready.
My mouth was starting to water.
I'm like, oh my God.
You had the Ferrari?

Katie (35:57):
I had that, I had the Barbie Ferrari that is like that.
It was that model.
It

Yeah.

Katie (36:02):
that one.
Oh, so cool.
Such a

Uh,

Katie (36:04):
Car.
But Kristy Brinkley Beau

Pool Scene Podcast: this is just, oh my God. (36:06):
undefined
Gorgeous spitballing.
Here is Kristy Brinkley in the Ferrari.
Imaginary.
You think it's con Well, no, becauseeverybody , at the hotel saw them.
There's a beautiful woman, but as Clarkis watching the beautiful woman in the
Ferrari, he's daydreaming of scenarios.
Okay.
Does that Ferrari and the womanin the Ferrari actually exist?

(36:30):
Hmm.

Katie (36:30):
This is a really, really good question, Kevin.
I will say because I know whatthe original ending was and she
was in it, she is a real person.
But given the cut we have now, she

Yeah.

Katie (36:43):
imaginary.
I.

The, the woman, I mean, he obviously has
the, the, I don't know which one.
Call the splash at the hotel hedoes with this beautiful woman.
But you know, every time hesees the woman in the Ferrari,
he seems to be the only person.
Yeah.
I mean, other than the,

Katie (37:00):
Oh, but the rusty and Audrey are talking to each
other about, what about mom?
Are they gonna get a divorce?
So they

okay,

Katie (37:09):
him with someone in the pool,

it's in the pool.
Yeah.
I mean it's that whole, that wholescene at the hotel, it's like, all
right, Clark's finally just, he'shad it, he's had his and Edna's dead.
He's lived, they literally werejust trying to get cross country.
And then there's this woman nearlyit was, here's the real question.
If she wouldn't have yelled in the pooland woke up everybody, including Alan,

(37:31):
would he have gone through with it?
I think he would have.
Do you think he would've hadto have gotten another room
or her room or whatever?
Because she doesn't buy the,

Katie (37:41):
I don't

she doesn't buy the bullshit story that he owns the hotel
and his family's a cover for his brother.
And it's also interesting thatEllen's reaction to catching him
in the pool with another woman.
Is to then wanna play therole of the woman in pool.
And she, and she gets toplessand jumps in the pool with him.
Yeah, I want to have fun.
She's like weird.

Katie (38:01):
she's mad for like seconds and then she's like down.
I, dude, I would be

Yes.
And it's the most quiet mad too,because she's just seems to be somewhat
conciliatory to the fact that hehad this like fantasy and he kind of
lived it, but he says, oh, she's ugly.
I didn't like her.
And she's like, okay, I canbe exciting too in the pool.
It's just like, what are you doing?
Why aren't you trying to beatthe shit out of this guy?

Katie (38:30):
that or it's meant to make us feel like she's so.
Comfortable and trusting of theirrelationship that she doesn't believe
that anything could have ever happened.

That's true.
That's a good point.

Katie (38:44):
don't know, but I don't, I can trust, you know that you wouldn't,
but you're naked with another

Yeah,

Katie (38:53):
the

I mean, full on naked, like everything, my reaction to catching
my partner in something isn't for me to belike, I will take the role of that person.
That's a great idea.
I'm gonna do that too.
Meanwhile, the kids arejust like, eh, whatever.
And I do love that.
In the eighties there was thismagical thing where, you know,
somebody like Christie Braley couldget cast as the woman in the red

(39:15):
Ferrari, and it's just a career maker.
Yeah.
And she didn't even have a name.
No.
It's just like's, just agirl of Ferrari sets roles.
Like you just pop up in a commercial,you pop up in a movie, and then all of
a sudden you're just like a superstar.
And then you're marriedto David Copperfield.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Poof.

Katie (39:29):
wait.
She married David

Didn't,

Katie (39:30):
that was Claudia Schiffer.

oh wait, is it Claudia Schiffer?
Oh, I might have been wrong.
I confused the models

Katie (39:35):
was, Brinkley was

who

Katie (39:37):
married in the, who's the ugliest singer?

I.

Katie (39:39):
man guy.
What's his name?

Billy Joel.
Oh, that's right.
Was it Billy?
It was Billy Joel, that's right.
Your favorite, Kevin.
Oh yeah.
Kevin's favorite of all time.

Katie (39:47):
She was an uptown girl.

That's right.
I confused him.
That's my bad.
Sorry, Kevin.
We referenced Billy Joel.
Somehow I thought we'd getaway from it on this podcast.
I tried.

Katie (39:57):
Or you, yay or nay.
Billy

Nay Billy Joel.
I mean, with the, with the fire of 10,000Sons, this one cannot stand Billy Joel.
Meanwhile, I adore Billy Joel.
I think it's because of inthe middle of the night, Billy
Joel, like early nineties.
Billy Joel, I think reallysoured his entire career for me.

Katie (40:14):
Okay.
All right.
also speaking of Christie Brinkley buying,like, she's super into him for some reason

Yeah,

Katie (40:24):
also.

yeah,

Katie (40:26):
Ellen El.
They're both.
Crazy hot and

yeah.

Katie (40:31):
mediocre at best,

Yes.

Katie (40:33):
seems to be a thing at

He, he is the common man with dopey elements to him.
Like he can easily be persuaded,like the, the car for instance, he
didn't even order the right car.
Yeah.
First there's a whole logic issuewith the whole, the car thing.
Just because you trade in your car,they automatically go demolish it.
He orders a blue metallicblue super sports wagon.

(40:57):
They give him metallic p truckster.
He's like, I'm over this.
They flatten his car, comes back toEllen and said, no, that you didn't want.
That car was much too small.
This is much better.
So he's so easily persuaded to accept dumbshit even though it's completely wrong.

Katie (41:12):
Dopey is a good word for it.

Is Noby Chevy Chase 39 playing in this movie.
That's insanity.
He was 39.
One of my favorite things in oldmovies is trying to figure out how old
people were when they played this role.
I mean 'cause he lookedthis way for quite a while.
Yeah.
But now if you look at him andChevy Chase got 82 I think.
Like he hit this age barrier whereall of a sudden it's like boom.

(41:34):
It's like Tom Cruise now.
It's like okay.
Age.
Finally has got Tom Cruise.
Little bit.

Katie (41:38):
Mm-hmm.

Sort of.
Sort of,

Katie (41:40):
Yeah, I know a few.
He, it did it.
Age.
Got him finally.
Yep.
Yep.
some other super fun characters here.
Eugene Levy,

Ah,

Katie (41:49):
as the car salesman.

so great.
He goes up to, introduces himself toClark and he goes to Shake Rusty's hand.
He is like, Hey Ruben, right Rusty.
Yeah.
Whatever.
It's I love Eugene Levy.
He's the best.

Katie (42:01):
I really do.
One of my favorite movies, Igotta find a, a way to incorporate
it into a season is Splash.

Oh yes.

