Home Alone 1 And 2: 20 Easter Eggs, References & In-Jokes
3. Home Alone Is Crammed With References To Classic Cinema
Home Alone may not be high brow cinema, but it does contain lots of nods to classics of the past. For instance, Joe Pescis angry burglar is named Harry Lime, which is also the name of Orson Welles character in classic thriller The Third Man. And when he gets an M branded onto the palm of his hand thanks to a scorching hot door knob this is a reference to Fritz Langs M, a 1931 thriller about a child murderer. Other nods include the various scenes of Harry and Marv skulking outside Kevins house, with their shadows casting creepy shapes on the windows; this is an homage to the very first vampire movie Nosferatu, where the vampire would cast silhouettes on the wall. The final homage and a really obvious one is to Sam Peckinpah's notorious Straw Dogs. In that film a nerdy Dustin Hoffman must defend his home from violent intruders, and he uses various implements including a bear trap to kill and maim. The films production designer admitted it was a huge influence, and while working on it hed repeatedly tell people Were doing a kids version of Straw Dogs.
