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It's time to rent a Family Truckster, cue up Lindsey Buckingham's "Holiday Road," and hope our wife doesn't catch us checking out a mysterious hot babe in a sports car -- because it's time to rank all of the films in the "Vacation" franchise. Part family drama, part romantic comedy, part slapstick showcase, and 100 percent a showcase for Chevy Chase to prove why he's Chevy Chase and we're not, National Lampoon's "Vacation" series is home to some of the best bits in American comedy cinema.

Whether they're staying at home for the holidays, pressing their luck in Vegas, traveling cross country, or flying overseas, the Griswolds have set the bar hellishly low for family vacations (which means the only place to go is up for the rest of us). Sure, some of the jokes have seen better days, but the longevity of the series lies with the relatable family...

If you like movies about empty-headed dips and their resentful families, then National Lampoon's "Vacation" movies certainly have you covered. Clark Griswold, played by Chevy Chase, is an exemplar -- perhaps the Ur-example -- of a clueless dad obsessed with fulfilling the typical American suburban dream despite a general lack of wit or competence. Clark claims to be an expert in everything, assuring his family that everything will be fine, and yet he displays no acumen or skill, and his family repeatedly witnesses him fail. We sympathize with Clark, however, as many of his failings are the result of bad luck; Clark isn't very good at traversing the daily onus of trivial nonsense, but the world seems cosmically hellbent on punishing him for his incompetence. 

The "Vacation" movies began their life as a short story called "Vacation '58," written by John Hughes and first published in the celebrated "National Lampoon...

Robert Klane, the writer-director best known for penning Weekend at Bernie’s and National Lampoon’s European Vacation, died Aug. 29 of kidney failure in Woodland Hills, CA. He was 81.

Besides the 1989 movie that starred Andrew McCarthy and Jonathan Silverman, Klane also wrote for Tracey Takes On …,The Odd Couple: Together Again, The Man With One Red Shoe and Unfaithfully Yours. He also worked in the writers rooms for M*A*S*H* and The Michele Lee Show.

“Klane’s satirical and daring writing pushed the boundaries of good taste, while depicting the unfairness of life through themes of sex, family, madness and death,” Klane’s son, Jon, said in a statement.

Born in Long Island, Klane earned his English degree at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He penned two novels —The Horse is Dead and Where’s Poppa? — the latter of which was adapted by Klane into a...

Robert Klane, the screenwriter for “Weekend at Bernie’s” and “Where’s Poppa?” and the director of “Thank God It’s Friday, has died. He was 81 years old.

Klane’s son Jon Klane confirmed the news to TheWrap. He said of his dad, “His quick, razor wit lit up every room he walked into. He was a fearless, magnetic, presence whose unique brand of black comedy delivered guilty pleasures for those capable of laughing at their own dark impulses.”

In addition to those films, Klane worked as a writer on a number of movies and TV shows, including “The Man With One Red Shoe,” six episodes of “M*A*S*H*” and “Tracey Takes On,” which won an Emmy.

“Weekend at Bernie’s” is Klane’s most well-known work, though in 2014 he filed a lawsuit alongside the film’s director claiming the pair had not been paid residuals owed from the movie since its 1989 release. Klane and...

Robert Klane, who wrote the screenplays for the irreverent comedy classics Weekend at Bernie’s and Where’s Poppa? and directed the disco-era favorite Thank God It’s Friday, has died. He was 81.

Klane died Tuesday in his Woodland Hills home of kidney failure after a long illness, his son Jon Klane announced.

He wrote for the films Every Little Crook and Nanny (1972), Fire Sale (1977), The Man With One Red Shoe (1985), National Lampoon’s European Vacation (1985), Unfaithfully Yours (1984), Walk Like a Man (1987) and Folks! (1992).

Among his TV writing credits were six episodes of M*A*S*H* and The Odd Couple: Together Again, a 1973 reunion telefilm starring Jack Klugman and Tony Randall that he also directed. He also wrote and produced Tracey Takes On…, winning an Emmy for his work in 1997.

“Bob had a brilliant comedy mind that went deeper and deeper to get to the truth,” Rob Reiner, an actor in Where’s Poppa? (1970), said in a statement.

Robert Klane, screenwriter of films including “Weekend at Bernie’s” and “Where’s Poppa?,” died from kidney failure on Aug. 29 at his home in Woodland Hills, Calif. He was 81.

