The Daily Zeitgeist - Crofton's Media Blackout: Home Alone

Episode Date: December 22, 2025

In this special holiday episode, Miles and Jack are joined by Chris Crofton to watch a beloved holiday  movie that Chris has never seen before: Home Alone!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an I-Heart podcast, Guaranteed Human. I'm Stefan Curry, and this is Gentleman's Cut. I think what makes Gentleman's Cut different is me being a part of developing the profile of this beautiful finished product. With every sip, you get a little something different. Visit Gentleman's Cut Bourbon.com or your nearest Total Wines or Bevmo. This message is intended for audiences 21 and older. Gentleman's Cut Bourbon, Boone County, Kentucky. For more on gentlemen's cut bourbon, please visit

gentlemen's cut bourbon.com. Please enjoy responsibly. Hey, I'm Nora Jones, and I love playing music with people so much that my podcast called Playing Along is back. I sit down with musicians from all musical styles to play songs together in an intimate setting. Every episode's a little different,

but it all involves music and conversation with some of my favorite musicians. Over the past two seasons, I've had special guests like Dave Grohl, Lave, Mavis Staples, Remy Wolf, Jeff Tweedy, really too many to name. And this season, I've sat down with Black Pumas,

Alessia Kara, Sarah McLaughlin, and more. Check out my new episode with John Legend. I feel like, in a lot of ways, our careers are paralleled in some ways, but they just never intersected for some reason. I know. We should take it slow. We're just ordinary people.

We don't know which way you go. Listen to Nora Jones is playing along on the IHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, everybody, it's Chuck and Josh from the Stuff You Should Know podcast, and it's that time of year again when we knuckle down to do our annual holiday episodes.

We collected our best past classic holiday episodes and compiled them into a 12 days of Christmas toys playlist that the whole family can enjoy. That's right. Maybe you missed it the first time we detailed the history of Beanie Babies, Monopoly, or Yo-Yo's, a whole lot more. So listen to the 12 Days of Christmas Toys playlist on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts,

or wherever you get your podcasts. Who would you call if the unthinkable happened? I said, it was y'all 22 times. A police officer, right? But what do you do when the monster is the man in blue? This dude is the devil. He'll hurt you. This is the story of a detective who thought he was above the law

until we came together to take him down. I said, you're going to see my face to the dead. day that you die. Listen to the girlfriends, untouchable, on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. I got you. Hello, the internet, and welcome to this special holiday episode of Dernayleysitegeist. It's a production of IHeartRadio.

This is a podcast where we take a deep dive into America's shared content. consciousness, usually. For the holidays, we take a deep dive into America's shared Christmas spirit, the Christmas geist in German. That's a direct pronunciation. The format of these episodes is something Jack and I have talked about for maybe since we met Chris. And we realized he hasn't seen nothing for shit, man.

Yeah, yeah. We were talking about you doing. Yeah, like a podcast where I watch old movies and like just talk about. You haven't seen. You mean shit like home alone. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. That was big. I'm excited.

I got to watch it. My name is Jack O'Brien. And I'm joined as always by my co-host, Mr. Miles Gray. Yes. Sure. Yes. Here we are. Here we are.

And for this very special holiday episode, we're calling Christmas blind spots. We've got a hilarious stand-up comedian, actor, musician, one of the very faces on Mount Zaitmore. you can listen to his podcast cold brew got me like anywhere the poetry window is open because it's chris mother fucking crofton chris what's up it's the grinch it's the grinch the grinch the motherfucking grinch is in the house um yeah Chris you haven't seen a lot of movies you've had a you've had a life maybe you've had a life life was lifing every time i feel like we've referenced a movie and you're like haven't seen it you're like i was I was drinking and thought being a rock star was cool. Some version of that is what you would say.

During the 90s, I was doing Charles Bukowski in the sense that I was like, the meaning is in bars, not in theaters. That's right. Like everyone knows what's going to happen in the theater, but in a bar, you never know what kind of random poetry is going to go down or whatever, you know, which of course, you know, is not true really. I mean, you know. Did you have like an idealized thing you thought would happen at the bar? they'd be like this is fucking why man yes and sometimes it happened but then you didn't remember it if you usually missed it like or somehow forgot it if it wasn't and and it just turns out it's like the revelations in a bar are fairly repetitive repetitive even more repetitive than movies you know what

I mean so it's like it turns out you know when you stop drinking you like start hanging around people who are drinking you you do the repetition you you're like oh man you guys say the same shit over and over and over again. Yeah. It's wild. And not like just like drinking, like having a drink. Like, I mean like going out every night and getting drunk because you think that there's something mystical about that.

And, you know, it always ends up with frozen pizza. And, you know, it's not that mystical, really. It's just not. And so, but I did. Like, I was like, oh, you go to the movies, you sell out a piece of shit. You know, like, have a fun time at the movies, you basic bitch they hadn't invented that term basic bitch yet but yeah but that was the vibe but then you forgot

that you invented it so you never trademarked i invented basic bitch in 1990 um but so to turn you around on on this uh misguided idea that uh people go into the movies were sell out capitalists we thought we would show you uh home alone a movie with really good politics uh and no weird capitalist messaging at all um just quick background i i mean everybody knows it but i don't know that people quite know that so when it came out it was a massive hit to the point that so it came out in november it was like the number one movie at the box office like every week for a number of weeks but it stayed in theaters until easter people were like seeing it in the spring going to see it like well after the christmas season that's like having your Christmas lights up until Easter basically like the movie equivalent

I'm like yeah you know what fuck it let's watch a Christmas movie again all right I feel attacked I was at the Fugazi concert yeah yeah exactly and that yeah you were doing you were out doing cool shit so you missed this but I think that's what's exciting to us about this premise is that like you're coming to this movie that I've seen so many times that things like his cousin calling him you're what the French call Les Incompeton is like so burned in my fucking brain that like

it's like a part of me Like it's so burned in your brain You say it to your own kids I say all the time to my kids Yeah I say that shit to my friends still We still say that shit to each real Oh yeah yeah

You're such a disease We'll say like you did you little jerk I don't even know what it comes out But this shit comes out That's why it's so funny Because, like, on this side of the equation, Chris, it's so ingrained in our brains that we don't realize how much it is. Because also, I think, at least for me specifically, too, I was six years old when this came out. And this was, like, a film that was like, being a fucking wild kid is sick as fuck.

And you can beat the shit out of adults because you're smarter because you're a fun kid. And it was, Kevin McAllis was like my fucking idol for, like, years. Wow. The number one thing I would do if my parents weren't around. as I would run around my house with my hands over my head going Ah! Hell yeah, dude. I will say at the time that it came out,

because it has been adopted as a Christmas classic. Like, it's just one of those movies that people, like, put on lists of, like, the top Christmas movies. At the time it came out, reviews were mixed. I remember that because I was a weird kid who, like, read movie reviews before,

like, even of movies I wouldn't see. Oh, so you're like 10 years old when this comes out. You're thumbing through the calendar section. Nine years old and thumbing through the life section of the Dayton Daily News that was just like get this front page news out of my way. I want to see it was like a little magazine shaped insert that would like give you the movie reviews, the latest movies. And I remember this one getting like two stars or something and looking back, Owen Gleadman from Entertainment Weekly accused the film of adult bashing, which is. Like, as an adults or like a persecuted minority group? Wow.

