Have You Seen?! The Movie Podcast

Home Alone: The Ultimate Holiday Battle Plan

• Roll Credits Studios • Season 1 • Episode 12

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A kid’s Die Hard with more Christmas and zero blood? We finally put Home Alone under the microscope to see why Kevin’s traps, the Wet Bandits’ pratfalls, and that church scene still hit so hard. One of us watched it for the first time; the other grew up building booby traps waiting for imaginary burglars. The result is equal parts nostalgia and fresh eyes.

We dig into the 90s texture that made this movie iconic: the lavish house that became a playground for chaos, the cluttered family energy that sells the “we forgot Kevin” premise, and the Chicago neighborhood that feels alive beyond the frame. Macaulay Culkin’s performance carries the film with a rare balance of innocence and nerve, while Joe Pesci and Daniel Stern deliver pitch-perfect physical comedy. Catherine O’Hara anchors the story with guilt and grit, and Old Man Marley quietly steals the emotional spotlight, transforming urban legend into a tender reunion that gives the film its heart.

Behind the scenes, the craft shines. Learn how sets were built in a gym and pool to stage those elaborate gags, why a certain back-crushing fall became a stunt-world staple, and how Joe Pesci invented “cartoon cursing” to keep things PG. Then there’s the not-so-secret weapon: John Williams’ score. From Nutcracker nods to galloping momentum, the music turns slapstick into symphony and the church conversation into something genuinely sacred.

We wrap with honest ratings and a debate about longevity: does Home Alone still work in a smartphone age? Short answer: yes, because it’s not only about booby traps; it’s about a kid finding courage and a family finding its way back. If you love sharp takes, production lore, and a little holiday cheer, hit play—then tell us your spiciest Home Alone opinion. Subscribe, share with a friend, and leave a five-star review to help others find the show.

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Dylan:

Joe. Yes. I made my family disappear.

Joe:

I made my family disappear. Welcome to Have You Seen the Movie Podcast, where every movie is a premiere.

Dylan:

This week we're jumping into one of the most iconic holiday movies ever made. And while I am watching Home Alone for the very first time, Joe spent his childhood building booby traps, waiting for imaginary bandits to break in. So this episode might hit a little too close to home.

Joe:

This week's movie Home Alone is rated PG for slapstick violence or slapstick violence, cartoonish peril, and mild language. Nothing intense. Totally holiday, safe for most families.

Dylan:

Alright, Joe, can you set the scene for us?

Joe:

Home Alone released 1990 holiday season. It was a Christmas movie. It wasn't one of those that was released in mid-July. Several months beforehand. Let's just do that. Written and produced by John Hughes. We got another John Hughes. Yeah. Directed by Chris Columbus. Not the historic figure.

Dylan:

Definitely definitely one of the most famous Christmas movies ever.

Joe:

Yeah, I think most people most people know it. Can quote it. Yeah. If you haven't even seen it, I think you can quote it.

Dylan:

Yeah. For a quick setup, uh there is chaos on the home front, and Kevin gets left behind and has to defend the house from the wet bandits.

Joe:

He is the man of the house, and he must defend his home.

Dylan:

I would say watching it, it was a good watch. Definitely a lot of scenes are already super recognizable just from like you know seeing seeing clips online and people quoting it every year, and so it's definitely definitely familiar territory. Yeah. I thought like the the comedy and pacing of all of it, I thought it was pretty good. It's definitely I think I'd say maybe less violent than I was expecting.

Joe:

No.

Dylan:

Um which is appreciated.

Joe:

Yeah.

Dylan:

I think the only like really bad one, or I say bad, but was the the um the nail. Oh, in the yeah, yeah. I yeah, I couldn't watch that.

Joe:

I hit my head. Wow. For me it was the first shot. It was the first shot. The first shot? Oh, out the doggy door? Yeah. That was ouch.

Dylan:

But yeah, I I I mean, I guess you could probably say it's probably on par. There was definitely parts of it where it definitely felt of its time though, of the 90s. Style-wise or style-wise. Okay. Like of the house, the way it was decorated and stuff.

Joe:

Oh yeah. I mean, even the telephone, it was a fancier one. It wasn't a you know rotodial.

Dylan:

Yeah.

Joe:

Um, but it had its own like style to it. Like it looked like marble. Yeah. It's like, oh, so fancy.

Dylan:

Right. Very chic. But man, at the beginning, Kevin was such a menace.

Joe:

Yeah.

Dylan:

Like, I I get that it's trying to set up like we forgot him in the attic. Yeah. But I don't think they needed to go quite that hard with it.

