What It Means, Benny, Is That I Want To Blow Uncle Roman Out *My* Ass

I was eleven going on twelve the first time I saw The Great Outdoors. It was late summer, before school started up again. The quaint little three-screen in Lebanon had a free movie day for kids. I have no idea what was playing on the other two screens, but the theater that my sister and I managed to get into was playing The Great Outdoors. This was no philanthropy on the part of the theater - approximately 14,000 children showed up for the free matinee, which was probably 13,990 more than usual. I'm sure that they more than made up the lost ticket revenue on concessions.

With no exaggeration there were hundreds of kids there. Had a fire marshall made a random check the place would have been shut down hardcore. Kids were sitting in all the aisles, on the floor in the area up in front of the first row of seats and some poor kids were sitting two to a seat. Free movies were really popular in small town Tennessee in the late eighties.

I watched it again just last night and I can't believe how well the movie holds up for me. Many, many times I laughed out loud. John Candy was at his personal best in this movie as Chet Ripley, working class man who just wants to be the world's best dad. It was a character that Candy was good at - see also Uncle Buck or even Home Alone. Chet tries really hard to look cool to his kids and also give them the opportunity to do everything that he had done with his dad when they would visit the same area. I am proud to say that I saw a lot of my own parenting style in Candy's Ripley.

Dan Akroyd is also good here, playing his singular role as a jackass - a role Akroyd perfected over time as well. Also well-featured is Chris Young, who would go on to play the pre-frosh in another classic film. The real mystery to me is the writer of the movie, the man himself, John Hughes. This guy gives the world Mr. Mom, Vacation, Sixteen Candles, The Breakfast Club, Weird Science, Pretty In Pink, Uncle Buck, The Great Outdoors, Home Alone and a little thing called Ferris Bueller's Day Off and now he's writing fucking Beethoven's Fifth and Home Alone 4. This man's genius shouldn't be wasted on tripe.

Looking at Candy's page on IMDB I see that next month will mark 11 years since his death. I can hardly believe it. It seems strange to actually miss someone that you never met, but I miss Candy a great deal.