National Lampoon's Vacation Reunion

Not only one of the most fondly recalled comedies of the eighties but also a defining moment in the career of Chevy Chase up until that point, National Lampoon's Vacation manages to remain as funny today as it was on first viewing in 1983.

Spawning three sequels of varying quality, National Lampoon's Vacation was an instant smash hit upon release. Despite the warm and wacky brilliance of Christmas Vacation, this first entry in the series remains, in the eyes of many fans, the definitive Vacation movie.

Prior to Vacation, Chevy Chase was primarily known for playing witty, rather acerbic leading men who always got the girl. Therefore, it was probably quite a risk for him to take on the role of well-meaning family man Clark W. Griswold, a clumsy but loveable dolt who is determined to take his wife and children on a cross-country trip to "America's favourite family fun park" Wally World. The risk paid off handsomely though as, alongside Fletch, Clark Griswold remains Chase's most popular film character.

With Chase and Beverley D'Angelo the series only constant, each Vacation movie featured different actors in the roles of children Rusty and Audrey. In the 1989 offering National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation, a fourteen-year old Johnny Galecki, still many years away from the part of Leonard in The Big Bang Theory, played Rusty.



Recently, the actors who played Rusty and Audrey in the original Vacation movie - Anthony Michael Hall and Dana Barron - met up once more with their screen parents Chevy Chase and Beverley D'Angelo for a near 30-year National Lampoon's Vacation reunion...

    

By the way, sharp-eyed readers may notice that only three sequels to Vacation are mentioned. There is no way I'm including the utter crud that was Christmas Vacation 2: Cousin Eddie's Island...

Related link

Chevy Chase on Facebook

Sir Christopher Lee - Christmas Message 2012

Sir Christopher Lee's annual festive message is just as anticipated by fans at Christmas as the Queen's Speech.

That he still takes time out on Christmas Day, at the age of 90, to film this message is a true measure of the man and the respect he obviously has for his many fans.

 

Here's wishing you a very Merry Christmas Sir Christopher and a Happy and Prosperous New Year.

A Laurel and Hardy Christmas

Even though they never made a fully-fledged seasonal movie that was completely dedicated to the theme of Christmas, there is something magical about watching Stan and Ollie at this time of year and, indeed, during any holiday period.

Despite the boys not making an 'official' Christmas film, there are a number of their outings which make a nod towards the Yuletide season and it is these which I happily present to you here for the perfect little Christmas treat!

Big Business (1929)

One of Laurel and Hardy's most famous silent shorts and unquestionably one of the greatest short comedy films ever made, Big Business is a delightful orgy of destruction and reciprocation as Stan and Ollie try to sell a Christmas tree to a rather belligerent householder, played by perennial foe James Finlayson.

Enjoy in full here...

The Fixer Uppers (1935)

The penultimate short from the boys before they concentrated exclusively on feature films, The Fixer Uppers contains a glorious opening which sees Stan and Ollie selling Christmas cards door to door. As Ollie explains, he has designed them himself while Stan has written the 'beautiful verse'.

Here is a selection of Stan's "tenderest thoughts"...

Merry Christmas Mother

Merry Christmas Ma

Hi Mommy Mommy

and a hot cha cha!

Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells

Coming through the rye

I wish you a Merry Christmas

Even as you and I

Twas Christmas day in the poorhouse

and the boys were feeling blue

The boys in grey were fighting

A Merry Christmas to you!

A Merry Christmas husband

Happy New Year's nigh

I wish you Easter greetings

Hooray for the Fourth of July

Babes in Toyland (1934)

As can be seen from the above poster, this full length Laurel and Hardy feature was also known as March of the Wooden Soldiers. Once a fixture on American television at Christmas, this was one of Oliver Hardy's personal favourites.

Stanley Dee and Ollie Dum work at the toy factory in Toyland and it isn't long before they are causing chaos, mixing up an order for six hundred soldiers one foot high and instead creating one hundred soldiers six feet high!  

Enjoy in full here...

If you are a big fan of Stan and Ollie, then I highly recommend The Laurel and Hardy Forum You can now also sign their petition to get Laurel and Hardy back on our television screens here Laurel and Hardy TV Petition

I would like to take this opportunity to wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy and Peaceful New Year. See you next year!

