National Lampoon’s European Vacation (1985)
Synopsis: Our favorite dysfunctional American family, The Griswolds, win a European vacation on the game show “Pig in a poke”. They travel around Europe, wreaking havoc wherever they land. Clark can’t remember to drive on the left side of the road and knocks down the Stonehenge when he backs into it. Ellen and Clark make a sex tape that gets stolen and then plastered all over Paris. Russell (Rusty) is a horn-ball teenage boy, loving the rampant nudity of Europe. Audrey desperately misses her boyfriend until she finds out he’s been cheating with her best friend. Then she’s off to the races finding Euro-men.
Director: Amy Heckerling
Writer: John Hughes
Main Cast:
Clark Griswold – Chevy Chase
Ellen Griswold – Beverly D’Angelo
Audrey Griswold – Dana Hill
Russell Griswold – Jason Lively
Memorable Quotes:
Clark Griswold: There it is, kids, my motherland.
Rusty Griswold: Dad, Grandma’s from Chicago.
Clark Griswold: Shut up, Russ.
Ellen Griswold: Look back there!
Clark Griswold: Yeah, it’s a hooker…
Ellen Griswold: Look who she’s with!
(Clark looks back, Rusty is with the hooker)
Clark Griswold: (Repeatedly while he can’t turn left) Hey look kids, there’s Big Ben, and there’s Parliament.
Trivia:
- In this film, the family name is Griswold, with an ‘o’. In the other Vacation films their name is Griswald.
- The US poster art was done by Boris Vallejo, famous for his Heavy Metal covers
- On Clark’s passport at the beginning, it is revealed that his birthday is 8 August 1945
- European Vacation is the only Vacation film in which Cousin Eddie doesn’t appear
- In the closing credits, there is a picture of a dog with a gun held to its head. This is from the cover of the January 1973 issue of the National Lampoos magazine
Animation: Rick Perry (actual audio)
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