Trying that one on. Snowflake as adults. Yeah. That's, that's like rust. That's kind of stuff rust out that does now. Yes, exactly. Right.

Yeah. But like there are, on the Wikipedia page for Home Alone, you learn that like in Poland and Romania, the holiday tradition is that like the main TV channel shows it every Christmas Eve there's like you know everybody watches home alone

one year they didn't show it there was like an outraged Facebook hit like 90,000 people protested like online and it's the same similar in Romania like people are obsessed with it. Oh that's like when people get mad in America because like the only kind of activism Americans do is when they like cancel their

favorite TV show by sending in angry letters to fucking network TV when Janet Jackson's boob gets exposed. The closest we came to like a social revolution was when the finale of Game of Thrones sucked.

Right. What the fuck? So yeah, I was much older. So I mean, obviously like, you know, I feel the same way like I love John Denver because I heard him when I was eight. You know, if I was 17 when John Denver was putting out records, I would have been listening to like,

you know, Steppenwolf or something and thought John Denver was for losers. So, I mean, there was an age different. I was 48 when this film came out.

But so, no, that was 21. I was 21. Oh, so it is a whole different. Oh, my God.

You were, dude, I can only imagine how fuck home alone you were at this point when you said you were really getting, fucking,

getting drunk and anti everything. I was just sort of leaving the home alone demographic. in New Canaan that, I mean, this movie made me think of where I grew up, except like to have a house this nice, uh, your family wouldn't be this nice. Um, you know, um, so like, you know, I, I, I was just leaving this into, I had only seen Fugazi like that, that year. I saw Melvin's for the first time that year.

A repeater just came out. Yeah. What's that? Or said repeater just came out that year. Yeah. And it was like that, I was just like sort of leaving the just deciding like oh wait like i don't know what i don't know that i would have would have gotten some heavy capitalist message out of it or anything seeing this movie but it was just like i was just in the middle of so i understand why you guys um you know saw it and and you know probably loved it you know i can see how you would love it it's got certain qualities to it it actually feels like you're in a big it feels like you're rich while you're watching it I feel like that is, that is what it does.

It makes you feel like you're rich. And also, I will say, the people who aren't rich in this movie are fucking idiots. They're like always the bad guy. Like they're always like the people who work at the store when he accidentally shoplifts the toothbrush or like, you know, the mall, uh, Santa. Uh, any, anybody who's like, we're, you know, the people who's like, we're, you know, the people, who work at the airline, airline attendant, uh, cops, the pizza guy, they're just like, look at

this, fucking jufis, the French. The entire nation of France. The shuttle driver, this little kid's like, what kind of gas mileage you get on that? An objectively cute question, he's just like, beat it, kid. The fuck out of here, you little shit. Um, it's, it does

seem to have a certain view of basically, even like there's a uncle who's like, kind of the poor asshole for being poor like he's just like to you know cheap and won't spend money and then like his brother who like there's been articles speculating like how the fuck are these people making their money yeah he has ungrateful ass to france right that was the first thing i noticed i mean i was just like they have so they're burning so much electricity in this house

that's the first thing i noticed i mean that house is lit up like i mean like they're trying to throw money out the window And you start to think, wow, houses are pretty when they're lit up like that. And then you think how deranged that is. Right. I mean, if you go back and watch the movie, which I watched yesterday for the first time, the first thing I was like, I was like, this is an advertisement for excessive electricity use, first and foremost.

And it makes you feel like excessive electricity use would make you feel better, like, spiritually. Right. And that's the thing is that house is like a beacon of capitalism. And I don't, like, that is really what, it reminded me of being in a house, like, in my hometown of New Canaan, Connecticut, where I would go over to the ultra wealthy's house. And our house was fine, you know, it was not a bad house, but it was not one of these kind of houses where it's just like everything's brand new. It's like a monument to Christmas and capitalism. Yeah, everything's brand fucking new. The nicest rugs, all the rugs match.

You're like, wait, so you just buy all your rugs at the same time to match in your house? These were the kind of houses where they would run out of a box of cereal when I was there. And then they would go into this pantry and there'd be like five boxes of that same cereal on backup. Like our family, we definitely only had one box of one item of whatever we had. We had to go get another one after we ran out. This family and it does, I wanted to go to those people's houses because I felt safe. It was the only place I felt safe. Right.

you know like you know like imagine if you spilled as much milk as as as macaulay calkin does in that scene in my house that was like enough to like cause a divorce like you know what I mean like in their their house they were like just get someone to clean it up or whatever was hire somebody to clean up the milk I mean that's yeah the fight that ensues right it feels good and like I remember as a kid though being in those houses and that's what I felt like this movie actually I could see revisiting this movie as a tradition because it makes you feel safe it shows the America you wish or you thought or you wanted to exist, you know? Yeah. Damn. And, but the thing is, that's what, what's funny about it to me is I knew the houses that were like this. I was in them,

but the people inside were not nice because to get that kind of money, you're not going to be like playful or you might leave your kid behind, but then you'd blame it on your kid or you just like, you know, like, we're going to stay away extra because you're such an irresponsible. Yeah. Actually, we're going to go to France. Why don't you stay here? Yeah. I mean, I actually, yeah. I think I talked about this on last year's Christmas episodes, but I do think she left him on purpose. Like, there's, I don't think she consciously knew she was doing it, but she

does realize she's doing it on some level, because when she has the revelation, it's not like she goes back and counts the kids. She, she knows, there's a nagging thought in the back of her mind. And during those opening scenes, she fucking hates him so much. Yeah.

Like over the top. Everybody hates him so much in those opening scenes. And it does feel like, there's a part of her unconscious that was like, we should just fucking leave this kid. And like that was going to war. Tucker Carlson in those scenes. Yeah.

Those are the way, that's the way Tucker Carlson grew up. And his dad was like, yeah, we left you behind on purpose because we were warming you up. Yeah. Reporting school. But his mom did leave. Fuckhead is the one. I think his mom is the one who left him behind.

Oh, yeah. For France. For France. Oh my God. Wow. All alone too. Tucker Carlson's story. We need to look up what Tucker Carlson thinks of the movie.

home alone. Get he left by his mom to go to France. You must hate that shit, huh, Tucker? But also like living probably in a house like this, wasn't, weren't they like

the heir to the Swans? Yeah, Swanson Frozen Food Empire. Oh, yeah. Yeah, yeah. I grew up surrounded by those fucks. And, uh, and, uh, you know, I saw, I saw like, um, you know, just like,

they'd leave their kids alone for, for weeks while they went to like, St. Barts and stuff. Right. Like, you know, like, I mean, they, so this is like such a benevolent version of that. Like, I mean, this family at least, you know, gives a shit. To bring the kids. Yeah, it gives a shit about

it, like, you know. But yeah, just just the wealth was the first thing that stood out to me. I was like, this is like, this is like, this is crazy. And yeah, all the people who are in the middle class still like in a decent mood, you know, taking shit from kids about what the mileage is or whatever. Yeah, because they're at a decent mood. Because they're like

still have like a, a, yeah, A retail job could, you could survive off of those wages somewhat. Yeah, and you could go to the local bar and have some self-esteem, like, because you had a good blue-collar job and a nice mustache. Then that's all gone, you know. But those guys, yeah. The smoking Santa, mall Santa, the person who tried out for that and didn't get it was Chris Farley. He was actually tried out for that role.