Joe:

Yeah. Yeah. I think the two major things that were like, whoa, that was too much was the uncle and then Kevin's attitude in the beginning. Yeah. It was just like, oh, I I you know, I said this while we were watching it, but man, if I would have said half of that stuff to my mom and slapped.

Dylan:

Right. It would not have been existed anymore. Yeah, yeah.

Joe:

Yeah. Yeah. Definitely the punishment was not able to. Right. Yeah.

Dylan:

Well, and like she's trying to talk on the phone and do, you know, fold fold the laundry for the packing and stuff, and he just goes and flops on top of all the clothes. Like, first off, backhanded right there. Yeah. Off the bed.

Joe:

Right. Against the wall. Bounce off. Right. Two points for mom. Right.

Dylan:

And she's like pretty middle of the road. She's like, Kevin, get off the bed. Yeah. Right. And he's like, why don't you hang up the phone and make me? Yeah. Oh. Oh. Yeah, just that there. Doo do do do. Yeah.

Joe:

And the um.

Dylan:

Right.

unknown:

Right.

Dylan:

They would start having commercials about you. Yeah. Yeah.

unknown:

Yeah.

Joe:

He he got every punishment he needed, and you know, there was still yeah. So and then, you know, the uncle just calling him a jerk and all that kind of stuff. It's like, whoa, man.

Dylan:

Right, because you're not gonna call your your nephew that. Yeah.

Joe:

I, you know, and as as the dad, I'd be like, come on. Like right, back off. Yeah.

Dylan:

Was it ever stated like whose relatives they were?

Joe:

I I think it might have been, but I just didn't pay attention. Okay. Yeah, because it it there's a difference between like if it's your brother or if it's your you know, your wife's brother. Right, your brother-in-law.

Dylan:

Yeah, brother-in-law. But yeah. Like him being upset about the cheese pizza.

Joe:

Yeah.

Dylan:

Ooh.

Joe:

As we all get upset.

Dylan:

Yeah, but him being upset about the cheese pizza and like they ordered 10 pizzas. Right. And they owe uh for twelve dollars each, by the way. That's a good deal. Right. Yeah. Um and then knowing that they have a bunch of kids in the house and only buying one cheese pizza. Like, I feel like that's pretty well a staple for kids.

Joe:

Yeah, there's some kind of implication, and I and I miss it every time that um Buzz was the one that ordered the pizzas, so it was like intentional.

Dylan:

Oh really?

Joe:

Yeah. Yeah, there's some kind of I totally missed that. Yeah, yeah. And I forget what um where it's at, but yeah, there's some kind of indication that he he did it on purpose, so it was a total fuel on the fire kind of.

Dylan:

Gotcha, yeah. Yeah. With him knowing that that's the only one that he would eat, yeah. And not making sure he gets at least a slice. Uh-huh. Right. I mean, like in my family, if you didn't like some panel and pizza, you'd pick it off. Right.

Joe:

Yeah.

Dylan:

Yeah. That's soup like I feel like that's super standard.

Joe:

Yeah, and I mean, there's a lot of subtle hints. I mean, including some of the lack of discipline that these kids get what they want. I mean, the amount of I mean, even as a kid watching this, saying the toys he had, I'm like, whoa, like those are expensive, you know. Right. Like just yeah, they had it all. So I could see how they could run rampant with the attitude.

Dylan:

Um, watching it back though, like as an adult, does it bring still bring that nostalgia for you?

Joe:

Yeah, totally. Yeah. I mean, especially the the whole 90s fill and actors who were either coming up or were were big and you definitely pick up a lot on just the whole holiday atmosphere throughout the whole thing.

Dylan:

Yeah. And I love that he gets the ladder and goes out into the backyard and cuts the top off the off the pine tree and makes his own makes his own little haphazard Christmas tree and hangs up the stockings over the fire. And yeah. Um in the end, oh, spoiler. In the end, when when mom gets home and she sees that and she kind of has that moment of looking at it, uh just very, very heart-touching, Vidiness.

Joe:

Yeah, I think I think they just wanted to make a kid's diehard. Yes.

Dylan:

Uh with now with 50% more Christmas. Exactly. Exactly. But do you re-watch it every season?

Joe:

Yeah, it's on my list. It's this this year has been slower moving as far as watching all the the classics that my wife watch, but uh it definitely is. And you know, I was chilling in the hotel and uh I was watching it, it was on. Yeah, yeah. Yes.

Dylan:

Now you could flip through every channel and watch all the right, because every third channel is doing uh Countdown to Christmas and all the holiday shows.

Joe:

Yeah.

Dylan:

Yeah, uh Macaulay Calkin's performance as Kevin is this the second movie he was in then?

