Home Alone 3

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Home Alone 3
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Raja Gosnell
Produced by	John Hughes Hilton Green
Written by	John Hughes
Starring	Alex D. Linz Haviland Morris
Music by	Nick Glennie-Smith
Cinematography	Julio Macat
Edited by	Bruce Green Malcolm Campbell
Production company	Hughes Entertainment
Distributed by	20th Century Fox
Release date	December 12, 1997 (1997-12-12)
Running time	102 minutes[1]
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$32 million[1]
Box office	$79.1 million[1]

Home Alone 3 (stylized as HOME ALONe3) is a 1997 American family comedy film written and produced by John Hughes. It is the third film in the Home Alone series and the first not to feature actor Macaulay Culkin and the cast from the previous films (1990, 1992), director Chris Columbus, and composer John Williams. The film is directed by Raja Gosnell (in his directorial debut), who served as the editor of both original films and stars Alex D. Linz as Alex Pruitt, an 8-year-old resourceful boy who is left home alone and has to defend his home from a band of criminals. The film was followed by a made-for-television sequel, Home Alone 4, in 2002.

Plot[edit]

Peter Beaupre, Alice Ribbons, Burton Jernigan, and Earl Unger are four internationally wanted hitmen working for a North Korean terrorist organization who have stolen a $10 million missile-cloaking computer chip. The thieves put it inside a remote control car to sneak it past security at San Francisco International Airport. However, a luggage mix-up occurs, causing a passenger, Mrs. Hess, to inadvertently take the thieves' bag containing the remote control car while she is returning home to Chicago. The four thieves arrive in Chicago and later systematically search every house in Mrs. Hess' suburban neighborhood to find the chip.

Meanwhile, Alex Pruitt is given the remote control car by Mrs. Hess for shoveling snow, but she lectures him for scratching numerous itches. Alex returns home and removes his shirt to discover that he has chickenpox, and therefore must stay out of school. While recovering at home, Alex uses his telescope and discovers the thieves on look out for the chip. Alex fails to convince the police twice, so he decides to spy on the thieves by using his toy car and a video camera instead. The thieves discover it and take away the evidence, which results in a chase. Wondering what the thieves want with a remote control car, Alex opens it and discovers the stolen chip, and later informs the local Air Force Recruitment Center about the chip while asking if they can forward the information about the chip to the proper authorities. The news eventually reaches FBI Agent Stuckey, who heads for Chicago.

The thieves finally conclude that Alex has been watching them and decide to pursue him. As a snowstorm hits Chicago, the thieves block off the road to the house and Alice duct tapes Mrs. Hess to a chair in her garage and leaves the door open. By this point, Alex has rigged his house with booby traps and prepares to set them off with his pet rat, Doris, and his brother's loud-mouthed pet parrot. After their numerous break-in attempts are foiled by Alex's traps, the thieves infiltrate the house and search for Alex. Alex flees to the attic and takes the dumbwaiter down to the basement, then runs outside and calls to Alice, Jernigan and Unger. The thieves see Alex and notice a trampoline below them. Jernigan and Unger jump to pursue Alex, but the trampoline gives way and they fall into the frozen swimming pool. Alice wriggles her way into the dumbwaiter chute, but falls down to the basement and is incapacitated, Alex having removed the bottom. Alex is cornered by Beaupre while trying to rescue Mrs. Hess, but scares him off with a bubble gun resembling a Glock. Meanwhile, Stuckey and the police arrives at Alex's school and informs his family of the chip. Alex's family brings the FBI to their house; Alice, Jernigan and Unger are arrested, but Beaupre hides inside the snow fort in the backyard. The parrot drives the remote control car into the snow fort and threatens to light fireworks, which are lined around the inside. Beaupre offers a cracker, but the parrot demands two. Since he only has one, the parrot then lights the fireworks, and flees. Beaupre is discovered and arrested.

The Pruitts hold a celebration for Alex's success while their house is being repaired. Mrs. Hess, who befriends Alex after he saves her from freezing to death in her garage, attends the celebration with the FBI and the police. They are joined by Alex's father, who returns home from his business trip in New York City. The thieves are shown having their mugshot photos taken and have all contracted Alex's chickenpox.

Cast[edit]

• Alex D. Linz as Alex Pruitt, an 8-year-old boy with a high IQ living in suburban Chicago.
• Olek Krupa as Peter Beaupre, leader of the crooks.
• Rya Kihlstedt as Alice Ribbons, sole female of the four crooks.
• Lenny Von Dohlen as Burton Jernigan, one of the four crooks.
• David Thornton as Earl Unger, one of the four crooks.
• Haviland Morris as Karen Pruitt, Alex's mother.
• Kevin Kilner as Jack Pruitt, Alex's father.
• Marian Seldes as Mrs. Hess, Alex's elderly neighbor.
• Scarlett Johansson as Molly Pruitt, Alex's older sister.
• Seth Smith as Stan Pruitt, Alex's older brother.
• Christopher Curry as FBI Agent Stuckey
• Baxter Harris as a Police Chief
• Neil Flynn as a Police Officer
• Nick Jantz as a Police Officer
• Darren T. Knauss as the Parrot (voice)

Production[edit]

Home Alone 3 was pitched at the same time as Home Alone 2: Lost in New York, and it was planned to produce both movies simultaneously; however, those plans fell through.

The idea for a third Home Alone movie was revived in the mid-1990s; early drafts called for Macaulay Culkin to return as a teenage Kevin McCallister, along with Daniel Stern and Joe Pesci reprising their roles as the two burglars. By 1994, however, Culkin had dropped out of acting. As a result, the idea was reworked as an entirely new film centering on a new cast of characters. It was filmed in Chicago and Evanston, Illinois, with the airport scenes in the beginning of the film being shot in two different concourses at O'Hare International Airport.

Soundtrack[edit]

Home Alone 3: Music From The Motion Picture
Soundtrack album by Various artists
Released	December 12, 1997
Label	Universal Music Int'l
Home Alone chronology
Home Alone 2 (1992) Home Alone 21992 Home Alone 3 (1997) Home Alone 31997

Reception[edit]

The film grossed $79,082,515 worldwide.^[1]

Home Alone 3 holds an approval rating of 30% at Rotten Tomatoes based on 23 reviews, with an average rating of 4.4/10^[2] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B+" on an A+ to F scale.^[3]

Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film a positive review of 3 out of 4 stars and said that he found it to be "fresh, very funny, and better than the first two".^[4]

The film was nominated for a Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Remake or Sequel, where it lost to Speed 2: Cruise Control.^{[citation needed]}

Novelization[edit]

A novelization based on the screenplay was written by Todd Strasser and published by Scholastic in 1997 to coincide with the film. ISBN 0-590-95712-0

The novelization starts with the four crooks, Peter Beaupre, Earl Unger, Burton Jernigan and Alice Ribbons waiting outside the taxi depot.

Home media[edit]

Home Alone 3 was released on VHS and Laserdisc on June 2, 1998, and on DVD in October 5, 1999, which was later reissued in December 2007 (and again in 2006 and 2008 as part of Home Alone multi-packs). While the DVD presents the film in its original Widescreen format (1.85:1), it is presented in a non-anamorphic 4:3 matte.

References[edit]

External links[edit]

Wikiquote has quotations related to: Home Alone 3

• Home Alone 3 on IMDb
• Home Alone 3 at AllMovie
• Home Alone 3 at Rotten Tomatoes