Katie (42:09):
John Candy too.
Also in that one,

Weirdly enough, this past weekend I showed my girlfriend for
the first time Armed to Dangerous, whichis John Candy and Eugene Levy, which is,

Katie (42:20):
that.

it's an amazing movie.
Eugene Levy plays alawyer who loses his job.
John Candy plays a cop who loses hisjob, and they all become security
guards, and they end up getting involvedin this whole racketeering thing.
It's a comedy.
It is so good.
Zeus, who is a tiny lister.
Yeah.
He's in it too.
Robert LO's in it.
It's a,

Katie (42:41):
how have I.

it's from 1986.
It's really good.
Mm-hmm.
Yeah.
Mark Lester directs it.
It's really good movie.

Katie (42:49):
I'm totally gonna find it

Yes.

Katie (42:52):
So we already talked about cousin Eddie, but his wife Catherine is

Yeah.

Katie (42:56):
Flynn,

Yep.

Katie (42:57):
was also in Mr.
Mom.
She played Annette and Mr.
Mom

Mr.
Mom is so good.

Katie (43:02):
Oh, is so

It's beyond so good.

Katie (43:05):
Reprises her cousin Catherine role in Vegas vacation
in 97, so like years later.
And then I didn't know, but sheis the voice of Ma in Babe, the

Oh, really?
Okay.
Oh, okay.

Katie (43:20):
Mm-hmm.

I've only ever seen just like Vegas vacation.
I've only seen it once.
I've never, I've only seen vape once.
You've seen Vegas vacation Once.
I've seen, because I didn't, I didn't.
I don't know if this is gonna come up.
All right, Jim.
Gun to your head.
Here we go.
Rank the vacation movies.
First one.
Vacation.
Chris, are we just in what?
How many are we counting here?
We're doing the The prime?
Yeah.
Vacation.

(43:41):
Christmas vacation.
European vacation.
Vegas vacation.
Okay.
Katie, have you seen 'em all?
She hasn't seen European.
Okay.

Katie (43:49):
I

Put it last.
Oh

Katie (43:52):
I, I would say yeah, one in, I would say vacation and Christmas
vacation are pretty close for me.

yeah.

Katie (43:59):
And

I probably.

Katie (43:59):
I, I have vague memories, like I have to rewatch them to

I'd probably go Christmas.
Original Vegas.
European.
Yeah.
European.
I just don't, I don't know why.
That's just an anomaly type movie.
And you know, fascinating thing aboutvacation is I think originally they
tried to pitch it to Paramount andParamount basically was like, it's

Katie (44:21):
Mm-hmm.

there.
It's just a bunch of like stops.
They're just driving.
Yeah.
They stop a place, they do something.
There's no like linear storytelling,

Katie (44:28):
trip

which is true.
And Road trip movie is probablylike maybe my favorite genre movie.
Oh, by far.
I love road trip movies.
Magic Mike.
Magic Mike.
XXL is like maybe my favorite movie.
Yep.
It's like the ultimate.
I love it.
It's a great movie.
It's the ultimate road trip movie.
Yeah.
And I love road trip movies, but.
What Paramount said about vacation,I feel, to me that's sort of like

(44:50):
what I feel about European vacation.
Okay.
As like linear storytelling.
It's, it's just not, it's so disjoint.
Did the Griswolds need togo on a European vacation?
Not at all.
They were on a game show that theywon and they won this vacation.
It's like, who cares?
Yeah.

Katie (45:04):
Well, you gotta capitalize on the popularity

You know what?
I think the, I think thebiggest disconnect was the kids
not being the same character.
So it's like, I don't care aboutthese other, but there's like
a parody to do that though.
Yeah.
I mean it's like, that's the bit, yeah.
Yeah.
I agree that I'm gladtheir ages always changed.
They never were the same, but it'sjust ah, for me it's a dumb thing.
But not seeing Anthony MichaelHall or Dana Baron in European
vacation even made it worse for me.

Katie (45:29):
Okay.
That's fair.

Yeah.

Katie (45:32):
A few other smaller characters that I just like the motorcycle cop
that the scene by that scene where wefind out that Clark killed the dog.

Yeah, you tied it to the bumper and just went off with it.
Yeah.

Katie (45:45):
not remember that.

Yeah.

Katie (45:47):
horrified.
I I was not.
That's dark.

dark.

Katie (45:51):
the dog to death.

Yeah.
I thank God you don't hear any likesquealing, but when and Edna does the
line, it will always and forever be stuckin your head when you hear her yell.
When they stop to get food, Don kill her.
It's one of the best delivered lines.
But

Katie (46:13):
Yeah.

I always thought that cop if, 'cause I remember he
was in the movie moving violationswith bill Murray's brother John.

Katie (46:19):
okay.

You put a mustache on him like he did in that movie.
He kind of looks like ThomasLennon a a Lieutenant Jim Dangle.
Yeah.

Katie (46:25):
dangle.
Yeah.
Yeah.
He does look like dangle
the actor's name is James Keach,

Yep.

Katie (46:32):
he also played Jesse James in the 1980 Long Riders movie
and the warden and Walk the Line.

I wonder if he's related to Stacey Keach.

Katie (46:42):
wondered that.
I should have looked it up, but

Hey, I, I could see like physical similarities.
I would assume it's probably his brother.
Makes sense.

Katie (46:50):
Some relation.
What were you gonna say, Kevin?

was just gonna say, I like Edna's line where
it's like, it smells in this room.
This is your room.
Whatever it is.
I love that part.
I, I love and Edna.

Katie (47:02):
the

Oh, yeah,

Katie (47:03):
and then Clark is like, this will be Edna's

yeah, that's right.
I'm sorry.

Katie (47:08):
I love when Frank McCrae pops up in a movie because I'm a big rocky nerd.

Yeah.

Katie (47:13):
he, he plays Grover, a security guard at Wally World also.

Yep,

Katie (47:18):
we talked about him last season because he was the teacher
in the first scene of Red Dawn,

that's right.
He was,

Katie (47:25):
He gets killed right away.

yeah.

Katie (47:27):
then he was in a ton of movies with Sylvester Sloan, including Rocky too.

Yes, he was

Katie (47:32):
was his boss who fires him from the meat, meat plant.

what could have been, he could have been employed a month at
a meat factory and then his whole lifecould have changed and never fought Creed.

Katie (47:42):
he, yeah, boy, it would've been better.
No, I'm just kidding.
And then we have Roy Wally,the owner of Wally World,

good.

Katie (47:51):
he goes back to the thirties with his roles.
He's most known for a lotof movies from the forties.
Forties, excuse me.
And I recognized him becauseI'm a big Golden Girls

Yeah.

Katie (48:04):
he plays Buzz in one of the episodes of Golden
Girls as Rose's Love Interest.
And then

I,

Katie (48:11):
in home loan too.
He's like the

He's Mr.
Duncan.
Mr.
Duncan.
Mr.
Duncan, who?
Turtle dust.
We, we, we had thoughts about Mr.
Duncan when we covered home alone two.
Eddie Bracken is so good.
I love the fact I.
They made him look likeRoy Disney in this movie.
Yeah.
Yep.

