Vacation

Vacation Movie Poster

"Every summer Chevy Chase takes his family on a little trip.  This year he went too far".  The National Lampoon's Vacation movie series was made up of three very popular movies written by the 80's superstar writer, John Hughes.  The original National Lampoon's Vacation movie was released in 1983, the second in 1985 (European Vacation), and the third in 1989 (Christmas Vacation).  There were several more released post 1980's, including Vegas Vacation in 1997.  The first and third movies did the best with critics, as well as at the box office, however all have been profitable.

In the original, the Griswold family is on the way to Walley World, by way of cross-country car trip full of antics and crazy adventures.  With Chevy Chase heading up the Griswold family, Beverly D'Angelo starred as Ellen Griswold, Anthony Michael Hall as Rusty Griswold, and Dana Barron as Audrey Griswold.  In the second movie, the family wins a game show called "Pig in a Poke", which results in a two-week trip to Europe.  In the third movie, viewers get the chance to follow the "most fun filled, old fashioned [Griswold] family Christmas ever", with all the crazy relatives arriving early only to find that Clark's expected year-end Christmas bonus doesn't come through after all.

It is worth noting some of the other big stars who have graced the series, including Randy Quaid as Cousin Eddie, Christi Brinkley as the chic in the red Ferrari who Clark gets in the pool with, John Candy as Russ Lasky, Julliette Lewis as a later version of Audrey Griswold, and even a cameo by Julia Louis-Dreyfus as Margo Chester.