The Great Outdoors (1988)

Among John Candy's most beloved movies, this is one that I saw only bits and pieces of when I was a kid. In fact, I saw all of Armed and Dangerous before I saw the entirety of The Great Outdoors, which wasn't until I was in my 20's, when I bought the John Candy Comedy Favorites DVD set, where it came with Uncle Buck and Going Berserk (if you've seen my review of the former, you know how much I love that movie, and I bought that set specifically for it). However, my parents, especially my dad, love it, and so, I knew about and saw a handful of moments from it, particularly the ending involving the bear, already missing fur on its head, getting the fur blown off its rear end and running out of the cabin with a bare butt, screaming bloody murder. I also heard about other parts, like when the bat gets in the cabin, but it wasn't until I got on YouTube and started watching people talk about comedy movies and showing off their DVDs, like Coolduder, that I learned what the movie's story was, exactly. In any case, having now seen it a handful of times, my feelings on The Great Outdoors consist of me shrugging my shoulders and going, "Eh." For this kind of story, I much prefer Summer Rental, which may not be a comedy classic in and of itself but is one that I have much more nostalgia for, since it was my introduction to John Candy and also because I prefer the beach-side, resort town setting more. Here, while Candy is good, as he always was, and Dan Aykroyd manages to be a massive pain in the rear without being completely unlikable, among other pros, for the most part, I honestly don't find the comedy to be all that funny. It tries, God bless it, throwing in a lot of gags, quirky characters, and situations that range from relatable to outrageous and slapsticky, but I never find myself on the verge of bursting out laughing. What's more, there's no real story here; it's just a bunch of vignettes and setpieces strung together, with an attempt at a romantic subplot that goes nowhere. And yeah, you could say that about Summer Rental (save for the major subplot of the regatta, which I actually don't care for), but, again, that just appeals to me more.

Chicago family-man Chet Ripley is on vacation with his wife, Connie, and their two sons, Buck and Ben, looking forward to a week at Perk's Pine Log Resort in Pechoggin, Wisconsin, where Chet and Connie spent their honeymoon. But no sooner are they shown to their cabin than four uninvited guests show up: Roman Craig, Chet's obnoxious, know-it-all, investment broker brother-in-law, his wife, and Connie's sister, Kate, and their twin daughters, Mara and Cara. It turns out, they decided to spend the week with them rather than go on their initial planned vacation to Europe. Chet absolutely can't stand Roman, finding him annoying and abrasive, especially when he's drunk, and he also finds that his attempts to spend some quality time with his sons, particularly Buck, his oldest, don't work out. At the same time, Buck becomes interested in the cute but aloof local girl, Cammie, who's reluctant to get involved with him since he'll leave soon. Meanwhile, Chet has to deal with his story about a ferocious, man-eating grizzly bear that terrorized him and Connie on their honeymoon freaking everyone out, getting dragged across Lake Potowotominimac on jet-skis, and being challenged to completely eat a 96-ounce steak at a restaurant, including the grizzle and fat. Between that, a family of raccoons who continually raid the cabin's garbage cans at night, and a possible ulterior motive for Roman's showing up at the lodge, Chet may need a vacation to recover from his vacation.

In addition to writing and producing it, John Hughes had also originally intended to direct The Great Outdoors himself, but he was so booked up with both Planes, Trains and Automobiles and then, She's Having a Baby, the latter of which was released the same year and has an interesting connection to this film, that he instead gave the director's chair to Howard Deutch. A former music video director, Deutch had already directed two films written by Hughes: Pretty in Pink (which I always assumed Hughes directed himself), his feature film debut, and Some Kind of Wonderful. But, while both of those were critically and commercially successful, The Great Outdoors got pretty negative reviews and just did okay. After that, Deutch went on to do movies like Article 99, with Kiefer Sutherland, Ray Liotta, and Lea Thompson; Getting Even with Dad, with Macaulay Culkin and Ted Danson; and Grumpier Old Men, his only true major hit since his heyday with Hughes. Though he did a couple of episodes of Tales from the Crypt during his theatrical career, when it stalled out in the 2000's, he went into it full-time. He's since done episodes of shows like Big Love, CSI:NY, True Blood, American Horror Story, Empire, and Young Sheldon, just to name a few.

Chet Ripley is the type of character whom John Candy, by this point in his career, could play in his sleep: a laid back, fun-loving family man who's really looking forward to a relaxing and enjoyable week in the wilderness with his wife and sons. Besides wanting some alone, intimate time with Connie, he's also very nostalgic for the area around the lodge, as he and his father used to go up there, and he hopes to have the same experiences with his own sons, especially his oldest, Buck. He's so happy to be there that, even though their cabin could be in better shape, he takes it all in stride, joking about the fish he finds in the shower and about how Buck found the toilet seat out on the sun-porch. He's even willing to strip Connie down to her underwear and get into some hanky-panky right there in the kitchen after they arrive... which is when Roman and his family show up and spoil everything. From then on, Chet's vacation is pretty much a nightmare. Roman absolutely drives him up the wall with his obnoxious, condescending, know-it-all attitude, not even allowing Chet to eat what he wants, as hotdogs are made out of "lips and assholes," and, at one point, roping him into downing every bit of a 96-ounce steak. That's to say nothing of Roman dragging Chet across the lake on jet-skis, nearly killing him; Roman whacking him in the face with a golf-ball while he's driving a go-cart; the two of them having to get rid of a bat in the cabin (which Chet, of course, gets the worse end of); Chet having to clean up the mess the raccoons make when they raid the trashcans, even when they bring them inside; and his getting left behind during some horseback riding and nearly killing himself to make it back to the stables. And just for another kick in the balls, Chet finds that Buck would rather cruise the town and try to pick up Cammie than spend time with him. It all comes to a head when, after a disastrous attempt at a fishing trip, Chet and even the rest of his family make it clear that they don't want Roman and his bunch there, nor did they ever. But, just as they're about to leave, Roman reveals he came up to offer Chet part of a big investment, and gets him to give a check for $25,000... which turns out to be a scam, including a sob story Roman told him to make him feel guilty enough to agree to it.

That leads us into a big flaw with Chet himself: he's rather naive. When he and his family go over to the local bar to celebrate the birthday of a man who's 109, he gets the kids to have their picture taken with him, and encourages Roman's daughters to kiss him on the cheek, only to then learn that he died on the way over. However, Chet should've taken one look at the guy and how he wasn't responding to anything at all and known that something was wrong. Later that night, he pulls an 

even bigger boner when he drives the girls and Benny out to a bear dump. Wanting to impress his son, Chet, despite the signs warning him not to, attracts a couple of bears over to the car with the promise of some candy bars. This leads to them crawling up onto the hood and the roof, then refusing to get off, even when he attempts to drive away. And speaking of bears, he attempts to entertain everyone with a horror story about an enormous one that terrorized him and Connie on their honeymoon, only to nearly scare them out of

their wits when he concludes the story by saying the bear might still be out there, throwing his drink into the fireplace to make the flames flare wildly for effect. He tries to say he embellished it to calm everyone down, but it turns out he didn't embellish it too much, as he runs into that bear during the climax and she, clearly remembering him and how he blew the fur off her head with the shotgun, chases him back to the cabin. 