Oh, shit. Chris Columbus was like, no thank you. But yeah, he's just like, ah, kid, I don't know. Here's a fucking TikTok, you know. It is like a cautionary tale of like he's safe and protecting this like warm cocoon of like capitalist wealth and consumption and then like he like goes out into the scary world and like interacts with these middle class like wage workers and they're all just like here you go. This is what I give my kid for Christmas a fucking tick tack. Oh no. Yeah, yeah.

Also, Brian's. Uh, Brian's point that, uh, all of this is, uh, if you are white, there's a big, if you're white thing going on in this movie, uh, there are no, uh, people of color in this movie, except for the, uh, life size cut out of Michael Jordan that he uses to trick the, trick the robbers. Like, like, like usually they would be, even in 1990, they'd be like, we should probably put someone on white. Some, some token. So it doesn't look like monster. I know who people like Michael Jordan. Yeah, but on paper as a printout. But you're right that like the people who are, you know, lower class, they're at least somewhat helpful and like, you know, doing their job.

And the one group that is the robbers, you know, the robbers who are like, I'm going to break the rules and go in and steal all this good stuff. Because that's what that is. though I didn't work for it. Look at my low-class dental work. Well, I don't know if we're going to go through it, but since you bring up the robbers, I'm just going to say, I realize that the robbers are Antifa. Well, look, maybe we should go through it.

Because it sounds like you've got notes, Chris, and I'm, I think we're fascinated to know what lies within those notes. Well, it's already like, it's already been, I'm already, now I know what to watch if I ever feel like a if I want to feel safe and watch this movie and I feel like I'm in a big brick house where the worst thing that can happen is like some people are going to France forget me and then come back and yeah and yeah but it all works out a wheel of Brie or whatever they brought back to France all right let let's take a quick break we'll come back we'll start going through the movie uh and yeah we'll be right back I'm Stefan Curry and this

This is Gentleman's Cut. I think what makes Gentleman's Cut different is me being a part of developing the profile of this beautiful finished product with every sip you get a little something different. Visit gentlemen's cuthuburn.com or your nearest total wines or Bevmo. This message is intended for audiences 21 and older.

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Honestly, it feels more like a high-level prank than a crime. Who catfishes a city? And meets some memorable anti-heroes. There are thousands of angry, horny monkeys. Clap if you think, she's a witch. And it freaks you out. He has x-ray vision. How could I not follow him?

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Hello. To go through it should maybe just, I can just read a chunk of plot and you can see what's drummed up. Does that work for you, Chris? just so we can kind of say chronological because I know you've got notes. A little plot description. Yeah. So let's just go with plot from wikipedia.com

or dot org.net slash home along. This episode, go. Yep. Go donate to Wikipedia. Here we go. The McAllister family prepares to spend Christmas in Paris gathering at Kate and Peters home in Winneka, a Chicago suburb.

On the night before their departure, Kate and Peter's youngest son, Kevin, is ridiculed by his siblings and cousins due to his immaturity. Kevin inadvertently ruins the family dinner after a scuffle with his oldest brother, Buzz, resulting in Kate punishing him by sending him up to the attic. Frustrated with Kate for allowing the rest of the family to pick on him, Kevin wishes that his family would disappear during the night,

heavy winds damage, electricity, and phone lines to the house, disabling the alarm clocks and causing the family to oversleep in the confusion and rush to get to O'Hare Airport. Kevin is accidentally left behind. So in that opening scene, there's a lot going on. I do, I feel like this is anti-tourism propaganda. Like, it's anti-travel propaganda. It makes travel seem so fucking stressful. And they're just like, stay home, safe in your giant house.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Stay home and consume. Don't go out for cultural experiences. Yeah, they're trying to create some kind of fear of France. I don't know why I'm trying to create a fear of France. Hey, it's America, maybe. Yeah. Do they, I feel like, I know in the second one, they go to Florida and, like, they cut to them just

like sitting in a shit hotel room. while while it's raining. I bet that was not very popular. Do we ever see them in Paris in this? I feel like it's very, maybe very briefly. And again, it's just everybody like stuck in a hotel room. No, because it immediately becomes about his mom by the time she U-turns. And then you kind of hear about what's happening.

But no, there's no, like, I don't think there's any like Parisian scene. No, there's just that scene in the hotel room and there's this. And then John Hurd, isn't that his name of the father? He yells like, he's trying to find his. son on the phone. Oh, right. Do you speak English? Yeah.

Like, really, he tries to, he tries to deal with these idiotic foreigners for a little bit. And then he finally loses his temper and says, do you speak English? And I think that's a laugh line. I thought there was a scene where the kids are trying to watch TV and it's all in French. Oh, yeah, there is. They have it's a wonderful life on. Yeah, yeah. And it's in French.

And it's like, oh, fuck. The worst way you can experience that. Look, how stupid this is. I will say in that opening scene. where they're all running around and getting ready and just shredding this fucking seven year old for being a fucking idiot and being like

you can't pack your own bags you stupid piece of shit what are you seven Joe Pesci the burglar is brazenly casing the joint by dressing as a cop and standing in their entryway and it is the least anyone

has ever paid attention to a cop like it's just there's just I mean this I think is some thoroughly white shit where they're just like, ah, cops here. Oh, well, couldn't be... Come on in. Couldn't be us who are in danger. Oh, thank God. A cops here. We're safer.

Yeah, we're safer because of cops here. Yeah. It really is a pretty weak story, too, where he's just like so transparently casing the joint. Ah, you're going out of town, eh? All right. This is the adult bashing what I'm talking about.

Right, right, right. These adults are fucking idiots. Only Kevin knows that something's up here. I'm going to read you some notes from this first scene. I wrote Pepsi. Yes. I was a, so. I wrote Pepsi. The five,

the five-year-old. I was like there's something wrong with this family right off the fucking bat. Were you not a Pepsi family? I was a Pepsi family. Oh, my God, really? Did you brush your crass too? We were like a Colgate Coca-Cola family. No, we were, I don't, I don't think we had any loyalty on toothpaste brands, but we, I, I think it was me driving the

Pepsi thing. I just like, I think I liked that there was blue in the logo. I like the logo better. I was a big Michael Jackson fan. Well, I was a, I was a, we were Coke people, but I also like just, just noticed like Pepsi obviously, you know, product placement was, was in this.

I can't believe they had to go with little Neros instead of like dominoes, you know, because the pizza did kind of look good, to be honest. Yeah. Oh yeah, I wrote down 20 pizzas for $122. Yeah. But do you also think because, right, Kieran Colkin plays Fuller, the younger cousin.

Yeah. Where they're like, he's drinking Pepsi, he's going to pee the bed that in my mind, I really have a strong connection with Pepsi and pissing the bed. Like, for whatever reason, I'm like, bro, I don't know, man. If you drink Pepsi, you're going to piss the bed. Wow. Pepsi didn't fucking go through the movie. Fucking Fuller. Buckminster Fuller ass. I did wet my bed at two late, like, probably like seven.

