I just watched Inside Story - National Lampoon Vacation. Fascinating backstory on the making of the movie - for anyone who had watched this movie a dozen times (as I have) I recommend catching Inside Story if you have the chance. Amazing how many careers it kickstarted. Funny that Imogene Coco was terrified of riding in cars and when the camera wasn't on her she would be holding on for dear life... how they almost made the dog scene really gory and then cut it back to just the collar..... how Christie Brinkley had all the men on the set panting (shock). Chevy Chase and Beverly D'Angelo are best friends in real life... when they did the first test showing of the movie everyone loved it, but the ending was different and fell flat, they then had to create Wally World (Santa Anita Race Track and Magic Mountain) and hire John Candy and Eddie Bracken. Most of the cast were terrified of roller coasters - Eddie Bracken kept saying he wasn't afraid of them, rode the, all the time (Chevy admitted he was terrified) and they were totally in character for the scene til they reached the top and Bracken looked down and said Ohhhhhh blank......... totally fell out of script at that point... Oh and the son had grown four inches between the time the stopped shooting and had to re-shoot the ending.. you can see it if you know and look for it.... oh and they filmed this in the middle of summer in Arizona. When they did the car crash scene in Monument Valley the stunt man said where he was going to place the car - everyone said no way and the entire cast were drawing lines in the sand where they thought it would land - the Navajo Medicine Man came down and blessed the car -- oh and it landed exactly where the stunt man wanted it to land....