Despite how much Roman drives him crazy, however, when it comes down to it, family is important to Chet. When Roman tells him what he "said" at the wedding, Chet, despite having no memory of it (obviously), still feels bad that he possibly said something that hurtful and apologizes to both Roman and Kate. And then, Roman later admits that he's broke and tried to get the $25,000 from Chet and Connie so they could get back on their feet. Yet, the only thing Chet is angry about is

Roman also admitting that he made up what Chet said at the wedding; otherwise, he tells him that he wouldn't have turned his back on him because of their bond. Speaking of family, you realize just how much it means to Chet when he and Buck finally get to spend some time together and he gives him the ring his father gave to him. And, as much as Chet admits early on that Roman's twin daughters freak him out, as they do the boys, when they go missing during the big storm that whips up during the climax, he takes charge and helps

Roman search for them out in the woods. When they find the girls have fallen to the bottom of a mine-shaft, Chet has a great moment where he tells Roman, who's afraid to go down there after them because he's claustrophobic, "Roman, they're your children! Be their father, for God's sakes! For the first time in your life, be their father! Now get in there and help your kids!" And after everything they've been through over the previous week, when they leave for home, Chet and Roman part on good terms... and then, Chet learns that Connie has offered to let Roman and his family stay with them until they get back on their feet. With that, he tries to beat Roman home to their house to keep him from getting the best bedroom.

Chet's wife, Connie (Stephanie Faracy), is just as excited about the vacation as her husband, although she's not as crazy about the state of the cabin when they get there. She's even less happy when Roman and his family walk in on her and Chet as he's undressing her for some alone time, with Roman filming it, no less. However, Connie attempts to keep the peace between the two sides of her family. When Chet is about ready to pack up and leave after getting dragged across the lake, she manages to talk him down, telling him he's overreacting... and then, lets it slip that Roman is making "goat-cheese pizza," which she quickly denies she said. She also has to deal with her sister, Kate, complaining about how lonely it is being rich, admitting that she often goes so long without sex that she leans against the washer during the spin-cycle, which Connie is genuinely curious about. But, like Chet and her boys, by the end of the movie, she's had it with Roman and his family, helping Chet deliver the message that they weren't invited or wanted. Unfortunately for her, when Roman suckers Chet in with his investment promise, Connie has to hand over her checkbook, despite trying to tell him that they don't have $25,000 to give. And then, by the end of the movie, when it's revealed that Roman and his family are broke, Connie has offered to let them stay in their house until they get back on their feet... which she doesn't tell Chet until they're about to head home.

Neither of Chet and Connie's sons, Buck (Chris Young) and Benny (Ian Glatti), are impressed with their parents' choice of vacation. But while they're not fond of their cousins, Cara and Mara, whom they find to be creepy, they are more excited about their uncle renting a drag-boat with jet skis than their dad's idea of a pontoon. Also, Buck, in particular, isn't that interested in Chet's idea of father-son bonding, being especially gun-shy about getting hugging in public. However, there is a nice

moment where he and Chet take the rowboat out at night and Chet gives him the ring that his father gave to him. Buck, now understanding what the trip means to his dad, happily accepts it. Meanwhile, when Benny spends time with his dad, Chet almost gets them mauled to death by bears at the dump. Buck also gets own subplot when he meets Cammie and begins seeing her during his free time, despite her initial attempts to act so abrasive that he wouldn't have any interest in her. Unfortunately for him, Chet being roped into eating all of the 96-oz steak causes Buck to miss out on a date, leading her to refuse to speak with him. And like his parents, when tensions between everyone reach their boiling point, he makes it very clear to Roman that he's sick of him, telling him to, "Bite the big one!" And yet, in the midst of all this, Benny's main concern is whether or not they'll get any Christmas presents from Roman. By the end of the movie, when they're about to head home, Buck meets back up with Cammie, who's forgiven him for unintentionally standing her up.

Speaking of Cammie (Lucy Deakins), whom Buck first meets at the local boardwalk's arcade, their subplot is completely pointless and could be removed entirely. They meet when they're playing pool and Buck accidentally gooses her with the cue, and afterward, he finds her at a small gazebo. He attempts to apologize and make small-talk, but Cammie makes it clear she's not interested in getting to know a tourist and calls her town, "A hole in the Earth." Despite this nasty rebuff, he tracks he down the next day, finding she works as a waitress at an A&W. Though she apologizes for being so harsh to him, she also says she meant what she said. Regardless, when he asks her what time she gets off work and where she'll be after that, she simply answers, "I'll be around,"; he then asks if he can see her and she answers, "If you can find me." He meets her at the boardwalk again that night and admits that she's never had a boyfriend for more than two weeks, which is why she was so mean to him the first time. The fact that Buck's not going to be around for more than just a few days makes her wonder why she's even bothering, but she goes for it anyway. And then, when they make another date, Cammie asks if he's going to ditch her, which she's been waiting for, and Buck tells her, "If I ditch you, you have my permission never to speak to me as long as we both shall live." That happens to be the night when Chet is forced to eat all of the Old 96er and, thus, Buck misses his date and Cammie refuses to take his calls at the restaurant afterward. But, before he and his family head back home, he and Cammie reunite and she tells him, "I want you to go back to Chicago a crazed, love-sick maniac who won't be able to look at another girl without comparing her to me." To that, I'm like, "Well, that was easy," making me wonder what the point of that conflict was. I don't know if stuff got dropped but, for someone who was renowned for writing movies about teenagers, John Hughes really bombed with this.

Though I, admittedly, haven't seen a lot of movies with him, Roman Craig has to be one of Dan Aykroyd's most obnoxious characters. The quintessential uninvited guests, Roman and his family are like a massive leach attached to the Ripleys' vacation, especially Roman himself. Arriving unannounced at Perk's Pine Log Resort shortly shortly after they do, the first thing Roman does when he and his family find the Ripleys' cabin is walk in on Chet undressing Connie for some alone time, videotape it, and laugh one of the most obnoxious laughs imaginable. And then, he immediately criticizes Chet's choice of vacation, saying it's living like a barbarian, and when he looks out at the scenery, while Chet just sees beautiful country, Roman sees, "The underdeveloped resources of Norther Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Michigan. I see a syndicated development consortium exploiting over a billion-and-a-half dollars in forest products. I see a paper mill, and if the strategic metals are there, a mining operation. A greenbelt between the condos on the lake and a waste management facility, focusing on the newest rage in toxic waste: medical refuse, infected bandages, body parts, IV tubing, contaminated glassware, entrails, syringes, fluid, blood, low-grade radioactive waste, all safely contained, sunken in the lake, and sealed for centuries." Of course, Roman's just getting started. He criticizes everything Chet likes and does, from his love of hotdogs and his intention to rent a pontoon, to his choice of ghost stories involving a man-eating bear (though, to be fair, nobody cared for that), and never misses a chance to make him know how much richer he is and that he's a self-proclaimed expert on everything, especially when he's drunk. That's to say nothing of all the crap he puts Chet through, some of which very nearly kills him, and his obnoxious sense of humor, like how, when he goes to the restroom at the bar, he loudly announces, "Gonna introduce Mr Thick Dick to Mr Urinal Cake!" But things all come to a head when, during an argument that breaks out when Chet is trying to get the fireplace going, Roman has the audacity to say that Chet ruined his vacation, remarking, "We threw aside our plans, and we had a great European vacation planned, threw aside our plans to come up here, to show these dead-asses how to start learning to have a good time!"