I wet my bed after going to a party and drinking like so much soda. and I've always I've always wondered if it had something to do it like you know sugar like kind of will make you not go to the bathroom but then like all that liquid is released later or something I don't know I haven't quite figured it out I haven't cracked through that event huh yeah you're still trying to work that were you at a sleep is out of sleepover no no it was like we were at a family party oh then he came home so many sodas you're just ripped dude you just gotten ripped at a family party, come home, he pissed the bed, dude. Come on, man. Taylor's oldest time. That's American too. Like, you know, like, thinking about some one time you pissed the bed and still trying to think of an excuse, like, 50 years later. Like, that's so, I don't

know if it was like the sugar, you know. Everything in America's fear is a failure. Every human function is like, I wasn't doing that all the time when I was seven. That's why I was like, kind of interesting. It was too much sugar. I only did that once. The sugar, let me drag all the sugar. It is wild how, like, I don't think

many people let kids drink Pepsi or Coke, like at age five these days, you know? No, not in Biden's America. Yeah, no, exactly. So Pepsi, no phones, educated children, friendly cop, huge amount of electricity, middle class, 20 pizzas, $122, America's dumb attitude toward other countries, and then I wrote Christmas with the Trump's. which Donald Trump probably his most famous media hit

up to The Apprentice was his appearance in Home Loan, too. Wait, did you write down? So they got 20 pizzas for 100. That's what that pizza order was. No, I don't know. 10 pizzas, but it was a lot of pizzas. 10 pieces for $120.

So $12 per pizza. But they're like, what the fuck? This is highway robbery. But I think pizza is probably the same price now. It's just that wages are so low. Or wages are, no, sorry. What am I saying? Pizza is higher.

Yeah. Like, you'd never be able to get way higher and wages would be the same probably. You could find a $12 pizza, though. You know what I mean? Like, you can get a little Caesars, you know, like a hot ready. Not for the little Nero's. That place is high end, top-not shit. And the delivery people drive it to you shit-faced, it would appear.

I do, the electricity, how brightly lit the houses are, is such a good call. Like, I still remember. That's the thing I remember. about the fake party he throws with a cutout Michael Jordan is like every house in every light in the house is like turned on the place is fucking glowing like a Christmas tree and it just seems so happy it is a celebration of just burning electricity as much as you can absolutely it's you know like we didn't know much about climate or anything like that so yeah just run your incandescent bulbs because like that shit probably cost a lot too when you think about how

energy and efficient that is, but their flexes all around. The pizza guy treated like kind of a dipshit when we first see him. I could, I can never read, do you guys think he's being sarcastic when he says, nice tip? He kind of delivers it as like, I've always taken it.

I thought it, yeah, I know, because it totally could be bad acting, but I always thought I was being a dick. Yeah, it seems like he's being an asshole. I thought they were just trying to establish that these people were generous. I thought that's what it was here to be. Yeah, but the acting's bad. He, yeah, and he's an asshole. But then Kevin later makes him think that he's about to be murdered, which like with no real justification other than like, I guess he needs to eat.

But again, they're just like, hey, he's a fucking stupid pizza delivery, man. Who gives a shit? Well, why did the pizza guy keep running into that lawn jockey? And why was there a lawn jockey? Yeah, but why was there a lawn jockey? I mean, even in 1990, lawn jockeys were. Let me just see what he says from the. It's just nuts.

How come I to bring more cheese pizzas? Nice tip. Thanks a lot. Thanks. He might be serious, actually. Yeah, he's just a bad actor. Yeah, it's supposed to be like a lot.

Thanks a lot. These people are using most of the resources of this country, but they tip well. Yeah. Every light in the whole fucking house is on at all times. Everything in there. I mean, like the art department loaded it up too much. Like, it had everything in there.

Increasingly, that will be what people notice about this movie, like, as we get further or further into a world where, like, you have to pay so much money for electricity because they're using it all on AI and shit, people are just going to be like, wow, wow. I think our department probably didn't mean to make them seem so rich. I think it probably just didn't look as abnormal back then. But yeah, I mean, it's just that thing that all media did was like, it was this very high level version of what normal was. So you're like, damn. You know, just like the same way on like TV shows, people, they're never going to, it's never going to actually reflect what the living conditions are for most.

Yeah, it was all with fulfillment. It was like friends or, you know, this is a John Hughes movie. Like, he's the same person who made Ferris Bueller's Day Off where like the kid you're supposed to, the two kids you're supposed to like identify with as like the protagonist of the movie are like incredibly well. That's true. Like it'd be any richer. Yeah. Like Cameron's house. I'm like, what the fuck?

Yeah. are your parents they fucking own black rock or something but his dad his dad has to work really hard so he's like not always there black rock back then he probably his dad probably is owned a gas station yeah like the economy was so different like it was like there were no billionaires around they were just like there was so much less resentment i i am old enough to remember that like i mean you you knew these kind of people were rich but you didn't necessarily want to burn their fucking house down because they weren't to your disenfranchisement they weren't like they hadn't quite figured out the monopolies were still building you know we're at the moment where they've all

like fully bloomed you know but back then like there was such a thing as a middle class that sort of was happy enough that they didn't want to strangle these people when they delivered their pizza like they would knock over their lawn jockey but they put it back up for real you know what I mean like right now they'd piss on the long jockey after they fucking knocked it on fire and also they should be pissy on lawn jockeys because lawn jockeys are racist and I didn't understand why they wanted to establish this family who was racist right out of the gate Because that's one of the first things that happens. It's supposed to be wacky.

And I just couldn't figure out if it was a statement, but I don't think it was any kind of statement. I think it was just supposed to be somebody hitting a lawn jockey. These idiotic wage workers, they're knocking over my lawn jockey. Yes. It wasn't just him. Do you know how much I paid for that lawn jockey? You know how much I paid for this airport shuttle van?

Yeah, but those people could go back to their part of town and, like, have a fucking potluck and everybody could get laid and smoke cigarettes or whatever. And they were not that mad at the electricity gobblers. Sure, sure. across town and we're going to France because they thought they were idiots anyway because they're like, who needs France when we got this keg of beer and these cigarettes? So I just think like this show, this movie, this whatever, it shows stability. You know, it's exaggerated, but there was, you know, unless you'd, I mean, of course you have

to factor in like it's never for white people, I guess I would say. Everybody in this movie is white. So I'm, you know, as far as white people went, things were definitely more stable for white people in 1990. Yeah, and I think just general, the class consciousness, to your point broadly, also just wasn't really there in that sense either. It's like, some people are rich and some people. It's just wish fulfillment.

