The Great Outdoors (1988 film)
Encyclopedia
The Great Outdoors is a 1988
American
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 written and produced by John Hughes.
), his wife, Connie (Stephanie Faracy
), and their two sons, Buck (Chris Young
) and Ben (Ian Giatti), are on vacation at a lake resort in Pechoggin, Wisconsin
during the summer.
Chet is a fun-loving father and husband looking for a get away for his family. All is going as planned when four unexpected visitors show up with a video camera in hand at the lake resort lodge.
Having decided not to vacation in Europe
, Connie's sister, Kate (Annette Bening
), Kate's know-it-all investment broker husband, Roman Craig (Dan Aykroyd
), and their twin daughters, Mara (Rebecca Gordon) and Cara (Hilary Gordon), crash the vacation.
Roman is a typical Mercedes
driving (license-plate number ROMAN 1), investment focused, '80s yuppie
. 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.
Ghost stories at the family BBQ include one of a man eating grizzly bear that Chet once met face to face earlier in his life.
Roman describes the remote northern woods location as "God's Country" and prefers speedboats over pontoon boats. After Roman pulls Chet around the lake on a water ski ride courtesy of his rented speedboat Suck My Wake, tensions between families erupt. Roman proceeds to get on Chet's nerves — so much so that Chet is ready to pack up and go home, even as teenager Buck tries to romance local girl, Cammie (Lucy Deakins
).
Buck and Cammie's teen romance sparks at a local amusement park. The budding romance goes well until Buck's father, Chet, is challenged to eat the Old 96'er (a Paul Bunyan 96-ounce blue ox steak) at a family dinner which causes Buck to break the date. Buck tries to apologize to Cammie for being late, but Cammie refuses to speak with him.
Chet shares his love for family when Chet gives his son a ring from his father. It is the same ring that Chet's father gave him when Chet was a young boy in the northern woods.
Adventures continue at the local amusement park at the driving range, go-carts races, and horseback riding path. Chet negotiates a ride with his horse only to find the horse runs away. Chet is forced to walk back to the barn.
Connie and Kate bond at a local bar when the conversation drifts to Kate's challenges of being wealthy. Later, just at the peak of tension between families, ironically, it emerges that Roman has made a bad investment and is broke. He hasn't told Kate and was planning to offer Chet a $25,000 'investment'. Roman describes how he hasn't traded on the floors in Chicago in two years. He now wears a blue coat to fetch coffee which is the reason why he came to the Great Outdoors to hit up family man, Chet, for the cash.
Meanwhile, during a thunderstorm
, the twins go missing and fall into a poorly blocked-off former mica
mine shaft. Chet and Roman search for and find them. Chet encourages Roman to be a father for the first time to his kids. While Chet gets a rope, Roman summons up all his courage and rescues the twins. While sitting on a crate of dynamite, Roman rescues his girls out of the Pechoggin mine.
Chet, not knowing they are out of the mine, discovers in the mineshaft, the 'Bald-Headed Bear', the bear which supposedly attacked Chet many years ago. It chases him to the house, smashes through the door and rampages through the house. Just as the 'Bald-Headed Bear' stands on two feet and climbs up stairs, the cabin owner arrives armed with a shotgun. Chet takes the gun and shoots the bear's rear end, causing its rear to become exposed. The bear with bald head and rear runs out of the cabin and the families are safe.
The following morning, the two families part ways on good terms. Both families share how they enjoyed their vacation together in the Wisconsin
northern woods. Roman's last words to Chet are "Race you home" which means that Roman's family will be moving in with Chet and leaving their Oak Park home. Cammie and Buck make up, part ways, and end their summer romance. Family guy, Chet, and his family head back to the Chicago area in a race for the good parking spot in their garage.
After the credits, the rambunctious raccoons that have wreaked havoc at the lodge throughout the movie have the last word. They make fun of the bear friend who is "bald on both ends" now.
, 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.
1988 in film
-Top grossing films :- Awards :Academy Awards:* Act of Piracy* Action Jackson, starring Carl Weathers, Craig T. Nelson, Vanity, Sharon Stone* The Adventures of Baron Munchausen* Akira* Alice...
American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
comedy film
Comedy film
Comedy film is a genre of film in which the main emphasis is on humour. They are designed to elicit laughter from the audience. Comedies are mostly light-hearted dramas and are made to amuse and entertain the audiences...
starring Dan Aykroyd
Dan Aykroyd
Daniel Edward "Dan" Aykroyd, CM is a Canadian comedian, actor, screenwriter, musician, winemaker and ufologist. He was an original cast member of Saturday Night Live, an originator of The Blues Brothers and Ghostbusters and has had a long career as a film actor and screenwriter.-Early...
and John Candy
John Candy
John Franklin Candy was a Canadian actor and comedian. He rose to fame as a member of the Toronto branch of The Second City and its related Second City Television series, and through his appearances in comedy films such as Stripes, Splash, Cool Runnings, The Great Outdoors, Spaceballs, and Uncle...