Joe:

Um yeah. He his first movie was Uncle Buck with John Candy, yeah, and that was also a John Hughes movie. So when it came around time to writing this, he wrote this part for him.

Dylan:

Yeah.

Joe:

Yeah, he totally had him in mind and nice working with him on Uncle Buck and and seeing how mature he was as an actor and and how gifted he was. Like he just had he knew he could do the part.

Dylan:

Right, the deliverance. Yeah.

Joe:

So there was, I guess, some hesitation from the director, um Chris Columbus, because they had you know done some auditions and things, and John Hughes was like, No, this is the guy, and yeah, and so they went back and you know, looked at him and auditioned, and he was able to get the part.

Dylan:

So Okay, there you go. Um yeah, and then the the guys who played the wet bandits, yeah. They it was such a good duo.

Joe:

Yeah. So originally um uh Daniel Stern was uh they were both together, so it's Joe Chapeshi and Daniel Stern.

Dylan:

Yeah.

Joe:

Um, and for some reason, oh, they wanted to shoot longer and he couldn't do it. Oh, really? Time and they was they weren't gonna pay him anymore either. Oh, and they actually both thought the movie was gonna be a flop. So like the effort that they put into it was like, okay, we're doing a favor for somebody, and we're we're just gonna like go all campy and and see how this goes.

Dylan:

Really? Yeah because the campy really works with it though.

Joe:

Yeah, so in between that they got uh Dan Rob uh Dan Roebuck. Um, and so he's been on like oh, he's just been on all kinds of TV shows and okay movies, and um, and so I mean he's he actually there's a remake of the monsters uh a couple years ago and he was the grandpa monster in it. So yeah, did a pretty good job. But um, so he's he's just been around for a long time and something just didn't jive, and like they saw that it was kind of like the Eric Stoltz thing, they were just kind of like ah, this isn't working with Jeffeshi. And so then they went back to Daniel Stern and got him back, and and they were you know totally I mean, they just have this chemistry, and yeah, just see like the the just you know um Daniel Stern just takes this like the lower guy approach, you know, yeah and Joe Pesci's the boss, and you know, it's just yeah, and how things are so how they get things so uh worked out with their planning and and all that kind of stuff, it's just just kind of cool. Right.

Dylan:

So yeah, definitely their timing with everything was just spot on. Like I don't know how much they had worked together like prior to that. Yeah, I don't think they had. Yeah, I mean it definitely does not show. Yeah like it they do a good job of making it look like they've you know they've worked the streets together. Right. I don't know how'd you say that.

Joe:

Yeah, I love the part when they're both like uh snake? Uh have you heard of any snake? Like they're going through all their like Rolodex of of criminals, right? Right. No, I haven't heard of any snake on this part. They're established, well established.

Dylan:

Yeah. And um what was the mom's name? Uh Catherine O'Hara? Katherine O'Hara. Yeah. Um what else has she played in? Because I feel like I've seen her in something.

Joe:

So the biggest biggest thing that I really like. So she was um she was a comedian on on TV. There was like a Canadian version of SNL. Oh there's a lot of uh I think it's called SCTV. And so uh John Candy, Rick Moranis, like a lot of those comedians kind of came from there. Oh really? Uh-huh. And then so she's on like I think like the best dog show. And the major one for me when I saw this movie was she was on Beetlejuice. She was the mom on Beetlejuice.

Dylan:

Oh, yep. That's that's what I recognize her from.

Joe:

Yeah. And so like it's kind of cool to see her in this part because she's more of a mom and she's more and I I think she's a lot prettier in this one. Yeah, you know, because she's you know, she's like more more natural makeup and yeah, yeah, more prestigious or like kind of less campy. Right. Yeah. Yeah. In Beetlejuice, it's like a caricature. Right. Right. Yeah.

Dylan:

Yeah, but she did she did a really good job of uh giving off the mom energy though. Like you could tell.

Joe:

Oh yeah. Yeah, she definitely I mean I'm gonna look up Frank and Weenie trying to find her her bigger roles. Beetlejuice.

Dylan:

Oh, she's in the new one? Yeah, I've yet to say that.

Joe:

Yeah, SCTV is her major her major one. But yeah, she does a lot of different comedies and gotcha.

Dylan:

But yeah, and then um who played the dad? Uh John Hurd. John Hurd? Oh Hurd?

Joe:

Yeah, John Hurd.

Dylan:

Um man. Like I know they're trying to to go for that, like kind of just classic dad. Yeah. But he's I feel like he really comes off as I don't know if you want to say like as a businessman and not a family man.