It doesn't take away people's fucking ability to pay rent. It's on. You know, you take away, if someone can pay the rent, even and have a dart board, you know, they're going to be okay. You know, they can afford a house and a, yes, they need a house, a dart, you know, an apartment doesn't even have to be a house. Just something they can pay off without losing their shit. shit, you know, and enough money, you know, then you have, you know, you can have those kinds

of relationships where you don't want to just, you know, knock these people out. But now, like the airport shuttle guy, if somebody makes a joke about the mileage, probably fucking abandons the wheels, starts jumps in the back seat and starts trying to fucking kill everybody. Or just jump out the driver's seat on PCH and be like, good luck. Yeah, something. You know what I mean? And then people would be like, man, society's gone downhill. I remember when he used to be able to make jokes to these wage workers and they didn't go berserk. But that's what was his problem? It's not their fault. Yeah, it's not their fault. It's just that they're hanging by a

fucking thread now. All right. So the next section of plot. If there's anything, so now Kevin's been left behind. He's like, what the fuck happened? Kevin wakes up to find the house empty and the family car is still in the garage, unaware that they had rented vans from poor people to take them to the airport. Thinking that his wish has come true, he's overjoyed with his newfound freedom. Later, Kevin becomes frightened by his eccentric next-door neighbor, old man Marley, rumored to be a serial killer, nicknamed the South Bend Shovel Slayer,

who murdered his own family. The McAllister home is soon stocked by the wet bandits, Harry and Marve, a pair of burglars who have been breaking into the other houses in the neighborhood where the families are on vacation. Kevin tricks them into thinking that his family is still home, forcing them to postpone their plans to rob the McAllister house. the shot where they like go up to break into the back door and he turns on the light and they're like, hey, someone's here. Let's get out of here. And scurry away is like that. I just remember

seeing that in so many like alarm system commercials where it was like, you know, lights that turn on. Like it's, I feel like they created a genre of like alarm system commercials. Like that's exactly how every burglar dressed that just like the knit cap with. Yeah, right. Even if it wasn't wintertime, Crowbar. You have to have a crowbar. You've got to have a knit cap. You've got to be wearing all black.

Yeah. That's the way a hipster's dress now. Yeah, exactly. That's the way DJ's dress. DJ's dressed like burglars. Wet bandit core. That's what the kids are doing these days. Yeah, the old man Marley thing. When you first saw the film, old man Marley, I remember being like, oh, this guy's a

fucking murderer. Like, I remember that. You were for the ride. Yeah, I'm sick. I'm like, this guy's a fucking sick murder and he killed his family. And look what he's doing. He does do a lot of, um,

just questionable decisions to just glare at children while standing there without saying anything as they scream and run away from him. He doesn't, he doesn't, uh, and then when you see him later, when he finally explains himself, he's like,

Hey, hello. How did you come over here, young man. What do you see? Yeah, less dramatic pauses, buddy. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Don't give kids a thousand yards stare for the holidays. I do. That guy is me.

Like I'm like, I felt bad for that guy because I was like, this is me. I'm that guy with the shovel at this age, not when I watched. I mean, I never saw it. At this age right now, I'm like, I'm like that, they better stop yelling at that guy. He's probably got some stuff going on. The neighborhood kids all have legends about you. Yeah, exactly. The only difference with me is I talk immediately and a lot.

It turns his victims into cold brew and he drinks it. Yeah, yeah. But I'd be like, no, I don't. but that guy I felt bad for yeah because I was like this is more of this shit or the other you know othering of like you know I mean sure he was like acting creepy but still it's just like all these things that used to be innocent now I'm like oh teach people to be afraid of old guys yeah adult bashing is what I call it of the high I stand for it old people are creepy yeah yeah oh great well that's half your life so have a nice time everybody Chris, any loose notes up until the point where the mom realizes Kevin is gone? No, I've got some thoughts about the mom at the airport, but we can get to that. We're going to get to that then. Other than that, just the shoveler, I wrote down, the shoveler guy is sowing fear of the other.

Pertheses, the poor or the elderly. Hell yeah, dude. So then Kate McAllister realizes mid-flight that Kevin was left behind. and upon arrival in Paris, Kate plans to return home immediately due to Kevin being home alone. Kevin! That also burned in it. Kevin! But the family discovers that all flights of the next two days are booked and that the phone lines are still down back home in Chicago.

How whimsical. The phone lines are down. No way to contact that part of the world. Oh, well. I guess people just died. Like, it's just terribly fucked up ways when the phone lines went down. You like these, like, really odd ways. I can tell you about that.

You want a fucking story about that, man? You have an actual story about the phone line's drink? You just drink. Oh. Yeah. And when the phone lines are up, you also drink. Yeah, right. What if Kevin had gotten shit-faced the second his parents were gone?

Oh, my God, right? He was pretending with that after shave. I'm surprised he didn't find like a bottle of drambouy or something. He was a very whimsical. I know people I've met in A.A. You started drinking when they were eight. He was a very whimsical, eight-year-old or whatever. I know.

Just very clean living, popcorn and singing Bimbing Crosby. Yeah, traumatic brain. injuries he could put due to adults with paint cans. The one example of like middle class people being fucking idiots and terrible at their job that I feel like this movie might nail is the police being completely helpless. They're so bad. There's like, all right. She says her kids home alone.

She also, again, like convenient inability to talk at certain points is just like my child is home alone instead of telling the whole detail of like he's definitely there right we are in like just explaining it she would just be like my child is home alone would you please go check on him is like not enough information you need to be like he's eight he's there all by himself right and the person just knocks on the door and then doesn't and then is like I don't know what this lady's talking about this is a completely empty house with all the lights on yeah yeah sometimes they got to do that yeah they got to do that in the movies yeah i mean i'm glad that they say less than they normally would yes i mean yeah i'm glad that they at least made the police look completely

incompetent at their job right so would not be the case for uh for a cop who was that's a documentary part of the yeah yeah right not not for this class of family though the this this story would have been on the local news the first night that they left like they would have been there would have been a candlelight vigil yes yeah everybody would have been If it was the south side of Chicago, they wouldn't have shown up at all. They wouldn't have shown up at all. Exactly. They wouldn't have been able to get through to the cops.

So we go back to the plot here. The phone lines are down. Peter and the rest of the family stay at his brother Rob's apartment in Paris while Kate stays at the airport in hopes of finding a seat on an outbound flight to Chicago more quickly. Kate is unsuccessful. She must have been stanky. But this was a wild part. Remember, this is a couple ticket trades later.

She's able to get to Dallas, Texas. That's where she is? Dallas, Texas? She convinces a couple to trade tickets to Dallas with her. And then she flies to Scranton and meets Gus Polinsky, John Candy. The only good blue-collar people in the movie. He's barely in it. He's in it so little. I was surprised.

They didn't give him much. He wasn't supposed to be in it, right? Yeah, he appeared in this movie as a favor to John Hughes, I guess in exchange for like Uncle Buck. and he like did his role in Home Alone he was paid like a little over $1,000 for like the Wikipedia is like in exchange for that he was allowed to improvise his whole like every one of his dialogue

I knew that fucking funeral story was improvised I know you could tell right yeah it is also interesting I just noticed it for the first time this time that she literally says like I would do a deal with the devil to go back and to get to Chicago go and that's when he like taps on her

shoulder. I was like they're kind of setting it up because she is like getting into a van with a bunch of men who like could do anything and they kind of set it up as if it could go in that direction where she's like I'll do a deal with the devil and then he's like

hey. Hey, hello. But then he's just John Candy. Yeah. That would be. I'm not the devil. And this movie was directed by your ghost, whatever is the last month made it. It would have become. What would be a horror movie at that point. Everybody would be like, he's a genius.

