November 16, 1990: “Home Alone” Premieres

November 16, 1990: Home Alone premieres, becoming the biggest Christmas movie ever, box-office-wise. I am convinced that the reason Rocky V didn't do so well isn't that it was a bad movie, but because it was released on the same day as Home Alone.

The film was written and produced by John Hughes. It was directed by Chris Columbus, who says he is not descended from Christopher Columbus. But the film's star, Macaulay Culkin, only 10 years old when the film was released, is the son of actor Kit Culkin, the niece of actress Bonnie Bedelia, and the brother of actors Kieran Culkin and Rory Culkin.

Macualay played Kevin McAllister, who is growing up in a large family in the northern suburb of Chicago. After all, John Hughes is involved. The McAllister house is in Winnetka, 2 miles northwest of the Page house in Planes, Trains and Automobiles, in Kenilworth; and 6 miles southeast of the Frye house in Ferris Bueller's Day Off, in Highland Park. The Bueller house is in Long Beach, California.

The family is preparing to spend Christmas in Paris, but a power outage causes them to miss their alarm on Christmas Eve, and, in their rush to get ready, a kid from next door comes over, causing Kevin's mother, Kate (Catherine O'Hara), to miscount, and think they have everybody before they leave for the airport.

After having been ridiculed for his immaturity his whole life, and having had a bad night the night before, Kevin realizes he has the house to himself, and can do whatever he wants, with no rules. Oddly, he gets bored with this rather quickly, and actually starts to miss his family.

Kate is in midair with the rest of the family, over the Atlantic Ocean, before she realizes Kevin isn't with them. As with Steve Martin's Neal Page in Planes, Trains and Automobiles, Kate has a hard time getting back to Chicago, due to it being a holiday and flights being booked up. And the phone lines are still down in Winnetka, so she can't even call. And, as with Neal, she ends up getting home with help from a character played by John Candy.

I wish Candy had lived. Given the tropes of his movies, and those of Tom Hanks' movies, surely, at some point, there would have been a movie where Candy would have gotten a stranded Hanks home.

Meanwhile, Harry and Marv (played by Joe Pesci and Daniel Stern, respectively), a pair of thieves known as the Wet Bandits, had been scouting out houses to rob over the holiday season. Realizing that Kevin is home alone, they target his house.

Afraid, Kevin goes to church, and prays to get his family back. He meets another neighbor, Old Man Marley (Blossom Roberts), rumored to have murdered his family. He assures Kevin that it's not true. He's there to watch his granddaughter in the choir, but he's never met her, because he and his son, the girl's father, are estranged. Wishing his own family were back, Kevin tells him he should try again to reconcile.

Kevin "breaks the fourth wall," saying, "It's my house. I have to defend it!" So he booby-traps the house, and the result is a lot of slapstick. But it only succeeds for so long, and it looks like the Bandits, now infuriated to the point where whatever loot they could take is secondary to revenge -- one of them is played by Joe Pesci, after all -- are actually going to kill Kevin. But Marley, having heard the ruckus, knocks them out with his shovel -- allegedly, the murder weapon from the rumor about him. The phone lines back up, the police arrive, and take the Bandits away.

The next day, Christmas Day, Kate makes it home. Shortly thereafter, because a direct flight had opened up, so does the rest of the family. Kevin doesn't tell them what happened, although it's reasonable to presume that the police soon did. The film ends with Kevin seeing Marley reconciling with his family.

On an episode of Seinfeld, George Costanza (Jason Alexander) admits to never having watched Home Alone, and watches it at Jerry's apartment. Jerry comes in just as the closing credits are rolling, and sees George crying. "You're crying over Home Alone?" he asks. George says, "The old man got to me!"

Given the similarities between their improvisations, and the basic immaturity of each, there is a fan theory that John McClane from Die Hard is Kevin McAllister from Home Alone, all grown up. But the technology levels of each film make this impossible. I think it's a desperation move, from people who want us to believe that Die Hard is a Christmas movie.

