After watching Christmas Vacation the other day....there is one thing that always drives me crazy about the Vacation movies!!! The kids???!!!!
Does anyone know the real reason why there were different actors in every film? How come they never even aged? Cousin Eddie talks about his kids "growing up" in Christmas Vacation?
It is only me that this bothers?
Now I do want to know, who were your favorite Audrey and Rusty? and why?
Here's some screenshots to help refresh your memory from a site I found talking about The Griswold kids then and now:
Christmas Vacation Posted by Veronica Sawyer (Member # 2221) on :
there were different kids in the vegas vacay too....I always thought it was a little weird. Like Clark and Ellen obviously aged throughout the years, but the kids stayed the same age?? Very strange.
Posted by Devolution (Member # 1731) on :
Devolution here,
I would have to say that the original Audrey is my favorite and I know the purists are going to hate me but Jason Lively from European is my favorite Rusty. Mostly because of the fantastic train scene and the "He's gonna pork her dad" parts. Mr. Hall you are a very close second but your dialogue is a little bit weaker.
Also I hated more that the ages of the kids didn't progress correctly. I could deal with certain characters. But the ages drove me nuts.
We are DEVO
Posted by Bernie_Lomax (Member # 8571) on :
I love Anthony Micahel Hall obviously but yeah Jason Lively was the best I reckon.
First of all. I only consider Vacation, European Vacation and Christmas Vacation to be the true movies. Anything after that I am not willing to acknowledge.
Reasons why Jason Lively was the best Rusty:
1. His fantasy of the nightclub scene in Europe - Rusty's European Tour.
2. He is always cruising the chicks. None of the other Rustys are chasing girls.
3. He gets that hot German chick.
4. He goes to that Burlesque show with Sheree 'the slut'.
5. And as Devo has already mentioned, he's gonna pork her comment.
Audrey from the first one was the best. I guess cos she was the cutest and smoked pot.
Yeah using different kids all the time did annoy me and the ages also.
If they could have got the same kids for every movie (I am sure there were probably reasons why they couldn't) it would have ended up looking pretty cool cos the first one was 83 and Christmas Vacation was 89 so it would have been doable.
Posted by aTomiK (Member # 6575) on :
I´m not going to argue with the others so Dana Barron and Jason Lively are the best ones.
The age thing is not bothering me at all.
Posted by cindymancini (Member # 679) on :
Wow, Muffy, your thread is totally freaking me out! I watched Christmas Vacation the other night and had the exact same thought about the kids! I really think using differnt actors diminished the authenticity of the films.
I loved Dana Barron and while I'm sticking to my guns that they should have kept her & Anthony Michael Hall in the sequels, Jason Lively is the only other "new kid," I could accept. His European club scene is fantastic! The use of The Power Station was perfect!!
Dana Hill & Juliette Lewis?!?! Who in their right mind thought these girls would make good "Audrey's"?!? I have never liked Juliette Lewis & her drone-like voice. Sorry .
And as much as I'm a fan of Johnny Galecki thanks to Big Bang Theory, Rusty he was not...
[ 28. December 2010, 06:10: Message edited by: cindymancini ]
Posted by Ronnie (Member # 465) on :
i loved the original cast in the first one. in fact, i tend to forget that anthony michael hall is in it. but they were great. i do like european vacation just as much as the first, and i like the casting of those kids as well. but i still wish they had kept the original kids.
i know christmas vacation is such a classic for you rewinders, but i am not that big of a fan... and i am not crazy about vegas vacation either.
and i agree with cindy about juliette lewis as audrey, but i do like her as an actress. Posted by Muffy Tepperman (Member # 1551) on :
Oh I completely disregarded Vegas for a reason it's 90's and AWFUL! I saw it in the theater and haven't seen it since.
I'm with you guys I loved Jason Lively! He had this dorky obliviousness that Clark has and he delivered the lines perfect! I've always wondered though.....would have Hall been as great?? probaly.
