Talk:National Lampoon's Vacation Original Ending (1983)/@comment-6115903-20140701223710/@comment-76.221.162.208-20140729150546

Thanks for posting this. The whole script was recently taken off the internet. Reading this and a little imagination helps you picture how the original ending happened.

Man, I wish they would put the original ending in the dvd special features because I'd like to see the car all totaled when it arrives at the patio. Through the movie the car gets more and more damaged and it's like it's building up to a climax that it's not going to survive the trip. It's a brand new car that dies on it's first road trip after the salesman says it's a damn fine automobile. It's like the Titanic, a brand new ship that sinks on it's maiden voyage and after they say it's a good ship. It also gives a good reason why they fly home because they don't have a car, anymore. While in the second ending, they still have the car, it's not in good shape but they still have it and it's still alive.

Though it's not in the script, it has been said that in the original ending, the girl in the red Ferrari shows up at the mansion and she turns out to be Roy Walley's daughter! Small World! She convinces him to drop the charges against Clark.

After reading this, the original ending doesn't seem that bad to me. The biggest reason why the test audience didn't like it is because even though Roy Walley says he's going to open Walley World up for them, you never see it happen. I guess they could've done a little musical montage of the Griswalds, Roy Walley, his daughter, his business associates and the swat team all enjoying the park together. That would've made the test audience happy, I'm sure. But when they shot the original ending, they didn't even have a real amusement park on hand, it was all just a mat painting.

When they shot the second ending, which was very good, they still should've used the scene where the Griswalds are on the wrong plane.