The Lone Ranger - Full Trailer

Starring Johnny Depp, produced by Jerry Bruckheimer and directed by Gore Verbinski, it's not surprising that The Lone Ranger has a 'Pirates of the Caribbean' feel to it - particularly in some of the humour employed by Depp's Tonto.

This new full-length trailer includes some nice little touches of humour which were lacking from the teaser trailer, as well as upping the action quotient. I am predicting another smash hit for the Depp/Bruckheimer/Verbinski triumvirate and am very much looking forward to the film's release in Summer 2013.

Screen Shots - For a Few Dollars More

Regular visitors to The Stu View will be aware of my deep admiration for Sergio Leone's Dollars trilogy and both Clint Eastwood and Lee Van Cleef.

Of the three Dollars movies, I personally rate For a Few Dollars More as the greatest (despite the majority of fans more than likely opting for The Good, The Bad and The Ugly). The dynamic of Eastwood and Van Cleef as a team works well and, with the incredibly intense Gian Maria Volonte putting in a dramatic powerhouse performance as the ultra black-hearted villain Indio, the film boasts a very strong set of leading players.

Sergio Leone was a director of exquisite style who had a great flair for creating epic westerns on a grand, almost operatic, scale. He had a great love of art and, after viewing his finest films, you can see this love bearing fruit on the screen. Indeed, many stills taken from Leone's greatest work would not look out of place hanging on the wall of an art gallery, as an appreciative audience discuss their many merits.


Here are some stunning stills from For a Few Dollars More which really show the directorial genius of Sergio Leone at his best.  

Clint and his seemingly ever-present cigar.

Someone is about to get hurt...and it's not Clint.

A simply stunning example of Sergio Leone's love for faces.

One of the most intense western villains of all-time - Gian Maria Volonte as Indio.

A scene with religious overtones? Indio relays plans to his gang (disciples?) from the pulpit.

Another prime example of Leone's love of facial close-ups.

Clint's bounty hunter comes across Colonel Mortimer for the first time.

Lee Van Cleef as Colonel Mortimer.

Beautifully lit portrait of Van Cleef.

Klaus Kinski as the hunchback.

Colonel Mortimer opens the safe for Indio and his gang while Clint lurks in the background.

However heinous his actions, Indio is arguably the most charismatic villain in western movie history.

The significance of the watch is revealed at the climax.

The dramatic final shoot-out.

Simply stunning shot of Lee Van Cleef from the closing moments.

Could easily be from a painting, couldn't it?

A Preview of Trouble with the Curve with Clint Eastwood

In his 82nd year, and four years after the simply stunning Gran Torino, screen legend Clint Eastwood is back in front of the camera in the sweet comic drama Trouble with the Curve.

The aforementioned modern classic Gran Torino was, to all intents and purposes, meant to be Clint's swansong as far as acting went; Clint wanted to concentrate on directing instead. Perhaps it is the fact that Trouble With the Curve marks the full directorial debut of Clint's long-time assistant director Robert Lorenz that has lured the Hollywood icon back to acting duties. In fact, an interesting little piece of trivia to note is that Trouble with the Curve is the first film that Clint Eastwood has acted in without also taking on directorial duties since In the Line of Fire way back in 1993.

 

Clint's latter career has seen him excel as the grouchy, curmudgeonly old-timer struggling to come to terms with modern life and Trouble with the Curve is no exception. Here he plays Gus, a legendary baseball scout who is starting to struggle with failing eyesight. This struggle brings his daughter (Amy Adams) back into his life and, as they embark on a scouting trip, they begin to rebuild their fractured relationship.

An impressive supporting cast includes the ever reliable John Goodman, Ed Lauter and, perhaps in a career-best performance, former teen heartthrob singer Justin Timberlake.

Above all though, it's great to see Clint Eastwood back in an acting role and I, for one, hope that it will not be his last. Nearly sixty years after his acting debut, Clint has lost none of that magnetic screen presence that he has always possessed - in fact, age seems to have magnified that presence to an even greater degree.

Movie Stars Off-Set - Candid Photo Gallery

Just for a nice change of pace here on The Stu View, here are some lovely, candid shots of various Stu View-favourite Hollywood superstars - both past and present - relaxing off the movie set.

Lee Van Cleef

Jennifer Aniston

Charles Bronson & Jill Ireland

   

George Clooney

Marilyn Monroe

Richard Pryor

Johnny Depp

Clint Eastwood