Joe:

Yeah.

Dylan:

But like I felt like he seemed to be like very cold towards the family and in his acting and stuff. Yeah. Like he definitely did not strike me as the father of this many children.

Joe:

Yeah. When I first saw it, what kind of held me back was he was sort of uh I would put it this way, he was the antagonist in the movie Big.

Dylan:

Okay.

Joe:

And so it was hard for me to like buy into his being a dad.

Dylan:

Gotcha.

Joe:

But he's so you know, he's not on screen very much. So it's just kinda it's just kind of what? Exactly. It's a moot point. Yeah. No, but he does, he does, you know, as an actor, I think he does pretty good.

Dylan:

Yeah. It just didn't really seem like the role for him.

Joe:

Yeah. Or is he or is he doing it too well? Because he does I think his role is a business dad removed from his kids.

Dylan:

Yeah. You know, so that's I mean, that's true. So it's it's like but if they wanted to play that angle, then they they could have had him like talking on the phone a lot more about you know, business stuff, whatever business stuff business people talk about on phones. Yeah. Right. Um I did notice it was funny on the plane though, um after she realizes that she forgot Kevin, yeah, and they're all like kind of standing around their chairs, like worried then. Uh-huh. And the storytess is like brings a glass of water, yeah. Uh seemingly for the mom. And then the the dad takes it and he looks over at her. Uh-huh. I kind of acts like she's going to give it to her. Yeah. And then he drinks it himself. Yeah.

Joe:

I'm starting to think him and Uncle Frank are related. Because right after that, what does he say? I forgot my glasses. Oh, yeah. I forgot my reading glasses. I was like, if it's any consolation, I forgot my reading glasses. Yeah. I just look at him like.

Dylan:

Oh. And how does that compare? Yeah. Um, who was the old man in it? Um, who played old man Marley? Is that his name? Mm-hmm. They gave him a name. They did. Did they say his name in the movie? And I just missed it?

Joe:

They did when they're Kind of giving the the story of the dead bodies and why he put salt on the ground and all that.

Dylan:

Oh, okay.

Joe:

You know. Gotcha.

Dylan:

Yes, the big the big bucket of salt that he keeps his dead bodies in and turns them into mummies.

Joe:

Yeah.

Dylan:

But yeah, his um kind of his whole story arc in the movie was quite touching. How it kind of goes from they definitely try to make it s uh seem like uh maybe a secondary bad guy. Oh yeah. If you will. And then um when uh when Kevin goes to church on Christmas Eve and sees old man Marley there and still is afraid of him, you know, he has that reaction. Yeah. And then he old man goes and sits by Kevin and starts opening up about his granddaughter and his son and not not like pretty much that's the only time he gets to see his granddaughter for for a long time.

Joe:

Yeah, I think it made him, you know, made Kevin feel at ease, like okay, he's not he's not a threat.

Dylan:

Right. Yeah. Yeah. And I really liked the ending of it too, of where Kevin like saw out the window of their reunion with the son and granddaughter, and yeah, so that was that was really nice. It was kind of a good uh nightcap on the whole movie.

Joe:

Yeah, right, like yeah, because all the chaos and everything, it brings everything to some some grounding reality, yeah. Kind of like planes, trains, you know? Yep, like you go through all this stuff and then you know they they come together and have Thanksgiving. So this is like Christmas and everybody's coming together, and right so yeah, just the John Hughes move.

Dylan:

Right. But yeah, definitely the the Marley and Kevin um kind of whole story arc with that is I don't know if you want to call it like an emotional grounding point, yeah. But it definitely helps bring the movie back down in a good way. Yeah.

Joe:

But the story arc of what how they kind of wanted it to be is they um they wrote it so well I think Chris Columbus directed it so that all the all the beginning parts of it feel grounded and feel like okay this can happen. Yeah. And so when it came to the the bandits, they wanted it to feel like they were real criminals and you know, so they sort of turn the page or kind of make a shift when um the bandits actually come in to where they wanted it to be totally like campy, slapstick, yeah, like cartoon-ish, like yeah, and that's like so they wanted it to be like okay, believable up to a point, and then make it feel you know, like as scary as you can make it, and then campy and you know, unrealistic, right, you know, so that's kind of what they're going for. And then so then you have that camp, and then it brings brings that all back down to the emotional and the heart of you know where where they kind of ground it back and do the John Hughes, you know, feels so right. Um yeah, and they used you know the the area and and all that as a character. Yeah. It's like every every section is you know something, you know. Like the you know, obviously a church is always gonna be a safe haven. Right. And so when it comes to that point where he ducks in there and they're like, I'm not going in there, you know, it's like they know how bad they are. Right. Like they're gonna either gonna risk uh you know going to prayer or melt walking in.

