50 Fun Facts About Uncle Buck

Which tool does Buck boast of carrying in his car when he warns off Tia's boyfriend in Uncle Buck?

A hatchet: Buck says he carries it not to kill, just to maim, then goes and fetches it from the car, which is enough to scare the boy.

In Uncle Buck, where does Buck take the whole family rather than let Tia go out with her boyfriend?

A bowling alley: it is where Buck usually hangs out with his bachelor friends, so he drags everyone along to keep Tia away from her date.

Why do the Russell parents have to leave their children with Buck?

Cindy's father has a heart attack, and only after every friend and neighbour proves unavailable does she reluctantly agree to let her brother-in-law mind the children.

In Uncle Buck, how does Buck dry the family's laundry after losing his fight with the washing machine?

In the microwave: he washes the clothes in the kitchen sink first, and the flirtatious woman next door drops in on him mid-chore and tries to get him dancing.

Which child actor plays Miles, the nephew who grills Buck with rapid-fire questions in Uncle Buck?

Macaulay Culkin impressed Hughes so much, above all guarding the mail slot against intruders, that Hughes had him in mind for Home Alone the next year.

Which actress, later the student singer Rowena in Mr. Holland's Opus, plays the hostile niece Tia in Uncle Buck?

Jean Louisa Kelly was making her film debut, and her Tia fights dirty, telling her mother on the phone that Buck drinks and leaves the little ones home alone.

Which child actress, later Jonah's friend Jessica in Sleepless in Seattle, plays six-year-old Maizy in Uncle Buck?

Gaby Hoffmann was growing up in New York's Chelsea Hotel at the time; at ten she told a reporter the family was being evicted and that it was time to leave anyway.

What does Buck hit Tia's boyfriend with as a parting shot in Uncle Buck?

A golf ball: having made the boy apologise, Buck lets him go, then tees up and hits him from a distance with a perfectly aimed drive.

Which actress, Kevin Costner's wife in Field of Dreams the same year, plays Buck's girlfriend Chanice in Uncle Buck?

Amy Madigan's Chanice wants Buck to settle down and take a steady job, and it is she who minds the little ones while he goes looking for Tia.

What is the name of Tia's self-centred boyfriend in Uncle Buck?

Bug sneers at Buck's smoking wreck of a car, 'Ever hear of a tune-up?', and Buck answers, 'Ever hear of a ritual killing?'

Who plays Marcy, the flirtatious neighbour who gets Buck dancing in Uncle Buck?

Laurie Metcalf's Marcy invites herself in and coaxes Buck into a living-room dance while he is doing the laundry, just as his girlfriend arrives at the door.

How does Buck make his living at the start of Uncle Buck?

Betting on horse racing is his only income, and on the day of the race he hoped would keep him for a year, he gives it up to go looking for Tia.

What is the name of the drunken entertainer who turns up late for Miles's birthday party in Uncle Buck?

Pooter-the-Clown, played by Mike Starr, is still the worse for drink when he arrives, so Buck won't let him near the children and sends him packing.

In Uncle Buck, what job is held by the stern woman Buck tells off at Maizy's school?

Assistant principal is her title; when she complains that Maizy is a dreamer who won't take school seriously, Buck says he wouldn't want to know a six-year-old who did.

Anna Chlumsky, briefly seen as one of Maizy's classmates in Uncle Buck, starred as Vada in which 1991 film?

My Girl made her a child star two years later, yet she gave up acting for college and a job in publishing before returning to it and playing Amy in Veep.

John Hughes, who made his name with teen films, built Uncle Buck's sets inside what kind of vacant building?

A high school: three gyms at the closed New Trier West in Northfield became sound stages for the Russell house, and Home Alone's interiors were built there a year later.

In Home Alone, written by John Hughes, John Candy cameos as the leader of a travelling band that plays what?

Polka: his Gus Polinski, the self-styled Polka King of the Midwest, gives Kevin's stranded mother a lift home in the band's rented van, and Candy shot the whole cameo in a single day.

In Cool Runnings, John Candy plays a former Olympian who coaches which country's first Olympic bobsled team?

Jamaica: the film is loosely based on the team's debut at the 1988 Calgary Games, and the coach was written as a serious part until Candy asked to play him.

Uncle Buck spent four weeks at number one after knocking which Steve Martin comedy off the top spot?

Parenthood had topped the US box office for two weekends when Buck arrived in August 1989, so Candy unseated his own Planes, Trains and Automobiles co-star.

In Mel Brooks's Spaceballs, John Candy plays the sidekick Barf, who is half man and half what?

Dog: Candy wagged Barf's tail himself by pressing a hidden button, while the animatronic ears were worked off-camera by remote control.

Which Hollywood legend returned after twenty years away from films to play John Candy's mother in Only the Lonely?

Maureen O'Hara had retired, but Chris Columbus wrote the domineering mother Rose for her, and reading his script changed her mind.

Which critic gave Uncle Buck one and a half stars, complaining that John Hughes had struck too many wrong notes?

Roger Ebert usually admired Hughes as the master of the right note, but here he found the teenager too angry and an uncomfortable undercurrent in the material.

Which studio released Uncle Buck?

Hughes made it under a multi-picture agreement with the studio.

Who played Buck in the 1990 CBS sitcom version of Uncle Buck?

Kevin Meaney's version caused a media fuss with the very first line of its first episode, when Buck's little niece yelled 'You suck!', and it lasted one season.

What happens to the children's parents in the 1990 sitcom version of Uncle Buck?

