Day 19 National Lampoon’s Vacation

With most franchises, the first film in the series is the best and everything else is a shadow. The one big exception that always jumps out is “The Empire Strikes Back” but there is another series where the most beloved of the films is not the first, it is the third. Somehow, National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation became the Griswold Family film that everyone adores. I suspect much of that comes from the fact that people regularly revisit it at the holiday season. I know that I do.

That said, there is still plenty of juice in the original film in this franchise, and I think it would be a good idea for people to check into it each year, maybe the way we do “Jaws” on the Fourth of July. “Vacation ” is a tonic for the cynical comedies that come out all the time. It is not really family friendly despite being family centered and that is sort of one of it’s charms. Clark Griswold tries to be the perfect family man, but he has a temper that when pushed provokes him into Samuel L. Jackson territory.

One of the reasons I found the film so funny when I first saw it is that I had lived it myself. As a child, my family made several pilgrimages from our home in Southern California to my parents hometown of Battle Creek Michigan. We also twice extended our trips to New York, and all of that was driving in a station wagon. Troubles with the car, roadside attractions that are somewhat creepy, and relatives that you don’t know very well are all part of such a trip. I know that the sequence in St. Louis is politically incorrect and probably racist to a degree, but I also know how it felt to be driving in a shady part of town, at night, and not know where you are going. We spent an hour in Baltimore in 1976, trying to find our way to the main highway, We laughed at it afterwards, but it was awkward before GPS, asking for directions of strangers on the street.

There are plenty of things that are also not very PG about the film, other than the language. I did not remember how much co-star Beverly D’Angelo showed off of her body. Rusty get taught how to masturbate and Audrey how to smoke pot. They also catch their parents in flagrante on multiple occasions. Even though the dog is not very nice, his demise is played for laughs and that might be a little tough for the family audience. Probably the most descriptive adjective for the film is the phrase “National Lampoon’s”, because the sophomoric and slightly deranged character of that magazine is all over the movie.

Chevy Chase does not seem to have a very positive personal reputation, but Clark Griswold does. He loves his family but makes stupid mistakes that make him the butt of the joke most of the time. His wife and kids are never held up to ridicule, it is only he who has to bear the brunt of his foolishness, they simply have to cope with loving their dad and husband, in spite of his flaws. The whole episode with cousin Eddy and Katherine puts the family in contrast, but also reminds us that we can’t escape family, no matter how much we are mortified by them.

I saw this movie with a group of friends, and some of them were a little straight laced so the jokes might have shocked them a bit. I remember enjoying the Lindsey Buckingham title song “Holiday Road” and I also remember that this was one of several films that summer that we saw on a double feature with Superman III. That film tanked and I suspect it was pushed into duty to fill contractual obligations about play dates, rather than a desire to draw audiences in, but that story will come up later.