Katie (48:26):
Oh, exactly.

Pool Scene Podcast: The mustache, the hair. (48:27):
undefined
I can, I mean, I think the originalscript, literally it was supposed to be
Disneyland and they're just like, there's,

Katie (48:36):
Disneyland, said, no.

yeah.
Which, okay, I can understand.
'cause the boobs and everything, they'relike, listen, we can't have boobs in a
Disney product and now look at Disney.
So it's changed.
But yeah.
Eddie Bracken.
Excellent.
There's a, there's a great movie, Ibelieve it's called Escape From Tomorrow,
that was illegally filmed in Disneyland.
Some, yeah.
Independent filmmakers snuck somecamera equipment inside of Disney.

(48:58):
Disney knew about it, but Disneyactually didn't do anything because they
thought by suing or raising a stink, itwould put more eyeballs on the movie.
And the fact that these peoplewere able to sneak all this film
equipment into Disney, kudos to them.
It's basically about a fatherwho's unraveling after a
couple of days at Disney.

Katie (49:20):
I've never been, and there's a reason I've never been.

Yeah.

Katie (49:23):
and also unravel, I think.
Yeah.

Yeah.
It takes a, a special breed for sure.
Having been there multiple times.

Katie (49:30):
And with kids

Yes.

Katie (49:32):
only imagine.
I, I can't actually, like there's,I would never even attempt it.
I, I would be the worst.

So that's,

Katie (49:38):
children would get

it does make you, you know, just segue back to this
question, Clark's just like sanityoverall, not only to take his family
of all places, you get your vacation,you're gonna go to Wally World, but
on top of it, we're gonna drive, yeah.
Cross country.
From Chicago to LosAngeles to Los Angeles.
We're gonna drive it.
And they said, well, don'tpeople fly to their vacation?

(50:01):
Well, she even says in the verybeginning, when they're a kitchen
Clark, we have 10 weeks, we havethe whole summer to plan this.
We don't have to leave.
And the fact that he wants tostop at the world's biggest house
of mud, he stops in Dodge shittyKansas, like all this weird shit.
I understand.
Like he even says, andit's really heartwarming.
He is like, listen, Ellen, youbasically, and I'm paraphrasing, you

(50:22):
get to see the kids all the time.
I see 'em an hour a nighthere, an hour a day here.
This is my chance to be with ourkids for a whole extended time.
And I appreciate that.
'cause quite frankly, a lot ofparents anymore, not every parent
just doesn't wanna be bothered.
It's like, I have thesekids just leave me alone.
Let me go do my own thing.
But the fact that you have a guy who,like I said, dopey as hell, but he's

(50:45):
willing to do whatever it takes totake this whole, even buy the wrong
damn car and go cross country with it.
I mean, Clark Griswold, Imean, come, that's the best.

Katie (50:54):
was more into going to Wally world than

Yeah, he was.
He was.

Katie (50:59):
I think it wasn't just about Wally, that was the ultimate
destination, but it was about the journey

Yes.

Katie (51:05):
time, like you said.
And they saw other things andthey saw a cousin, Eddie and, and
cousin Vicki played by Jane Kowski.

Yeah.
Don't you like when your punch is stirredwith just a person's hand, just mix it.

Katie (51:19):
And oh, and I like Hamburger Helper.
It's way better than Tuna Helper.
And it's, it's good on its own.
You don't even need toadd hamburger to it.

That, that whole, I always found it weird too,
and this is one thing, like when Iwatch it, I've seen this 1500 times.
So Eddie and Kathryn's last nameI believe are Johnson or Jackson
according to what it's build.

Katie (51:38):
Mm

I remember houses back then, the screen door
holder would have the initialof the last name of the family.
Yeah.
In this movie it has the initial Hand I can't wrap my head around as
to why it has the initial H that itjust come with the house, which I'm
assuming it came with the house.
Yeah.
Just Eddie doesn't know any better andhe is not gonna go buy a door when he is
teaching his daughter how to French kiss

Katie (52:00):
Yeah.
And they don't have,

money.

Katie (52:04):
how many, like six kids or five and one on the way or something.

They have a ton of kids, a ton of kids.

Katie (52:09):
of kids.

Hey, but at least Eddie, let Catherine get
rid of one of her night jobs.
So good on, good on him.

Katie (52:15):
when the baby comes,

Yeah.

Katie (52:17):
Oh my God.
And then he can affordto buy, hi, buy those.
I don't

Pat,

Katie (52:21):
It looked like those expensive shoes

patent and white leather shoes.
Oh my god, they're awful.

Katie (52:27):
I don't know.
I kind of dug 'em actually,

Maybe they helped seal the deal in the pool
because that's when he got pissed.
Ellen, he broke the shoes down.
He is like, watch this honey boom.

Katie (52:37):
however, he does strip down naked to get in the pool, except his
socks that he keeps on for some reason.
Why is that?
I wonder.

I don't know.
But here's, that's what I, once again,we're, we're talking about Chevy Chase
getting naked, so let's just go all in.
So he gets completely naked twigand berries with Christy Brinkley.
But when his wife says, I can do thattoo, she doesn't get completely naked.
He doesn't get completely naked.
He keeps his box of brief on and socks.
So why do you not get to not totallynaked with your own wife at that rate?

(53:09):
Everybody at the hotel knows whatyou look like, so it doesn't matter.

Katie (53:12):
point.

Yeah.

Katie (53:14):
point.
Great point.
The music here was done by RalphBurns, who won an Oscar for his
work on 1970 three's Cabaret.

Yep,

Katie (53:24):
And

yep.

Katie (53:25):
compo composed music for all that jazz, which also
won an Oscar Urban Cowboy.

Excellent.

Katie (53:32):
Manhattan

Awesome.

Katie (53:34):
and All Dogs Go to Heaven, which

Oh yeah, yeah.
Yep.
Car face.
Yeah.
All hits.
Those are all great.
Yeah.

Katie (53:42):
Ralph Burns.

This soundtrack is so good.
I mean, right when off the bat, youhear Holiday Road by Lindsay Buckingham

Katie (53:48):
Hmm.

and the fact that, that that song's only two
minutes and 30 seconds long.
It's one of those iconic songs that anyvacation you ever go on, no matter what,
that's the first thing you play whenyou leave the house is Holiday Road.

Katie (54:02):
I feel like people who grew up in our generation, it's that, what's that?
Life is a highway song.

Oh, by Tom Cochran.

Katie (54:09):
Yeah, yeah, yeah.

It's a great song, but a lot of people,

Katie (54:12):
song.

a lot of people forget that Lindsay Buckingham
also did the end credit song withdancing across the USA, which is

Katie (54:18):
Mm-hmm.

so good.
Like it's, nobody talks aboutthat song, but it's, it's so good.
So while the end credits came up, Ididn't notice this for a very long time.
Having seen this movie like You,several times, they Flew Home.
That's part of the alternate ending.
Yeah.
That last scene in the creditsis part of the, the actual ending
that Chevy Chase is the only one toown the copy of that final ending.

