National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation

Corrected entry: Leaves can be seen on several trees around the Griswold house, which is supposed to be in Chicago and its obviously supposed to be wintertime.

manthabeat

Correction: We sometimes have leaves on some of our trees all the way through winter. They only fall off with extreme winds.

MovieFan612

Corrected entry: Why do they make Russ and Audrey sleep in the same bed in the spare bedroom when Ellen's parents get to sleep in separate bunks on Russ' bunk bed? This makes absolutely no sense.

Correction: Couple of reasons: Audrey may have had a fit at the idea of sleeping in her brother's room, and also the grandparents may not be sharing a bed anymore. Many older folks (my grandparents included) stop sharing a bed as they get into advanced age due to one partner's nighttime habits disturbing the other.

Corrected entry: When Clark is going up in the attic, he has a bag with two gifts in it. As he goes into the attic, there are three gifts in the bag.

dell

Correction: We never see the contents of the bag as he's going to the attic and up the stairs. All we see is that he's carrying a large bag with some bows & ribbon coming out the top. There is no way to see how many presents are in the bag.

Corrected entry: I've noticed in a couple of scenes where Chevy Chase and Beverly D'angelo are standing in the front hallway of their house, you can see the wooden rafters of the ceiling of the set in the dining room. (00:19:15)

Correction: I had an almost identical house in the 80's and the living room had oak beams and a full wall brick fireplace.

Correction: This is part of the ceiling, not part of the set. Some people choose to have exposed beams in their homes.

kristenlouise3

Yes but not in that type of house that they are supposed to be in there are no exposed beams in that particular style house back then.

Corrected entry: When Clark Griswold is on a ladder putting Christmas lights up on his house the trees in the background are green and leafy, (not evergreen trees), indicating summertime, although there is snow on the ground and it is supposedly winter. (00:21:38)

Correction: As Clark climbs the ladder, all of the tall trees behind the house have no leaves and are even covered with snow. The bush that does have leaves next to the evergreen, beside being the only thing with leaves, could easily be any number of plants that retain their leaves throughout the winter.

jerimiah

Corrected entry: In the opening scene where Clark and the two guys in the pickup are racing, Clark pulls under a 18-wheeler. In the close up shots, you can see the truck's tyres from under the truck, but in the far away shots, you can see the safety bars that were put under the truck for the stunt driver so he wouldn't ride up under the truck.

Correction: There are no bars or any other special enhancements that were done to the truck for this stunt. The only visible bars in the close up and far away shots are the ones that hold the mudflaps in the front and the same bar across the back wheels that's seen in all of the shots.

jerimiah

Factual error: In the scene where Clark is working on the lights the full moon is shown. This is December 14th according to the advent calendar. On December 24th when Santa's sleigh goes sailing over the moon, it is still full.

David Schaal

More mistakes in National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation

Todd: Hey, Griswold. Where do you think you're gonna put a tree that big?
Clark: Bend over and I'll show you.
Todd: You've got a lot of nerve talking to me like that, Griswold.
Clark: I wasn't talking to you.

More quotes from National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation

Trivia: Clark Griswold in the attic watching old movies dressed in a woman's turban and gloves to keep warm is not only funny but a reference to the Norma Desmond character from "Sunset Boulevard", who watches her old films to remember her Hollywood glory days.

Scott215

More trivia for National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation

Question: What is the name of the Christmas Tree farm they went to to get their tree?

Answer: They didn't go to a Christmas tree farm. He took them to a huge forest to get one most likely because it would be easier to get one free then to pay for one.

They went to a tree farm. After running off the road and jumping the snowbank the wagon crashes through a sign that says "Trees." Clark then says, "We're here...and we made good time too." The humor is Clark forgoes a normal "farmed" tree for the "wild" monster he takes home.

False. They may have run over the tree farm sign, but they absolutely did not harvest a tree from the tree farm.

Answer: They never went to a tree farm. Even though there is a sign that says "Trees", there is no employee there to greet them or even discuss how much the tress cost. Plus, trees on a tree farm are usually smaller and are always lined up in a row. The trees seen by the Griswold's are extremely large and are scattered about like what would be seen in a regular forest which is where they went.

They are never shown in the "store" area of the tree farm, so you can't say that there is nobody working there. They jump the snowbank, it shows them gathering themselves in the car, and the next scene is in the wilderness. It's a small, rundown tree farm, but it is a tree farm business, with a plowed parking lot, garbage cans, lights, other customers, etc. These tree farms usually had pre-cut trees for purchase, but you could also walk out and cut down your own for the "experience" if you wanted to. As someone who has walked a couple miles to get a Christmas tree in December in Minnesota, I can say with absolute certainty that this is accurate.

oldbaldyone

Answer: It was a tree farm (the car literally flies through a sign that says "Christmas Trees"). There's a deleted scene after they crash and walk to find a tree. Realizing that they didn't have a saw to cut the tree, the family walks to the lot attendant (an odd man, reclining in a lawn chair, wearing a Santa jacket and hat) to ask to borrow a saw. There is a conversation between them where Clark is told that they don't supply saws, but he gave him a shovel. THIS explains how the tree got dug out of the ground. You can actually see a picture of this scene on an old DVD cover.

More questions & answers from National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation

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