MovieChat Forums > National Lampoon's European Vacation (1985) Discussion > DVD Commentary: one of the worst ever

DVD Commentary: one of the worst ever

posted 17 years ago by spane
40 replies | jump to latest

Was Chevy not phoning it in or what. Probably the worst commentary track I've ever seen. I like hearing anecdotes about filming, the story, plot, etc. The commentary for the original Vacation was a bit better but still nothing too great. For European Vacation is was long periods of silence with the occasional dumb comment like "I like this bit" from Chevy.

The Vacation movies are some of my all time favorites, but the commentary track is a huge thumbs down. What a disappointment.

[–] cosmos_No_04 15 years ago

True not that funny, but he made me laugh sometimes, though I listened to it only because it was listed as "Chevy chase AND Beverly D'angelo" commentating... funny I didn't hear her once in the commentary lol, dvd creators FAIL!

[–] 15 years ago

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[–] patkav6 14 years ago

Funny how some actors/directors remember things from 30 years ago. This movie is a dud and I really dislike it on many levels, which constitutes for a bad commentary, maybe. When there's a commentary on a failed movie I always listen for the reasons why, or what problems they had on set if any. The juicy stuff. Not on EV I guess.

Tarintino also co-comt. From Dusk till Dawn. He repeated things over and over! "This is great! Where else would you see this!!" type stuff. Not bad though.

Robert Rodriguez gives excellent tracks, informative, funny, he'll tell you everything! How they cut corners and fixed errors. Listen to the El Mariachi comt. Loaded with info on how he made it for basically no money.

[–] leobaylor 14 years ago

It was refreshing that he was so honest about the movie. Most just gush about how great their experiences were in making the movie. I agree with most of his criticisms.

[–] LadyLovie 13 years ago

it's been a long time since that movie was made. I'm sure he doesn't remember a lot about it.

\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\
& the dog says woof woof & the cat says meow.

[–] 13 years ago

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[–] schizoid_klown 12 years ago

The Thing also has one of the best commentaries I ever heard.

"Don't touch!" -- Clark W. Griswold

[–] shred-com 12 years ago

On the Friday the 13th Part 3 commentary from one of the box sets the lead actress was telling the others not to spoil the movie for the listeners 0_0 :/. There's alot of bad commentaries out there.

[–] scorpion-52 12 years ago

Maybe that was a joke.

[–] shred-com 12 years ago

No it wasn't. I believe she said it a few times and one of the other actors commented on it when she said it. I haven't listened to it for a while though. Still got some decent information from it though.

[–] mdek2112 12 years ago

Werner Herzog's commentary for Stroszek is one of my favourites in that it actually improves the movie by giving you all this interesting background information about the actors and locations used, and in doing so there's a much greater context for what goes on in the film

Big Gulps, huh? Alright. Well, see ya later!

[–] Meven_Stoffat 11 years ago

Try listening to one of John McTiernan's commentaries without nearly falling asleep.

[–] Drooch 8 years ago

What!? McT is fascinating, especially his Die Hard yak-track, one of the best out there, I've listened to it several times. His voice may sound like he's received a horse tranquilliser dart but it's kind of... relaxing.

[–] Gum_Bercules 10 years ago

Definitely a lazy attempt at commentary. There is no way he wouldn't remember some stories from working a three or four month world trip. And even if he couldn't, you would think he would at least have the decency to re-watch it and jog his memory and make some notes before he watches it again whilst recording the commentary.

And let's not forget, the man is alledgedly a comedian, so how is it possible that he is so slow witted and dull in this?

Goodnight, Springton. There will be no encore.

[–] FridayOnElmStreet 10 years ago

I enjoyed it.

[–] maixiu 10 years ago

The OP is correct, this is one of the more lifeless commentaries you'll come across. It's like Chevy was on the phone with someone else, chiming in on the movie only when there was a lull in his conversation.

Best commentary ever is Robert Zemeckis, Bob Gale, and Kurt Russell on Used Cars. The movie's a riot; the commentary takes things to another level.

[–] Fletcherj119 10 years ago

It seems that they have the commentator throw some headphones on and sit through the movie, with a microphone set up. Sometimes the commentator sits and watches the movie, saying very little.
Seems to me they should have them watch the movie twice and comment during the second viewing.

[–] Dan_Garten 10 years ago

They should've had a moderator.

[–] Fletcherj119 10 years ago

They probably didn't want to pay for one.

[–] parkpunk 9 years ago

Perhaps difficult because Chevy was by himself. I thought it was honest, humble, and self deprecating.

[–] andersb-36022 8 years ago

I haven't watched it with the commentary until last night. He is totally holding back. Such a shame because this is my favorite Vacation movie.

[–] Megan1988 (324) 7 years ago

I listened to the commentary for this movie for the first time last night, and I actually liked it. I liked hearing about his close friendship with Beverly D'Angelo, and how she calls him Sparky in real life, and the jokes he liked and didn't like, etc. I usually don't care much for commentaries with just one person doing it, but I liked this one.

[–] pepetoony (1780) 3 years ago

Could he have said "physical comedy" ONE MORE TIME???