(54:43):
Yeah.

Katie (54:43):
They did fly home.

Yep.
I, I just have so many questionslogistically about that because
one, how did they repairthe car in the first place?
They did.
That's, first off, we need to

Katie (54:52):
flew home.

that the, but the Wagon Queen family Truckster might be the
most unreliable, reliable car in history.
They've jumped it, it's been.
It's been spray painted Somehow whenthey jumped it and it got repaired, they
never put all four wheels on properly.
Yeah, yeah.
They still went dead in a straight line.
Uhhuh.

(55:12):
Most of the front of the car wascompletely gone, so, but where did
the car go when they flew home?
Abandoned it.
He bought a new car.
He probably pulled right up tothe terminal and said, keep it.
Back.
Then it was probably $2,000, you know?
Yeah,

Katie (55:24):
worth anything by the end of

yeah, right.
That's true.
Crashed.

Katie (55:27):
so yeah, fly home, buy, get the car.
He actually did order,

Yeah.

Katie (55:32):
Because this, this movie is set in Chicago.
That's one of the, I think that's,I think I brought it up before,
but I think subconsciously that'swhy I like all these movies.
'cause I love, or that'swhy I love Chicago is

Yeah.

Katie (55:42):
up watching all of these Chicago based movies.
So this movie also was, I'm kindof surprised given it's a road
trip movie and they did actually.
Shoot some things in locations, but it wasmade for $15 million and it grossed 61.4
worldwide.

Really good.

Katie (56:01):
thus the sequels.

Yep.
I also like as a video game nerd thatKevin and I are, I love the fact that
they plan the family vacation on a ballet.
Astro Cade.
Yeah.
The Clark's ballet Astro Cadethat connects to the Yes.
Connects to the tv, the 12 inch family tvElla come in, we're talking about day one.
It's literally three bits inter in aninteractive map that also becomes a video

(56:26):
game that also becomes a video game.
And you have Rusty and Audrey takingshots at one another in the game.
Yeah.

Katie (56:31):
wait, what did you, I wondered if it was a Commodore 64.
What was the computer?

It was called a Bally Astro Cade.
'cause the one thing that sticks out, thekeyboard he's typing on is an Apple two.
But the actual video gamesystem is a bally Astro Cade.
The reason it stands out,it's the one hand controller
with the knob on the very top.
Mm-hmm.
'cause a lot of people thought it wasone of the first video game systems.
And I'm, I'm going down a rabbit hole.
It was called The Fair Channel, theFairchild Channel F, which was the first

(56:59):
video game system that used cartridges.
This was the second one after that.
The Bally Astro Cade.

Katie (57:05):
Okay.
Okay.
Because the Commodore 64uses used cartridges too,

uses cartridges and floppies.
'cause I, I, I still have myCommodore 64 as a kid, so,

Katie (57:17):
have ours.

oh, I love my comedy.
You Great thing about that.
Load a game.
Go cook dinner.
Eat dinner.
Yep.
And then when you go backupstairs, the game's ready to go.
It might be ready to go.
It might be ready to go.

Katie (57:27):
We haven't turned it on in 30 years,

Clark obviously was getting his Christmas bonus back then.
Yeah.
Before the Jelly of the Month Club.
Because that's true.
You know those home systemslike that were not cheap.
No.
If you adjust that valley forinflation, I wanna say that'd be
like a 15 or $1,600 system now.
Yeah, yeah.

Katie (57:46):
they live in an upscale

Yeah.

Katie (57:48):
suburbs, so I think they're, they're fine.

They got the money.

Katie (57:52):
Yeah, for sure.
I hadn't seen this, you guys, it soundslike, have seen this multiple times.
I

Oh, we are.

Katie (57:59):
seen it, but maybe a couple of times.

It wasn't until, it wasn't until I texted you
recently where I stumbled acrossthe alternate ending to this movie.
Like I never knew about it until recentlyand it's 45 minutes of additional shock
that I am stunned that the originalmovie never ended in Wally World or

(58:23):
it, it was 'cause they had to refilm.
All the ending Wally world shotsbecause you can tell Anthony Michael
Hall a he hit a growth spurt.

Katie (58:32):
Mm-hmm.

So he gets the BB gun.
But instead of going back to Wallyworld, he goes to Roy Wally's house,
holds him at gunpoint and says,you are gonna entertain my family.
We drove all the way out here.
We lost an ant.
We need some officialRoy Wally Entertainment.
So that's how the moviewas initially screened.

(58:53):
And it's like Jesus.

Katie (58:55):
the girl, Christie Brinkley was his daughter.
So she

Yeah.
Yeah.

Katie (59:01):
her dad.
She's the one that kind ofconvinced him you know, not
to press charges or whatever.

Katie, they did end up in the park then, right?
It just ended at their, his, his house.
Right.

Katie (59:12):
I, I don't, I'm not entirely certain.

Loosely this ending became Christmas vacations ending.

Katie (59:18):
it

Yeah.
Where you Yeah.
It's a kidnapping in the home.
Yeah.
You know the whole, and thenthe last scene of the credits
where you see them on the plane.
That was the actual end ofthe original cut of the movie.
Yeah.

Katie (59:30):
Oh, I did read something about the plane ride home.
The Griswolds realized that they're on.
The wrong flight

Oh God,

Katie (59:39):
and hijacks the plane,

what the hell was happening?
You have him holding a guy at his houseat gunpoint and he's hijacking planes.

Katie (59:47):
this ending did not go over well with test audiences.
Thus the switch to the amusement parkwith John Candy and ever the SWAT team
and the police them almost gettingarrested and then at the end, everybody
including the police officers andeverybody's writing rights together.
All happy.

Pool Scene Podcast (01:00:05):
Do you think, and I doubt that he does this, but
when the day does come to Chevy,chase passes a do you think?
Do you think he still knowsthat he has this cut still?
Or B, who is gonna get this hasgotta come out eventually, right?
You wonder what likeversion it's in though.

(01:00:26):
Yeah.
I mean, it could be just completely, likeif it's raw footage or is it an edited,
I don't know, ready to be released?
I mean, they, they showed it apparently.
It didn't go over, it didn't,definitely didn't go over well,
but, 'cause I think I remember, Idon't remember which movie it was.
Maybe it's when we did FerrisBueller that John Hughes had

(01:00:46):
a lot of this sort of thing.
Versions of things, unwritten thingslike sort of like prince's vault Oh yeah.
Where it's this vault of information,music and footage and all this stuff.
But unfortunately, yeah.
You know, John Hughes passed away.
Yeah.
So,

Katie (01:01:02):
Yeah, I feel like there was like a three hour cut of it and
there was so much that, that got cut.

yeah.

Katie (01:01:08):
yeah.
One thing that I noted when I waswatching this was the Lacoste brand polo

Mm-hmm.

Katie (01:01:17):
Were

yeah.

Katie (01:01:18):
a sponsor of this movie or, or, or is that just so eighties?