And just when you think Roman can't be even more of a piece of trash, he pulls a real dick move. First, just as he and his family are about to leave, he admits that they came up there so he could solicit $25,000 from Chet as part of an investment that he says has no downsides. He adds he wanted to offer it to Chet specifically because he's family, then gives him a sob story, telling him, "There's no mystery here, Chet. I know how you really feel about me... At our wedding, you were in the john,

with Kate and Connie's dad. You were talking. Do you happen to remember the substance of that conversation?... Yeah, well, I do. It's one I'll never forget. I heard you say, and I quote, 'That Roman Craig is a crooked son of a bitch.' Next time you stab somebody in the back, Chester, you better check under the stalls for feet. You know, you may think I'm made out of armor and nails, man, but I'm just like any other human being. And when I get cut, it hurts. And that cut me, and I hurt." Chet, feeling bad, agrees to the investment offer, writing

him a check for the whole $25,000, even though they don't really have it. Roman almost gets away with it, but when Kate, unknowingly, gives him a guilt trip, noting how it's an awful lot of money for Chet and his money to give up, he turns around and drives back to the cabin. There, he tears up the check and drops a bombshell: he and his family are bankrupt, he hasn't been a stock trader for over two years, as he got overextended on a deal, and now works as a coffee server. Getting the $25,000 from Chet was his last hope, and he admits he made up the wedding story, much to Chet's anger. But before they can come to blows over it, a situation comes up that takes major precedence.

While Chet is a devoted family man, Roman is more than a little lax in the department. He hasn't had much time for either Kate or their daughters, both when he was a wealthy investment broker and when he was secretly having to work a demeaning job following their bankruptcy, and when he tries to assuage Cara and Mara's fears over Chet's killer bear story, he does so miserably, as he brings up an even more horrific story his uncle once told him, and his insistence that he's there to protect them

isn't in the least reassuring. The morning after, as he's on the phone in the bathroom, he asks Kate, who's in the shower, "How come Chet's kids look at him like he's Zeus, and my kids look at me like I'm a rack of yard tools at Sears? I mean, why can't they connect with me?" Unbeknownst to him, the girls are standing in the doorway, listening to him, as he stands there in nothing but a towel, scratching the back of his leg and his left buttock. And when Clare tells him, "Well, honey, maybe if you spent a little less time at work and a little more time with

us, things would be different...", Roman is oblivious to his answering his own question by telling her, "Put a cork in it, honey. Talkin' business." It turns out, he's trying to offer a minister the big "investment," only to lose the signal, though Kate suggests he might've hung up on him (as he was doing so as a last resort so he wouldn't have to scam Chet, I guess Roman isn't all bad; still he was trying to scam a minister). In any case, at the end of the movie, when Cara and Mara get lost in the storm and become trapped in the

mine-shaft, Chet finally gets Roman to man up and help his kids. He slides down into the shaft and, after reuniting with his daughters, opts to get them out himself when he finds dynamite down there, rather than wait on Chet to return with rope and a light. Finally, when the Bald-Headed Bear chases Chet back to the cabin and rampages inside, Roman, despite being scared out of his wits, shows just how much he's manned up, as he defends his family by fighting the bear off with a fire poker and then, a decorative paddle.

Before we go on, I want to note the odd but interesting connection the film has to She's Having a Baby. I've never seen that movie but, when I was looking up information on The Great Outdoors, I was surprised to read that John Candy, Dan Aykroyd, and Chris Young not only appeared there but, also, in the very roles they play here. If you've seen She's Having a Baby, you know that the ending credits feature Kevin Bacon and Elizabeth McGovern's characters trying to come up with a name for their kid, followed by a long montage of random people giving suggestions. Among them are, indeed, Candy, Aykroyd, and Young, and you can tell these moments were shot during the making of The Great Outdoors, given that they're on the log cabin set, and because Candy is wearing one of the costumes he wears here. For a little bit, I was incredulous that they were meant to be playing their roles, but since Young is also there, and the credits include Matthew Broderick appearing as Ferris Bueller, I guess that settles it. And when I think about it, it's not that unusual, as I remember how Bacon appeared in Planes, Trains and Automobiles because it was around the same time he was doing She's Having a Baby, which itself was featured on TV in that movie before it was actually released to theaters.

Roman's wife, Kate (Annette Bening), is a little more understanding than her husband. When they first arrive, she notes how they weren't invited and that walking in on Chet and his family is unfair... but, at the same time, she doesn't have a problem with Roman videotaping Chet and Connie preparing to get it on and embarrassing the hell out of them. She also tries to make Roman understand why their daughters don't take to him the same way Chet's sons do their father, but Roman isn't really interested in listening. And she points out just how little he knows about the girls when he asks them if they want to catch fireflies and she says they don't like bugs. But, that said, Kate still tends to flaunt her family's wealth, complaining to Connie about how "lonely" it is to be so rich, and looks down on how Chet and his family both live and like to enjoy themselves. And during the nasty row that happens near the end, she sides with Roman, despite how insensitive and selfish he's being, and is clearly enjoying how he's trying to provoke Chet. She goes as far as to call Chet's bluff when he threatens to put a dent in Roman's forehead, prompting Chet to threaten her as well! When they're leaving, Chet tells them not to steal any of their stuff, with Kate condescendingly laughing and asking, "What stuff is there to steal?" But, regardless, when Roman offers Chet part of his "investment," Kate thinks it's very generous of him, especially considering how $25,000 is an awful lot of money for the Ripleys to part with... and then, she learns that Roman's broke and it was nothing but a scam to get them back on their feet. Kate, rather than being angry over his lying, is hurt at the idea that he didn't think she would understood. Also, despite how condescending she can be, Roman reveals that if she knew, Kate wouldn't have allowed him to solicit the money from Chet to begin with. Finally, Kate is most definitely a concerned mother, as she's worried to death when Cara and Mara go missing during the storm in the climax.

Speaking of Cara and Mara (Hilary and Rebecca Gordon), when they're first introduced, they're played off as being kind of creepy, with how they often either sit or stand around and stare, without saying a word. When Buck and Benny seem them at the lakeside, they describe them as "alien life-forms," and the camera does a tight zoom-in on them, accompanied by the Twilight Zone theme. Later, when Chet is ranting after his disastrous water-skiing incident, he describes them as spooky, adding, "I'm waitin' for their heads to rotate around and vomit pea-soup." Honestly, though, they never do anything all that unsettling, instead coming off as just a pair of regular kids who are kind of shy. The craziest thing they do is scream bloody murder when Roman, after being told they don't like bugs, says fireflies are especially cute because, "Their butts light up." Other than that, they're just as creeped out by Chet's killer bear story as everyone else, and the way they peek in on their dad in the bathroom, laughing as they watch him scratching his butt from under his towel, is normal kids' stuff, as it is when they mess around an abandoned mine area, despite the dangers involved. That's where they go when they get lost in the storm, ending up trapped down a mine-shaft and forcing their father to go down after them and climb out with them. And even though their not having any dialogue until the climax was a little weird, the way they tell Chet that they had a good time when they're going home makes them come off as genuinely sweet.

Robert Prosky, a character actor whom I've always liked since I first saw him in John Carpenter's Christine, plays probably my favorite character: Wally, who runs the pine lodge with his wife, Juanita (Zoaunne LeRoy). He doesn't have many scenes but I just like his presence as this well-meaning guy who's often a little too honest for his own good. When the Ripleys first arrive, the couple's dog, Wormer, scares the crap out of them, and when Buck asks why she has so many porcupine quills in her face, Wally says, "Loves porcupines, hates people. She's in heat, too. Too bad you're not a dog." He and Juanita then show them to their cabin, with Wally riding on the car's hood, and as they walk back to their office, Wally comments, "You could get the shits from the well water." Later, he finds Cara and Mara snooping around the mines and brings them back to Roman, warning him about the place, and how kids go there to hear their echoes, adding, "I'm not gonna tell you what the teenagers do there." One night, Wally also acts as the bartender at the local tavern, dressing up to celebrate the one guy, Bill's, 109th birthday, although admitting to Chet, "The pants are ridin' up the butt somethin' fierce." Even though he knows Bill died on the way over, he still allows him to sit out there in the middle of the bar, only telling Chet about it when he tries to get his boys and the girls to have their picture taken with him. Once they run off in disgust, Chet yells at Wally, "How could you do that?!", and he exclaims, "I didn't do that! He did it!" But Wally's best moment comes at the end when he saves both families from the Bald-Headed Bear, taking a shotgun lamp and blowing the hair off her rear end, sending her running out, screaming.