Klane’s son Jon shared the news with Variety in a statement, which reads, “Klane’s satirical and daring writing pushed the boundaries of good taste, while depicting the unfairness of life through themes of sex, family, madness and death.”

“Bob had a brilliant comedy mind that went deeper and deeper to get to the truth,” said filmmaker and actor Rob Reiner, who appeared in “Where’s Poppa?” “Most people have a censor in their minds and know how far they can go. Bob didn’t have a censor. That’s what made him great and set him apart. He was fearless.”

Klane wrote the screenplays for dark comedies such as 1989’s “Weekend at Bernie’s” and its 1993 sequel, as well as 1970’s “Where’s Poppa?,...

The name director Ted Kotcheff may not be as instantly recognisable as some of his filmmaker contemporaries, but a fertile creative period during the 70s and 80s saw him craft a number of well-received films across a variety of genres – The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz (which launched the career of a young, pre-Jaws Richard Dreyfuss), the original Fun with Dick and Jane, North Dallas Forty, Switching Channels and Weekend at Bernie’s.

Arguably, he’s best known for bringing the iconic character of John Rambo into the world with the 1982 ‘Nam-scarred survivalist classic First Blood, but another underappreciated film from his CV is now available on DVD and Blu-ray. 1971’s Wake in Fright was an early addition to the Australian New Wave cinema movement, and remains a vivid and disturbing depiction of the country’s hard-drinking, fiercely masculine subculture of that era. We talked to Kotcheff earlier this month...

If Weekend at Bernie's taught us anything, it's that you can't just slap a pair of sunglasses on a problem and hope it won't ruin your beach party. Such is the dilemma faced by Weekend at Bernie's director Ted Kotcheff and screenwriter Robert Klane, who filed a lawsuit Friday against MGM and Twentieth Century Fox 25 years after the release of the 1989 comedy. The two claim they have "never gotten a proper accounting and have not been paid a cent" of the residuals and profits from the movie. The suit also describes Weekend at Bernie's as "one of the most hilarious and endearing goofball comedies of the '80s," which is just delightful. There are scant details explaining why Klane and Kotcheff filed the suit now after a quarter century has past, leaving us to assume that someone must have started playing calypso music and they were physically compelled to...

Producer and screenwriter Robert Klane and director Ted Kotcheff on Friday filed a lawsuit in L.A. Superior Court against MGM Holdings and Twentieth Century Fox, claiming they have never been paid their share of revenues and profits from the 1989 movie Weekend at Bernie's. Both say they signed contracts nearly three decades ago that included both compensation for their work as producers, writers and directors, and a share of the gross profits from the showing of the movie in theaters, on television, on home video and other mediums. They estimate the movie has grossed over $30 million and cite

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Singer Donna Summer, who died of cancer at age 63 earlier today, was featured in only one movie: Robert Klane’s Thank God It’s Friday. The unpretentious 1978 disco comedy musical is chiefly notable for the Paul Jabara-written song "Last Dance" — one of Summer’s biggest hits — which earned the Best Original Song Academy Award. Donna Summer songs, however, have been featured in a number of movies, ranging from Charlie’s Angels: Full Throttle to Ron Howard’s Oscar-nominated Frost/Nixon. Among Summer’s best-known songs are "MacArthur’s Park," "On the Radio," "She Works Hard for the Money," and "Bad Girls." The lesser known "Down Deep Inside," which Summer co-wrote with John Barry, was a Golden Globe nominee in 1977, as it was featured in Peter Yates’ box-office hit The Deep. Donna Summer’s stardom faded in the ’80s, following the demise of the disco vogue and reports that the...

Weekend At Bernies

Stars: Andrew McCarthy, Jonathan Silverman, Catherine Mary Stewart, Terry Kiser | Written by Robert Klane | Directed by Ted Kotcheff

Richard Parker (Silverman) and Larry Wilson (McCarthy) are entry-level employees at a large New York-based insurance company headed by Bernie Lomax (Kiser). While working one weekend, Richard and Larry discover that someone has been stealing money from Lomax’s company, unfortunately for Richard and Larry, it was Bernie who was responsible along with some of his mafiosa aquaintances. Concerned that the pair will figure it out, Lomax lures them to his summer home with the promise of a relaxing weekend – little do they know he’s hired a hit man to knock them off. However, shortly before Richard and Larry arrive Bernie is murdered, by the very same hitman he hired to kill his employees!

Richard and Larry realising Bernie’s betrayal and worried that the hitman might be back for them,...