I think that was so 80.
That was so 80.
Yeah.
The alligator lacoss has tried to make acomeback, but it hasn't really like stuck.
I don't know.
But yeah, Lacoste was everywhere.
I think I might have had three or four ofthose in my arsenal at that age, though.

Katie (01:01:36):
But they, like every, everybody in the whole family was wearing those

Yep.
Lacoste brand.

Katie (01:01:41):
yeah.
I tell you what now here's a scenethat, so I looked up trivia after
I watched the movie, and a lotof times I do it beforehand and
I would've been looking for it.
But here, I did note this last nightwhen I watched the movie the night
before They go, when they go onvacation, they're in the kitchen.
Clark and Ellen are like doing dishes.

(01:02:03):
Did you notice that Ellen scrapes foodoff of the dishes, hands Clark the plate?
And he just puts that backin the ca the cabinet.

Pool Scene Podcast: That sounds fine to me. (01:02:12):
undefined
There's another one.
It's clean.
We're good.
I just, there's no remnant that

Katie (01:02:16):
Well, there was a there's a joke.
'cause he says, oh, I neverwash, I never washed the dishes.
He just kind of like goes likethis with a towel and puts it
back in the ca in the cabinet.

he's saving water.
God bless that man.

Katie (01:02:28):
noticed it.
I'm like, well, what the hell?
But you know, I, I later then laterread in the trivia that Chevy Chase
doesn't think that anyone notices it.
And I, I did,

Yeah.

Katie (01:02:40):
that a lot of people may

Yeah.
I did not know this.
Yeah,

Katie (01:02:45):
Yeah.

just, it's, you always hear these things like later on
in life, and we've talked about this onour show, where, you know, they always
say, you know, don't meet your heroes.
'cause they might, youknow, disappoint you.
Chevy Chase definitely seems like that onewhere you hear like all like the stories
of on on the set of community, how hewas so damn difficult to work with and

Katie (01:03:09):
He's

you him on moot.

Katie (01:03:10):
difficult.

Yeah.
And it's like we found out listen,like after Val Kilmer died, he said,
you know, one of his biggest regretsis he was progressing, you know,
near the end of his life was, I wishI wasn't so damn difficult on set.
'cause I never really got toenjoy the movies I used to
do 'cause I was an asshole.
Yeah, yeah.
So it's like, I don't know if ChevyChase will ever have that type of regret

(01:03:31):
as he's getting older and older, butit's like, man, it's such a shame.
'cause Chevy Chase would've been oneof those guys where I'd be like, oh my
God, it'd be such an honor to meet you.
But Chevy Chase prettymuch steadily worked.
He did forever.
And that's what, if I were adirector, producer, anything.
I'm not wired that way.
I would not deal with assholes.

(01:03:52):
Yeah.
I just, I couldn't, if you'regonna be difficult like your value.
Yeah.
There's no actor that's maybeDaniel Day Lewis or something.
Yeah.
Method.
There's no one that's so goodthat you can't be replaced.
Exactly.
It's gotta be you.
Yeah.
But like Val Kilmer and Chevy Chaseand a number of others who were
difficult, they continued to work.
So did somebody

Katie (01:04:13):
Yeah.

was willing to, you know, money train was still coming in.
Yeah,

Katie (01:04:18):
I feel like for that to happen, it has to, don't know, I may be speaking
out of turn, but like a director whowell known, like he's trying to cut his

yeah, yeah.

Katie (01:04:30):
something, and so he, he has to put up with it,

Well, perfect example.
Mike Myers.
Yeah.
Mike Myers.
Famously very difficult and whenthey did so he married an ax murderer
that was, that guy's, I think onlydirecting movie directing credit ever.
And.
He, like the tabloids leaked howdifficult Mike Myers was being on set.
'cause it's coming off Wayne'sWorld a massive success.

(01:04:52):
He's a big, big star.
Big head.
Yeah.
And the director even said,yes, he all, it's all true.
He was very difficult.
However, he's like, he didn'tbury him and, and talk about
what an asshole he was.
He said, well, you have to understandthis is very out of the box for him.
He's playing a much different role.

(01:05:13):
It had to be difficult.
Like he was basicallyfeigning sympathy to him.

Katie (01:05:18):
Mm-hmm.

So yeah, I I think your point, you know, in
a roundabout sort of way Yeah.
From what I said, but like yourpoint is that yeah, it's, I think
directors would be lucky to say,I got Chevy Chase in my movie.
I got Val Kilmer in my movie.
And the truth is becausenobody else wants him anymore.

Katie (01:05:35):
Mm-hmm.

So.

Katie (01:05:36):
builds your credibility.
And then you can go on towork with easier actors.
You

Yeah.
It's true.

Katie (01:05:41):
yourself.
I, I, again, like there were alot of things I didn't remember,
including them leaving a dead person

Yeah.

Katie (01:05:48):
on a back porch.

I mean, you can't let you can't let it ruin a whole.
You've driven that far.
What are you gonna do with her?
That's, she fit perfectly on the roof.
I mean, too, that's really dark humor.
It's really dark.

Katie (01:05:59):
of dark

The, the dog, the dog's gotta be the worst thing.
And

Katie (01:06:03):
Yeah.

dog's worst than Aunt Edna, by far,

Katie (01:06:05):
yes.

But it, he left a note on her body, so
he left it for Cousin Normie.

Katie (01:06:12):
So who is her son?

Yeah.

Katie (01:06:14):
even imagine coming home from wherever the hell he was?

Who's this wrapped in this bag?
This mom?

Katie (01:06:22):
after, you know, in, in Arizona, in this is Phoenix, so the next
day it's probably gonna be hot and

Oh yeah.

Katie (01:06:28):
a dead person

Yeah.
But after that, he deliversthe best series of lines.
It's where we get ouronly fuck in the movie.

Katie (01:06:39):
There's

crest for fun.
So good.

Katie (01:06:42):
for fucking fun.

Yeah.
What?
What do you think?
What do you think?
I think you're all fucked in the head.
We're 10 hours from the fucking funpark, and you all wanna bail out for me.
This is no longer a vacation.
It's a quest.
A quest for fun.
I'm gonna have fun andyou're gonna have fun.
We're all gonna have so much fuckingfun because surgeon, to remove
her goddamn smiles, it's so good.
Oh my god.
He breaks.

Katie (01:07:04):
It's really, really good.
Some trivia about that.
There was profanity in thefilm, there was, there was like
five in a row in that scene.
And then there

oh tons

Katie (01:07:12):
I noticed it, that they actually had to film it two different ways
preparing for this to be shown on tv.

tv.

Katie (01:07:20):
Yeah.
And they, they let him ChevyChase that was just him, just like

Riffing.

Katie (01:07:26):
Yeah.

it's good they kind of brought that back.
'cause I don't remember he doingthat in European vacation, but he
did that in a rant and Christmasvacation, which is another epic rant.
But a little bit of a John Hughesthing too, because in plane insurance
and automobile with Edie Edie Mcclar.
Yeah.
It was Edie McClaren.
Yeah.
The whole, yeah, thewhole car rental fiasco.
Yeah.
And something about TV editsthough are tremendously great.