When Chet and Roman are back at the bar later, a guy named Reg (Britt Leach) comes in and, when Chet talks him, he turns out to have a really bad stutter. Roman notes how the hair on top of his head is completely white, as opposed to the rest of it, and the bartender reveals it's the result of him being struck by lightning. He then asks Reg how many times he's been struck and he answers, in the midst of a lot of stuttering, "66 times... in the head!" The bartender adds, "You'll never meet a guy more tuned in to the barometric pressure than Reg is. You see him runnin' like hell for home, you head for cover." Sure enough, when the big storm comes through during the climax, Reg senses it and runs, only to get struck in the head for the 67th time!

From a technical directing and editing standpoint, The Great Outdoors is a well put-together movie. Howard Deutch proves he's definitely no slouch when it comes to knowing where to put the camera, and he's helped immensely by the cinematography of Ric Waite, who really manages to bring out the beauty of the actual location they shot at, particularly in some shots of the horizon with the sun setting or the moon high in the sky. Similarly, he makes the scenes shot on the backlot at Universal, specifically the climax in the massive

storm, quite effective, with the bluish-white flashes of lightning. They do a particularly good job during Chet's story about the bear, where he turns down most of the lights in the living room to set the mood, and his shadow stretches across the wall when he describes how tall the bear was. Also, during this sequence, the film continually cuts back and forth between Chet in the present and when he actually encountered the bear, the latter of which is shot in very tight close-up. Speaking of which, while Deutch and company don't get too showy or

fancy in their filmmaking, there are some interesting bits here and there, like  a high-angle shot of the family getting out of the car in the lodge parking lot, only for all four of them to bang the car doors against trees; the close-up of Chet's hands as he prepares to unhook Connie's bra, complete with him cracking his knuckles; a POV shot from Roman's video-camera as he films them, with it going to static after Chet stomps up to him and makes him turn it off; some high-angles shot from

Chet's POV when he tells the story, showing how much he's starting to spook everyone; the tight zoom-in on Cara and Mara when Buck and Benny turn around and see them; the POV from the bathroom mirror when Roman is on the phone and clipping his nose-hairs; and the big, melodramatic tracking shot through the restaurant's walk-in freezer when we first see just how big the "Old 96er" is, as it hangs in the back.

I also have to really give the filmmakers credit for making extensive use of real animals throughout the movie, like the raccoons for that running gag, and especially the bears. The Bald-Headed Bear, or Jody, as we learn her name actually is at the end, was played by the legendary Bart the Bear and, as per usual with him, they were able to really make him come off as ferocious and dangerous, especially during the flashback, despite his actually being quite well-trained and placid (as much as a bear can be, anyway) in reality. But, at the same

time, they also made him look kind of silly with the makeup appliance they put on his head to simulate the results of the buckshot across his scalp, not to mention when the hair on his butt gets blown off. Speaking of bears, they made use of real black bears during the scene at the bear dump when Chet stupidly coaxes some of them to his car and they climb up on it. But what truly amazes me is that, for the most part, John Candy himself interacted with these animals. I was sure they used 

stunt doubles and matting work for when the Bald-Headed Bear chases Chet to the cabin, and maybe they did in some shots, but, after watching the documentary, John Candy: Behind Closed Doors, it seems that wasn't the case. During the scene at the bear dump, you can really see that John Candy and the kids are in the car as those bears climb over the hood and paw at the windshield. Candy even seems to be the one who's driving when he leaves with the bears still on the car.

The movie's location work is definitely one of its highlights, as the densely forested countryside and mountain ranges are simply gorgeous to take in. Though set in Wisconsin, this place is actually Bass Lake, near Sierra National Forest and Yosemite National Park in California. During the opening credits sequence, as the Ripleys drive up to the lodge, you get to see plenty of the area's natural beauty, with cutaways to sights like a deer grazing beside the road, another one swimming in a river, some people fly-fishing in the shallows, the

family driving across a metal bridge spanning it, birds and squirrels hanging out in the trees, and such. Ducey's Bass Lake Lodge stood in for Perk's Pine Log Resort, which I can definitely say is how such places do look, given the number of trips I've taken to the Smokey Mountains, and also how I once stayed in a place like this in Wyoming, near Yellowstone. Bass Lake itself, portraying Lake Potowotominimac, is absolutely beautiful, even when Chet is being dragged across it on jet-skis.

And you get a lot of the local color in the scenes set at the bar and grill, called Paul Bunyan's Cupboard, which was also actually under the "Ducey's" banner, and the look of which really reminds me of restaurants you come across up in Gatlinburg; the boardwalk amusement park, which also includes a pool hall, where Buck meets Cammie; an A&W where Cammie works (which was actually called the Surf Shop); and a "bear dump," which I've never seen at any lodge I've been to and, frankly, I wouldn't go, regardless. 

Other than the Paramount Ranch in Agoura, the setting for the golf and go-cart scene, everything else, specifically the scenes in and around the cabin, was shot at Universal Studios, with the cabin being built on the backlot and made to match those at Ducey's. Despite the Ripleys finding a few icky and inconvenient surprises waiting for them when they first move in, the place is actually very nice and comfortable, with a charming stone fireplace in the center, its wooden construction, Native American- and canoe-inspired decorations, a lovely

sun-porch in the back, and more than enough bedrooms for the eight people who end up staying there. The wilderness area behind the cabin, which mainly features during the climax and is where the mine the girls get trapped in is located, is obviously a set on the backlot, but it's not so blatant that it takes you out of the movie. The mine set is very well done, managing to effectively come off as an old, rundown place, with a slope leading down to a shallow pool of water, long abandoned boxes of dynamite, and a cave in the back where the Bald-Headed Bear lives.

I also have a feeling that some of the scenes with the characters out on the lake in a rowboat, such as when Chet and Buck are out there by themselves, and when Chet, Roman, and the boys go fishing early in the morning, were actually done in a studio, with the latter having a backdrop to it. They're one of a handful of instances of camera trickery, with another being the bat that Chet and Roman chase throughout the cabin. Obviously, it's the classic fake bat on a string, but it's pulled off really well and is convincing enough for the scene,

never once looking all that fake. That is, except for when the bat lands on Chet's face, but it's only there for a seconds, so it's nothing to complain about. And, again, there are the funny-looking makeup appliances they put on Bart the Bear, with the best being the very over-the-top, bare buttocks that are revealed when the fur on his rear gets blown off. I won't lie, the sight of those things, coupled with watching the fur get blown off them, actually does make me laugh.

