An overworked air traffic controller just wants to take a long vacation down the shore with his family? What could go wrong? Well, everything, of course. And then for some reason a boat race happens.
Starring John Candy, Richard Crenna, Rip Torn, Karen Austin, Kerri Green, John Larroquette, and Joey Lawrence. Written by Mark Reisman and Jeremy Stevens. Directed by Carl Reiner.
Welcome to the Mary Versus the Movies newsletter! Wear sunscreen.
This week: 7/10/2025
EPISODE 194 – SUMMER RENTAL (1985)
An overworked air traffic controller just wants to take a long vacation down the shore with his family? What could go wrong? Well, everything, of course. And then for some reason a boat race happens.
I like covering some kind of summer vacation movie this time of year; previous entries included National Lampoon’s Vacation and The Great Outdoors, both of which had John Candy in some kind of role (either starring, or as the very memorable park guard at Wally World). So when I saw there was similar movie starring Candy and directed by Carl Reiner, I figured it had to be at least pretty amusing. For the most part it is, being a series of vignettes about a typical summer family vacation: sunburns, crummy restaurants, mildly rebellious teens.
This movie falls apart once Candy’s character–who is not a sailor–decides he needs to enter a regatta against the richest man in town in order to keep his family in their vacation home. It’s ridiculous, which is fine, but the movie just stops dead, and then suddenly ends without much resolution. Oh well–like cotton candy on the boardwalk, it just kind of dissolves, and you forget about it. Could be worse.
Starring John Candy, Richard Crenna, Rip Torn, Karen Austin, Kerri Green, John Larroquette, and Joey Lawrence. Written by Mark Reisman and Jeremy Stevens. Directed by Carl Reiner.
HOLLYWOOD AVALON – EP. 26: THE TWILIGHT ZONE: THE LAST DEFENDER OF CAMELOT (1985)
An immortal Lancelot, living in 1986, is attacked by a gang of punks, kidnapped by Morgan Le Fay, and forced by a mad Merlin to battle a magic suit of armor in a desperate attempt to bring back Camelot–something Old Man Lancelot really doesn’t want.
We visit the 1980s incarnation of The Twilight Zone with this George R.R. Martin adaptation of a Roger Zelazny short story, which originally aired April 11, 1986. It’s a fun story, where Morgan is once again battling Merlin for control of the world. This time, though, there’s a nice inversion, with Morgan content in the 20th century and desperate to stop Merlin from destroying the world in order to bring back Camelot.
Starring Richard Kiley, Jenny Agutter, Norman Lloyd, and John Cameron Mitchell. Written by George R. R. Martin based on the story by Roger Zelazny. Directed by Jeannot Szwarc.
What else are we up to this week?
Mary: The other day I caught The Night of the Hunter on TCM, which I’d never seen before; before the film was halfway over, I’d already ordered a copy of the Criterion release, that’s how enraptured I was. What a strange, beautiful movie, unlike anything I’ve quite seen before–blending German expressionism, Grimm’s fairy tales, the Bible, silent film, and Southern Gothic literature, with stunning visuals that sit somewhere between the best works of F. W. Murnau and the kitschy Guardian Angel painting of Hans Zatzka that hung on my bedroom wall when I was a child. Robert Mitchum’s serial killer is an unhinged blend of Elmer Gantry and Frankenstein’s monster, and Shelley Winters’ doomed widow a gothic victim whose ending looks like a surrealist stab at a Pre-Raphaelite painting. Sex and money and fear and desperation during the Great Depression leading small children into the shadow of the valley of death. It’s strange and mythic, unsettling and unsubtle, and maybe one of the greatest films ever made. If you haven’t seen it, you’re missing out.
Dennis: Scenes from my imaginary 1776 Commodore 64 text and pictures game.
I think I lost the plot somewhere.
Mary Versus the Movies Newsletter #90: Episode 194 – Summer Rental (1985)
New
July 10
Welcome to the Mary Versus the Movies newsletter! Wear sunscreen.
This week: 7/10/2025
EPISODE 194 – SUMMER RENTAL (1985)
An overworked air traffic controller just wants to take a long vacation down the shore with his family? What could go wrong? Well, everything, of course. And then for some reason a boat race happens.
I like covering some kind of summer vacation movie this time of year; previous entries included National Lampoon’s Vacation and The Great Outdoors, both of which had John Candy in some kind of role (either starring, or as the very memorable park guard at Wally World). So when I saw there was similar movie starring Candy and directed by Carl Reiner, I figured it had to be at least pretty amusing. For the most part it is, being a series of vignettes about a typical summer family vacation: sunburns, crummy restaurants, mildly rebellious teens.
This movie falls apart once Candy’s character–who is not a sailor–decides he needs to enter a regatta against the richest man in town in order to keep his family in their vacation home. It’s ridiculous, which is fine, but the movie just stops dead, and then suddenly ends without much resolution. Oh well–like cotton candy on the boardwalk, it just kind of dissolves, and you forget about it. Could be worse.
Starring John Candy, Richard Crenna, Rip Torn, Karen Austin, Kerri Green, John Larroquette, and Joey Lawrence. Written by Mark Reisman and Jeremy Stevens. Directed by Carl Reiner.
HOLLYWOOD AVALON – EP. 26: THE TWILIGHT ZONE: THE LAST DEFENDER OF CAMELOT (1985)
An immortal Lancelot, living in 1986, is attacked by a gang of punks, kidnapped by Morgan Le Fay, and forced by a mad Merlin to battle a magic suit of armor in a desperate attempt to bring back Camelot–something Old Man Lancelot really doesn’t want.
We visit the 1980s incarnation of The Twilight Zone with this George R.R. Martin adaptation of a Roger Zelazny short story, which originally aired April 11, 1986. It’s a fun story, where Morgan is once again battling Merlin for control of the world. This time, though, there’s a nice inversion, with Morgan content in the 20th century and desperate to stop Merlin from destroying the world in order to bring back Camelot.
Starring Richard Kiley, Jenny Agutter, Norman Lloyd, and John Cameron Mitchell. Written by George R. R. Martin based on the story by Roger Zelazny. Directed by Jeannot Szwarc.
What else are we up to this week?
Mary: The other day I caught The Night of the Hunter on TCM, which I’d never seen before; before the film was halfway over, I’d already ordered a copy of the Criterion release, that’s how enraptured I was. What a strange, beautiful movie, unlike anything I’ve quite seen before–blending German expressionism, Grimm’s fairy tales, the Bible, silent film, and Southern Gothic literature, with stunning visuals that sit somewhere between the best works of F. W. Murnau and the kitschy Guardian Angel painting of Hans Zatzka that hung on my bedroom wall when I was a child. Robert Mitchum’s serial killer is an unhinged blend of Elmer Gantry and Frankenstein’s monster, and Shelley Winters’ doomed widow a gothic victim whose ending looks like a surrealist stab at a Pre-Raphaelite painting. Sex and money and fear and desperation during the Great Depression leading small children into the shadow of the valley of death. It’s strange and mythic, unsettling and unsubtle, and maybe one of the greatest films ever made. If you haven’t seen it, you’re missing out.
Dennis: Scenes from my imaginary 1776 Commodore 64 text and pictures game.
I think I lost the plot somewhere.
Thanks to Tavie for the inspiration and being excited about the 1776 game.
Pizza: nada
NEXT EPISODE: We get hyped up for the new Superman movie by watching Supergirl.
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