National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation
National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation mistake picture

Continuity mistake: When Clark is sliding down the hill on the sled, several times you can see fins on the bottom to help whoever was riding it control the direction a little better. When Clark is rubbing the oil on the bottom of the sled before he starts it is completely flat on the bottom. (00:50:28)

Revealing mistake: At one point when Clark is flying down the hill through snow drifts on his saucer sled after greasing it up you can see the guide wire pulling the sled. (00:50:45)

Visible crew/equipment: When Clark is on his sled, just before he crashes into the cabin, the shadow of the camera is visible on it. (00:50:50)

Continuity mistake: When Uncle Lewis and Aunt Bethany arrive, the wreath on the front door is lit with Christmas lights. When the door opens from inside the home, there are no lights on the wreath....it is just plain green. (01:01:58)

Continuity mistake: When Uncle Lewis and Aunt Bethany have just arrived and Aunt Bethany says, "Oh dear, did I break wind?" Ellen helps Aunt Bethany fully remove her coat. Seconds later, within the same scene, Ellen is still helping Bethany off with her coat. (01:02:45)

Factual error: Prior to the cat being electrocuted, Clark is seen plugging the lights into a 110 volt outlet. However, when Rusty resets the breaker, it is a double pull breaker that is reset, which typically provides 220 volts, and the breaker is off instead of tripped. (01:09:00)

Other mistake: After we see the cat pulling on the strand of white Christmas tree lights, there is a close up shot of the electrical outlet with one cord plugged into it. When the lights go off, both the colored and the white lights go out at the same time. Clark has to plug in two cords to make both sets of lights come back on. Either the colored lights should have been out to begin with, or both strands of lights should have come on with one plug. (01:09:05)

National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation mistake picture

Continuity mistake: When Uncle Lewis lights the cigar that sets the Christmas tree on fire, watch closely. It shows side shots of Clark eating his dinner, and you can see the tree in the living room. The camera cuts back to Lewis lighting his cigar, and then back to Clark at the exact same angle as before. The tree is gone. (01:11:10)

Visible crew/equipment: When Clark gets his "Christmas bonus" he starts going off about what a lousy guy his boss is. During his outburst you can see a crew member's head pass by the bottom left corner of the screen. (01:15:55)

National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation mistake picture

Continuity mistake: The blinds are ripped out of the neighbors' window frame when Clark "harvests" his replacement tree from outside. However, when Margot is outside telling Todd to "slug that creep in the face", you can see blinds are still in the window. (01:17:20 - 01:21:55)

National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation mistake picture

Continuity mistake: When Clark is going crazy, he cuts the newel post. But it's still in place in the later scene, when the family has problems with the squirrel. (01:18:15 - 01:21:20)

Continuity mistake: When the squirrel jumps of the Christmas tree it lands on the floor, but in the next shot it is on the coffee table. (01:19:50)

dell

Revealing mistake: The family runs upstairs with the dog and the squirrel and then runs downstairs. You can see a cut in the movie, because the rug moves. (01:21:30)

Dr Wilson

Continuity mistake: When the squirrel is being chased by Eddie's dog, it passes through the broken door and then vanishes. (01:22:07)

Dr Wilson

Revealing mistake: After Eddie kidnaps Clark's boss, he drives off and if you look at the ground the snow looks like soap bubbles, because you see them waving around. (01:23:36)

National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation mistake picture

Revealing mistake: When Uncle Louis drops the match in front of where Eddie empties the "chemical toilet" if you look VERY close you can see the rope that launches him into the air. (01:32:05)

Continuity mistake: When Clark's uncle drops the match that sets the sewer on fire, his toupee falls off and at the end of the scene you can see him trying to put it back on, although it's burnt pretty badly. In the final scene where everyone is dancing around, his toupee is back on and in perfect condition. (01:32:35)

Revealing mistake: When the Santa Sleigh is launched in the air by the ignited sewage, the sleigh flies over the moon. Now on the DVD version of the film, it's not clearly visible, but on the VHS version, you can clearly see there's a box around the sleigh that looks like the sleigh is under a microscope slide. (01:32:50)

Character mistake: When the National Anthem is sung at the end the uniformed police officers should be at attention and saluting. The Lieutenant holding his hat over his heart is totally incorrect. Police and military in uniform keep their hats on, stand at attention and salute. It is correct for Eddie, as a veteran, to render a salute. It's kind of hard to hear, but it sounds like the 2 dads were arguing at breakfast about eating K rations, so one or both probably served in WW2. As vets, they should have also saluted, although it is not mandatory. For the uniformed on duty police it is. (01:32:53)

Todd: Hey, Griswold. Where do you think you're gonna put a tree that big?
Clark: Bend over and I'll show you.
Todd: You've got a lot of nerve talking to me like that, Griswold.
Clark: I wasn't talking to you.

More quotes from National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation

Trivia: Eddie's son, Rocky, doesn't speak one line in the entire film.

More trivia for National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation

Question: What is the name of the Christmas Tree farm they went to to get their tree?

Answer: They didn't go to a Christmas tree farm. He took them to a huge forest to get one most likely because it would be easier to get one free then to pay for one.

They went to a tree farm. After running off the road and jumping the snowbank the wagon crashes through a sign that says "Trees." Clark then says, "We're here...and we made good time too." The humor is Clark forgoes a normal "farmed" tree for the "wild" monster he takes home.

False. They may have run over the tree farm sign, but they absolutely did not harvest a tree from the tree farm.

Answer: It was a tree farm (the car literally flies through a sign that says "Christmas Trees"). There's a deleted scene after they crash and walk to find a tree. Realizing that they didn't have a saw to cut the tree, the family walks to the lot attendant (an odd man, reclining in a lawn chair, wearing a Santa jacket and hat) to ask to borrow a saw. There is a conversation between them where Clark is told that they don't supply saws, but he gave him a shovel. THIS explains how the tree got dug out of the ground. You can actually see a picture of this scene on an old DVD cover.

Answer: They never went to a tree farm. Even though there is a sign that says "Trees", there is no employee there to greet them or even discuss how much the tress cost. Plus, trees on a tree farm are usually smaller and are always lined up in a row. The trees seen by the Griswold's are extremely large and are scattered about like what would be seen in a regular forest which is where they went.

They are never shown in the "store" area of the tree farm, so you can't say that there is nobody working there. They jump the snowbank, it shows them gathering themselves in the car, and the next scene is in the wilderness. It's a small, rundown tree farm, but it is a tree farm business, with a plowed parking lot, garbage cans, lights, other customers, etc. These tree farms usually had pre-cut trees for purchase, but you could also walk out and cut down your own for the "experience" if you wanted to. As someone who has walked a couple miles to get a Christmas tree in December in Minnesota, I can say with absolute certainty that this is accurate.

oldbaldyone

More questions & answers from National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation

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