Spoiler Alert. The ending to 1983’s National Lampoon’s Vacation was that Griswolds finally made it to Walley World and had an amazing time. However, that is not the original ending that they shot.
Today, Beverly D’Angelo shared with us the way the movie was supposed to end before the test audiences saw the film.
This is a still from the ORIGINAL ENDING of the first Vacation- that never made it into the finished film! Originally, when we found that Walley World was closed, the Griswolds go to Walley’s home and Clark holds him at gun point, demanding that he perform for us. Then, contented, we get on the plane and fly back home to Chicago- hence the airplane seats and hats in this photo. Roy Walley was played by the great song and dance man Eddie Bracken, and it was a great scene!
BUT. About four months after we wrapped, we were called back for reshoots. Producer Matty Simmons explained to me that audiences would be too let down if the Griswolds never made it into the park after all the catastrophes along the way. Harold Ramis brought in John Candy as the security guard we kidnap and you know the rest.
I wish they would’ve kept that scene as compared to the one we saw. It would’ve been more fitting to their failed road trip. Which one do you prefer?
