- It's A Wonderful Life
- A Christmas Story
- Elf
- Home Alone
- Love, Actually
- Four Christmases and
- Christmas Vacation
While Mrs. HERC joins him for these viewings, she also manages to DVR and then views dozens more Holiday titles from Lifetime, The Hallmark Channel and ABC Family Freeform.
Christmas Vacation (or more correctly National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation) is a 1989 film produced from a screenplay adapted by John Hughes from his 1980 short story '59 Christmas which was originally published in National Lampoon magazine. There are a few similarities between the source material and the finished film, with each having their own merits. With a terrific cast including Saturday Night Live alumnus Chevy Chase, Randy Quaid, Brian Doyle-Murray and Julia Louis-Dreyfuss as well as a fourteen year old Johnny Galecki ("Leonard" on The Big Bang Theory), Beverly DeAngelo and Juliette Lewis, with the latter two joining Chase (and other recognizable cast members from all the Vacation films) in this series of Old Navy commercials from the 2012 Holiday shopping season.
and a bonus Old Navy commercial featuring Johnny Mathis
HERC has seen Christmas Vacation many times over the last 27 years and each time a certain scene or line of dialogue stands out. This year, it was the number of bags of dry dog food "Cousin Eddie" (Randy Quaid) piled in the cart while walking through Wal-Mart with "Clark" (Chevy Chase). It is a PG-13 film and may not be suitable for younger children prone to repeat everything they hear. HERC recommends it as a comedy first and as a Holiday film second though he finds it curious that it ends on Christmas Eve rather than Christmas Day or even New Year's Day, which used to be the traditional ending of Christmas vacations here in the States. Stay away from Christmas Vacation 2: Cousin Eddie's Island Adventure though - it is really, really bad.
Unlike preceding Friday Hideaway Film Festivus flicks (say that three times fast!), Christmas Vacation is not packed with music but what few songs it does feature on the soundtrack are worth seeking out but let's get one thing straight right away: Despite numerous claims to the contrary all over the interwebs, there has never ever been an official soundtrack album released for Christmas Vacation. There was not a limited edition run of 20,000 pressed for the 10th Anniversary of the film and they were not distributed at Six Flags Magic Mountain, where the Wally World scenes of the first Vacation were filmed. The CD available on Amazon, ebay and iOffer (to name but a few) is a bootleg, most likely originally compiled by a fan but since copied and sold for obscene amounts. HERC's research turned up no fewer than three different configurations floating around out there in the ether. Buyer beware!
The film opens and closes with the hard-to-find "Christmas Vacation" written by Barry Mann & Cynthia Weil and performed by Mavis Staples. HERC owns the radio promo seven inch single (above) issued on Prince's Paisley Park label (Mavis's label at the time) which has "Christmas Vacation" on both sides. For all you mixtapers, playlist curators and mix CD makers, the song is more readily available on The Ultimate Christmas Album Volume 3,which was first issued in 1996.
The soulful, sentimental song in the movie is "That Spirit Of Christmas" by Ray Charles which is from his 1985 album with a similar name, The Spirit Of Christmas. Fortunately for fans of the song, Rhino issued the album on compact disc in 1990, the year after Christmas Vacation was released. There are several notable cover versions worth seeking out including Chuck Brown and Roy LaMontagne.
Bing Crosby's "Mele Kalikimaka" is played during the pool fantasy sequence in the movie. Recorded with the Andrews Sisters in 1950, the song failed to chart yet is still considered one of Crosby's Top 10 Christmas tunes. The song can be found on several albums including one first released in 1955, Merry Christmas, which has been in print continuously since although the CD can currently be found under the title White Christmas.
"Hey Santa Claus" by The Moonglows was first released in 1955 as the b-side to "Just A Lonely Christmas". Appropriately, that single was pressed on red vinyl and is quite rare - collectors pay more than a thousand dollars for a copy. The track is available on a few CDs though HERC prefers the 1986 CD called Rockin' Little Christmas as it also contains the A-side of the single as well as two of the biggest Christmas songs of all time in their original hit versions: Brenda Lee's "Rockin' Around The Christmas Tree" and "Jingle Bell Rock" by Bobby Helms.
Lastly, Gene Autry's "Here Comes Santa Claus (Right Down Santa Cluas Lane)" is used ironically in Christmas Vacation as the S.W.A.T. team arrives, surrounds the Griswold residence and then crashes through every window. Written by Autry and recorded in 1947, the song was both a country and pop hit and was later performed by Autry in his 1949 film The Cowboy and The Indians (above). Amazingly, Gene Autry also has the definitive versions of three more Christmas classics: "Rudolph, The Red-Nosed Reindeer" (1950), "Frosty The Snowman" (1950) and "Up On The Housetop" (1952). All of those songs and more can be found on CD, The Complete Columbia Christmas Recordings by Gene Autry.
Sorry, there's no playlist this time around. Neither Spotify nor Songza currently has the Mavis Staples title track from the movie, although the other songs are available if you want to make your own playlist.
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