As you can see, I certainly don't hate The Great Outdoors (truth be told, there really isn't a movie with John Candy that I don't like, regardless of how small his specific role in it may be). But, at the same time, it's not one of my favorites of his starring vehicles. For one, as I've said, I don't have much of any nostalgia for it, as I didn't see it a bunch of times as a youngster and only knew about most of it because my parents talked about it. For another, whenever I want a movie about Candy being on a vacation that's anything but relaxing,

I'm more likely to go for Summer Rental, which I do have a lot of nostalgia for and also because it brings back fond memories of the many trips my family and I have taken to Florida since my childhood, as well as that I can relate to the problems Candy and his family run into while there (bad sunburns, hot sand, rainy days where you're stuck inside, etc.). Not that I don't have fond memories of the many trips I've taken to the Smokey Mountains since I was a kid, and that aforementioned trip to Yellowstone would make

for a great comedy in and of itself, as so much went wrong that it became more of a pain in the ass than relaxing, but I like the setting of Florida more, and I can't say I've experienced some of the stuff that happens in The Great Outdoors. I don't need to be able to relate to comedy to find it funny, but, again, that's just something that Summer Rental has over this. Another thing is that the story here is absolutely threadbare. And yes, vacation-centered comedies like this are, typically, a bunch of

vignettes and setpieces strung together without much of an overarching story, but it's especially weak here. I've already talked about how Buck and Cammie's relationship goes nowhere, but also, Roman's attempt to scam Chet out of $25,000 not only comes totally out of left-field in the third act but it gets resolved almost immediately, with the only repercussions being Chet learning at the end that he's going to have to deal with Roman and his family living with them until they get back on their

feet. Therefore, I don't know if it was necessary either. You could've simply had the big conflict be Chet and his family finally losing it with their uninvited guests after putting up with their crap for the week, prompting Roman and his family to decide to leave, only for the girls to, one way or another, get lost in the storm and need to be rescued. That would not only be a good way for them all to reconcile but you could also have the reason why they run off be Roman's fault, like he said something terribly insensitive or hurtful, and bring some more drama and satisfying closure to the conflict of his not being able to connect with his daughters the way Chet does with his sons.

Not to be a snob but, I feel like, at this point in his career, Candy had proven that he could do so much more than just silly comedy like this. This was after he'd done the entertaining but mostly popcorn stuff, like Summer Rental, Armed and Dangerous, and Spaceballs, and had just proven with Planes, Trains and Automobiles that he was also a genuinely good actor who could bring heart and depth, as well as laughs, as he would prove again the following year, with Uncle Buck. So, for me personally, The Great Outdoors, despite having

been written by John Hughes, does feel like a bit of a comedown given how well he'd just stretched his acting chops. I'm not saying he absolutely couldn't do any more silly comedies like this by this point, as there are others he made around this time I do genuinely love, and I'm also glad he didn't look down on it and went full in, as he did on every movie, but I just wish the movie had more substance to it and was better-crafted.

The movie starts out with the Ripley family driving up to the lodge, while listening to and singing along with Yakety Yak on the radio (that song seemed to have been really popular around this time, as it also featured in Stand By Me and Twins), and it opens things up in a nicely upbeat manner, showing how close of a family they are, with Benny miming playing the saxophone solo and Buck slapping his dad's shoulders along with the music at one point. Then, when they arrive at the

lodge, they don't realize until they get out that they parked the car right in the middle of a perfect square of small trees. And when Chet goes to check them in, we get the first of several cutaways to a certain Mercedes driving down the road, driven by someone who's drumming their fingers on the wheel. In the lodge's lobby, Chet, after pointing out a lamp made from a shotgun, tries to call for the manager, when he sees a small bugle hanging on the wall, under a sign that reads, "FOR

PROPER SERVICE, BLOW ME." With no other recourse, he does blow it. Initially, it doesn't make much of a sound, but then, he blows it hard, which they find funny... until Wormer the dog pops up from behind the desk, looking she wants to kill them. They're then introduced to Wally and Juanita Perk, who show them to their cabin, which they say was occupied by a fishing party until the day before. As they're settling in, Roman Craig and his family arrive in the parking lot. Chet, after finding a fish hanging in the shower, one of many that

they've found everywhere, tries to get Connie to put on her bathing suit and head down to the lake with the boys. But when Connie is reluctant, Chet gets a better idea, since they have the cabin to themselves. He unzips her dress and drops it to the floor, trying to talk her into playing "fashion parade." He then prepares to unhook her bra from the back... and just when he gets it off, Roman, who's videotaping them, makes his presence known by saying, "Anybody home?", and then laughs obnoxiously. After getting over the shock of

seeing him, Chet tells Roman to turn off the camera, which he refuses to do, telling them to do it on the floor. He has to grab something for Connie to cover herself up with, and then rushes at Roman and makes him shut the camera off.

After an afternoon of everyone settling in, with Roman already getting Chet's goat by cooking lobster on the grill as opposed to hotdogs, Chet threatening to hit Roman with a pair of tongs behind his back when he kisses Connie on the mouth and comments, "If I could market lips like those, I'd make another million!", and Roman stealing his thunder by opting to rent a ski-boat, as opposed to a pontoon, Chet goes to tell his bear story. He turns out one lamp after another, much to

everyone else's annoyance, as they're trying to either read or play Monopoly, and then tells them it's a true story that happened to him and Connie when they were staying at his uncle's cabin on their honeymoon. He describes how, one night, they heard a noise out by the trashcans, and Chet went to see what it was, only to see an enormous grizzly bear right outside the window. At first, Benny is incredulous about this, but Connie assures him that it's true. Chet goes on, "This bear was over eight

feet high, with big... white... teeth!", as we get some corresponding cutaways to the flashback. "Fangs stained pink from whatever it killed before it got to our cabin. It was frightening." Chet proceeds to say this to Cara and Mara, emphasizing it with a growl, spooking the already freaked girls. "Frightening. The paws on this thing... were immense! With big, black claws... razor-sharp, like, uh... Freddy Krueger." He then swipes his hand through the air and yells, startling everybody, especially Roman and Buck, the latter of whom

almost chokes on the chips he's eating. "Even worse, worse, worse... this wasn't a movie. This was happening now! This was right in front of me! And all that separated me from that bear..." Chet goes and taps on the window, "...was a pane of glass!" Seeing how freaked out everyone is, Connie tries to stop Chet but he insists on continuing, saying it might save their life. "Now, I saw that bear, and it saw me. And it was hungry. Hungry for blood! Human blood. You see, once a bear gets a taste for blood, it... craves it. It needs it. It will do anything it can to get it. That bear had become... a man-eater!

"Our eyes locked! My heart was pumpin'. Pump! Pump! Pump! Pump!" He smacks his hand with his fist with each, "Pump!" "I ran into the living room. I grabbed the shotgun off the mantle. Turned around, and there was that bear, right in the window. Its breath was foggin' up the glass. Suddenly, it let out this... godawful roar." Chet lets out a scream, and then goes on, "It started smashin' into the walls. Pots and pans started rattling. And the walls started shiverin'. And the floorboards

fstarted liftin'! I knew then that it was either the bear, or your mom and I. So, I raised the rifle, I took aim, and I fired!" Benny asks, "You wasted her?", but Chet answers, "No, Benny. Benny, Benny, a shotgun's not gonna kill a monster bear like that!... The buckshot shaved the hair clean off the top of its head. It ran off. I never saw it again. I'd hear from my uncle, every now and again, and he'd tell us about the... 'Bald-Headed Killer Bear" that was roaming about the area. 'The Bald-Headed

Killer Bear... of Clare County.'" When Benny asks if the bear is still around, Connie tries to assure him that she's long gone, but Chet isn't willing to let them off that easy, adding, "Eh, she may be out there. Crazy, bloodthirsty as ever. So, when you go to bed tonight, if you hear a noise, whatever you do, don't look out the window..." He then throws the rest of his alcoholic drink into the fireplace, sending a huge flame blasting up the chimney, and screams, "Because it might be the bear!" Everyone in the room screams, while Chet laughs. But no

one else finds it funny: Roman complains about how he's half-drunk and is now going to have nightmares, adding, "Gee, you know, I'm 25 pounds overweight! I don't need a blast to the ticker like that! I felt my plaque start flowin'!"; Benny and Buck stomp out of the room; Kate says it was really inappropriate; and Connie, who's also aggravated, gets up and leaves, along with everyone else. Chet tries to defend himself, saying he embellished it, grumbling, "Oh, God. So I made the fangs a little bigger. Jeez!"

