Home Alone (stylized as HOME ALONe) is a 1990
American Christmas comedy film written and produced by John Hughes and
directed by Chris Columbus. The film stars Macaulay Culkin as Kevin
McCallister, a boy who is mistakenly left behind when his family flies
to Paris for their Christmas vacation. Kevin initially relishes being
home alone, but soon has to contend with two would-be burglars played by
Joe Pesci and Daniel Stern. The film also features Catherine O'Hara and
John Heard as Kevin's parents.
Culkin was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Musical
or Comedy. After its release, Home Alone became the highest-grossing
live action comedy film of all time in the United States, and also held
the record worldwide until it was overtaken by The Hangover Part II in
2011. It is the highest grossing Christmas movie of all time at the
North American box office (when adjusted for inflation). Home Alone has
spawned a successful film franchise with four sequels, including the
1992 film Home Alone 2: Lost in New York, the only Home Alone sequel to
have the original cast reprising their roles.
Plot
The McCallister family is
preparing to spend Christmas in Paris, gathering at Peter and Kate's
home outside of Chicago on the night before their departure. Peter and
Kate's youngest son, eight-year-old Kevin, is being ridiculed by his
siblings and cousins. A fight with his older brother, Buzz, results in
Kevin getting sent to the third floor of the house for punishment, where
he wishes that his family would disappear. During the night, heavy
winds cause damage to power lines, which causes a temporary power outage
and resets the alarm clocks, causing the entire family to oversleep. In
the confusion and rush to get to the airport, Kevin is accidentally
left behind.
Kevin wakes up to find the house empty and, thinking his wish has come
true, is overjoyed with his new-found freedom. However, Kevin soon
becomes frightened by his next door neighbor, "Old Man" Marley, who is
rumored to have murdered his family with a snow shovel in 1958; as well
as the "Wet Bandits", Harry and Marv, a pair of burglars who have been
breaking into other vacant houses in the neighborhood and have targeted
the McCallisters' house. Kevin tricks the pair into thinking his entire
family is home, forcing them to put their plans on hold.
Kate discovers mid-flight that Kevin is missing and, upon arrival in
Paris, the family discovers that all flights for the next two days are
booked. Peter and the rest of the family go to his brother Rob's
apartment in the city while Kate manages to get a flight back to the
United States only to get as far as Scranton, Pennsylvania. She attempts
to book a flight to Chicago but again, everything is booked. Unable to
accept this, Kate is overheard by Gus Polinski, the lead member of a
traveling polka band, who offers to let her travel with them to Chicago
on their way to Milwaukee in a moving van, which she graciously accepts.
Meanwhile, Harry and Marv realize that Kevin is home alone, and on
Christmas Eve, Kevin overhears them discussing plans to breaking into
his house that night. Kevin goes to church and watches a choir perform.
He meets Old Man Marley, who sits with Kevin and they briefly speak; he
learns that Marley is actually a nice man and that the rumors about him
are false. He tells Kevin he is watching the choir because his
granddaughter is singing, but he never gets to see her because he and
his son are estranged and have not been on speaking terms for some time;
Kevin suggests that he try to reconcile with his son.
Kevin returns home and rigs the house with numerous booby traps. Harry
and Marv break in, springing the traps and suffering various injuries.
While the duo pursues Kevin around the house, he calls the police and
flees the house, luring the duo into a neighboring vacant home. Harry
and Marv manage to catch him and discuss how they will get their
revenge, but Marley sneaks in and knocks them unconscious with his snow
shovel before they can do anything to Kevin. The police arrive and
arrest Harry and Marv, having identified all the houses they burglarized
due to the latter's habit of flooding them.
On Christmas Day, Kevin is disappointed to find that his family is still
gone. He then hears Kate enter the house and call for him; they
reconcile and are soon joined by the rest of the McCallisters, who
waited in Paris until they could get a direct flight to Chicago. Kevin
keeps silent about his encounter with Harry and Marv, although Peter
finds Harry's missing gold tooth. Kevin then observes Marley reuniting
with his son and his family. Marley notices Kevin and the pair wave to
each other before Marley and his family go inside his house. Buzz
suddenly calls out, "Kevin, what did you do to my room?!" at which point
Kevin runs off.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Home_Alone