Dylan:

And I definitely appreciated like whenever uh Kevin was outside like running around doing his thing, stealing toothbrushes. Yeah. Um there was always something going on for the background that just added to the depth of the kind of of the of the city, if you will. Yeah. It it definitely made it feel alive and not that it was you know, filmed in like just on a street that was sectioned off right, you know, from the rest of the world.

Joe:

Yeah, it felt big, it felt open, right? And yeah. Um and the the the funny thing is that the house was generally filmed inside a gym. Like they filmed, they build the set inside a gym. Yeah, and so they there was a bunch of John Hughes movies that he had done that they used the same high school. So they just went back to that high school, um, set up a set in the gym of the whole house so he can run around freely and cameras could be anywhere. Yeah. And so you you felt like you were in a house, you felt like it was big, you know. And I think like I don't know if they built it to size or made it a little bigger, but definitely he's a small little kid, so you just feel like this big and then for the the scene where they do the um the wet bandit house, uh-huh, they built that set in a pool. Oh, in a pool, yeah, so that they could keep the water running, yeah. And the it would just go into the pool, you know. And so that's cool, yeah.

Dylan:

Yeah, that's a great way to do it.

Joe:

Right. And then the uh the stunt work, the uh the stunt man that that filled in for um Macaulay Culkin was uh just a short person, kind of like you know, a jockey. Oh yeah, yeah, not a little person, but just a short person. And he was 31. Really? Yeah. So like mo when Macaulay Culkin met him, he was in the dressing room and he's like, hey Mac, you know, and he's wearing his clothes, and you know, oh that's funny, yeah. Because they did the whole like same uh they have the same trailer or whatever for costumes. So yeah, that scene. Um there's a couple different scenes, but the scene where uh he's on the uh he's getting uh Buzz's money on the top shelf, yeah. He filmed that like several times and it was just over and over and over because they just had to get it just right.

Dylan:

Right. So oh, and having to go through and set that all that back up and yeah, yeah, that oh man, and then just him falling over and over again. Yeah. I mean, I would assume they had some sort of mat that he would fall onto, but regardless, right.

Joe:

You're I mean, because you're that size, you know, you're an adult, right? That size climbing these things and you know, falling continually, and you know, he obviously he's a professional, but still it's right, it still hurts, you know. And then um for the you know wet bandits, um, they had some guys, you know, that were doing that, and I mean literally Joe Pesci's uh stunt double just I mean, I think he was padded in in his back.

Dylan:

Yeah, but oh man, there's some good wax on there though.

Joe:

I mean he I mean it and it's all on the pavement. It just I mean he gets up like the first one, he kind of gets up to the first couple of steps and then flat on his back. Oh yeah, he gets to the second, you know, tier flat on his back, finally gets up to the top, uh, opens the door, uh, you know, uh cools off his hand, yeah, and then he's just like, you know, he falls down and then he's you know, yeah, climbing down it. Right. It's just and then you have uh Daniel Stearns falling on the um, you know, getting into the basement. But I guess for the the stunt, the particular stunt that um the stunt stunt guy did for Joe Pesci going up the stairs is called a home alone. Oh really? So amongst amongst the stunt men it's called a home alone. So when you just like wreck your back like that, it's called a home alone. Yeah, like how can you like get that? Because like you could get residuals for your your you know your your specific move.

Dylan:

Right. Yeah, but the the like all the booby traps in the house though, like it's so b like most of it is so believable that a kid would think to set it up like that.

Joe:

Yeah, and you know, everything falls into place, but even things like just leaving out uh light bulbs and uh decorations and the paint cans, you know. Yeah just I I love that part when um you know the first guy goes and he gets wrecked, and then the next guy goes, and then he like the first can hits him in the back of the head, and the next can hits him in the front. It's like oh yeah. It's just those the the amount of stunts and um slapstick that goes into it. I mean you can just see uh some of the old movies, the way they film the old movies and how they kind of brought that in to the nineties. Right. So there's kind of a story with the music. Um, the major thing was they had a they had somebody set up for the music and then like a composer, a composer set up, and they had they basically bailed on it. Oh really? So they were like, why don't we shoot for the moon and go with like the most ridiculous requests we can find? You know, yeah, because John Williams is like Star Wars and you know, all this like all the grand huge sounding, yep, like if if you want an epic film, you know, he's one of the guys. Like there's Alan Sylvestri, John Williams, you know, there's a couple out there, yeah. But if you want a grand scale and and just this feel of of um just an open world, you know, it's like you you call him, you know, because yeah, I mean you think of the opening opening section of Star Wars and the credits and just this you're just ready to, you know, you're on an adventure. Right. So they they go for him and he says yes. And he was like, you know, I'm up for doing whatever. He's like, people this could be fun. People don't come to me because like they think I'm a specific thing, and he's like, I like doing all styles or I like doing uh you know, just writing all kinds of different things. So yeah, I'm I'm up for it. Um and so he not only proved to you know deliver the mood and the the just the the vibes and like just the tone. Right, you know, you you were mentioning the the church scene, yep. You know, there's just all the organ. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Just I mean there's those things in there that you know um either as a composer or somebody who brings in the music and and chooses that, it it you just there's a story there, and musically you just have to present it, and and he did an amazing job.