Later that night, Roman hears Chet telling Benny that the story didn't actually happen to him, that it was a story handed down through his family's generations. So, Roman attempts to do the same with Cara and Mara, opening the door to their room, turning on the lights, and telling them: "Listen, girls, uh... as your father... I feel it incumbent upon me to set the record straight on the validity of the tale which Uncle Chet shared with us this evening. I know that a terrifying story like

that, coming from the mouth of a recognized authority figure, could be traumatizing for kids like yourselves. I know that because I had a similar experience with my uncle Roy and a story he used to tell, about a family that went into the woods and was attacked by a band of escaped Army psychiatric patients who'd been subjected to violent, hellish, torturous behavior-modification experiments. It seems they escaped from the metal boxes the Army kept them in, found this family in the woods, fell upon them, slaughtered them, and

ate them. Huh, now that story, whew, it gave me nightmares not to be believed. So, I don't want Uncle Chet's bear story to upset you in the same way. So, I'm here to say that there actually is no bear, and that all of what Uncle Chet was saying was just a yarn, spinnin' for our entertainment. And even if there were a bear out there, I'm in the house. To protect you. So, uh... no more thinking about bears. Alright? No more thinking about unpleasant things. We're gonna close our eyes and dream about nice things. About cuddly, soft, fluffy things. Okay? Super. Good night. Sleep tight." He then leaves the room, turns out the light, and shuts the door, leaving the girls, who are still sitting up in bed, now having an even harder time sleeping.

We then get our first instance of a running gag involving a family of raccoons who come in to raid the garbage cans, with subtitles telling us what they're saying to each other. In this case, when they see the Illinois license plate, they comment that they'll be eating good if the tenants are from Chicago. They turn over the garbage can and start chowing down, with one raccoon commenting, like Roman, that the hotdogs they find are made of lips and assholes (this is a prime example of comedy in

this movie that I never find all that funny, despite how much the filmmakers want me to). Come the next morning, everyone is either still asleep or just waking up... except for Cara and Mara, as they never went to sleep, thanks to their dad, and Chet, who's having to clean up the mess the raccoons left behind. After everyone gets ready for the day, they're in town, where Benny gets excited about a ski-boat called "SUCK MY WAKE," while Buck opts to go explore the town himself. Later, at the lake, Chet tries out the boat himself, nearly

jumping at the sound of the loud engine, when Roman yells from the shore that it's in neutral. Chet, however, doesn't quite understand, and pulls the gear lever, sending the boat forward and causing it to hit and scrape across the dock. And then, as everyone's waiting in the boat, Chet gives Benny instructions on how to water-ski, although he's impatient and annoyed with his dad's going over it again and again; meanwhile, the others are wishing they could get on with it. Things get worse when Benny forgets that his dad told him to let go

when he's in trouble. He takes the line and, with the others getting impatient, makes a gesture that Roman and Kate interpret as him saying he's going to ski. Roman then takes off at full throttle, dragging Chet across the dock and into the water, leaving smoking skid-marks on the dock.

Benny yells for Chet to let go of the rope but Chet isn't able to think straight enough to do so. He screams bloody murder as he's dragged across the water, narrowly avoiding hitting other boats, while Roman turns, slamming Chet's butt against the water as he gets pulled at an angle. He screams, "You bastard!", as he just barely manages to avoid another boat, the rope nearly decapitating the people in it. Again, he screams, "You bastard, Roman!", but what the others hear in the boat is,

"Faster!" So, Roman obliges, hitting the gas, much to Chet's horror. He's angled towards the docks, heading between them and some other boats idling in the water, and screams, "I'm dead! I'm dead! I'm dyin'! I'm dyin'! I'm dyin'!" His line clips off a flag at the end of one boat but he makes it out without a scratch, much to his relief, as he exclaims, "I'm alive! I'm alive! Thank you!" But then, he rips through some reeds, and flies over them, as if he hit a ramp, landing roughly in the water and losing

one of his skis. Roman is impressed when he sees this, as are those onshore, especially when Chet falls to the side, flips over in the water, manages to right himself, then finally lets go of the rope and collapses in the shallows. He stands up, waving at the others, then turns around and falls forward into the water. When he gets back to the cabin, he's ready to pack up and leave, arguing with Connie over what happened, saying he'll be picking splinters out of his butt for the rest of his life and getting irked when she snickers about it. But, with a little tickling and flattery, she gets him to stay, although he's not happy about her doing that to him.

That night, while Buck tries to track down Cammie after meeting her at the boardwalk, Chet takes Benny and the girls to the local bear dump. There are already a few black bears there when they arrive and join a group of other onlookers. However, when Benny isn't that impressed, and with the girls asleep in the back, Chet decides to spice things up. He gets out of the car and throws a Zagnut bar at the one bear, then calls him over, tapping on the car's hood. Hearing this, the bear

walks over and Chet gets back in the car, leaving another Zagnut on the hood. Almost immediately, he seems to realize what a bad move he just made, as the bear approaches them, climbs up onto the hood, and, growling and showing his teeth, goes for the bar. Chet tries to shoo him away, but Benny tells him that's not a good idea and so, he stops. He thinks that once the bear eats the candy-bar, he'll go, but he still shoos him, only for the bear to look at him and groan. He knows he's messed up when

the bear starts clawing at the window and tries to think of what to do, when he sees that the people parked to his left are staring at him. He waves sheepishly, then makes Benny nervous when he asks, "I've told you I love you, right?" Just when he says they should probably call it a night, another bear climbs up onto the roof. That seals it and they decide to leave. Chet starts the car's engine and honks the horn, but that doesn't faze the bear on the hood, as he licks at the windshield. He shouts that he's going to move to both bears, then backs up,

thinking they'll jump off. Neither of them do, and Benny asks, "Isn't it illegal to drive with a bear on your hood?" Chet answers that he doesn't know if that's the case in this particular state and drives on, with the bears still on the car, grumbling, "Yogi and Boo-Boo in the flesh. I wish to hell Ranger Smith would get out here and get us on home... We should've brought Uncle Roman's car."

Late that night, the raccoons come back, even though there are now rocks on top of the trashcans. They decide to just tip them over, with the younger one asking if he can stay up and watch Chet clean up the mess again. The next day, while Roman plays golf, Chet and the boys have fun racing go-carts, but the rapid cutting back and forth between them and the close-ups on the golf-ball set up the predictable gag of Roman hitting a stroke where the ball bounces off a tree, flies over to the go-

carts, and whacks Chet in the face. After that, they're riding some horses through the countryside, although Chet is lagging behind. Despite some of them saying they should wait up for him, Roman decides to head on. Chet's horse then stops, and when he smacks his rear to make him go on, he whips around and bites his leg. Irritated, Chet climbs off and tries to walk the horse, but the horse isn't having that either. No matter how gently Chet talks to him, he refuses to budge. Chet decides he needs to get rough and breaks off a switch from a

pine tree. Seeing that, the horse takes off without him and Chet tries to chase him down. After that, everyone is waiting at the stables, all refreshed from their ride, when Chet comes limping over the hill, red in the face, covered in sweat, and completely ragged. Ignoring Roman's jokes about him eating the missing horse, he says he wants to go back to the cabin and take a nap, though Roman tells him they've got a whole day ahead of them. That night, while Buck meets up with Cammie, the others are at the local bar and grill, where Roman shoots his mouth off after getting drunk, he and Chet meet Reg and learn about his bad history with lightning, and Kate informs Connie of how she manages to pleasure herself when Roman's not around.