Oh, my God. Oh, my God. This is the best movie I've ever seen in my life. Look what a mother's desperation. He changed tone with no warning. He's a genius. I fucking saw that movie, Bagonia, and I want to, oh, God. I hated that fucking movie so much.

I haven't seen it. Holy fuck. Well, if I'd known that guy directed the Lobster, I would never would have walked in the theater. I just didn't know. The Lobster made me madder than almost anything in the world. I don't think the best thing he's made is his dog tooth. If you've ever seen dog tooth, anyway,

Pugonia made me mad because it was one of those things where it's like a surprise ending or whatever. After you go through a whole movie where you're supposed to be, you think you're supposed to be learning something. Anyway, well, what did you learn about Kate McAllister? You said you had a couple notes about the mother at this point. White ladies trying to make their problems

into other people's problems. A little pandemic preview. I demand, I demand that the supply chain work for me immediately. Amazing. She just happens, like, I feel like the way the writers

were thinking of it is like she's using everything on her. She's like being resourceful to like get back. She's trading her earrings and a Rolex and all these different things to these people for their tickets. And it's like, yeah, but she like has fucking $1,000

earrings and a Rolex. and like all this shit on her. Right. Yeah. She's able to make it work, you know? Yeah. I need a plane ticket right now because of a mistake that I made. Oh.

You fuckhead. Who do I need to talk to to fix my timeline? Anyway, that's the dark. I mean, and then as it's just to mention, though, at the end of this movie, I could see watching it again because it does have a comfort food sort of quality to it that I did not pick up on while I was analyzed. it because I was analyzing it and seeing capitalism and all this stuff. But also I did understand why, you know, it is like a way of like accessing the American dream through a VCR, you know? Yeah.

No, I think that's especially now, as I become an adult, it's truly just to regress and like go to some other, like to feel six. And I knew fuck all about how fucked everything was. Yeah. It's sort of like where you land. Let's take one more break. All right. then we'll come back we'll get to the uh murder house part of the uh oh baby of the movie and uh and then

some trivia and yeah i forgot about that's fucking insane go ahead we'll be right that i'm stephen curry and this is gentleman's cut i think what makes gentlemen's cut different is me being a part of you know developing the profile of this beautiful finished product with every sip you get a little something different. Visit gentlemen's cut bourbon.com or your nearest total wines or Bevmo. This message is intended for audiences 21 and older. Gentleman's Cut Bourbon, Boone County, Kentucky.

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He can see right through me. Listen to Crimless on the IHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Dad had the strong belief that the devil was attacking us. Two brothers, one devout household, two radically different paths. Gabe Ortiz became one of the highest-ranking law enforcement officers in Texas. 32 years, total law enforcement experience. But his brother Larry, he stayed behind and built an entirely different legacy.

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and how two lives can drift so far apart and collide in the most devastating way. Listen to the Brothers Ortiz on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, I'm Nora Jones, and I love playing music with people so much that my podcast called Playing Along is Back. I sit down with musicians from all musical styles to play songs together in an intimate setting. Every episode's a little different, but it all involves music and conversation

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or wherever you get your podcasts. and we're back we're back this is kind of like an equalizer shaped movie i don't know if you've seen the denzil movie equalizer but it's it's basically the same thing where you like see this person like you know developing like teasing at their skills a little bit right uh throughout and then in the final like 30 minutes you get to see them pull it all together into just like a fucking murder gauntlet for the bad guys. You see it with the fake party. He can hook gadgets up

to make it look like people are moving around. He knows how to use firecrackers to scare a poor pizza delivery guy with an old-timey gangster movie. And now like, yeah, he's putting it together. So it's Christmas Eve at this point. Harry and Marve now realize that it is only freaking

Kevin in there. It's just a little kid in there. And Kevin overhears... I think he's been tricked by a kindergartener. He overhears them. Yeah, disgusting. plans to break into their house that night, he starts to miss his family and ask the local Santa Claus impersonator if he could bring them back for Christmas. Kevin attends a church choir performance, eventually re-encountering Marley, who proves the rumors about himself to be false.

Marley points out, he proves himself to be a very charismatic murderer. Yeah, exactly. No such thing as a murderer who makes himself seem nice and warm and cuddly. But he also points out, he goes, hey, you see that girl there? That's my granddaughter in the choir. And I never met her since I am estranged from my son and Kevin's like oh you should probably figure that out man with your kid I don't know I'm about to go fuck these guys up so now sorry I got to go kill some guys yeah I got to go fucking try and kill these two fucks this is I think the the scene of the movie it's not the most memorable scene definitely wasn't the one I liked the best as a kid but like the two performances by old man Marley and McCauley Calkin in the church are really

good. Like, that scene really fucking works. It's very heartfelt, for sure. Yeah, it's very heartfelt. And, like, it's the one, like, like, McCauley Calkin's performance for the rest of the movie is a lot of just being like, look surprised, Kevin. Okay, look surprised again. Yes. Yeah. And I mean, do, do like a yes. But that one, he, you know, it's like the precocious part of his character, but like, you kind of believe it. And he's pretty cute. Uh, so. that's a good scene so he gets home and that was for you that was jack sorry that was the scene that for you that was like um martin sheen and uh marlin brando and apocalypse now yeah exactly

those two heavy weights at the top of their game yeah throwing haymaker uh it was the one that definitely uh i thought it was like oh this i i see why this is like a christmas class it's why mccallie got the oscar yeah yeah exactly it's why he should he was robbed he was so the booby trap scene comes now kevin returns home rigs the house with handmade booby traps harry and marv break in spring the traps and suffer various injuries i love this distillation of this entire segment of the film various injuries and then kevin calls the police and lures a duo into a neighboring house that had previously been broken into harry and marv ambushed kevin to prepare to get their revenge and then marley intervenes the house the booby trap scene the

But the suspense that builds when he's like, it's time to fuck these guys up and I'm going to turn my house into a kill room. And the music that's playing there where it's like, it's rock, Harold of the Bells, isn't it? And then they like start the drums come in and it really gets you pumped up. Something I noticed this time was that it's 8 o'clock when he leaves the church and he hasn't said any of the booby traps and they're coming at 9. in reality he would have just been murdered murdered while he was like setting the fucking micro machines

have you seen a kid try to use yeah have you seen a kid try to use tools earnestly there's no fucking way but it is also as when I was seven that is the amount of time I would have given myself and that I would have just gotten

a hour gotten fucking bludgeon to death as I was setting the Christmas ornament It's up by the window. Dude, what the fuck is this crap, man?

At 9.15. Hold on. This is the paint can. You'd throw the paint can, but you don't know how to tie a knot. So it just falls right off the string. And you're like, fuck. Yeah. All right.

Just bludging me. Chris, your notes for everything up until this point were the various injuries, the ingenious engineering feats. Oh, I wrote was, here's what I wrote on this. This is, this is, I'm starting to fall off at the end here. Macaulay has Lipstick on the whole movie What cut did you see? Paint cans

Equal FMW death match wrestling And that was I was just into death match wrestling In the 90s And I was thinking it appealed to the same You know It appeals to the same like you know

It was only a few years A few years later That wrestlers were literally getting hit in the head With paint cans and stepping on nails So I thought that But aside from that I just thought that I realized that the burglars were the good guys and they were Antifa and that these guys deserve to get their hands on this money and electricity.