Dylan:

Of course, blew it out of the water, yeah.

Joe:

Um so one of my favorites that is played a couple different times um when there's chaos is um it's called holiday flight. Um and that uh there are some cues that mimic the nutcracker, yeah. And it's like the Russian dance, it goes like by Russian dance and candy cane. Okay, and and it's that kind of like and he he he does these great cues in there that hearken back to it but doesn't copy it. Yeah, you know, and it gives it if like especially you know, so at the beginning of the movie they're all getting ready and they're trying to get things, you know, it's like after they've realized that um they were late, yeah, and then they start going around, it's like it it almost feels like um the other uh I can't remember what it's called right now, but the the song that you kind of um Flight of the Bumblebee? Yeah, Flight of the Bumblebee. Um what is the other one? It's more done in cowboy movies. No. So yeah, it's uh galloping horses kind of thing. The the William Tell Overture. Yes, yes, that's it. That's it. But I mean there's there's those cues as well. So you you have this like this feeling of like when the William Tell Overture comes on in a movie, yep, there's just this heart, heart-racing, like, you know, like you gotta go, you gotta go. Now is the time. Yeah, so it's like this, you know, composition mashup of of you know uh uh Nutcracker and the William Tell Overture. You know, and you know, there's just a lot of different other, you know, main themes in there that that just give it give it just a great feel, you know. Right.

Dylan:

Yeah, just the whole score throughout throughout it just brings the whole movie to a new level and definitely helps it succeed.

Joe:

Yeah, yeah.

Dylan:

Could you pick out a favorite scene out of this movie?

Joe:

Hmm. Why the heck you have your shoes off? Why the heck you dress like a chicken?

Dylan:

Right, very normal conversation. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Joe:

Pretty much, pretty much. But uh, you know, so I I did some digging and the backyard or front yard? Um I can't tell you.

unknown:

Oh.

Joe:

Side yard. Side. Just know that somebody's gonna bring some salt by tonight. Um I want my mummy. Um so the da the the scene where the tarantula um goes on to Daniel Stern's face. Yeah. So a lot of people have said that they filmed it with no audio. Um really? Yeah. So a lot of people um say that they put the spider on his face and he he Like acted like he was screaming? Yeah, so he mimed the scream. Well, is that not to scare the spider? To not to scare the spider. But in reality, Daniel Stern said that he that he was worried, they were like, so does the spider still have its stinger? And uh they're like, Yeah, if you remove the stinger, it'll die. And they're like, So the venom, it's still there, you know. And he's like, So how do I pull this off? You know, well, and they're like, Well, they can't hear, so you can scream as loud as you want. Oh, really? Yeah, and so apparently he said I, you know, I let out like the loudest scream I can think of that you know rivaled any girl. Like so he, yeah. Um, so that that was just an interview that I saw with with him uh talking about that. And and yeah, so he that was live. Like I don't know how many takes they did, but I mean the the pitch, I mean he went into soprano, yeah, you know, with that that and that was such an amazing performance. Oh yeah, you know, man.

Dylan:

If that was me and doing more than one take, I'd take that crowbar and beat somebody with it. Yeah, yeah, definitely. Like you put that thing near me, yeah, you get in the crowbar. With the whole after shave scenes, it's overdone. I feel like I see it everywhere, yeah. And um it's yeah, like I'm sure at the time it was hilarious. Oh yeah. But watching it now, uh I don't know, you know what's coming. Um it's like ah, you know, okay, we get it.

Joe:

Yeah, it's aftershave. Yeah, and that was a total ad lib because he was using real aftershave and in a realistic like the alcohol on a kid's face, you know. Like so he was ad-libbing and it was.

Dylan:

Uh I think I would have to say one of my actual favorite scenes though, would probably be the the church scene and like the whole conversation with Marley and it just sets up like such a such a heartfelt story. Uh-huh. If that I don't know how you want to say that.

