An oral history of the original National Lampoon's Vacation ending you've never seen

Everett Collection Chevy Chase, Dana Barron, Beverly D'Angelo, and Anthony Michael Hall in the original ending from 'National Lampoon's Vacation'

National Lampoon's Vacation is one of cinema's classic road trip comedies. The 1983 film chronicles the cross-country journey of Clark Griswold (Chevy Chase), wife Ellen (Beverly D'Angelo), son Rusty (Anthony Michael Hall), and daughter Audrey (Dana Barron) for a family voyage to the world famous Walley World amusement park.

Setting out in the faux wood-paneled Wagon Queen Family Truckster, the Griswolds end up enduring all sorts of roadblocks — including a dead aunt, a dead dog, a harrowing encounter with Hamburger Helper, and an actual roadblock— en route to their final destination, only to discover when they finally arrive at the park that Walley World is closed for repairs.

The film ends with an enraged Clark buying a BB gun and then forcing a security guard (John Candy) at gunpoint to take the Griswold family on all the best rides — including the Screemy Meemy and the Whipper Snapper — where it is also learned that a BB gun can, in fact, break the skin. Eventually, the S.W.A.T. team arrives and arrests the family. However, Clark pleads his case to park owner Roy Walley (Eddie Bracken), who declines to press charges — leading to lots of hugs and a group ride on the roller-coaster.

But that's not how National Lampoon's Vacation originally ended. In the original finale, the Griswolds never enter Walley World at all. Instead, Clark and family go and confront Roy Walley at his house, demanding he entertain them after all their troubles making their way across 2,460 miles to get to his theme park. But when the original cut of the film was shown to test audiences, there was a problem.

"The audience was hysterical watching the film in our test market screenings all the way up to that moment," said director Harold Ramis (who died in 2014) in an old DVD commentary track that can also be found on the new 4K 40th anniversary release of the film. "And then they went strangely quiet and did not laugh again for the rest of the picture."

Explains Ramis on the commentary: "It occurred to me that they'd now invested about, oh, 70 minutes, 75 minutes, on the way to Walley World. And they really expected to get to Walley World. And here we were denying them the payoff to the whole trip."

With his otherwise hilarious film running out of gas, there was only one option before it hit theaters. "I asked John Hughes to write a new sequence where the family got to Walley World and Clark Griswold hijacks the park," says Ramis. "We cast John Candy in the part of the security guard, and that became the end sequence. We edited it, we attached it to the film, we tested it, and then the test marketing went through the roof at that point. When we followed the original script, it really took us nowhere. But then the rethink kind of saved the picture in a big way."

So what exactly happened in that original ending that has not seen the light of day since those pre-release test screenings? With the 40th anniversary of the July 29, 1983 release of National Lampoon's Vacation approaching, EW spoke to Anthony Michael Hall and Dana Barron to get the full scoop on what actually went down in the ending that nobody has seen in over 40 years — including the actors themselves.

Everett Collection Dana Barron, Beverly D'Angelo, Anthony Michael Hall, and Chevy Chase in the original ending from 'National Lampoon's Vacation'

Clark's original scheme

The unseen original final scenes begin after Clark goes to the sporting goods store and purchases a BB gun. But instead of heading back to Walley World, Clark heads straight to the top instead.

DANA BARRON: Chevy has his breakdown where he loses it and gets a BB gun.

ANTHONY MICHAEL HALL: The original ending was going to be Chevy as Clark Griswold, with me, Beverly, and Dana Barron. And basically, he has this ridiculous idea to kind of hijack Roy Walley.

BARRON: He wants Roy Walley entertainment fun, and he deserves it. So we go to his estate via the Star Map and we break down the gates or whatever to get in with the Truckster. I have a picture of me waving in the car in a koi pond, so I guess we crashed the Truckster into the koi pond.

HALL: The scene was basically Chevy breaking into his mansion. And Roy Walley — who is essentially Roy Disney — is having a lunch with his associates. And Chevy holds them hostage.

BARRON: And then Chevy with his BB gun makes all the associates and Roy Walley dance and sing for his Roy Walley entertainment.

HALL: It's a funny scene because there were a bunch of older gentlemen, they're all by the pool, and he pulls a gun on them.

BARRON: Obviously, Clark has his BB gun, which always has the price tag on it still with the string. And then the cops come in and the big ending is that he was going to arrest us, but then Chevy's like, "Well, you know what happened? We just drove across the country." And Roy's like, "I know what that's like with the smelly family and all." So he's like, "Oh, it's fine. Go to Walley World." But we never see us in Walley World — only Roy Walley, right at the end there.

HALL: Eddie Bracken played Roy Walley, and he was a wonderful character actor. He'd been around since the days of Preston Sturges' films in the '40s. He was a lovely man and a great guy. He was so funny and he was from that different era. Eddie and Chevy had great chemistry together.

BARRON: With the original ending, I just thought it was really fun to see them dancing around and being silly and twirling and doing their little jigs. That's what I remember about the original ending' just enjoying the Roy Walley entertainment.

HALL: It was really buffoonish and fun, because he's supposed to be having a beautiful lunch poolside with some other executives, and then, all of a sudden, Chevy barges in with the family and he's going to hold Roy Walley hostage until he opens the park.

BARRON: It was just in and out, holding them up, making them dance and sing, the cops coming in, Roy not arresting us, and then to the plane we go. That's it.

In plane sight

The forced poolside dancing at Roy Walley's house was not the only scene that was cut from the film. The film's actual ending screened for test audiences also showed the Griswolds on a plane — after a trip to the park that is never seen but alluded to. (Fun fact: The only vestige of the original ending that still exists in the film is the very last image of the movie, a still photo of the Griswold family on the plane with their Marty Moose Walley World ski hats.) But while the plane — necessitated by the Family Truckster crash into the koi pond — was supposed to take the family back hassle-free to Chicago, there was one last twist in store.