And McCauley, for some reason, is a damn Jedi. Yeah. And, you know, just humiliates them even though they were the good guys. And in the sense that he can control them, control their brains, so they go the exact route that he wanted them to in every case. In this exact sequence. The nail. That was when I realized how hard.

The nail is the one. The nail is the one. I was just going to say which one sticks with you the most. And while the one with the blow torch that could have easily just killed him. That's insane too. Yeah. Like, unless it was not, if it was tipped down 5%, it would have murdered him. Even if you burn all your hair off, you'd be out of business.

I mean, you would nail it is by far the most visceral one. Like, I don't know if they do something with the sound effect, but his like foot goes down into it slowly. and you like hear a little something and then uh daniel stern's reactions physical performance i it has to be said daniel stern's physical reactions are pretty amazing in the film like he sells so much it was like eyes crossing and it's just his like screaming yeah uh for me honestly the paint can is the one that i remember when i like rewatched it again when i was like 19 yeah i was like dude that would have because like i think at the time i was really into jackass type shit and like hurting myself for fun and seeing that I was like dude no you you would die you

die like I remember I have this really odd realization because I'd lived enough life like that's not actually really that should have killed them and I don't know that was actually not cool of Kevin is yeah for some reason the paint can has not bothered me because every paint can that we ever had at our house would be half empty and also dented so it seems like it was like made of like I don't know it was like soft don't like don't think of a full paint can like you know what I mean right

yeah yeah yeah a full paint can that's I've never been hit with one of those also you must you must you simply must you must we used to get fucked up in Kentucky I guess I was just wondering yeah how much of an influence I didn't think of jackass but whether this scene influenced

death match wrestling or jackass like I mean they were the right age to see it And be like, what if we did that to each other all day long every day until Steve O went to rehab? I'm also just thinking of like when was a film giving you this kind of like stunt shit with like like gag injuries? You know what I mean? Like it was pretty wild in this. Like I remember half the appeal too was like, dude, he fucks these guys up pretty bad. Yeah, yeah.

Like the guy's burning his hand. He's getting his head blow torched off. He's taking paint cans to the face. Like I don't, I'm, I can't think. of a thing before that, that was anything like that in terms of like the physical antics. I mean, it was Tom and Jerry. It was like cartoons. Sure, sure, sure. Yeah, yeah.

Which it's interesting that like the first entertainment that they made for kids, they were just like, well, I'll tell you what kids want to see. They want to see two people like just beating the living shit out of each other. They'd die, but they don't die from their injuries. Yeah. And then

it became like not cool for a while. And then they were smart to bring it back, I think. Yeah. So then Christmas Day comes, Kevin is initially disappointed after waking to find that his family is still gone. However, Kate arrives home a few minutes later and they

reconcile. The rest of the family then returns only a few minutes after that, having waited in Paris for a direct flight to Chicago. Kevin keeps silent about his encounter with Harry and Marv. Although Peter finds Harry's knocked out gold tooth, Kevin then happily

watches Marley reuniting with his family. That's the other thing. we don't talk about was the cleanup. The cleanup. Yeah, he's got some cat in the head in him that he's able to like set things up and clean things up incredibly quickly. Yeah. I thought that the dad after he was like, hey,

what's this with the gold tooth was going to be like, are you fucking cheating on me? Oh, yeah. Oh my God. Is this fucking Rick's? Is this Rick's fucking tooth? That's a whole other sequel. Yeah, that's right. Because you're right.

Who's gold tooth is this? Hey, who's fucking gold tooth is this. When did you get home? I will say Joe Pesci and McCauley Calkin didn't get along on the set. Joe Pesci was pissed because they had to like

get there or like start shooting at 7 a.m. in the morning because like the rules are like the kid can't shoot too late. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. That doesn't work for me. I like I golf every morning. I got to get nine holes in. And it's just funny. It's like

you read about it and it's like the subtext is basically like the set wasn't big enough for these two egos. Like Joe Pesci was like threatened and like annoyed that he wasn't allowed to cuss on the set and stuff. But when you think about the spread

of like classics from this period that Joe Pesci wasn't because they tried to give this role to De Niro and then John Lovitz and then Pesci was the third choice. But he had Home Alone Goodfellas, you know, my cousin Vinnie,

like he was really he was on a heater yeah okay my cousin Vinnie come on Jack lethal weapon three lethal weapon he just like shows up and is like you know

suddenly a big okay okay okay okay that's just again you know okay you remember I saw that movie there you go Chris I don't know what kind of movies I was making exceptions for but I saw lethal weapon three

I think it makes sense because you're like yeah that looks like it's for adults I wouldn't see a kid's movie yeah I mean there's no reason there's a lot of movies I did see that were aimed at adults that, like, Forrest Gump, I mean, that I didn't see, like, Forrest Gump, that was something I was supposed to see. But this would have been crazy for me to take time out from, you know, Fugazi to see Home Alone.

Right. I was in a really weird place, yeah. What I was thinking about, you know what, movies just like this fucking movie, which was a great movie. At least I remember, I mean, I saw this movie when I was young. Risky Business. Yeah. It's like the same story as risky business, except. It is risky business. Except instead of, like, you know, having a popcorn party, he had sex with a sex worker.

And that's like, that's more my kind of movie, you know? More poetry. Right. Some deep shit. Doesn't risky business take place in Chicago also? I feel like it's like it could be in the same neighborhood. Again, it's just like rich kid gets to be alone. I just never thought about it.

It's the same fucking movie. Ferris Bueller's Day off. Yeah, yeah. It's the same movie except they just. crack he cracks that egg you know they find the crack in the egg what if this rich kid actually had some freedom it's like and those risky business parents were more realistic as far as the kind of parents that would have a house that was that opulent because they were they were truly frightening whereas like to have the kind of money that macaulay's parents had these guys were pretty

benevolent you can't i mean i was just like everything in there like you're just looking at man you know they got a rhododendrum every three feet they got they got uh you know every god damn pillows fluffed every damn I mean each room is just a page of consumerism and then the parents are have a sense of humor and those two things do not go together um normally unless they won their money from a lottery or you know something like that I would imagine then they'd be nice but I do think to your point about capitalism and like consumerism being like ultimately the main message of this it is interesting that when everybody gets home and they're like Kevin it's it's pretty cool you didn't burn the house down man uh because that would fucking suck yeah that's all

that's all the other thing that like literally stops like everybody stops and is like hmm when they're like uh honey we got to go get milk because uh honey the milk's gonna be spoiled and uh kevin kevin's like uh i went chopping i got milk and tied detergent and everyone's like i didn't even think about that you're the best dude they're like kevin he did food shopping, the ultimate consumerism. Yeah. Yeah. But it's also, you know, consumerism is the best thing that you can

possibly do. Go to the grocery store. The promise of capitalism is that you, you know, everything in this movie is like, oh, this is it. This is your dream. Here you are, the dream. And you're so fully been fucked over into caring about products that you forget your own child. Right.