The film was so successful, it became a franchise. In 1992, Home Alone 2: Lost in New York was released. Much of it takes place at the Plaza Hotel, then owned by Donald Trump, who insisted on being in the movie in exchange for using the Plaza as a filming location. Therefore, the Wet Bandits are not the most evil people in the movie.

Home Alone 3 was released in 1997, but had none of the actors from the 1st 2 films, and there is no effort to pretend it's the same characters. While the kid is left home alone due to having chicken pox, the idea of booby-trapping the house to protect it from crooks is roughly the same. So, basically, Halloween 3. At least Speed 2: Cruise Control had Sandra Bullock.

Every film since has been made-for-TV. Home Alone 4 aired on ABC in 2002. Kevin is back, but Culkin isn't: The character is played by Mike Weinberg. Only one of the Wet Bandits is, Marv, and is now played by French Stewart. Not only have the Bandits separated, but so have Kevin's parents.

The ABC Family Channel (now known as Freeform) aired Home Alone: The Holiday Heist in 2012. As with HA 3, no effort was made to connect it with the Kevin character. A family moves from California to Maine, home State of Stephen King, and one of the kids believes the house is haunted. So, in a mash-up of Home Alone and Ghostbusters, he sets traps to catch the ghosts. He ends up catching thieves instead.

Disney+ aired Home Sweet Home Alone in 2021. It's basically a remake of the original film, but with different characters, the only returnee being Devin Ratray as Kevin's brother Buzz, now a police officer.

Speaking of "buzzes": In 2018, actor Ryan Reynolds smoked some marijuana, and his stoned-out haze gave him the idea to write Stoned Alone, a sequel where Kevin, now in college but a stoner, is so high he misses his flight for a ski vacation, and thinks thieves have broken in, and so the whole thing starts all over again. Nobody wanted the idea, and, as of November 16, 2022, it "remains in development hell."

Every so often, now 42, does a TV commercial that calls on him to copy his face-slapping yell from the original film. And Capital One has done a series of commercials where Catherine O'Hara has lost Kevin again, only this time it's actor Kevin Hart, who had already done a few commercials for the bank. Part of the joke is that Hart isn't much taller than Kevin McAllister was in 1990. (Hart is 5-foot-4. Fully grown, Culkin is 5-foot-7.)

*

November 16, 1990 was a Friday. Baseball was out of season. Football was in midweek. There were 8 games played in the NBA:

* The New Jersey Nets lost to the Detroit Pistons, 105-96 at the Brendan Byrne Arena at the Meadowlands.

* The Boston Celtics beat the Utah Jazz, 114-89 at the Boston Garden.

* The Philadelphia 76ers beat the Washington Bullets, 115-102 in overtime at The Spectrum in Philadelphia.

* The Charlotte Hornets beat the Atlanta Hawks, 119-109 at The Omni in Atlanta.

* The Dallas Mavericks beat the Los Angeles Lakers, 99-86 at the Reunion Arena in Dallas.

* The Cleveland Cavaliers beat the Milwaukee Bucks, 99-94 at The Coliseum in the Cleveland suburb of Richfield, Ohio.

* The Indiana Pacers beat the Miami Heat, 106-80 at the Market Square Arena in Indianapolis.

* And the Phoenix Suns beat the Los Angeles Clippers, 121-110 in overtime at the Arizona Veterans Memorial Coliseum.

There were 4 games played in the NHL:

* The New York Rangers beat the Winnipeg Jets, 6-4 at the Winnipeg Arena.

* The New York Islanders lost to the Vancouver Canucks, 3-2 at the Pacific Coliseum in Vancouver.

* The Chicago Blackhawks beat the Washington Capitals, 4-3 at the Capital Centre in the Washington suburb of Landover, Maryland.

* And the Edmonton Oilers beat the Buffalo Sabres, 4-2 at the Northlands Coliseum in Edmonton.