(01:07:51):
It's Kevin and I recite this a lot.
The diehard two TBS Super Station editof yippy ca motherfucker is yippy ca Mr.
Falcon.
It's like, ah.
Big Lebowski.
Yeah.
Big, big Lebowski is, this is what happenswhen you fuck a stranger in the ass.
Yeah, that's that one.
And they change it for televisionto, this is what happens when

(01:08:13):
you find a stranger in the Alps,

Katie (01:08:15):
what?

it's like between Mr.
Falcon and the Alps.
Yeah.
It's just like, ah, I always.

Katie (01:08:21):
I grew up watching an edited for TV version of the Breakfast Club,

Oh yeah,

Katie (01:08:26):
tv.
when Bender says reallyloud what, what's his face?
The principal guy

yeah.
Oh,

Katie (01:08:36):
fuck you

yeah, yeah,

Katie (01:08:38):
it like reverberates through the hallway.
The edited version is filled you.

Oh, it's a different connotation.

Katie (01:08:47):
as a 5-year-old, I'm like, what does that mean?
I dunno.

I, I really like Major League is an all timer major.
League is great.
League consistently, youknow, curses throughout.
And there's the part where Dorn wawalks onto the mound to Ricky and he
says, strike this motherfucker out.
Yep.
And it's on tv.
It's like, strike this.
Guy out.
It's like

Katie (01:09:09):
long

filled motherfucker with Guy.
You gotta love when they, youcan obviously tell, listen,
we're near the end of this movie.
I'm not writing anymore.
But to me, Mr.
Falcon, it's from motherfucker.
You get Mr.
Falcon just becausethere's an eminent F in it.
Well, tremendous.
Phoebe Bridger's named an albumafter Stranger in the Alps.
Really?
Awesome.
Yeah, because

Katie (01:09:27):
Really?

Yeah.
Yeah.
Stranger in the Alps because yeah.
This is what happens when youfind a stranger in the Alps.

Katie (01:09:34):
Oh my god,

I now, if I had that job, if they're like, Hey, you
gotta edit this for tv, bring it on.
That's like my dream job is tolike, write the alternative version.
Yeah.
Fill you,

Katie (01:09:47):
Phil, Phil de I mean, I

we, you should just yell that randomly at somebody and see
what the reaction is just for shit.
You Phil, you

Katie (01:09:57):
What'd you say?

like, what the fuck is wrong with this guy?
What?
The fill is wrong with me.
That's right.
What?
The fill is wrong with me.

Katie (01:10:03):
the field is wrong with you.
yeah.
Chubby Chase known to be difficult,but I did find this very sweet
apparently, and I want this to be true.
He adopted dinky the dogafter filming was completed.

Oh, okay.
See, you don't expect that to happen.
That's cool.

Katie (01:10:21):
why he didn't have a home.
My, I don't know whatthe story was there, but,

Yeah, go figure.
He had a heart.

Katie (01:10:29):
And the poster I always wondered about.

It's something.

Katie (01:10:33):
Yeah.
Did

No, don't know the story.

Katie (01:10:35):
Well, I mean, it's not really a story, but I guess it was it was done by
this fantasy illustrator, Boris Viejo,it's a parody from Conan the Barbarian in

Yeah, I can see where he got that from.
Definitely.
It's so good.
It, when you look at Nash, when youthink of a vacation road trip movie,
you look at that cover, you're like it.
It's this.
This literally is a quest at thisrate, the way that looks like a fantasy
movie, like Master of the Universe type.

Katie (01:11:02):
Very much masters of the universe type.
Yeah.

Yes.

Katie (01:11:05):
guess Conan the Barbarian, but yeah.
Now how would you guys ratethis among comedy films

Like what?
Like in a,

Katie (01:11:14):
in, in your top X number,

if I'm just do, if I'm doing just like straight,
like comedies, I would definitelyprobably put this in a top 25.
I would say top 20, top 25.
That's probably where I'd put it.
Yeah, I can, I can definitelyunderstand its importance in shaping
like what was to come for comedy.
I think it opened a lot of comedy doors,but yeah, it's not, I mean, I did watch

(01:11:41):
it a lot like in the past growing up,but it's not something that I'm like,
gotta go back and watch vacation,like high rewatch ability again.
I think more so I can understand it'slike, it's like cultural relevance.
Yes, exactly.
Insignificance, if anything.
There is a case to be made if you, thatChristmas vacation would go way higher

(01:12:02):
than this one Now, Christmas vacation'sinteresting though because how many
people watch it Because of Christmas.
Christmas, yeah.
And the tradition of it.
Yeah.
Because would it be watched thesame way if it wasn't, you know,
associated with, well, we're almostcoming up on the Christmas in
July phenomenon, so we can start.
Watch it in Christmas.

Katie (01:12:20):
you know, people could, it's not a thing, but we could make it a thing.

That's exactly,

Katie (01:12:24):
summer kickoff movie.
This is our summer kickoff episode.

there we go.

Katie (01:12:28):
we're gonna bring back, inside during summer and watching movies.

Here we go again.
Just five years ago for us.
Now, you know, we were talking about thatearlier, like with, you know, I was a
big like cable baby for sure and watchedso many movies growing up because it's
what they played on HBO and Cinemax andTBS and, and what I'd watch on TV now.
They would consistently playEuropean vacation all the time.

(01:12:54):
All the time.
Especially on tbs.
Your European was always on, always.
And original 83 vacation was not, no.
Not the same way thatEuropean vacation was.
No.

Katie (01:13:03):
The rights with those things are kind of funny too.
Yeah.
Like they'd, there'd be rocky marathons,but it would, they'd miss one, it would

Yeah.
They sure play a lot of five.
They played five way too much.
They play a lot of five too.

Katie (01:13:16):
yeah.
What you guys, I also am on apodcast called One More Round,
the Rocky Series podcast, andwe just finished up season five,

Yep.

Katie (01:13:26):
So, yeah.

Five.
Soundtrack that song.
Go for it.
It, I believe that songslaps that song is so good.
I think it's by Mc Light.
It's so damn good said Touch man.
Al Sue, touch man.
Al Sue.

Katie (01:13:37):
that's so funny.
I'm gonna totally bringthat up in our next episode,

Yeah.

Katie (01:13:41):
we make fun of the horrible early nineties rap in that,

It, it is the ultimate form of early nineties rap.
It's like the influence isheavy by hammer on that one.

Katie (01:13:55):
Yep.
Indeed.
Well, the reason I asked you guysabout your ranking is because in,
there are a couple of like liststhat this movie is on in 2000 readers
of total film, whatever that is.
Voted at the 46th greatestcomedy film of all time

Ooh.

Katie (01:14:14):
and pre premier voted this movie as one of the 50 greatest comedies
of all time, and that was in 2006.

Okay.

