Home Alone (1990 film)

 This article is about the 1990 film. For the series, see Home Alone (franchise). For other uses, see Home Alone (disambiguation).

Home Alone
File:Home alone poster.jpg Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Chris Columbus
Produced by	John Hughes
Written by	John Hughes
Starring	Macaulay Culkin Joe Pesci Daniel Stern John Heard Catherine O'Hara
Music by	John Williams
Cinematography	Julio Macat
Edited by	Raja Gosnell
Production company	Hughes Entertainment
Distributed by	20th Century Fox
Release dates	November 16, 1990 (1990-11-16)
Running time	103 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$18 million
Box office	$476.7 million

Home Alone is a 1990 American 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 break 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 points to Kevin his granddaughter in the choir, whom he never gets to meet as 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, spring the traps, and suffer 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 burgled 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.

Cast

• Macaulay Culkin as Kevin McCallister
• Joe Pesci as Harry Lime
• Daniel Stern as Marv Merchants
• John Heard as Peter
• Catherine O'Hara as Kate
• Devin Ratray as Buzz
• Hillary Wolf as Megan
• Angela Goethals as Linnie
• Mike Maronna as Jeff
• Gerry Bamman as Uncle Frank
• Terrie Snell as Aunt Leslie
• Jedidiah Cohen as Rod
• Kieran Culkin as Fuller
• Senta Moses as Tracy
• Daiana Campeanu as Sondra
• Anna Slotky as Brooke
• Kristin Minter as Heather
• Roberts Blossom as Old Man Marley
• John Candy as Gus Polinski, "the Polka King of the Midwest"