Tag Archives: Home Alone (1990)

Holiday Films 2024

HollywoodGlee Holiday Films for 2024, Home Alone (1990)

Leave a comment

Posted by Larry Gleeson

“An eight-year-old troublemaker, mistakenly left home alone, must defend his home against a pair of burglars on Christmas Eve.” -IMDb

Macaulay Culkin. as Kevin McCallister

One of the most zany and entertaining Christmas films, Home Alone, was penned by the late John Hughes (Planes, Trains & Automobiles) Hughes based his screenplay while getting ready for a personal trip to Europe and imagined what inadvertently  leaving his oen ten-year-old son behind might look like. Enter Macaulay Culkin. as Kevin McCallister.

It’s Christmas time in an upper-middle class Chicago neighborhood and bumbling crooks, Harry (Joe Pesci) and Marv (Daniel Stern) are casing it for easy-pickings. The McAllister home becomes the pair’s next target. Unbeknownst to Harry and Marv, a formidable foe in the form of ten-year-old Kevin.It doesn’t take Kevin long to vanquish these haphazard thieves.

What at first seemed like a vacation living large, kid style, in his family’s empty home, Kevin soon realizes what had made his holidays so special was a sense of family togetherness and shared family tradition. Frankly, this is the Home Alone’s thematic appeal.

STREAMING HERE

television

Glee’s Top 5 Christmas Pics

Leave a comment

Posted by Larry Gleeson

For me, it just doesn’t get any better than the RKO Pictures It’s a Wonderful Life (1946), starring Jimmy Stewart as George Bailey, “the richest man in the world.” Often overlooked as the film was at its release, is Donna Reed’s performance as Mary. In addition, Lionel Barrymore delivers an unforgettable performance as dastardly Mr. Potter. In the end, it’s all George Bailey exemplifying and embodying love, honor, and charity. Directed by the legendary Frank Capra who had just wrapped up several war propaganda films.

It’s A Wonderful Life

 

Growing up in a big family, I related to McCauley Culkin’s character, Kevin McAllister, in Home Alone (1990) Culkin portrays an eight-year-old troublemaker who must protect his house from a pair of burglars when he is accidentally left home alone by his family during Christmas vacation. Joe Pesci and Daniel Stern turn in riveting performances as the lovable would-be robbers outsmarted at every turn. Catherine O’Hara and John Heard bring it home as the warm and distraught parents who forgot their son as they hurried off to the world’s busiest airport.

Home Alone

 

White Christmas (1954) with Bing Crosby, Danny Kaye, Rosemary Clooney, and Vera-Ellen made the list as I finally watched the classic film this week, despite being a long-time owner of the Bing Crosby Christmas Album. The film follows two war buddies who go on to a high-profile entertainment career performing live routines to rave headlines in Variety.  Made during the era of big-budget musicals, White Christmas doesn’t disappoint.

White Christmas

 

Bad Santa and Bad Santa 2 with Billy Bob Thronton and Tony Cox round out the list and need a warning for some adult content sure to offend and spark the ire of any parent who is anticipating a film to watch with their adolescent children. A word of caution – don’t even think about it. Watched in tandem, the films, made thirteen years apart, reach a crescendo at the end of Bad Santa and Bad Santa 2 provided a slippery descent into degradation and vulgarity not expected in a Christmas film. Mad Men’s Christina Hendricks joins the cast for the sequel. Expect the unexpected!

Bad Santa

 

Bad Santa 2