National Lampoon's Vacation (lost deleted alternate ending of comedy film; 1983): Difference between revisions

Latest revision as of 13:29, 22 December 2022

Theatrical poster.

Status: Lost

The 1983 comedy classic National Lampoon's Vacation underwent re-shoots prior to release, featuring a completely replaced ending. In the final film, the ending, shot in a completely different resolution from the rest of the film, sees Clark Griswold (Chevy Chase) and his family finally arrive at the Walley World amusement park only to find it closed for repairs.

After purchasing the BB gun, the original ending also sees Clark buy a map of the stars homes and track down Roy Walley himself. Griswold finds Walley at his house, having a meeting in his backyard. Clark holds Walley and his employees at gunpoint and forces them to entertain his family by singing and dancing. The police show up to arrest Clark, but as they're about to take him away, the beautiful woman in the red sports car (Christie Brinkley) shows up and reveals herself to be Roy Walley's daughter. She convinces her father to drop the charges and Clark is released.

The final scene was to show the Griswolds on a plane heading back home (wearing complementary Walley World hats) only to find out they're on the wrong flight. Clark hijacks the plane to get the pilots to change course.

Following initial test screenings, Harold Ramis stated audiences were highly entertained by the film, but didn't enjoy the ending. It wasn't the violent nature of the scene, but the non-inclusion of the actual Walley World park that left audiences dissatisfied. John Hughes was brought back to write the new ending, with Warner Bros. giving the cast and crew four days to shoot the new footage. Filming took place at a Six Flags amusement park.

None of the footage of the original ending has surfaced to this day, with only a few photographs released. Chevy Chase announced on the audio commentary for the film's 20th anniversary DVD that he possessed a copy of the film with the original ending, but Warner Bros. has shown no interest in releasing it commercially.^[1]

A photograph of the original ending is featured in the final credits of the film (during the "Distributed by Warner Bros." credit).

Gallery

Clark with the BB gun in Roy Walley's backyard.
Clark on the plane with the Walley World hat.
The Griswolds on the plane, with their Walley World hats (taken from the ending credits).

References

↑ Cinelinx article about the original ending. Retrieved 13 May '21

[1] Cinelinx article about the original ending. Retrieved 13 May '21

[1]

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 |title=<center>National Lampoon's Vacation (alternate ending)</center>
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-The 1983 modern comedy classic, ''National Lampoon's Vacation'', is actually a completely re-shot resolution. As in the final version Clark Griswold (Chevy Chase) and his family finally arrive at the Walley World amusement park, only to find it closed for repairs.
+The 1983 comedy classic ''National Lampoon's Vacation'' underwent re-shoots prior to release, featuring a completely replaced ending. In the final film, the ending, shot in a completely different resolution from the rest of the film, sees Clark Griswold (Chevy Chase) and his family finally arrive at the Walley World amusement park only to find it closed for repairs.
-'''However in the original ending after purchasing the BB gun, Clark also buys a map of the stars homes and tracks down Roy Walley himself at his house where he is having a meeting in his backyard'''. Clark gets revenge on Walley and his employees by holding them at gunpoint and forcing them to entertain him and his family by singing and dancing for them. The police show up to arrest Clark and are about to take him to jail when suddenly, the mysterious beautiful woman in the red sports car played by Christie Brinkley shows up and reveals herself to be Roy Walley's daughter! After some coaxing, she convinces her father to drop the charges.
+After purchasing the BB gun, the original ending also sees Clark buy a map of the stars homes and track down Roy Walley himself. Griswold finds Walley at his house, having a meeting in his backyard. Clark holds Walley and his employees at gunpoint and forces them to entertain his family by singing and dancing. The police show up to arrest Clark, but as they're about to take him away, the beautiful woman in the red sports car (Christie Brinkley) shows up and reveals herself to be Roy Walley's daughter. She convinces her father to drop the charges and Clark is released.
-The final scene was to show the Griswolds on a plane heading back home (wearing complementary Walley World hats) only to find out that they're on the wrong flight! Clark then hijacks the plane and attempts to get the pilots to change course.
+'''The final scene was to show the Griswolds on a plane heading back home (wearing complementary Walley World hats) only to find out they're on the wrong flight. Clark hijacks the plane to get the pilots to change course.'''
-After the movie wrapped and was edited, it was shown to test audiences, and according to director Harold Ramis, they were highly entertained by the film, however, when the film came to the ending, the audience was less than pleased, mainly because the actual Walley World park was never shown, despite having been built up to for the whole film. So, John Hughes was brought back to write the new ending and Warner Bros. allowed the cast and crew four days to shoot the new footage, which was filmed at a Six Flags amusement park.
+Following initial test screenings, Harold Ramis stated audiences were highly entertained by the film, but didn't enjoy the ending. It wasn't the violent nature of the scene, but the non-inclusion of the actual Walley World park that left audiences dissatisfied. John Hughes was brought back to write the new ending, with Warner Bros. giving the cast and crew four days to shoot the new footage. Filming took place at a Six Flags amusement park.
-None of the footage of the original ending has surfaced to this day, and only a few photographs have been released. Chevy Chase announced on the audio commentary for the film's 20th anniversary DVD that he possessed a copy of the film with the original ending, but Warner Bros. has shown no interest in releasing it in any way.
+None of the footage of the original ending has surfaced to this day, with only a few photographs released. Chevy Chase announced on the audio commentary for the film's 20th anniversary DVD that he possessed a copy of the film with the original ending, but Warner Bros. has shown no interest in releasing it commercially.<ref>[https://www.cinelinx.com/movie-news/movie-stuff/the-original-ending-of-1983s-national-lampoons-vacation/ Cinelinx article about the original ending.] Retrieved 13 May '21</ref>
-In fact, a photograph of this alternate ending is in the final credits (during the "Distributed by Warner Bros." credit).
+A photograph of the original ending is featured in the final credits of the film (during the "Distributed by Warner Bros." credit).
 ==Gallery==
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 File:Vacation_Deleted1.jpg|Clark with the BB gun in Roy Walley's backyard.
 File:Vacation_Deleted2.jpg|Clark on the plane with the Walley World hat.
+File:Original ending.png|The Griswolds on the plane, with their Walley World hats (taken from the ending credits).
 </gallery>
+==See Also==
+*[[National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation (partially found deleted scenes of Christmas comedy film; 1989)]]
+==References==
+{{reflist}}
 [[Category:Lost films]]
 [[Category:Completely lost media]]