The Great Outdoors

"This is no holiday… this is war!"

1988 1h 31m EN

😐

6.4

MID

🥫

44%

ROTTEN

😬

METACRITIC

⭐

6.6

IMDB

★6.4TMDB · 644🥫44%Rotten Tomatoes●24Metacritic★6.6IMDB · 55,457

Comedy

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

It's vacation time for outdoorsy Chicago man Chet Ripley, along with his wife, Connie, and their two kids, Buck and Ben. But a serene weekend of fishing at a Wisconsin lakeside cabin gets crashed by Connie's obnoxious brother-in-law, Roman Craig, his wife, Kate, and the couple's two daughters. As the excursion wears on, the Ripleys find themselves at odds with the stuffy Craig family.

“This is no holiday… this is war!”

WhatsApp X Facebook Telegram

Where to watch · US

NetflixSubscription

YouTube TVSubscription

Netflix Standard with AdsSubscription

Amazon VideoRent

Apple TV StoreRent

Google Play MoviesRent

Google Play MoviesBuy

YouTubeBuy

Fandango At HomeBuy

Cast

Dan Aykroyd
Roman Craig
John Candy
Chet Ripley
Stephanie Faracy
Connie Ripley
Annette Bening
Kate Craig
Chris Young
Buck Ripley
Lucy Deakins
Cammie
Robert Prosky
Wally
Ian Giatti
Ben Ripley

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Howard Deutch
Writers: John Hughes
Languages: English
Countries: United States of America

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 7

ERA

Did you know

38 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 7

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Howard Deutch, shot by Ric Waite. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 7

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Thomas Newman. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 7

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Seth Flaum shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 7

CAST

Did you know

Dan Aykroyd and John Candy and Stephanie Faracy carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 7

FACT

Did you know

Marketing tagline: "This is no holiday… this is war!".

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 7

WILD

Did you know

IMDB entry: tt0095253 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Howard Deutch directs. Ric Waite behind the camera. Thomas Newman scores. Seth Flaum cuts. Runs lean at under 100 minutes. Profitable at the box office. Produced in United States of America. Dialogue in English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

138 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.
2Directed by Howard Deutch, shot by Ric Waite. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
3Original score by Thomas Newman. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
4Editor Seth Flaum shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
5Dan Aykroyd and John Candy and Stephanie Faracy carry the top of the cast.
6Marketing tagline: "This is no holiday… this is war!".
7IMDB entry: tt0095253 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
8Classified under 8 themes, including "attachment to nature", "holiday", "roommates", "wisconsin".

The technical file

Cinematography: Ric Waite
Original score: Thomas Newman
Editing: Seth Flaum
Production design: John W. Corso
Costume design: Marilyn Vance
Makeup / hair: Rob Bottin
Stunt coordinator: Walter Scott
Runtime: 91 min · 1h 31m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Budget: $24,000,000
Box office: $43,455,230
Return: 181% of budget
Original language: EN
Certification (US): PG
IMDB: The Great Outdoors (1988)
Rotten Tomatoes: 44% 🥫 Rotten
Metacritic: 24/100
IMDB rating: 6.6/10 · 55,457 votes
MPAA: PG

Also by

Howard Deutch

Stills · wallpapers

Selected frames

Full-resolution frames — open one to save it as a wallpaper.

Wallpaper

Trailers & featurettes

Watch the pieces

Community reviews

What people are saying

Kamurai2021-02-24
★ 4/10
Decent watch at best, probably won't watch again, but can recommend for those on a late-eighties nostalgia kick. Sometimes it is good to get in "The Way Back Machine" and see some of the movies that made people famous, and I liked Dan Aykroyd and John Candy. The duplicitous plot and character choices just didn't sit great with me. Having recently seen "Brother Nature", it is interesting to see a movie that could have inspired it. I think it would have been a lot better with John Candy as an overwhelmingly positive buzzkill and Aykroyd playing a family man. But Candy is sort of the family man of the late 1980s, and Aykroyd is the quintessential New York scumbag, and they do it well. I'd ultimately say it is worth the watch, but there are probably a dozen "back to nature" movies I could recommend in front of this one.
kevin20192024-08-02
★ 5/10
"The Great Outdoors" is only a moderately entertaining film, although it does feature the unforgettably spectacular sight of John Candy water skiing. The grizzly bear action also works well and there is always an enthusiastic energy about this film which every member of the cast effortlessly maintains, but in terms of John Hughes's output this entry is not one of his more memorable outings and some of it does feel like miscellaneous bottom drawer material that has so far gone unused until now. He has done a reasonable job of using such material - if this indeed happens to be the case - as the basis for a mildly amusing film which is as watchable as it is because of Dan Aykroyd and John Candy. They are the ones who keep you watching even though you know everyone involved in front and behind the cameras has done so much better work elsewhere.
Phills22026-08-08
★ 4/10
If you took a Vacation film and filled in the blanks with different character names and places, you'd have a movie like this. It has all of the same ingredients but the emotional feeling behind them is lost. John Candy could play the Griswold part, Dan Ankryd the Cousine Eddie part, a different girl plays Rusty's girlfriend he meets in Europe, and so forth. I don't even recognize who plays the part of John Candy's screen wife for this outdoor adventure, but she really looks terrible. The chance romantic meeting of their son, Buck, looks forced into the story.