I think i'd go with Dana Barron also.......Cindy is right Dana Hill and Juliette Lewis were so blah.........."Jack Jack Jack Jack" it was funny but something about her wasn't funny........
I looooooooooooooooooove Rusty's European Vacation, the jacket....his face! cracks me up every time........."some like it hot"
What if they'd changed Beverly and Chevy??? no way would they be as classic as they are??
Posted by Secret Admirer (Member # 3574) on :
It never bothered me, but I just assumed it was a joke.
Posted by pettyfan (Member # 2260) on :
It's never much mattered to me I guess. However, I didn't like the Russ and Audrey characters in European vacation at all. Matter of fact, I didn't care much for European Vacation in general. And I also don't include Vegas Vacation...it sucked. I like the original and Christmas Vacation.
Posted by warriorwoman73 (Member # 9316) on :
Did you guys know that Dana Hill died of complications of diabetes some years ago? It was very sad - she was young but apparently had struggled with the disease her entire life.
Posted by logan5 (Member # 1467) on :
Audrey # 1 was the best. Rusty # 2 made the biggest impression on me.
Posted by Chris the CandyFanMan (Member # 3197) on :
Can't argue with the logic everyone's put forth.
I think they tried to make a brief joke early in Vegas Vacation about this, with Clark remarking he could barely recognize his kids anymore; with almost everything else in the picture apart from (for me at least) the Hoover Dam scene, it doesn't quite work. To be honest, Chevy wasn't too thrilled about the film either, stating in his biography that Warners essentially tricked him into the picture, baiting it to him as an unrelated film, then revealing it as another Vacation film after he'd signed on.
Posted by Chris the CandyFanMan (Member # 3197) on :
Additionally, although it would have been interesting to keep the original kids together all the way, consider how some of our favorite viewing memories of the decade might have been if Anthony Michael Hall had been tied down for much of it; would Gary and Brian have worked nearly as well with someone else playing them? I personally think not, in which case it's probably better things did work the way they did.
Posted by Valley (Member # 1322) on :
Wow Warrior.. I didn't know that about Dana Hill.. sad stuff.. she was only 32 years old.
For Audrey it is actually a simple answer for me.. Dana Barron was the original and by far the best. For Rusty it isn't quite as easy a choice, but I have to go with Anthony Michael Hall ever so slightly over Jason Lively.
Back to Dana Barron.. did anyone see "Christmas Vacation 2"? I know it was a disaster of a flick, but thought it was interesting that only Griswold to make it on the trip was Dana Barron reprising her role as Audrey.
Posted by Rawhead Rex (Member # 8125) on :
I thought Vegas Vacation was as great as the the other, I really don't understand why so many fans of the series have such a problem with this one???
Posted by Chris the CandyFanMan (Member # 3197) on :
It has its moments--as mentioned, the entire Hoover Dam sequence is pretty good, and it was good to hear Holiday Road again--but when viewed in whole, it comes off basically autopiloted by pretty much everybody involved--as mentioned above, Chevy probably felt it wasn't worth supreme effort when he'd been deceived into signing up.
Posted by Devolution (Member # 1731) on :
Devolution here,
Lest we forget the best part of that movie, the Ghetto Casino! Guess the number? War? How many fingers? It was brilliant.
We are DEVO
Posted by kevdugp73 (Member # 5978) on :
I agree with most points, most prominantly my dislike for Juliette Lewis. Maybe a future installment to revive the series after Vegas, would have the kids actually older...hmmm....maybe Jack Black as Rusty....flunked out of school...no job...still living at home with Mom and Dad. Kristen Wiig as Audrey, featured prominantely with her new husband Jack McBrayer. Of course, filming would have to happen in Canada, given poor cousin Eddie's recent predicament!
Posted by amaranth (Member # 8882) on :
Watched european vacation last nite didnt like either of the kids prefer the ones in the first or vegas which i love
Posted by Bernie_Lomax (Member # 8571) on :
"I think you're all $%!@$# in the head. We're ten hours from the $#%@en fun park and you guys wanna bail out."