. Annette Bening
Annette Bening
Annette Carol Bening is an American actress. Bening is a four-time Oscar nominee for her roles in The Grifters, American Beauty, Being Julia and The Kids Are All Right, winning Golden Globe Awards for the latter two films...
and Stephanie Faracy
Stephanie Faracy
Stephanie Faracy is an American film and television actress.Faracy was born in Brooklyn, New York. One of her earliest notable roles was as Mary Carson's servant "Judy", in the 1983 television mini-series The Thorn Birds.Faracy also appeared with Frankie Faison and Nancy Walker in True Colors , a...
co-star. Robert Prosky
Robert Prosky
Robert Prosky was an American stage, film, and television actor.-Life and career:Prosky, a Polish American, was born Robert Joseph Porzuczek in the Manayunk neighborhood of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to Helen and Joseph Porzuczek. His father was a grocer and butcher...
and Lewis Arquette
Lewis Arquette
Lewis Michael Arquette was an American film actor, writer and producer. Arquette was known for playing "J.D. Pickett" on the TV series, The Waltons, where he worked from 1978–1981.-Life and career:...
have supporting roles. The film was directed by Howard Deutch
Howard Deutch
Howard Deutch is an American film director. His most recent theatrical release was My Best Friend's Girl, starring Jason Biggs, Kate Hudson, Dane Cook, and Alec Baldwin...
and written and produced by John Hughes.
Plot
Chicago area resident Chester "Chet" Ripley (John CandyJohn Candy
John Franklin Candy was a Canadian actor and comedian. He rose to fame as a member of the Toronto branch of The Second City and its related Second City Television series, and through his appearances in comedy films such as Stripes, Splash, Cool Runnings, The Great Outdoors, Spaceballs, and Uncle...
), his wife, Connie (Stephanie Faracy
Stephanie Faracy
Stephanie Faracy is an American film and television actress.Faracy was born in Brooklyn, New York. One of her earliest notable roles was as Mary Carson's servant "Judy", in the 1983 television mini-series The Thorn Birds.Faracy also appeared with Frankie Faison and Nancy Walker in True Colors , a...
), and their two sons, Buck (Chris Young
Chris Young (actor)
Christopher Tyler "Chris" Young is an American actor, producer and director.-Life and career:Young was born in Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, the son of Judy , a teacher and librarian, and Dick Young, a businessman...
) and Ben (Ian Giatti), are on vacation at a lake resort in Pechoggin, Wisconsin
Wisconsin
Wisconsin is a U.S. state located in the north-central United States and is part of the Midwest. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michigan to the northeast, and Lake Superior to the north. Wisconsin's capital is...
during the summer.
Chet is a fun-loving father and husband looking for a get away for his family. All is going as planned when four unexpected visitors show up with a video camera in hand at the lake resort lodge.
Having decided not to vacation in Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
, Connie's sister, Kate (Annette Bening
Annette Bening
Annette Carol Bening is an American actress. Bening is a four-time Oscar nominee for her roles in The Grifters, American Beauty, Being Julia and The Kids Are All Right, winning Golden Globe Awards for the latter two films...
), Kate's know-it-all investment broker husband, Roman Craig (Dan Aykroyd
Dan Aykroyd
Daniel Edward "Dan" Aykroyd, CM is a Canadian comedian, actor, screenwriter, musician, winemaker and ufologist. He was an original cast member of Saturday Night Live, an originator of The Blues Brothers and Ghostbusters and has had a long career as a film actor and screenwriter.-Early...
), and their twin daughters, Mara (Rebecca Gordon) and Cara (Hilary Gordon), crash the vacation.
Roman is a typical Mercedes
Mercedes-Benz
Mercedes-Benz is a German manufacturer of automobiles, buses, coaches, and trucks. Mercedes-Benz is a division of its parent company, Daimler AG...
driving (license-plate number ROMAN 1), investment focused, '80s yuppie
Yuppie
Yuppie is a term that refers to a member of the upper middle class or upper class in their 20s or 30s. It first came into use in the early-1980s and largely faded from American popular culture in the late-1980s, due to the 1987 stock market crash and the early 1990s recession...
. He and Kate live in the posh Chicago suburb of Oak Park
Oak Park, Illinois
Oak Park, Illinois is a suburb bordering the west side of the city of Chicago in Cook County, Illinois, United States. It is the twenty-fifth largest municipality in Illinois. Oak Park has easy access to downtown Chicago due to public transportation such as the Chicago 'L' Blue and Green lines,...
. Roman seems to take pleasure in making sure others are well aware of his wealth and (supposed) expertise on many subjects.
Ghost stories at the family BBQ include one of a man eating grizzly bear that Chet once met face to face earlier in his life.