And in New Jersey high school football, my Alma Mater, East Brunswick, beat Sayreville, 20-8 at War Memorial Stadium in Sayreville, to wrap up the Greater Middlesex Conference Red Division title. We would lose in the Semifinal of the Central Jersey Group IV Playoffs.

June 7, 1991: “City Slickers” Premieres

Left to right: Daniel Stern, Billy Crystal, Bruno Kirby

June 7, 1991: City Slickers premieres, directed by Ron Underwood. Three New Yorkers, each facing a midlife crisis, go on vacation, to drive cattle from a ranch on New Mexico to another in Colorado.

Billy Crystal is Mitch Robbins. He hates his job, and it's beginning to show in his work. He tells his wife, "My father sold furniture, something you could touch, something you could sit on. I sell advertising time for a radio station. So, basically, I sell air!" Patricia Wetting, then starring on the ABC drama thirtysomething, plays his wife, Barbara. Jake Gyllenhaal makes his film debut as their 12-year-old son, and Billy's real-life daughter Lindsay Crystal plays their daughter.

Daniel Stern is Phil Berquist, who manages a supermarket for his father-in-law, a rotten guy. His wife is also rotten. Somehow, they had 2 kids, but she hates him to the point where she hasn't let him have sex in 12 years. He cracks, and has a one-night-stand with a 20-year-old cashier, played by Yeardley Smith, the voice of Lisa on The Simpsons. She thinks she's pregnant (she turns out not to be), tracks Phil down at Mitch's birthday party, and spills the beans, so that Phil's marriage is over and he won't get any custody of his kids.

Bruno Kirby is Ed Furillo, a sporting goods salesman, who recently married Kim, a much younger model, played by Walker Brandt. He's always talking Mitch and Phil into wild adventures, and the film begins with them running with the bulls in Pamplona, Spain, with painful results for Mitch. Kim wants a baby, and, in Ed's mind, that's the final commitment. He's scared, because of his own past as a womanizer, which he inherited from your father.

He thinks the cattle drive will be a great getaway from their problems. Phil is scared, but goes, thinking it can't be scarier than the divorce he's about to go through. Mitch doesn't want to go, but Barbara talks him into it, saying he's miserable, and he's making the rest of the family miserable, and he needs to "find his smile again."

Their respective issues are reflected in a game Phil talks them into on the drive: What was your best day ever, and your worst day:

Mitch: Billy wrote his real-life best day into the script. He was 7, and his father took him to Yankee Stadium. Since they only had a black-and-white TV, this was the first game he'd ever seen in color. Mickey Mantle hit a home run, and he was hooked on baseball for life. Worst day: Barbara had a cancer scare, which, fortunately, turned out to be nothing.

Phil: Best day, his wedding. He was the first of them to get married, and he finally felt like he was a man, no longer a screw-up. Worst day: "Every day since is a tie."

Ed: Best day, he was 14, saw his mother catch his father cheating again, figured out that he was cheating on his kids, too, and stood up to him, telling him to get out. The father reached back to hit Ed, but Ed didn't budge. The father knew it was over, and got out, and Ed took care of his mother and his sister from then on. Worst day: "The same day."

Jack Palance won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, as Curly the trail boss, even though he's only onscreen for a few minutes.

Though Crystal is well-known to be a diehard Yankees fan, his character was a Mets fan in the movie because the Mets had been more accommodating over the years. First, the Yankees declined Crystal's request to hold a promotional day at Yankee Stadium for Comic Relief, a charity that Crystal, Robin Williams and Whoopi Goldberg set up to help the homeless. The Mets, on the other hand, were happy to host it. On the first day of shooting in Spain (for the Running of the Bulls segment), the Mets agreed to waive the $40,000 licensing fee for using their logo; the Yankees did not. And so, as Mitch, Billy wears a Mets cap throughout the film.