Everett Collection Chevy Chase in the original ending from 'National Lampoon's Vacation'

BARRON: Basically, Roy Walley doesn't arrest us, and he understands because he has a family too, and we end up going back on the plane. We weren't originally going to fly back, but by then I don't think the Truckster was working very well.

HALL: Oh s---! You're bringing all these memories back. I don't even remember that. But I have a photo from the plane that I sign at Comic-Cons. I never even thought about that. You're right! There was a plane scene. I don't even remember what happened with that. That got nixed too, man.

BARRON: So we get on the plane with these hats, because we never see the family in Walley World. So the hats on the plane show that we were in Walley World. And they announce on the plane, "We're not going back to Chicago." I don't know where they said the plane was going, but it was the wrong direction. Of course, Clark freaks out and goes bananas that we're going the wrong direction again.

HALL: That's funny. Now you're bringing it all flooding back to me. I remember that. That was during the original production because that photo is pre-pubes Anthony Michael Hall.

BARRON: So that was sort of the downer ending, and you freeze frame on us at the end with the chaos and the mayhem of us being on the wrong plane.

Christie Brinkley's actual character identity revealed?

Among the many rumors out there is that in the original ending, the Griswolds are saved from arrest not by Roy Walley, but by his daughter. And that daughter is played by… Christie Brinkley!

Credited in the film as "Girl in the red Ferrari," Brinkley pops up throughout the movie as an object of Clark's sandwich-dancing desire, culminating in a motel skinny dipping scene between the pair. If the character was indeed Roy Walley's daughter and convinced her dad at the end to let the Griswolds go, that certainly would explain why she was driving across the country like Clark & co. But is it true?

Everett Collection Chevy Chase and Christie Brinkley in 'National Lampoon's Vacation'

BARRON: Not true. That is a rumor.

HALL: People are thinking too hard on that. I don't know anything about that.

BARRON: A fan maybe five years ago said, "Hey, I heard this is true." I went, "Are you kidding?" But that is a great explanation as to why she's in this very expensive Ferrari at her age traveling to where we're traveling and ending up in that direction. So that makes sense to me that she would be Roy Walley's daughter, but definitely not. That's just a very clever rumor.

Both script and body changes

John Hughes wrote a new ending for the film that would be shot months later over four days at Magic Mountain amusement park. But the new ending was not the only noticeable change for the reshoot.

BARRON: Anthony Michael Hall shot up like a giant. It's hysterical. He looks completely different.

HALL: Puberty kicked in hard for me. They called everybody back together again, but I was in the throes of puberty, right? So I had sprouted up. It was that summer where you just grow, and all of a sudden you're a man. And my hair got darker.

BARRON: My hair had blonde streaks in it by the end of the film.

HALL: Chevy, of course, was the first person to point out to me that puberty had kicked in. I had pimples and I had shot up about a foot. So if you look carefully at Rusty, I actually look like a different kid. Chevy made me feel goofy about it and I was kind of embarrassed by that.

BARRON: I'm not going to put down my mother. Let's just say she wasn't a great cook. And then, all of a sudden, I had craft services, I had meals all the time. I found food, so I went from like 80-nothing pounds to like 96. And I'm little, so that's a huge gain. Michael grew up, and I grew out.

Everett Collection John Candy, Chevy Chase, Beverly D'Angelo, Dana Barron, and Anthony Michael Hall in 'National Lampoon's Vacation'

Lessons learned

While test screening crowds are often blamed for stifling creativity and risk-taking in favor of safer, blander choices, the director and cast of Vacation all see the feedback from those early audiences as a perfect example of how the process can work and greatly improve a film.

HALL: So, Chevy as Clark Griswold does not make it ever to Walley World. And the audiences tested at the screenings in 1982 were bummed because they never made it. They really wanted to see them make it. So it's actually a great example of why there's a benefit to test screenings and working with your audience.

BARRON: Harold was right. Harold tested the first ending. He's like, "This is not testing well. People are depressed when they leave." They didn't get to see Walley World, and the family ends up on a plane and it goes the wrong direction. It just wasn't the uplifting movie that it is now. And he was very bright to say, "Okay, we're going to bring everybody back and reshoot the ending."

HALL: It is a testament to test screenings. Because we shot that ending, and although it was funny, they were so wise to listen to the audience. The test cards came back and they were like, "We want to see them get to Walley World. What the hell's the point?" And then we shot what became the final ending with John Candy where we get to the park, and everybody was satisfied. The studio was satisfied, and obviously audiences were. And it began what became this franchise.

Unearthing the lost treasure

Much like the disappointment of the family learning Walley World was closed, many fans have clamored to see the still unreleased original ending to Vacation. And fans aren't the only ones. Not even the Griswolds themselves have ever watched it — except perhaps Chevy Chase, who claims on that old commentary track that "I have it on a tape. I have the original picture with the old ending."

Everett Collection Chevy Chase, Anthony Michael Hall, Beverly D'Angelo, and Dana Barron in 'National Lampoon's Vacation'

BARRON: I don't think anyone in the cast other than Chevy has seen the original ending.

HALL: I'm sure I never saw that original ending. I thought it was funny when I was making it with everybody, but never did see it.

BARRON: No one ever showed it to me. To my knowledge, they're not planning to release it. I haven't gotten to see it yet, but I'd like to. I heard there's a rumor that Chevy has it on VHS, and I'm going to be seeing him in a like a week and a half, so I'm going to ask him.

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