Katie (01:14:22):
I, yeah, I don't I mean maybe in the, in the top 50, I think I agree
with you guys about, its like relevanceculturally and, and like what it spawned.
and maybe it's just the 83 of it all

Yeah,

Katie (01:14:35):
you know, but I very much enjoy it.
and I'm gonna probably rewatch it more

yeah,

Katie (01:14:42):
Maybe it'll be my new summer kickoff, tradition.

yeah.
There you go.

Katie (01:14:48):
There's a couple of casting what ifs before we finish up.
You

Oh, wonder.
Here we go.
I love this.

Katie (01:14:54):
Actually one other piece of trivia.
did you, okay.
So when Ellen wakes up when whenClark is like looking at Christie
Brinkley, 'cause he is like trying tospeed to ke to keep up with her and

Yeah.

Katie (01:15:06):
Ellen is like, you're going 80 miles an hour, slow
down 80 80 is like normal,

Mm-hmm.
Yeah.

Katie (01:15:13):
that time, I guess 55 was the interstate

Yeah.
Is that, can you imagine gettingthat wagon up to 80 miles an hour?
And I think probably shaking.
I can't, can drive 55.
Oh nice.
Sammy Hagar reference there.

Katie (01:15:26):
slow.

Yeah.

Katie (01:15:28):
Although I was just recently in Costa Rica, and they don't
have like interstates like we

Yeah.

Katie (01:15:32):
more just like highways and they're, I think it's
55 is their speed limit,

That's crazy.
I just got a cameraticket a couple weeks ago.
'cause we've got a lot of camera.
Oh gosh.
I, last time I got one, I never paid it.
You didn't pay it?
Oh no.
'cause it was, 'cause it was, wellwe have a town bias in Gerard, Ohio.
So the problem was they wereusing a third party company
to get these speeding cameras.
So there was like a lawsuit that camedown, said if it was issued by a third

(01:15:59):
party company, it's not abiding to thecity in which that ticket was issued.
Yeah.
So I never paid it.
It never hit anything.
And that happened to a lot of people.
Then I think after that came out.
Gerard found a way toloophole to get back in.
So if you get hit by their camera, well,you have to pay directly to the city.
They can only give you a cameraticket if a cop is present.

(01:16:20):
Yeah.
So he doesn't have to do anything.
But if he just sit, if there's acop in the area, you know, and then
if you wanna battle him and say,there was no cop there, I mean Yeah.
Then it's your word againsttheirs, you'll lose every time.
Yeah, yeah,

Katie (01:16:33):
have a lot of certain areas here.
Like I'm in Denver, but inevery, every time I go to
Boulder, I get a camera ticket.
You

yeah.

Katie (01:16:41):
has to be, it's just cameras

Ugh.
Yeah.

Katie (01:16:43):
I almost always, I,

I, I'm just like, they've gotta be made because No, like
you said, to your point 55, like noone, no I don't think they get you
until you're like 10 or more over,but they've gotta be clearing, I
don't know, three, $4 billion a day.
Tons, tons.
Like on all these cars.

Katie (01:16:59):
this was, these are more like the stoplight ones.
The

Okay.
Okay.

Katie (01:17:04):
always

Speed limit should be minimum 70 to 75.
Now by far Auto?
I think so.
Auto bond.
Everywhere.
Auto, I'm auto bonded up, man.
It's, it's not the speedthat will kill you.
It's the sudden stop.
That will,

Katie (01:17:16):
Yeah, you're right.
Okay, so Clark Griswold potential,I mean, I can't, we can't
picture anybody else being Clark

no.

Katie (01:17:26):
he's Chevy Chase to us.
But some people who were considered,not surprisingly Bill Murray,

Okay.
Okay.

Katie (01:17:33):
but very surprisingly to me, Robert Klein and Richard Belzer

Whoa.
Belzer as Clark Griswold.
Now Robert Klein now, now he has thatkind of, I wouldn't say Chevy Chase
look, but he's Chevy Chase adjacent.
'Cause I remember seeinghim in Burt Reynolds' movie.
Hooper Guy used to be ahuge Burt Reynolds guy.
But belzer these, and theseare such huge what ifs because.

(01:18:01):
I can't picture anybody but ChevyChase in this, but if somebody else
was in it, do the other movies happen?
I don't think so.
Christmas vacation everhappened with Bill Murray.
No, I don't think it does.
Yeah.
That's interesting.

Katie (01:18:13):
of hard to work with,

Yeah.
Yeah.
He is.
He is.
Well, for the longest time hewanted nothing more to do with
the Ghostbusters franchise.
And then I think it was one of thosethings where it's like Dan said he would
come back and then Ernie said he wouldcome back and that's when he came back and
they did the the newer Ghostbusters Plushe probably saw the money on the check too
and went, wait a minute, I wanna do that.

Katie (01:18:34):
need a new beach house or whatnot.

Yeah.

Katie (01:18:37):
Ellen Griswold, apparently Kim was the original choice.

Ooh, eighties.
She would've been young.
She would've been real young, right?
I

Katie (01:18:48):
Well,

so.

Katie (01:18:49):
isn't I was reading that she was only like 15 years older than Dana

Whoa.

Katie (01:18:56):
Yeah.

know what, Kim Catrell, you think, you know, if
she would've been casted here fouryears later would've been mannequin.
Yeah.
And Kim Catrell was like, well,I also, Kim Catrell was in
Police Academy the first one ayear after this movie came out.
So I could, now that I'm thinkingabout it, I could see Kim RA's.
Yeah.
Ellen.
Yeah,

Katie (01:19:16):
She, and they kind of have a similar

sure they do.

Katie (01:19:19):
motherly, but sexiness to them also, Maureen McCormick was considered

Oh, Marsha, Marsha.
Marsha.

Katie (01:19:27):
Yeah.
That would've been interesting.

Mm-hmm.

Katie (01:19:30):
poor, poor Maureen.
Once you play Marsha Brady, you,

You're done.
Yeah.
But do you like There was avery short lived, they attempted
to bring the Bradys back.
It was 1990.
They did that very Brady Christmas movie,which every year I watch, like me and
my girlfriend, like in a tradition.
So they brought back the Brady's.
It lasted six episodes.
The only one didn't come back.
Marie McCormick said, I'm out.

(01:19:54):
I I don't wanna be Marsha anymore.
I'm, I'm done with this.
Because they ended up making, I think, thecharacter of Marsha in that movie play.
I can't, I don't remember who endedup playing her, like a recovering,
like alcoholic and stuff like that.
So she's like, wait, you're gonna make mea recovery, like alcohol and drug addict?
No, I'm, I'm out, but look, can youname, I can't name her in anything

(01:20:15):
else off the top of my head.

Katie (01:20:16):
Well, I can only because this was Patrick Swayze's first
movie, 1979 skate Town, USA,

Oh, that's right.

Katie (01:20:25):
McCormick was in that, as was Scott Mayo.
There was like a number of likepeople from back in the day that,

Yep.

Katie (01:20:31):
Yep.

Okay.

Katie (01:20:32):
But, but, but that's really obscure, like

Oh yeah.

Katie (01:20:36):
know that.
And then Cousin Eddie, I don'tknow who Kenneth Mars is,

Name sounds very familiar.