This was when George Steinbrenner was at his depths of pettiness. After his return from "exile," he and the Yankees became more accommodating, and treated Billy like the good guy celebrity he is.

Even if they make it to a petting zoo, cows don’t live all that long. However, at least one of the calves who played Norman -- they had to keep "recasting," since the calves literally outgrew the part faster than the film could shoot -- is known to have lived to the age of 18. And Billy Crystal took his horse home, and that horse lived to be 27.

*

June 7, 1991 was a Friday. Football was out of season. The Stanley Cup had been decided 2 weeks earlier, when the Pittsburgh Penguins beat the Minnesota North Stars. Game 3 of the NBA Finals was played on this day, and the Chicago Bulls beat the Los Angeles Lakers, 104-96 in overtime at The Forum outside Los Angeles in Inglewood, California.

And these Major League Baseball games were played:

* The New York Yankees beat the Texas Rangers, 5-4 at Yankee Stadium. Don Mattingly singled Steve Sax home in the bottom of the 9th inning to win it, making John Habyan a winning pitcher in relief of Mike Witt.

* The New York Mets beat the Houston Astros, 6-3 at the Astrodome in Houston. The Mets scored 6 runs in the top of the 9th inning, clobbering a young Curt Schilling, and making Doug Simons a winning pitcher in relief of Ron Darling.

* The Baltimore Orioles beat the Toronto Blue Jays, 6-4 at Memorial Stadium in Baltimore. Cal Ripken went 0-for-4.

* The Montreal Expos beat the Atlanta Braves, 11-2 at Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium.

* The Pittsburgh Pirates beat the San Diego Padres, 1-0 at Three Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh. Over 7 innings, Doug Drabek allowed 10 hits, but no runs. Three relievers completed a 13-hit shutout, just 1 hit short of the major league record. The only run came in the bottom of the 2nd inning, when Don Slaught singled Barry Bonds home. Bonds went 1-for-3 with a walk. Tony Gwynn went 1-for-4.

* The Philadelphia Phillies beat the Cincinnati Reds, 5-4 at Riverfront Stadium in Cincinnati.

* The Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Chicago Cubs, 3-2 at Wrigley Field in Chicago.

* The Minnesota Twins beat the Cleveland Indians, 2-0 at the Metrodome in Minneapolis. Allan Anderson pitched 8 innings of 2-hit shutout ball, and Rick Aguilera pitched a perfect 9th.

* The San Francisco Giants beat the St. Louis Cardinals, 5-2 at Busch Memorial Stadium in St. Louis.

* The Chicago White Sox beat the Kansas City Royals, 2-0 at Royals Stadium (now Kauffman Stadium) in Kansas City. Charlie Hough pitched 7 2/3rds innings of 6-hit shutout ball, and Scott Radinsky was perfect the rest of the way.

* The Detroit Tigers beat the California Angels, 5-0 at Anaheim Stadium (now Angel Stadium of Anaheim). Frank Tanana pitched a 4-hit shutout against his former team.

* The Boston Red Sox beat the Oakland Athletics, 3-1 at the Oakland Coliseum. Rickey Henderson went 0-for-4.

* And the Seattle Mariners beat the Milwaukee Brewers, 2-1 at the Kingdome in Seattle. Ken Griffey Jr. went 1-for-4. Robin Yount went 0-for-4. Paul Molitor went 2-for-4.

March 5, 1982: “Diner” Premieres

March 5, 1982: Diner premieres, directed by Barry Levinson, set in his hometown of Baltimore, during Christmas-to-New-Year's Week, 1959. Levinson was 17 at the time, so these characters were a few years older.

Maryland was the only one of the "Original Thirteen Colonies" founded by the Roman Catholic Church, and Baltimore was the site of the 1st Catholic Archdiocese in America. It is known for its large Irish, Italian and German (including Babe Ruth and his family) Catholic populations.

