Oh hi!
I’ve parked my Ferrari by this True Value Hardware semi here-
and I’m enjoying a delicious wine cooler-
I’ve forgotten if I ever had a job, I don’t care what I’m doing tomorrow-
Today it’s sunny in this national park and I’m loving this song-
The air is so clean, I’m gonna toss my hair around in it-
Take a few steps forward, then back-
My obsession with this scene from National Lampoons Family Vacation has little to do with Christie being “hot” but everything to do with how perfectly everything about her performance captured EXACTLY what that scene (,the movie, and the entire concept of the American Vacation) was aiming for. If you don’t want to be her after seeing this then you sir are a liar and no fun to be around.
The funny thing is if this were filmed to day it would be so over produced it wouldn’t work. The accidental genius of the set up is how casual and real it is. (In the film’s commentary the director talks about how he didn’t even realize that giant semi was there until later.) This makes the impact so much stronger because it doesn’t read like a slow-mo, Hollywood fantasy but something that could actually happen on a road trip. And how badly do we want it to!