Roman describes the remote northern woods location as "God's Country" and prefers speedboats over pontoon boats. After Roman pulls Chet around the lake on a water ski ride courtesy of his rented speedboat Suck My Wake, tensions between families erupt. Roman proceeds to get on Chet's nerves — so much so that Chet is ready to pack up and go home, even as teenager Buck tries to romance local girl, Cammie (Lucy Deakins
Lucy Deakins
Lucy Deakins was known for being an American child actress.Deakins was born in New York City, the daughter of Alice, a professor at William Paterson University, and Roger, a retired New York University professor. She graduated from Stuyvesant High School and enrolled in Harvard University in 1988....
).
Buck and Cammie's teen romance sparks at a local amusement park. The budding romance goes well until Buck's father, Chet, is challenged to eat the Old 96'er (a Paul Bunyan 96-ounce blue ox steak) at a family dinner which causes Buck to break the date. Buck tries to apologize to Cammie for being late, but Cammie refuses to speak with him.
Chet shares his love for family when Chet gives his son a ring from his father. It is the same ring that Chet's father gave him when Chet was a young boy in the northern woods.
Adventures continue at the local amusement park at the driving range, go-carts races, and horseback riding path. Chet negotiates a ride with his horse only to find the horse runs away. Chet is forced to walk back to the barn.
Connie and Kate bond at a local bar when the conversation drifts to Kate's challenges of being wealthy. Later, just at the peak of tension between families, ironically, it emerges that Roman has made a bad investment and is broke. He hasn't told Kate and was planning to offer Chet a $25,000 'investment'. Roman describes how he hasn't traded on the floors in Chicago in two years. He now wears a blue coat to fetch coffee which is the reason why he came to the Great Outdoors to hit up family man, Chet, for the cash.
Meanwhile, during a thunderstorm
Thunderstorm
A thunderstorm, also known as an electrical storm, a lightning storm, thundershower or simply a storm is a form of weather characterized by the presence of lightning and its acoustic effect on the Earth's atmosphere known as thunder. The meteorologically assigned cloud type associated with the...
, the twins go missing and fall into a poorly blocked-off former mica
Mica
The mica group of sheet silicate minerals includes several closely related materials having highly perfect basal cleavage. All are monoclinic, with a tendency towards pseudohexagonal crystals, and are similar in chemical composition...
mine shaft. Chet and Roman search for and find them. Chet encourages Roman to be a father for the first time to his kids. While Chet gets a rope, Roman summons up all his courage and rescues the twins. While sitting on a crate of dynamite, Roman rescues his girls out of the Pechoggin mine.
Chet, not knowing they are out of the mine, discovers in the mineshaft, the 'Bald-Headed Bear', the bear which supposedly attacked Chet many years ago. It chases him to the house, smashes through the door and rampages through the house. Just as the 'Bald-Headed Bear' stands on two feet and climbs up stairs, the cabin owner arrives armed with a shotgun. Chet takes the gun and shoots the bear's rear end, causing its rear to become exposed. The bear with bald head and rear runs out of the cabin and the families are safe.
The following morning, the two families part ways on good terms. Both families share how they enjoyed their vacation together in the Wisconsin
Wisconsin
Wisconsin is a U.S. state located in the north-central United States and is part of the Midwest. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michigan to the northeast, and Lake Superior to the north. Wisconsin's capital is...
northern woods. Roman's last words to Chet are "Race you home" which means that Roman's family will be moving in with Chet and leaving their Oak Park home. Cammie and Buck make up, part ways, and end their summer romance. Family guy, Chet, and his family head back to the Chicago area in a race for the good parking spot in their garage.
After the credits, the rambunctious raccoons that have wreaked havoc at the lodge throughout the movie have the last word. They make fun of the bear friend who is "bald on both ends" now.
Filming locations
The Great Outdoors was shot on location in Bass Lake, CaliforniaBass Lake, California
Bass Lake is a freshwater artificial lake in the Sierra National Forest, of Madera County, California, approximately south of the entrance to Yosemite National Park. The lake is formed by the construction of the Crane Valley Dam across Willow Creek, a tributary to the San Joaquin River, and is...
, a small resort town near Yosemite National Park
Yosemite National Park
Yosemite National Park is a United States National Park spanning eastern portions of Tuolumne, Mariposa and Madera counties in east central California, United States. The park covers an area of and reaches across the western slopes of the Sierra Nevada mountain chain...
over three weeks in October 1987.
Ducey's Bass Lake Lodge
Ducey's Bass Lake Lodge
Ducey's Bass Lake Lodge is a historic mountain lodge located in Bass Lake, California.- History :In 1941, Buddy Freeman constructed Freeman's Bass Lake Lodge on the north shore of Bass Lake, California about one mile west of the Pines Village. The lodge consisted of a bar, restaurant, and rental...
, 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.
Box office
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.External links
- The Great Outdoors at the Internet Movie DatabaseInternet Movie DatabaseInternet Movie Database is an online database of information related to movies, television shows, actors, production crew personnel, video games and fictional characters featured in visual entertainment media. It is one of the most popular online entertainment destinations, with over 100 million...
.