Chevy Chase: 5 Awesome Performances And 5 That Sucked

2. Clark Griswold €“ National Lampoon's Vacation (1983)

If Caddyshack is the film that put Chevy Chase on the map, then it's National Lampoon's Vacation that made him a household name. The European and Christmas follow-ups might have earned more at the box office, but the original €“ again with Harold Ramis directing €“ was rarely bettered in terms of LPM (that's laughs per minute) (and there is a lot of them). There's not shortage of talent on or off the screen, with Ramis behind the character working from a John Hughes script and Chase sharing the screen with Beverely D'Angelo, John Candy and Eugene Levy, but nobody manages to surpass the barely-suppressed suburban rage of Chase's Clark Griswold. Griswold is a larger-than-life character that Chase nevertheless imbues with some sympathetically human qualities. He just wants his family to have a nice holiday, despite the whole universe seemingly conspiring against him. A semi-reboot is out this year, with Ed Helms given the unenviable task of filling the Griswold shoes.