Joe:

Yeah. Um, you know, with with our recent uh venture into planes trains, um, you know, I I definitely love that John Candy was in it. Yeah. And I I know we talked about we talked about this.

Dylan:

Yeah, because I I had asked if um if this was a nod to planes trains.

Joe:

Yeah. Yeah. And now I I think I I really think it was more of a nod to Uncle Buck. Yeah. You know? And knowing that uh they were both in that together. Yeah. And then but I but I I would have loved to have heard his name and heard Dell. Right. And maybe maybe he moved on to Polka Bands. Right. Like his life got got better.

Dylan:

Right, because you can definitely see the the Dell character in this one.

Joe:

Yeah. Yeah. Cause he's just and you know, there's a new documentary on John Candy that I need to watch. But um, you know, from what they they said about doing that documentary, it was really hard to find anything like negative because he was such a polite, like gentle man that um he was just great to work with. This particular movie uh he filmed in 23 hours and as a favor to uh to John Hughes, yeah, and he got paid something like four four hundred and something a day, and the pizza boy got like five hundred and something a day.

Dylan:

Oh really? Yeah, wow, yeah. So I'll call and complain about that.

Joe:

Yeah, yeah, exactly. It's like yeah, it was such a favor that he got paid less than the pizza guy. Wow. So yeah, he got paid something, but but he just makes it, he makes it, you know, it's not too too much of a side quest, right? You know, but it definitely makes it yeah.

Dylan:

I think with the whole uh with the the all the booby traps, um it definitely it definitely made me think of uh of the game Mousetrap.

Joe:

Okay.

Dylan:

Where like everything just kind of goes together. Oh. And it's it's funny watching the the bandits because uh you know they've just played right into his hand with literally everything. Yeah. It's it was so good. Yeah.

Joe:

Yeah, until the end. Right. You know, they finally smarten up.

Dylan:

Um I liked him going back into that house too, though, and he goes down into the basement and yeah, you know, it's up to his knees and in the water.

Joe:

Right, yeah, yeah. He's practically swimming.

Dylan:

Right.

Joe:

It is a swimming pool, I've been told. Right. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Where'd you hear that from? Right. Um, but how he calls in the address and you think it's the house, you think it's his house. Well, yeah.

Dylan:

That's what when he said the address, I was like, wait a minute, is that right? Like, you know, I'm like, is that his house?

Joe:

Yeah, yeah, exactly. And so you expect, you know, he's gonna hide in the tree or something, and you know, but he's like, no, that's you know, and it and it's great because he totally he totally like it was just a great plan because going to the other house that was already robbed, he probably scoped it out, set things up, and then knew okay, this is a house that they they robbed, so they're gonna once they get caught, they're gonna, you know, go to jail for this and and all that. So because a lot of the conversation you can he can hear them, you know. Right. But yeah, the other the other favorite thing, maybe not favorite scene, so much as favorite scenes, is counting uh how many times that statue gets flipped over.

Dylan:

Yeah. Did you did you keep a running tally? I did. I did. So all right. Well, let's create a list. Yeah. Uh what does what does Buzz say? Um yeah. We'll create a list starting with A. Yeah. Uh-huh. And then two. Two. And then D. And then D.

Joe:

Exactly. Yeah. Um, so obviously little little Nero is supposed to be little Caesars. Right, right. It's so funny. It's such a ripoff. Right. You know, and it's funny because it's almost like what some like local town pizza place do until they get caught, you know. Um but so the first one uh is the little little narrow vehicle when it does its first delivery. Yeah. Hits its statue over. And then um the transport van in the morning gets it shuttle. Yeah. And then uh the second time he delivers the pizza, he takes it. And then when the police officer comes to check on the house.

Dylan:

That's such a good like running gag throughout the whole thing.

Joe:

It's such a small thing, but it's so hilarious to see over and over again. People just missing it, you know, or miss seeing it and so then hitting it. Right. Yeah. Little things like that in this movie, just the payoffs and stuff. There's an old movie with James Cagney called Angels with Dirty Faces. And so rather than having some kind of copyright or whatever, they just kind of made their own. Having to get the rights. Yeah, having to get their rights. Which here's a side here's a sidebar. This movie started with Warner Brothers, then they got shut down.

Dylan:

That is now owned by Netflix.

Joe:

Yeah, yeah, just recently. So they were the it was run by Warner Brothers at first. Movie got shut down, they had to figure out how to restart it and finish it, and then it got by f got bought by Fox. So yeah, they had offices and all this stuff, and then they just got shut down.

Dylan:

Yeah.