Late that night, Kate comes running out of her room, screaming, "It touched me!" Roman thinks she means a certain part of his anatomy, but as everyone else comes out of their rooms, Kate points out what touched her: a bat. Though Roman writes it off as a sparrow, everyone realizes that's not the case and they all rush out of the cabin. Roman says it's nothing but a, "Tiny flying mouse," but Kate says she's not going back in until he gets rid of it... and Roman, in turn, elects Chet to do the

job. He hesitates, arguing with Roman about why he specifically has to do it, but when Roman accuses him of wimping out, he decides to go in and get rid of the bat, only for it to fly by him, sending him back out the door. He says they need to approach this differently and then, in the next scene, he and Roman enter the living room, looking absolutely ridiculous in their makeshift hazard suits and wielding improvised weapons. Roman has Chet turn out the lights to draw the bat 

out, then they head into the center of the room to try to find it; Kate, meanwhile, worries about the fact that bats carry rabies, and Connie mentions, "Among other things." Roman says he's going to call the bat, but when he makes a sound with his lips, Chet asks, "Are you kissin' him or are you callin' him?" Roman explains he's trying to imitate the high-frequency sound they use to communicate and, sure enough, the bat shows up. The two of them panic at the sight of it, flailing around in the dark, knocking over and smashing things, Roman

jumping at the bat, Chet swinging blindly with his two tennis rackets, the two of them freaking even more when it buzzes them, and Chet, at one point, knocking himself in the head with one of the rackets. When they lose sight of it, they back into each other and panic, when it comes down from the rafters and lands on Chet's face. Roman whacks him, knocking the bat off and onto the floor, while Chet lists back and forth, moaning from the pain. As the bat lies on the floor, Roman says he admires the bat for his tenacity, but finishes him off by smacking him with the flyswatter, much to everyone else's disgust.

The following night, at Paul Bunyan's Cupboard, the family is ordering dinner, when Roman inquires about the "Old 96er." The waitress tells him about it, and when she mentions that, if the person who orders it can finish it, the whole group eats for free, he asks Chet if he wants to go for it. Chet decides to, just for the heck of it, and when Roman asks if anyone has ever finished one, the waitress answers, "Not in my lifetime, no." That's when we see the Old 96er, hanging in the back of a big, walk-in freezer, and then, we see it dumped, fully cooked,

on the table in front of Chet with a loud clatter. Chet then realizes what he got himself into and looks up at the grill chef, who says, "Bon appetit!" Everybody else is just as stunned, and onlookers gather around as Chet prepares to dig in. He starts out at a good pace, although it's taking him an awful long time, as he's eating it one small bite at a time; throughout all this, Buck is anxiously checking his watch, as he doesn't want to miss his date with Cammie. At one point, Roman puts his ear to Chet's gut and hears some nasty gurgling

sounds, but he just says everything's, "Processing nicely." Chet continues and everyone makes bets as to whether or not he'll finish. Despite a shaking hand, he manages to get the last bite down, receiving applause and taking pride in the fact that he did it. But then, the chef tells Roman that Chet's not done yet. Roman argues, "There is nothing on that plate but gristle and fat!", and the chef raises his eyebrows and widens his eyes in an, "Exactly!", expression. Looking at the huge amount of fat left

over, Connie is horrified, and the onlookers talk about doubling their bet, while poor Chet looks as though he's about to die at the realization that he's not done, grasping at Roman's sleeve and whining pitifully. Even worse, Roman asks, "Listen, if I can get a dessert down him, think you can throw in a couple of Paul Bunyan hats for the kids?" After that, everyone leaves the restaurant, the kids' new hats proving that Chet went through with it, and he staggers out the door with thunderous applause. (I could just be taking things too seriously but, considering that John Candy died from a heart attack due to his weight, I find it difficult to laugh at both this scene and when he exhausts himself walking back to the horse stables.)

Back at the cabin, the raccoons show up, only to find the garbage cans are gone. Figuring Chet put the garbage in the cabin, and being disgusted by it, noting, "They're not the cleanest species on the face of the Earth, you know," they opt to just break in to get at it. Meanwhile, Buck realizes he's missed his chance with Cammie, while everyone else comes home just as the raccoons run out the back. They walk in and turn on the light to see the enormous mess they left behind. Roman makes things worse by noting, "Look at the size of the

maggots on that meat," which is what sends Chet over the edge. He runs off to the side and everyone follows, only to run back out when Chet, offscreen, mind you, blows chunks (you can see Dan Aykroyd using his hand to count down the moment when they're supposed to run out). Despite this horrendous night, come dawn, Chet wakes up Roman and the boys to take them fishing. In the following scene, as they're out in the boat, Chet tells them their "worms" are actually leeches, much to their collective revulsion. Even worse, they have

to insert hooks into them, which doubly grosses everyone out. Some time passes and we see them lying in the boat, asleep... and covered in the leeches. It starts raining, waking them up, and they quickly realize what's happened, with Chet being the first to do so and scream in horror. Later, when they're all back at the cabin, things boil over between everyone, with Chet and Roman almost coming to blows, Chet threatening Kate when she steps in, and Buck breaking it up, only to tell

Roman to, "Bite the big one!" And though Connie scolds Buck for that, she turns around and tells Roman, when he adds it's rude, "Oh, blow it out your ass." Roman and Kate decide to leave, and as they pack up the car, a serious storm begins to roll in; elsewhere in the woods, Reg senses it and runs for the hills. But then, Roman gives Chet his spiel about the investment opportunity and they drive off in the rain with a check for $25,000... only for Roman to then turn back around and come clean

about his scam and that he's broke. They leave Cara and Mara in the car, but they get impatient, get out, and run off into the storm. Right after Roman admits he made up the story about Chet badmouthing him at his and Kate's wedding, we see poor Reg get struck by lightning in the head for the 67th time in his life.

The storm is strong enough to blow open the cabin's front door, and then, the power goes out. Just as they find a lighter to make up for their lack of a flashlight, Kate asks where the girls are. Everyone splits up to search for them, but when they don't find them at the cabin, Chet and Roman go out into the storm to find them. Back at the cabin, the power comes back on, just as everyone has found some candles, but it does nothing to alleviate Kate's worries about her girls. Speaking of which, the girls find their way to the abandoned

mine Wally had warned Roman about, and end up sliding down it and into a pool of water at the bottom. They then climb onto a floating crate in the water, waiting for help to come. Fortunately for them, Chet and Roman find their way to the spot, and then hear them yelling for help. Running to the mine's entrance and seeing that they're down there, Chet tells Roman to go down and get them, only to be stunned when he's reluctant because of his claustrophobia. Chet snaps Roman out of it, telling him that he needs to help his kids, and as Roman

tries to make his way down the slope into the mine, Chet goes to find some rope. Roman slides and lands in the water, then sees the girls sitting across from him. He embraces them, while Chet rushes back to the cabin to find what he needs. But when Roman sees they're sitting on boxes of old dynamite, he decides to get them out himself. He has both of them climb onto his back and crawls back up the slope; unbeknownst to them, the infamous Bald-Headed Bear is living in a cave in

the back of the mine, but she goes back inside when she sees they're leaving. While Chet tries to rush back as fast as he can, Roman manages to reach the top of the slope and he and the girls head to the cabin. Chet then arrives at the mine and yells down to Roman and the girls, tying a loop at the end of the rope and preparing to pull them up. His cries, however, attract the bear, and when he throws the rope down into the water, she wades into it, takes the rope in her paw, and grabs it with her mouth. Chet yells for "Roman" to let him know when he's ready to be pulled up, and when the bear pulls on the rope, he takes that as the signal.

