Home Alone | 1, cast and summary

Alone at homeChristmas family comedy film released in 1990 about the adventures of Kevin McCallister, an eight-year-old boy played by Macaulay Culkin, who must fend for himself and thwart the attempts of a pair of burglars who try to break into his family’s house after he is accidentally left behind when his family goes on holiday to France. The film, written by John Hughes and directed by Chris Columbus, is considered a Christmas classic, and it made Culkin one of the best-known child actors of the 1990s.

The film begins the night before Peter (John Heard) and Kate McCallister (Catherine O’Hara) and their five children are scheduled to travel to Paris with Peter’s brother and sister-in-law and their children. During a chaotic dinner with all the family members, the McCallists’ youngest child, Kevin (Culkin), is teased by his siblings and cousins ​​and provoked by his older brother Buzz (Devin Ratray), after which Kevin attacks Buzz and sets off a chain. response to accidents. As punishment, Kevin’s mother sends him to the attic bedroom for the night, and he tells her that he wishes his family would just disappear.

In the middle of the night, a power outage causes alarm clocks to reset, resulting in family members oversleeping and scrambling to get to the airport on time. In their haste, Kevin is left behind, and they don’t realize it until they’re in the air. When Kevin wakes up to find the house empty, he believes his wish has come true.

At first, Kevin is ecstatic. He enjoys a huge ice cream, potato chips and a soda while watching a gangster movie; he sleds down the stairs, ransacks Buzz’s room and uses his father’s aftershave. As time goes on, however, he becomes frightened when he hears the burglars, Harry (Joe Pesci) and Marv (Daniel Stern), which has been targeting his neighborhood, outside. He turns on the porch light and scares them away, and later promises to be prepared if they return.

When they return, Kevin has created a house full of people using lights and moving mannequins and stand-up poster cutouts to create silhouettes on the front curtains. When the burglars return, Kevin sets off fireworks and plays a gangster movie to trick the burglars into thinking they hear another set of burglars fighting inside the house. On Christmas Eve, Harry and Marv return again to see what’s going on in the house, and Kevin overhears their plan to come back at 9:00 a.m at that night.

Missing his parents and the rest of his family, Kevin goes out early at night to visit Santa and ask him to come back instead of Christmas presents. Unbeknownst to him, they have been frantically trying to get a plane back since the second they landed in Paris.

While walking home, Kevin hears a choir singing Christmas music in a church. He goes in to listen and notices his neighbor Mr. Marley (Roberts Blossom), who was rumored to have murdered his family many years ago. The old man wishes Kevin a Merry Christmas, sits with him and tells him he is there to see his grandson sing. He also assures Kevin that there is no truth to the rumors about him. Kevin learns from Marley that Marley and his son had a terrible argument years ago and they haven’t spoken since. Realizing that Marley is a kind but lonely person, Kevin suggests that Marley try to make up with his son. They part with a handshake and Kevin heads home to prepare his next defense against Harry and Marv.

Once home, Kevin hoses down the outdoor stairs to make them icy cold and sets up traps throughout the house. As Harry and Marv approach the back door, Kevin shoots them with a pellet gun, causing them to fall onto the ice. When they manage to get in, Kevin’s traps cause several superficial injuries and the burglars chase after him in frustration. After Harry and Marv capture Kevin, Marley sneaks up and knocks them out with a snow shovel.

Eventually, Harry and Marv are arrested and Kevin’s family comes home for Christmas morning. After their cheerful reunion, Kevin looks out the window and sees Marley hugging her son.

Alone at home grossed more than $470 million worldwide and was the highest-grossing film of the year. It was Hughes’ biggest commercial success and inspired three sequels: Home Alone 2: Lost in New York (1992), Home Alone 3 (1997) and the TV movie Home Alone 4: Taking back the house (2002) as well as other Home Alone films.

The film’s staying power has been attributed to Hughes’ ability to remember what it was like to be young and his ability to showcase the nostalgic feelings that Christmas evokes.