Nevertheless, Levinson is Jewish, and so are several of the main characters of this film: Daniel Stern as Laurence Schreiber, a.k.a. Shrevie; Mickey Rourke as Robert Sheftell, a.k.a. Boogie; Paul Reiser, in his film debut, whose character is listed only as "Modell"; and Michael Tucker, who is known in the film only as "Bagel." Not Jewish are Steve Guttenberg as Eddie Simmons, Kevin Bacon as Timothy Fenwick Jr., and Tim Daly as Billy Howard.

The guys meet at the Fell's Point Diner, and talk about everything from girls to sports to music. This is the week in which the Baltimore Colts are playing in the NFL Championship Game, at home at Memorial Stadium, against the New York Giants, in a rematch of the previous season's game, which famously went to overtime at Yankee Stadium, and quarterback Johnny Unitas led the Colts to victory, making Baltimore a very proud city.

Eddie's obsession with the Colts reaches a ridiculous level. On New Year's Eve, he is marrying Elyse, played by Sharon Ziman, but whose face is never shown. But he'll only go through with it if she can pass a quiz on Colts facts. He also demands a color theme for the wedding: Blue and white, Colts colors. Beth, Shrevie's wife, played by Ellen Barkin, compares it to the yellow and white theme that they had for their wedding, and tells Shrevie this is Eddie being too stubborn. Shrevie says, "It could be worse: It could be black and gold, Steelers colors."

Elyse fails the quiz, but Eddie decides to go through with it, anyway. The color scheme is, indeed, blue and white, and the organist plays the Colts' fight song. Oh yes: After trailing 9-7 after 3 quarters, the Colts come from behind, and beat the Giants, 31-16, and repeat as World Champions.

A major goof: Eddie and Elyse discuss a honeymoon in Cuba. But it had been almost a year since Fidel Castro's Communist takeover, making such an idea impossible.

As Reiser himself might say, Here's what I'm thinkin': It's a great movie, because, A, it's got Paul Reiser before Mad About You; and, 2, it's got Ellen Barkin, who was too sexy for the Fifties.

The Fell's Point Diner was built just for the movie, but the City of Baltimore bought it cheap, as a tourist attraction. It is now a training center for restaurant jobs.

One of the great retroactive ironies: Diner is set in Baltimore, at the height of the Colts' success; and yet it contains a character named Modell, the same as the man who would move the Cleveland Browns to become the Baltimore Ravens, to take the place of the Colts.

It could have been weirder, though: There could have been a character named Irsay, after the man who moved the Colts out to Indianapolis, less than 2 years after the film premiered.

March 5, 1982 was a Friday. This was also the day that actor John Belushi died. I have a separate entry for that event.

Baseball was in Spring Training. Football was out of season. There were 6 games in the NBA that day:

* The New York Knicks beat the Boston Celtics, 105-98 at Madison Square Garden.

* The Los Angeles Lakers beat the Detroit Pistons, 122-108 at the Silverdome in the Detroit suburb of Pontiac, Michigan.

* The Cleveland Cavaliers beat the Dallas Mavericks, 98-91 at the Reunion Arena in Dallas.

* The Seattle SuperSonics beat the Houston Rockets, 126-103 at The Summit in Houston. (The arena has since been converted into the Central Campus of the Lakewood Church, Dr. Joel Osteen's "megachurch.")

* The Denver Nuggets beat the Milwaukee Bucks, 126-120 at the McNichols Arena in Denver. Kiki Vandeweghe scored 36 points.

* And the Golden State Warriors beat the Utah Jazz, 127-121 at the Oakland Coliseum Arena. Joe Barry Carroll scored 52 points, and had 14 rebounds. Clearly, this was not a night when he earned the nickname "Joe Barely Cares."

And there were 2 games played in the NHL. The Washington Capitals beat the Calgary Flames, 8-6 at the Capital Centre in the Washington suburb of Landover, Maryland. And the Winnipeg Jets beat the Detroit Red Wings, 2-0 at the Winnipeg Arena.