Vegas Vacation

Vegas Vacation is a film about another wacky family vacation with the Griswolds. Clark receives a bonus check from work, so he decides to take his family on a vacation to Las Vegas, where he plans to remarry Ellen, his wife. After arriving in Vegas, Clark gets gambling fever, Ellen is smitten with Wayne Newton, and both of the kids become involved with some questionable characters. Before long, Clark realizes that the family vacation has turned into anything but family bonding, so he attempts to gather his family and return home.

  • Starring: Chevy Chase, Beverly D'Angelo
  • Director(s): Stephen Kessler
  • Producer(s): Jerry Weintraub
  • Screenwriter(s): Stephen Kessler
  • Distributor: Warner Brothers
  • Release Date: Friday, February 14, 1997

Featured Animal Action

The tigers seen in the film at the Vegas show were owned by Sigfried and Roy. They were filmed performing the Las Vegas act that they are famous for. There was absolutely no interaction between the actors and tigers. Eddie, Clark's cousin, is seen picking up a box and turning it over, dumping snakes onto the ground. This scene was filmed in cuts. Rubber and real non-venomous snakes were used. The trainer placed rubber snakes in the box for the shot of the snakes falling from the box to the ground. Then he replaced the rubber snakes with real ones for the shot of the snakes slithering around on the ground. Other animal action consists of the dolphins at the Mirage Hotel seen jumping in and out of their pool and Wayne Newton and Ellen riding horses at his ranch in Las Vegas. The horses were the property of Wayne Newton and the scene was actually filmed at his ranch.