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The enduring excellence of bashing burglars and christmas chaos.

Writer's picture: Nicholas HodgsonNicholas Hodgson

Christmas also marks the end of the school year and the start of the summer break here in Australia. So, for those of you of a Northern hemisphere origin, imagine if you will a combination of the kind of holiday themed school days that always feature in the lead up to Christmas COMBINED WITH the traditions of the end of the school year eg: graduations, prize givings, preparations for next year etc…


The end result is that for those of us in the teaching profession, this can be a very busy time of year and as such we can sometimes get a bit lazy with our teaching preparation.


Hence… my classes are watching a lot of Christmas movies as the school year draws to a close (the last day for students in this part of the world is next Friday – the 15th of December. Staff stay an extra two days after that before we break for the holidays too).

The fun thing about Christmas movies is that you only really watch them for a few weeks of the year and as a result… you can go years without watching some of your faves.


Case in point – this week I watched Home Alone (and half of Home Alone 2) for the first time in… it might be ten years.


Now both those films are well-deserved Christmas classics.


But I’m old enough to remember when they first came out – particularly the first one – and what a surprise crackerjack of a film it turned out to be.

(Although if memory serves – it came out in May of 1991 in New Zealand – not exactly the best timing for a Christmas movie!)


To give a brief background – Home Alone was devised and written by the late, great John Hughes who up to that point had made his reputation on classic teen movies (The Breakfast Club, Sixteen Candles, Pretty in Pink et al). By the late 1980’s he was broadening into family comedies and he had some hits with Planes, Trains and Automobiles (Steve Martin and John Candy classic) and Uncle Buck. He had even done a Christmas film – as a writer on National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation.


But Home Alone was something new for him.


A Christmas comedy written and produced by Hughes but not directed by him – he handed that role over to Chris Columbus who had written Gremlins and The Goonies and would go on to direct the first two Harry Potter films.



Hughes had come up with the concept for Home Alone after wondering what would happen if he accidently left one of his own kids at home when he went on vacation.


The film was released in November of 1990 and turned out to be a monster hit – grossing more than five hundred million dollars worldwide and turning the young star, Macaulay Culkin, into the biggest child star since Shirley Temple.


So how does the film hold up after thirty years?

Actually, surprisingly well.


There are some necessarily dated aspects to the plot (the advent of mobile phones and the internet make the whole scenario far less plausible today) but the film is as fresh and funny as it was the day it came out.


As well as having a cracker of a script and being well directed, Home Alone’s success depends a lot on the performances of the main cast and in this respect Hughes and Columbus really hit the jackpot. Catherine O’Hara, who would go on to fame and acclaim in Schitts Creek, plays Kevin’s mum. John Heard, always solid, plays Kevin’s dad. The burglers are Daniel Stern – who is a comic genius in this film, Joe Pesci who plays Marv as a cartoon character (and would go on to win the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for Goodfellas while this film was still in theatres), and Roberts Blossom as the mysterious neighbour is pitched perfectly.


But a film like this one lives or dies on the lead role.


Macaulay Culkin as Kevin McCallister is perfect marriage of actor and part and he thoroughly deserved all the acclaim and success that came his way after this film. Culkin is a seriously talented actor – the fact he was only nine years old at the time makes his performance truly remarkable.


And the film is lucky to have him.


Like the kids in my books, this film is about a kid who does remarkable things, far beyond anyone’s expectations of him. Watching this film as a parent it’s interesting how Kevin never stops being an average eight-year-old, despite the extraordinary things the film calls upon him to do. Even his defence of the house – the most famous scene in the film – follows a kid logic, not an adult one. For every smart and clever boobytrap (ice on the steps, heating up the door handle, trip wires, the nail on the step, the blow torch on the door frame), there are others that either rely on blind luck (the Christmas ornaments on the carpet – only an effective defence if the intruder is barefoot, the iron down the shaft relying on the intruder standing still while it falls, the paint cans relying on the intruder being in the exact right (wrong?) spot) or seemed to have no purpose but to humiliate (the glue in the face, the BB gun in the balls, the feathers on the fan).


It works because you think that’s what a kid would do – and that a kid wouldn’t make the obvious logical assumptions – like pulling the paint cans back up and throwing them down again.


And it also works because Daniel Stern and Joe Pesci sell every moment with pitch-perfect comic timing and just the right tone. That the worst injury they have at the end of the film is a black eye seems implausible, but we don’t mind – just like we don’t mind the action hero who beats the bad guy up despite being shot in the shoulder or can walk away from an erupting explosion right behind them… having saved the dog.


This action movie logic is why I often find myself comparing Home Alone with the other violence filmed Christmas classic from that era – Die Hard.


And much like Die Hard, the message at the centre of Home Alone is simple and straightforward. Family is everything and when you love your family you’ll do anything… endure anything… to keep them safe.


And I think it’s the sweetness and the heart at the centre of this movie that keeps people watching year after year. It’s still funny and hasn’t dated nearly as much as other blockbusters from that year (try re-watching Ghost these days… yikes…) and the message of the film is simple and universal.


Family matters.


And there’s no place like home.





Small addendum: it was really sweet to see Macaulay Culkin receive his Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame last week and especially cool to see Catherine O’Hara – his neglectful movie parent – make a speech at the ceremony. Both her and Macaulay spoke wonderfully and from the heart.





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