Chet takes the rope's other end and pulls it around a small tree to act as a brace. He pulls on the rope, only for the bear to pull back, pulling him into the side of the tree. Aggravated at this, Chet pulls again, with all his strength, and actually manages to pull the bear all the way up the slope. He collapses in front of the mine's entrance, happy that he, "Did it," and looks up, chuckling in exhausted satisfaction... only to then see the bear looking at him. The minute he sees that bald head, he realizes who this bear is, and she seems to remember who

he is, as she makes a growl that sounds suspiciously like, "You!" Horrified, he gets up and runs for his life, while the bear tears apart the boards around the mine's entrance and chases after him, letting out an angry roar; back at the lodge, Wally actually wakes up from a sound sleep, hearing her. Chet runs for a bit and then stops. He looks back and doesn't see the bear. He breathes a sigh of relief, only to then hear her growl and turns and runs... smacking right into a tree. After getting over the pain, he sees the bear coming for him and

runs off, with her right on his tail. He runs as fast as he can, breathlessly yelling, "I'm gonna die!" At one point, he trips and falls, taking an impromptu shortcut by sliding down a muddy hill; this doesn't deter the bear, as she avoids the mud and continues the chase. Chet makes it back to the cabin, running through the front door, slamming it behind him, and putting his weight up against it. While everyone else casually welcomes him back, he tries to warn them what happened, but is too terrified

and out of breath to really talk. He mumbles, "Big, big!", only for Connie, who's making sandwiches, to think it means he wants a big one. He then says, "Big bear!", but, naturally, no one takes him seriously. He shakes his head, trying to convince them he's telling the truth, and mumbles, "Big bear, chase! Big bear chase!" Everyone asks what he's saying and he yells, "Big bear chase me!"... and then the bear knocks down the door on top of him.

She climbs up onto the door, growling, and sending everyone running every which way in a panic. She starts bouncing the door on top of Chet, who grumbles, "Get off, you son of a bitch," which seems to only encourage her to do it more. He smacks the floor, groaning, "Uncle!", and she steps off and roams through the living room. Roman, who's hiding behind a chair next to the fireplace, grabs a poker as a weapon, while the bear corners Connie and Buck behind the kitchen counter. Connie tosses some pieces of bread to try to

placate her, but she attempts to climb over the counter, roaring at them. Roman walks out behind the bear, telling Connie to stay down, and gets her attention with his yelling. She stands up on her hind legs, showing how enormous she is, and utterly terrifying him. Chet, meanwhile, manages to get to his feet and put the door back in place, while Kate, at the top of the stairs with Benny and the girls, yells for Roman to hit the bear with the poker. She turns and looks at Kate upon hearing that, freaking her out. The bear then smacks away a

large lamp between her and Roman, corners him at the bottom of the stairs, and forces him up there, towards Kate and the kids, all while Chet leans up against the door, dazedly repeating, "Big bear... big bear chase me." The bear smacks the poker out of Roman's hands, and he quickly grabs a decorative oar on the stair railing and uses it to fend her off. Suddenly, Chet gets face-planted on the floor again, this time by Wally knocking the door down, armed with the shotgun lamp from the lobby. As

Roman shoves the oar's middle into the bear's snout to block her teeth, Wally runs to the wall and plugs the lamp into an outlet, telling the confused Chet that it's loaded. Chet takes the gun and, just as the bear is about to make mincemeat out of Roman, fires, blowing the fur off her rear end. She lets out a pained scream and runs out the door and into the woods, continuing to yell so loudly that it can be heard for miles.

After the movie ends with everyone heading home, Chet attempting beat Roman home when he learns Connie invited him and his family to stay with them for the time being, much of the ending credits plays over a deleted scene of everyone dancing to Land of a Thousand Dances at the local bar. Mostly, it's a clearly drunk Roman dancing with Connie, and some other women, like a madman; at one point, he mimes gnawing on a woman's legs as she stands on the bar, he and Connie slide along the top of some tables, he thrusts his crotch upward,

and gets everybody else in the building, including Wally, up and dancing. Chet, meanwhile, opts to sit it out and just watch the mayhem, as does Kate, who doesn't seem all that jealous at how Roman's interacting with some other women. And finally, at the very end, there's a stinger where the raccoons ask about why the bear, Jody, is sitting in the lake. One of the raccoons reveals that she got shot in the rear, with the last line of the movie being, "Yup, she's bald on both ends now!"

Land of a Thousand Dances and Yakety Yak are the two songs from the movie's soundtrack that stick out to me the most (there are plenty of others on it), and I believe the hilarious, jazzy music that plays during the water-skiing sequence was actually performed by Dan Aykroyd himself, along with Tom Scott. As for the rest of the actual score, by Thomas Newman, while it's certainly not one of his absolute greatest works, it does have its fair share of memorable moments and even gives certain characters their own identifiable motifs. For instance, in the cutaways to Roman driving to the cabin in the buildup to his introduction, we get this fast-paced piece that's catchy but also rather obnoxious, like the man himself, while the raccoons have a very memorable theme that include blasting trumpets and male voices going, "Va, va, va, voom!" Every time Buck and Connie are together, you hear this very nice, subdued, smooth electric guitar, with an equally subtle chorus going along with it, and as much as I don't care for that subplot, that music is quite lovely. As for the rest of the score, Newman composed Chet's story about the bear as if it were a horror movie, as he did the scene where Roman's attempt to make the girls feel better goes terribly wrong, and he comes up with a very lovely little piece for the beautiful sunrise we see the next morning, only for it to momentarily turn eerie when we see that, thanks to their father, Cara and Mara didn't sleep at all. There's a low-key, jazzy sort of bit for when Chet and the kids find themselves trapped in their car at the bear dump, and the music during the golfing/go-cart sequence is especially energetic and fun to listen to. The bat sequence is scored in a hilarious manner, while the steak scene starts with a big, momentous, 2001-esque bit when we first see the Old 96er, and Chet's attempt to eat it has a very memorable sound alluding to the challenge that's been set in front of him and how tough it is on him, as well as that it's impacting Buck's date as well. Newman comes up with some genuinely touching music for Roman's wedding story, but for me, the best music in the third act is the big, heroic, but at the same time, comedic bits that play when Chet gets chased by the bear and she rampages through the house.

I hope you haven't come away with this thinking I dislike The Great Outdoors because, trust me, that's not the case at all, as there is plenty to like here. John Candy, as always, manages to be as likable and funny as he always was, and the other actors, especially Dan Aykroyd and Robert Prosky, are just as good; the movie is well-made; the actual location where they shot most of it is gorgeous to look at; it does have its fair share of memorable gags and setpieces, especially the climax involving the bear; and the music score and soundtrack are enjoyable. But, for me personally, I don't have the nostalgia for it like some of Candy's other movies, a lot of the humor doesn't quite land for me, the writing isn't as strong as you often get with John Hughes, as the subplot between Buck and Cammie is pointless and the third act conflict could've been handled better, and I just feel that, by this point, Candy had proven he had so much more to give than goofy comedy like this. Still, despite my gripes, I can see why this, like Summer Rental, is a movie that was destined to become a cult classic by being aired a lot on cable and rented on video, which is definitely the case, and, if nothing else, it is fun way to kill 90 minutes.