Posted by gordongecko (Member # 4685) on :
First off my favorite is Christmas and so they end up being my favorite kids. Even though Julliete is not very good in it.
I do enjoy Vegas Vacation but have not seen it for a long time.
My leas favorite kids are the European ones. That's probably my least favorite film of the series.
Posted by aTomiK (Member # 6575) on :
Just rewatched European Vacation and i have to take back my words a little bit. The original definitely has the best kids.
Jason Lively is ok and i like the fact that he chases girls but his lines aren´t Hughes caliber if you know what i mean.
The film includes few fun scenes but the original is way better. We will see what kind of effect Christmas Vacation gives this time but i´ve yet to see few more films before that one.
Posted by the young warrior (Member # 9554) on :
European Vacation was the last one that I watched actually and though it's not a patch on the original there are some really funny gags in there,i liked the whole Germany segment where they turn up at the wrong address and mistake the elderly couple for there relatives!
The kids weren't to bad overall just I agree maybe not up to Anthony Michael Hall's and Danna Barron's standards.
Can't bring myself to watch the Vacation remake and normally I'm willing to give any movie a try!
Posted by Pyro (Member # 7658) on :
I just watched Christmas Vacation again a couple days ago. While I do like Johnny Galecki & Juliet Lewis for the most part in other films or TV Shows, I always felt they were a terrible choice to play the parts of the Griswold kids. Therefore they are my least favorite. As for my favorite Rusty & Audrey's, I think I'd have to lean toward Dana Hill & Jason Lively from European Vacation as my favorites. They just seemed the most believable to me like they could be brother and sister in real life, though of course they're not. And also because they were by far the funniest.
[ 30. November 2016, 20:44: Message edited by: Pyro ]
Posted by Nostalgic for the '80's (Member # 37454) on :
All of the Vacation movies are hilarous, especially the first three. And, I have 0 issues with the different actors/actresses that play the kids in all four films. It's noticeable, but not really distracting.
Honestly, I don't think there's any way they could have gotten the same actors/actresses to play the kids for all of the films; for one thing, by the time Christmas Vacation came out (1989) their being so much older would have taken away from some of the humor - i.e., given how old the kids were in '83, they would have been adults by '89, and who knows if they would even have been home for the Christmas holidays.
That being said, it would have been nice to have had some continuity between Vacation I (1983) & European Vacation (1985), since they were only 2 years apart. However, I doubt AMH could have reprised the role or Rusty in this 2nd film, given his commitment to the John Hughes films @ the time - i.e., between '84 - '85 he starred in: Sixteen Candles, Weird Science, and Breakfast Club.
Vegas Vacation (1997) had to have different actors, since by that time the kids from '83 would have been way too old to have gone together with their parents on vacation.
I feel one of the many reasons these films have done so well is not only the great humor & acting , but how relatable they are. Everyone out there has gone on family vacations where things have sometimes gone wrong; and everyone has at least one "mooching" relative that always has their hand out (Randy Quaid & family played this role well in the films).
Christmas Vacation is definitely my favorite movie in the franchise - laugh-out-loud funny!
Vegas Vacation is my least favorite, but still worth seeing & is great to re-watch as well. I definitely find it underrated, and it's pretty much ignored when discussing the Vacation films; I think a lot of people may not even be aware a 4th Vacation movie came out - especially given that there were 8 years between 3 & 4. However, I think it's obvious that by that time the franchise was on it's last legs. And, I think it's good they didn't have any films after that.
Have yet to see the spin-off "Christmas Vacation 2: Cousin Eddie's Island Adventure", but plan to at some point.
[ 01. December 2016, 10:36: Message edited by: Nostalgic for the '80's ]
Posted by Jakey V (Member # 37348) on :
Here's the answer: Anthony Michael Hall couldn't return for European Vacation because he was doing Weird Science. They didn't want to just bring back one kid and not the other, so this started the trend.
![[Frown]](frown.gif)
.![[Smile]](smile.gif)