Yeah. I mean, it's really a cautionary tale of all. It's a tragedy. It's a terrible tragedy. My child is the product. When they get on the plane, and they're, like, I did notice an 80-yard line where they're like, okay, kids, you're in coach, we're in first class. The parents are in first class, and the kids go back into coach, which like, so you're

right. Like, this is symbolic of an overall, like, part of how they parent, which is like, out of sight, out of mind. You know what I'm saying? The fuck out of here. And I am obsessed with that. And I didn't think of this. I mean, I think of this movie is probably not really thinking that deeply about these things.

They were probably just making a movie to some extent. You know, 1990 things were like it was looking like maybe it is possible for, you know, all of us to coexist while some of us have all the electricity. They might have really thought that that was possible because it didn't seem possible at that time. It didn't. It was not as dark as it is now. So you just didn't. But yeah, the idea like those relationships. those sort of relationships, like as long as you can keep the food and the products coming,

then you can basically get away with all this. Yeah, you don't have to see each other. But then what happens is I do think a lot about people like Tucker just because they ended up being so powerful and so empty. And it's because they really were. And these are the people I grew up with who were left behind when their parents went on vacation. And they had all their needs met.

like they had often had servants that took care of them like for real this is a level of shit I grew up and that's why I thought our house looked like shit our house was a normal house but I was like we live in a shack you know because we didn't have servants or a you know whatever a prototype microwave or one of these fucking people I went over to their house they had um you know whatever the shit they had but anyway it's realistic part of this movie by the way is that they don't have like a nanny or a maid you know like that would have fucked up the plot but yeah sure would have yeah but that Then the problem is, like, yeah, you get these, you know, it turns out a kid needs more than a nanny and, you know, whatever they had in that house, a big fat couch or whatever and a big TV. Like, a kid needs more than that. You can't, and then the kid ends up like this McCauley guy, this character probably ended up being a right wing monster when he grew up because maybe the family's fortune went away and he didn't know who to blame and he had no resources inside because his own mother forgot him on a vacation. And anyway, but, you know, this is what I bring to the table. This reminds me of, and you can maybe cut this as maybe too, I hate saying it, but it's like, I saw this kid at an ice cream store, like, throwing a tantrum, like, and his dad was like, get him the ice cream that he wants, get him. He's like three years old. And he's like, the kid was like throwing sample spoons on the floor and stuff. And, and I went and did stand up that night and I said, listen, I saw this kid, you know, and his dad kept going, get him another flavor. Get him another flavor. Oh my God. Oh my God. You know, and, and, and, and, and, and, And I was like, you know, if you, if you never say no to a kid, especially a male kid, when do you think the first time he hears no is going to be?

Right. Yeah, right. You know, dead serious, right? And then the host came up and said, ladies and gentlemen, Chris Crofton, some people see a three-year-old, he sees a rapist. So, yeah, you probably have to cut that. But anyway, that's along the lines of, like, I can't ruin any party. It was like me going to Disneyland. It was remember when I told you about going to just,

I didn't go to Disney. I didn't do acid at Disneyland and it's a good thing because I would have ruined everybody's trip. Right, right, right, right. The Caribbean was like, you know, Jeff Bezos is anus or whatever, you know, like that. Yeah. Because I'm a spoiler.

Yeah. Just a couple of stray things that you learn from the Wikipedia page. The old gangster movie, which I always assumed as a kid was a real old gangster movie. That's probably the best piece of filmmaking in the movie. They like went and got old cameras and old. film stock and shot that. That was the last thing they shot before they started actual production. And it does

like come across as an old movie. Like that wasn't a real old movie? No, it wasn't a real old movie. They shot it just for this, but they actually like kind of nail the look of like old gangster movies. Which I will say that we owed this movie to Chevy Chase being a complete asshole because Chris Columbus was actually

supposed to be making National Lampoon's Christmas vacation when this movie filmed. But Chevy Chase was such an asshole that he quit that and became available to make Home Alone. Wow. Yeah. So that's the reason that we get Chris Columbus, who is, I think, the perfect

person to make this movie, you know? Like, he, just like his sensibility is like so right down the middle. For sure. I think one of the big reasons that this became so popular and iconic is because it was one of the first videos that was sold.

There was like a big war of like we, you know, we shouldn't sell videos because that'll ruin movies and like theater going things so we can only rent them and like so only a few movies were sold and this was the second highest selling video of all time behind ET like so they I think Disney sold movies every once in a while but it was like kind of rare and this was one of the first ones that was like sold wide and like everybody owned it and then it's Gerald Ford's favorite movie for some reason old old dipshit ex-president

And it was like, this fucking movie rules. That looks like my house. Oh, my God. Just pissing himself laughing. I remember my parents left me behind for four weeks, but that was on purpose. And then this blew my mind. They wanted to audition a person who's like a famous comedian now after seeing him in a sketch comedy show, like a children's sketch comedy show. But his parents wouldn't let him.

Do you know who that young man is? No. John Mullaney. They wanted John Mullaney to audition for the McCulley call him. And then his parents were like, no, no thanks. Holy shit. Yeah. John Mullaney.

No, that's a fucking weird timeline. Yeah, that would be a weird timeline. Also, I don't think the movie where like just he still has the energy of like kind of a wise ass little kid. But like I feel like not the right type of wise ass little kid. And also if he was, if he had a cocaine problem as an adult, I know, a child actor like that we would, John Mullaney would not be here. Yeah, that's all I got for Home Alone.

Oh, holy shit. Chris Crawston, thank you for watching Home Alone for us. No problem. It was fun. I, I, um, I'm living in this house with all these roommates and, um, so it's like, uh, I normally don't have a laser projector or whatever the fuck they are. Those, what was projectors? Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

So I got to watch it on this big, one of my roommates has like a big. Nice. Yeah, like we projected, I projected it on the wall, so I got a good look at all this opulence. All that electricity. Yeah. Yeah, it was really fun, and it was really fun. And, yeah, I actually did have affection for it. After it was done, I kind of wanted to go back in that house.

Yeah, it pulls you back in that house. Well, we'll be back for another edition of this when Miles and I watch a Christmas classic that Chris has seen and that we've never seen. You both never seen. It's a wonderful life. both never seen it's a wonderful life yeah so i mean i know that it's i've i knew that it was on tv and i'm even like what the fuck no bro it's black and white yeah that's immediately i do i go what the fuck i that makes sense to me yes totally if it's so good why is it in black and white merry christmas merry christmas everyone and we'll be back uh sorry happy holidays happy holidays

happy holidays fucking woke thank you we're not saying merry christmas here no no no no no no Don't you know, Chris. Chris, don't you know? Donnie will have you killed. I got to go to the Huffington Post. I got to check the Huffington Post. All right. We'll be back tomorrow with another holiday episode or back on the next weekday.

Until then, happy holidays. Bye, bye. Bye. The Daily Ziteguise is executive produced by Catherine Law. Co-produced by Bay Wang. Co-produced by Victor Wright. Co-written by J.M. McNabb. And edited and engineered by Brian Jeffries.

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Gentleman's Cut Bourbon, Boone County, Kentucky. For more on Gentleman's Cut Bourbon, please visit gentlemen's cuthuburn.com. Please enjoy responsibly. Hey, I'm Nora Jones, and I love playing music with people so much that my podcast called Playing Along is back. I sit down with musicians from all musical styles

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