The Christmas family favourite Home Alone – starring Macauley Culkin as an 8-year-old who wakes up to find his family gone, which is great until burglars try to get into the house – celebrates its 29th anniversary year. To mark the occasion, here are 29 fascinating facts about the smash hit, endlessly rewatchable comedy classic.
1. The famous image of Kevin with his hands on his face is based on Edward Munch’s painting The Scream.
2. The film took nearly half a billion dollars at the box office, and was the second biggest grossing film of 1990 after Ghost.
3. Director Christopher Columbus would go on to make a couple more rather successful films about resourceful children – Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone and Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets.
4. Joe Pesci’s Goodfellas’ co-star, Robert De Niro, was originally asked to play Pesci’s role in Home Alone.
5. The house used in Home Alone, in Winnetka, Illinois, has become something of a tourist attraction, and even has its own TripAdvisor page!
6. The film came in at Number 5 in Esquire Magazine’s 40 Best Christmas Movies list
7. When the film was released a Home Alone Kevin talking doll was released. Among the things the doll says are “I made my family disappear!”, and “Are you gonna give up or are you thirsty for more?”
8. Last Christmas Culkin revisited the Home Alone house for a google advert, for a funny updating of the film with Kevin, now a grown-up.
9. There have been numerous ‘real life’ Home Alone stories since the film was released – including one incident this year, where a plucky 11-year-old in North Carolina confronted a burglar who he found climbing through the window.
10. No doubt inspired by Kevin’s love of cheese pizza, Culkin started a comedy rock group in New York called The Pizza Underground, who specialised in The Velvet Underground cover versions – with a twist – the word pizza crops up in all the song titles.
11. Writer John Hughes came up with idea for Home Alone during the filming of John Candy comedy Uncle Buck (which Culkin appeared in) and wrote the script in 9 days.
12. Macaulay’s brother Kieran Culkin also appears in Home Alone, and has gone on to have his own successful acting career. He can currently be seen in the hit TV series Succession.
13. The film was turned into a popular board game – players can either be Kevin, defending his house or the burglars, trying to steal the loot.
14. Grown-up kids can now buy their very own Home Alone fully-clothed, 8-inch action figures, complete with accessories, made by American company NECA.
15. The burglars are known as ‘The Wet Bandits’ because one of them has a penchant for blocking the sinks and baths and leaving the taps running, flooding the houses they’ve robbed.
16. The excerpt from the black and white film, Angels With Filthy Souls, featuring the famous line ‘Keep the change you filthy animal’, was in fact made especially for Home Alone. Many were disappointed – including actor Seth Rogen – when they discovered it wasn’t real.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=edK2aPewYHI
17. Angels With Filthier Souls, a sequel to the fake film, was made for Home Alone 2.
18. Culkin’s earnings from the film – which he was allowed to start spending once he turned 18 – means that he doesn’t need to work again.
19. A peculiar fan theory has emerged about what Kevin’s dad does for a living, to be able to afford such a luxurious mansion, fly the family to France for Christmas, and be so cold-blooded as to forget his own son. Apparently, he is a kingpin gangster!
20. Another fan theory believes John Candy’s character is the Devil himself, and Kevin’s mum sells her soul to him to be able to get back to the house.
21. Culkin himself flagged up a rather large plot hole in the film. Appearing on Jimmy Fallon’s chat show, he said: “This kid’s a really clever kid, right? Like, these guys are about to break in, why doesn’t he just call the cops?”
22. The sequel to the film, Home Alone 2: Lost in New York, features a bizarre cameo from future president Donald Trump
23. Burglar Daniel Stern wore rubber feet for the scene with the booby-trapped stairs (similar to those worn by Bruce Willis in Die Hard!).
24. Along with dolls, books, board games, there were also a number of Home Alone video games. Last year Culkin played some of the games for a YouTube channel, and was not impressed.
25. John Heard, who plays Kevin’s dad, and Daniel Stern, who plays one of the burglars, appeared together in the 1984 horror film C.H.U.D., which stands for ‘Cannibalistic Humanoid Underground Dwellers. Just the sort of flick Kevin might enjoy while his folks are away.
26. The airport, where Kevin’s mum becomes stranded trying to get back home, is in Scranton, Pennsylvania – home of a later US comedy classic, The Office: An American Workplace.
27. The scene with the blow torch involved visual trickery using a piece of glass the torch was fired against being matted onto the shot of Joe Pesci.
28. The film is scored by John Williams, the composer behind box office smashes including Jaws, Star Wars,E.T. and Raiders of the Lost Ark.
29. The photo of his brother’s girlfriend that causes Kevin to recoil? That’s director Chris Columbus’s son dressed as a girl!
HOME ALONE is available on special Family Fun edition Blu-ray and DVD from 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment
