The well-known Home Alone Christmas comedy starring Macaulay Culkin with a key role for Joe Pesci presents the storyline as Kevin (Culkin) being accidentally left at home and the rest of the family doesn’t notice him missing until they arrive in France. Unbeknownst to anyone, the home has been targeted to be burglarized while the family is away in France. Burglars meet kid, and the comedy begins. Legends of fantasy float around all the time with classic movies, and one about Home Alone is that Uncle Frank, who was in France with the family, orchestrated the plot to burglarize the home prior to leaving. The legend began when it was discovered that many changes were made to the original script, and the original intention was to have Uncle Frank as the villain.
The theory is stupid on a number of levels.
First, the storyline itself is relatively simple. Family forgets kid. Burglars aren’t terribly bright but are inept. Kid outsmarts burglars. Family reunited. Where is room for Uncle Frank to be a major player in this straightforward reasoning? Who is supposed to be the star of the movie? And just who is Gerry Bamman? Some suggest that, after finding some deleted scenes of the movie, Uncle Frank was creepy is a piece of evidence that his involvement was possible. Even for a movie, the fact that someone is creepy does not mean they have criminal intent. Mysteries and episode after episode of Law & Order (especially SVU) are filled with creepy peeps who are innocent suspects.
Another thing, John Hughes who wrote the script says his inspiration for the film has zero to do with Uncle Frank or casting Gerry Bamman as a criminal mastermind. Questioning this simple truth is like creating a legend that Aaron Paul was cast to be the mastermind of Breaking Bad even though Vince Gillian said otherwise. Of course, you can find anything on the Internet if you look hard enough — or have enough friends who will promote the idea through blogs and posts.
The sad thing about this alleged legend is that even if it had a shred of credibility, it would change the entire storyline of the movie and demote Culkin and Pesci to lesser roles. In other words, given the way the movie turned out, why would we even care who masterminded the plot? Would the tone of the movie change if after the family arrived home Uncle Frank was led away in handcuffs? That tidbit would likely have changed the Christmas reunion theme and turned it from heartwarming to a Christmas SVU special.
One has to think that people who start these rumors/legends are wannabe writers who are either too lazy or are Writing 101 students (maybe Screenwriting 101) trying to get noticed. It is a condition that is easily forgivable since the current culture is all about face time. “Here I am!” “See me?!”
I am an optimist and believe these people can do better. As a suggestion, maybe they can take their legendary idea and write another version of Home Alone using a different storyline and tone. Uncle Frank can be cast by a known actor and you can cast someone like Iain Armitage as Kevin to make more room for creativity. Even if it is rejected by Hollywood, at least you won’t be accused of being unoriginal.
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