Joe:

And then it took them a while to find a new studio, but they got bought by Fox, and so then everything was fine. But um then they did Angels with Filthy Souls, which was a uh fake movie in a movie.

Dylan:

So so they pretty much just shot that portion of the movie to be able to use it in home alone.

Joe:

Yeah, in that scene. Yeah, yeah, and it's a it's an extra on most most of the discs now and the dish. Yeah. So you can just watch that scene on your own, like in the way it was, you know, if you were fully filmed. Yeah. So if you have a pizza delivery sometime, you can play that. Yeah.

Dylan:

You could change your filthy animal.

Joe:

Yeah, exactly. Something I say to my cats all the time. But uh yeah, and then um apparently Joe Pesci had intentionally avoided McCulky Colkin McCulky Colkin McCauley Colkin on the set to seem scarier to him. It's like kind of a method thing. Interesting. And when they first, you know, wanted Joe Pesci, so John Hughes writes for, you know, actors. Right. So they that they totally had him in mind. Yeah. And he was just like he continued to say no because he couldn't see himself doing it. It was just out of his what he thought was out of his range of work. Yeah. And one of the other things with Joe Pesci was that he was so used to doing gangster films and you know, saying, you know, being R-rated or whatever rated. Yeah. So he would improv and normally fill in the blank with bad words. Right. And so being that they were trying to copy cartoons and and all that kind of stuff, he he decided to do the rick-a-frick and rick rick-a-rek, you know, the the cartoon cussing. Right. You know, if you ever watch, you know, Tom and Jerry or like you know, Flintstones or whatever, like they have this like kind of way of cussing. And so to keep himself from actually saying the words, he he developed the cartoon cussing.

Dylan:

But obviously, he did a great job. Yes, definitely. Well, Joe, on a scale of one to ten paint cans to the face, what would you rate this movie? Man. I'd say like a seven. That's what I was thinking too. Yeah. Just I mean it's a good seven. It leaves me thirsting for more.

Joe:

How well do you think it holds up compared to kind of modern movies and modern Yeah, I I think he would have gotten a timeout with his iPad. Because he was an iPad baby. Yeah, exactly. Exactly. Um, or maybe they would have taken his phone away. But uh he you know he probably wouldn't have gotten to eat because he was, you know, gluten and okay. All these way to be able to bring it home. Yeah, yeah. I don't know. Um I mean, obviously I think I think the movie the way it is holds up. Yeah. I don't know that you could remake it. Um or right, yeah, and get away with some of that stuff. But I think being that like I'm surprised, you know, I haven't watched it on Disney, but I wouldn't be surprised if there's like a a little pre-thing going like, this is the way parents were at the time. We mean you no harm.

Dylan:

I don't I don't think so. I mean I think it's probably one of those that you know it's it is what it is. Yeah.

Joe:

Yeah, the the slapstick and the and the the you know violence if you want to call it. Right. I think I think for me it just it just sits in that cartoon category. Yeah. Because they keep getting up. Right. You know, like I was saying, the you know, the first shot or the second shot um to is it marv, where it right in the face, like he would have been, you know, he would have been gone. Right. And so, you know.

Dylan:

Well, and even even with uh a a BB gun, right, which is what it was, but as at close range still, right?

Joe:

Yeah.

Dylan:

Um I definitely appreciated that they did not have any blood in it.

Joe:

Yeah.

Dylan:

I mean, yeah, there was a the only one I can think of is the the bloody bandage wrapped around the guy's hand.

Joe:

Yeah. And you know, the fire, the you know, all that stuff. Right. Um, that iron shot is great because I guess they used like a camera that Don't you mean the heavy, the extra heavy light bulb? Yeah, exactly. Yeah, extra heavy. But yoke and venius. Exactly. Um they used like a side camera that they you would use for stunts and stuff, and then they ended up using it for most of the stunts because it gave them just such a great angle. Oh, really? So it was smaller, and so they they dropped the camera. Like they they had it tied, but he had to stand there with you to get that shot. But um, you know, so there could have been accidents more than we would have known. But um, you know, so yeah. Well, thanks for listening to Have You Seen the Movie Podcast. Make sure to follow the show on your favorite podcast app. And if you're enjoying it, leave us a five-star rating. It really helps the show to grow and give to our Patreon.

Dylan:

If we had a Patreon, that's where we could hear from you. But for the time being, you can just text us with the link in the description. Uh, text us with your name and a movie suggestion.

Joe:

You can follow all our socials in the description as well. Everything you need is right there.

Dylan:

And we'll be back next week with another movie premiere. Keep the change, you filthy animal.