The Great Outdoors (1988 film)
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| The Great Outdoors | |
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| Directed by | Howard Deutch |
| Produced by | Arne Schmidt |
| Written by | John Hughes |
| Starring | Dan Aykroyd, John Candy, Annette Bening |
| Music by | Thomas Newman |
| Distributed by | Universal Pictures |
| Release date(s) |  June 17, 1988 |
| Running time | 91 min |
| Language | English |
The Great Outdoors is a 1988 comedy film starring Dan Aykroyd and John Candy.
Annette Bening and Stephanie Faracy co-star. Robert Prosky and Lewis Arquette have supporting roles. The film was directed by Howard Deutch and was written by John Hughes.
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Plot
Chicago resident Chester "Chet" Ripley (John Candy), his wife Connie (Stephanie Faracy), and their two sons Buck (Chris Young) and Benny (Ian Giatti) are on vacation at a lake resort in Pechoggin, Wisconsin.
Then the unexpected happens -- Connie's sister Kate (Annette Bening), Kate's know-it-all investment broker husband Roman Craig (Dan Aykroyd), and Kate and Roman's twin daughters Mara (Rebecca Gordon) and Cara (Hilary Gordon) crash the vacation, having decided to blow off their own plans to vacation in Europe.
Roman is a typical Mercedes driving, '80s yuppie, and he and Kate live in the posh Chicago suburb of Oak Park. Roman seems to take pleasure in making sure others are well aware of his wealth and (supposed) expertise on many subjects.
Roman proceeds to majorly get on Chet's nerves -- so much that Chet is ready and willing to pack up and go home, even as teenager Buck tries to romance local girl Cammie (Lucy Deakins).
It turns out that the reason why Roman, Kate, and the twins crashed the vacation is because the Craigs are broke because of a bad investment, and Roman was planning to hit Chet up for $25,000.
Filming locations
The Great Outdoors was shot on location in Bass Lake, California, a small resort town near Yosemite National Park over three weeks in October 1987.
Ducey's Bass Lake Lodge, a rustic 1940s resort in Bass Lake, was featured as Wally and Juanita’s Perk’s Pine Lodge. The Loon’s Nest vacation cabin, built as a set, was designed to match the style of Ducey’s existing cabins.
Reception
The film grossed $6,121,115 in its opening weekend and ended up with a domestic gross of $41,455,230, and a worldwide gross of $43,455,230.[1]
Notable scenes
While the film did not fare well with many critics[citation needed], it contains a number of infamous scenes:
- Raccoons raiding garbage bins and speaking to each other, revealed by subtitling.
- A grizzly bear who terrorized Chet and Connie on their honeymoon, prompting Chet to skin the fur off its scalp with a shotgun (dubbing it the "Bald-Headed Bear").
- Chet polishing off the "Ole 96er", a 96-ounce prime age beef steak (including fat and gristle) at a local restaurant in an effort to impress Roman and earn everyone dining a free meal.
- The families' visit with a 109-year-old man at his 110th birthday celebration; Chet is informed at the party that the man died in the car ride en route to the location yet was brought regardless.
- Two grizzly bears sitting on the hood and roof of chet's Jeep Grand Wagoneer even when he drives away
- Roman and Chet's attempts to rid the cabin of a bat. A similar scene involving a bat trapped in a cabin was used in the 1996 film Black Sheep, with David Spade and Chris Farley.
- The Craigs' odd twin daughters getting trapped in an abandoned flooded mine shaft containing boxes of dynamite and the aforementioned "Bald-Headed Bear".
- A loaded "shotgun lamp" used as a decoration.
Trivia
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- The Great Outdoors was originally titled Big Country. The name was changed to avoid audience confusion with other similarly titled 1988 films, notably Big.
- The film marked Annette Bening's first major motion picture appearance.
- The film is set in the fictitious "Claire County", presumably somewhere in Wisconsin or Michigan. At one point, a police officer asks Candy's character if he possesses a Wisconsin drivers license, thereby suggesting that Claire County is in that state.
- This is one of eight films that featured both Dan Aykroyd and John Candy. The others are 1941, The Blues Brothers, Nothing But Trouble, It Came From Hollywood, Canadian Bacon, Masters of Menace, She's Having a Baby.
- Aykroyd's character was named after Roman Stevens, a young cocky pilot that used to fly the cast of SNL around the Northeast.
- Bart the Bear, a 1,700 pound Alaskan Kodiak brown bear, played the bald bear.
- The "bald" spots on the bear were created with artificial prostheses, not by shaving the bear.
- The Loon’s Nest set was built on the same lakeside site used for the “Back of the Moon” cabin in the 1945 film Leave Her to Heaven. Both sets were built on temporary United States Forest Service permits and were removed promptly after shooting.
- A duplicate Loon’s Nest set was built on the Universal Studios Hollywood back lot for the bear attack sequence. The set has been reused in other films and can be seen from a distance on the Universal Studios Hollywood backlot tour.
- Ducey’s Lodge was destroyed by fire in June 1988. It was rebuilt one mile from the original location and reopened in April 1991.
- Aykroyd was also featured on The Great Outdoors Soundtrack. He reprised his role as Elwood Blues performing with Wilson Pickett as The Elwood Blues Revue. Aykroyd is featured on the song Land of a Thousand Dances.
References
- ^ The Great Outdoors, boxofficemojo.com, accessed May 25, 2008.
External links
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