This story of a young boy outwitting a duo of bungling burglars with an intricate series of booby traps turned child actor Macaulay Culkin into one of Hollywood’s highest-paid stars.
The McCallister clan gather in Peter and Kate’s Chicago home prior to flying off to spend Christmas in Paris.
In the chaos of leaving they overlook 8-year-old Kevin (Culkin). Once in the air, his absence is noted but snowstorms prevent his distraught mother (Catherine O’Hara) from getting back to him.
Kevin can’t believe his luck. He watches forbidden videos, eats his favourite junk food, rifles through his brother’s things and sleeps in his parents’ bed. He does get scared, though, and when two burglars, Harry (Joe Pesci) and Marv (Daniel Stern) decide to break into the house he gets really scared.
However, courage and resourcefulness come to the fore as he devises elaborate and painful booby traps to deter them.
Culkin had already appeared in a couple of films, but his extraordinarily self-possessed and all-encompassing performance in Home Alone launched him into child superstardom. He earned $100,000 for this film, and by the time he made Home Alone 2 in 1992 he commanded $5 million.
John Hughes (who had already snared the teenage market in the 1980s) both wrote and produced this massive Christmas hit. Home Alone made it into the Guinness Book of World Records as the Highest Comedy Box Office Grosser with international earnings of $533 million.
Kevin McAllister
Macaulay Culkin
Harry
Joe Pesci
Marv
Daniel Stern
Peter McAllister
John Heard
Kate McAllister
Catherine O’Hara
Marley
Roberts Blossom
Linnie
Angela Goethals
Buzz
Devin Ratray
Uncle Frank
Gerry Bamman
Megan
Hillary Wolf
Gus Polinski
John Candy
Officer Balzak
Larry Hankin
Jeff
Michael C. Maronna
Heather
Kristin Minter
Sandra
Daiana Campeanu
Rod
Jedidiah Cohen
Fuller
Kieran Culkin
Tracy
Senta Moses
Brook
Anna Slotky
Aunt Leslie
Terrie Snell
Mitch Murphy
Jeffrey Wiseman
Georgette
Virginia Smith
Steffan
Matt Doherty
Johnny
Ralph Foody
Snakes
Michael Guido
Uncle Rob
Ray Toler
Officer Devereux
Clarke Devereux
Director
Chris Columbus