Katie (01:20:44):
and so was Robin Williams.

That would've been, that's like off Mor and Mindy.
Yeah, pretty much.

Katie (01:20:52):
play goofy.

Mm-hmm.
Yeah.
Yeah.
It would've been a totally different vibe,but I could still see him as cousin a, I
could see Robin Williams pulling it off.
Yeah.

Katie (01:21:01):
Mm-hmm.
you guys, this has been a blast.

It as always.
I,

Katie (01:21:06):
please tell us if you have any closing thoughts on National Lampoon's
vacation, and then where can we find you?

well, I know like for this movie, this could have been
like one of my earliest memories oflike amusement parks as a kid, because

Katie (01:21:23):
Mm.

in my local, well actually I should say our local park
at the time we went to all the timewas Jaga Lake, which was in Aurora,
Ohio, which is a suburb of God's about10, 15 minutes outside of Cleveland.

Katie (01:21:34):
Okay.

we were, I was there almost growing up all
the time, so that was our thing.
We actually had an amusement park inthe Youngstown, Ohio region called
I Dora Park, but I, it burned down.
It burned down.
We had that.
But this might've been one of my earliestmemories of seeing an amusement park.
And for me, that stuck out.
And I grew up in a single, likebefore my, my dad legally adopted

(01:21:56):
me and my parents got married.
I was raised by a mom, agrandmother, and a grandfather.
And we just didn't havethe money to do road trips.

Katie (01:22:02):
Mm-hmm.

when I was old enough where my mom was like, okay,
you couldn't watch it, but I'm gonnasit and watch it with you, you know,
that kind of supervision thing.
It was nice to live vicariouslythrough a movie like this.
Oh look, this a, a, a dad, I didn'thave a dad, and you got to go
on a, a cross country road trip.
Something that I alwayswanted to do and dream of.
So for me, vacation was a very, avery like, sentimental type, hoping

(01:22:28):
what could be one day type movie.
And that's like watching it.
I've seen this movieprobably 50, 60 times.
So it holds a lot of weight to me.
I mean, I can remember watching thismovie growing up as a, as pretty small
child, sort of like you, but rather thanbeing like, oh my God, this is so great.
I remember having likelogic issue questions.
Yeah.
There's a lot where like whenthey pull into the parking lot and
they're the only car there, I'mlike, how do they know it's not out?

(01:22:50):
Like how can't they realizeit's, isn't there a newspaper
or you and Clark's and Clark?

Katie (01:22:55):
a kid, were like, the thing is closed, it's

Yeah.

Katie (01:22:57):
Right?

So they park and I, and I, and I still to this day,
like Kevin and I have done this.
We'll park the farthest away becausethen you could be the first one out.
That's what Clark says.
Clark's like first in, first out.
Yeah.
That's the, that's the best thing.
But the fact that you playChariots of Fire and you're running
through this massive parking lot.
Yeah.
And nothing occurs to you untilyou see, sorry folks Parks closed.
Well and it's funny 'cause in that shot,that's the Wally world is a painting.

(01:23:21):
Yeah.
And it's like some raceway, it isSanta Anita or something like that.
And then, but also who operates the rides.
Apparently he does.
They know how to operate rides.
They, they,

Katie (01:23:31):
apparently

yeah.
But he's on the ride though too.
Yeah.
Yeah.
At the end maybe they said it to Otto.

Katie (01:23:36):
Frank McCrae maybe was doing it

Yeah, yeah,

Katie (01:23:39):
the other security guard.

He treated him me like a dog miss while
him Crushed by human dignity.
Yeah,

Katie (01:23:45):
right, I logic issues when you're a kid.
Also, the, when he falls asleepand he kills a bunch of people
and then parks perfectly at the

yeah, yeah.
Perfect ride.
And we also gotta give a shoutout to when they, they go off the
wrong exit and they end up in St.
Louis for somehow, some way theydon't hear the hubcaps getting
stolen and somebody's spraypainting on the side of the car.
Yeah.
I mean, you don't hear that, that,that one of those, that scene is like.

(01:24:15):
I don't know if I, it's, I don't know ifyou could do a scene like that anymore.
'cause it's very kind of, I, I thinkyou definitely, if you haven't seen
it, any listeners who haven't seen it.
Yeah.
You gotta watch it.
Just understand like stuff like TheHangover wouldn't exist without vacation.
So many comedy movies wouldnot exist without Vacation.
Magic Mic XXL Exactly.

(01:24:36):
Does not exist without this.
Yeah.

Katie (01:24:39):
I mean, it's a screwball.
It's very much of its time.

Oh yeah.

Katie (01:24:42):
sure.

And the, the franchise, so it spawned National
Lampoons as a film franchise.
Well, animal House was first.
Well, animal House.
Yeah.
Vacation units.
Success of these movies.
We covered National Lampoon.
Senior Trip.
Senior Trip, I love it.
Which is also a road trip movie.
Yeah.
But then, yeah, some of these you know,xeroxed like versions, copy paste of

(01:25:04):
these video stores, control C, control V,national Lampoon, whatever is so funny.
And they all exist becauseof the success of this, of.
Animal house and vacation.
And it is weird being that this is,you know, as part of your John Hughes
season, this like barely feels like John.
There are things obviously discussedin the last, you know, hour or

(01:25:25):
whatever where there are John Hughestrademarks, but this is the, if you
were to say, okay, John Hughes movies.
Go Breakfast ClubVacation's, probably 10th.
It's down there.
It's probably 10th.
Yeah.

Katie (01:25:40):
There were things that I noticed just because I've been doing
all these John Hughes movies and wealready covered the Great Outdoors,

Oh, love that movie.

Katie (01:25:48):
similarities.
I'm, I can see that John, like I said,like he has like a movie template

Yeah.

Katie (01:25:54):
of picks things from certain movies and combos them up into, into a movie.
And so there, there were a lot ofthings from this, like real similar
beats in, in the great outdoors.

Mm-hmm.

Katie (01:26:06):
thought.

Oh yeah, I agree.

Katie (01:26:08):
So where can we find you and the Stein podcast?

Well, we're coming up like I said earlier soy Mary Berg is gonna
be coming out next week, which will beepisode number 250 as of recording today.
This is our fifth year anniversary.
You can find us any, anywhereyou can find podcasts, anywhere.
Our podcasts are found.
You can find us.
That's where we're, we're everywhere.

Katie (01:26:29):
awesome.
And it sounds like you have some superfun episodes coming up with your banger

We, we got some stuff coming up.
We still got a let little bitleft to do in this season.
Then we're on to 19.
Yep.

Katie (01:26:39):
awesome.
Awesome.
Well, I think that's a wrap youguys on this road trip with the
Griswolds car troubles, moosethemed disappointment and all.
And in the meantime though, if you dolike this episode, please follow the
show, leave a review or shoot me an email.
It does help other retro movie loversfind the show and I'd love to hear

(01:27:01):
what you remember about these classics.
Until next time, be kind, rewind.

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National Lampoon's Vacation | S2E10

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