They are killed in a car accident, which turns the film's one week of babysitting into full-time guardianship for Buck; CBS dropped the show after a single season.

Who played Buck in ABC's 2016 Uncle Buck series?

Mike Epps's Buck moves in as the family's stand-in nanny in this reboot, which ABC ran for just four weeks in the summer of 2016 before cancelling it.

Which Big Momma's House star played Buck's sister-in-law in ABC's short-lived 2016 Uncle Buck series?

Nia Long played Alexis, the wife of Buck's brother, in a reboot that ran to only eight episodes: ABC aired them in four weeks and cancelled it the day after the last.

Which tool does Buck take into the teenagers' party where he goes looking for Tia in Uncle Buck?

A drill: Buck has it with him in the upstairs bedroom where he finds Tia's boyfriend with another girl, and the boy's apology turns sincere only once the drill comes out again.

Which Canadian sketch comedy show made John Candy famous before Hollywood?

SCTV grew out of the Second City stage troupe, whose Canadian branch Candy joined in 1972; once NBC picked it up, characters like his unscrupulous TV personality Johnny LaRue reached American viewers.

Which documentary maker directed John Candy in the satire Canadian Bacon, released after the actor's death?

Michael Moore cast Candy as a Niagara Falls sheriff who leads an 'invasion' of Canada after a struggling president picks the neighbours as a handy new enemy.

In Disney's The Rescuers Down Under, John Candy voices Wilbur, what kind of bird?

An albatross: Wilbur has taken over the mice's airline from his brother Orville, the bird of the first film, and the pair are named after the Wright brothers.

Which CFL team did John Candy co-own with hockey great Wayne Gretzky?

Toronto Argonauts: the new owners signed Notre Dame star Raghib 'Rocket' Ismail and won the Grey Cup in 1991, their first season, with Candy a regular on the sidelines.

In which 1984 film does John Candy play Freddie, the womanizing older brother of Tom Hanks's character?

Splash: when his brother gives up on the mermaid he loves, Freddie tells him off, saying most people never know the happiness he had with her.

Which Ghostbusters role did John Candy pass on after pitching his own take on the character?

Louis Tully was shaped with Candy in mind, but he wanted a German accent and big dogs in tow; told the film had dogs enough, he passed, and Rick Moranis stepped in.

Where did John Candy die in March 1994 while filming the western comedy Wagons East?

Durango, Mexico: he died of a heart attack in his sleep at 43, in the final days of the shoot, and the film reached cinemas five months later.

What does John Candy's Del Griffith sell for a living in Planes, Trains and Automobiles?

Shower curtain rings keep Del on the road all year, and the film's last turn is that he has no home to go back to: his wife Marie died eight years earlier.

To which city is the flight diverted when a blizzard closes Chicago in Planes, Trains and Automobiles?

Wichita, Kansas is where the flight lands instead, and Del's motel booking leaves the two strangers splitting the cost of a single room for the night.

Neal Page is hurrying home to Chicago for which holiday in Planes, Trains and Automobiles?

Thanksgiving: the trip from New York takes Neal two days, and he ends it by going back for Del and bringing him home to the family dinner.

In The Great Outdoors, what giant meal does John Candy's Chet take on as a restaurant challenge?

A 96-ounce steak, known as the Old 96er, is free to anyone who eats every bite, and Chet slowly gets through the whole thing at Paul Bunyan's Cupboard.

Who co-starred with John Candy as his brother-in-law Roman Craig in The Great Outdoors?

Dan Aykroyd's Roman arrives uninvited and brags about his money, then confesses he is bankrupt and had come to talk Chet out of $25,000.

In The Great Outdoors, what is odd about the giant grizzly that John Candy's Chet says once attacked him?

It is bald-headed because, by Chet's account, his shotgun blast took the fur off its scalp; when the bear comes back, another shot leaves it bald at the other end too.

How long did John Hughes take to write the first draft of Home Alone?

Nine days was all it took once Hughes was back from the family trip to Europe that gave him the idea: what if one of the kids had been left behind?

John Hughes drew on his own teenage years in which Chicago suburb for his 1980s teen films?

Northbrook is where he met his wife Nancy at Glenbrook North High, and its North Shore surroundings became the fictional Shermer, Illinois of The Breakfast Club.

Where was John Hughes when he suffered a fatal heart attack in August 2009?

On a walk in Manhattan: Hughes had long since left Hollywood for Illinois, and was in New York only to visit his son James and a new grandson.

Which humor magazine did John Hughes write for before he turned to screenwriting?

National Lampoon printed his story 'Vacation '58', a family road trip seen through a twelve-year-old's eyes, and four years later it became the film Vacation.

From which city have the Russells just moved to the Chicago suburbs at the start of Uncle Buck?

Indianapolis is the home Tia resents leaving, which is why she is already at war with her parents before her uncle ever arrives.

What kind of business does Buck's girlfriend Chanice own in Uncle Buck?

A tire shop: Buck plugs 'Kobolowski Tires' in a mock radio ad over breakfast, and babysitting is his excuse to dodge his first day of work there.

Where does Buck lock Tia's boyfriend after catching him with another girl at a party in Uncle Buck?

The trunk of his car: Buck binds and gags the boy, drives off to find Tia, and lets him out only to make him apologise to her.

In Uncle Buck, what lie does Tia tell Buck's girlfriend to get back at her uncle?

He is cheating on her, Tia claims, with the flirtatious woman next door; the girlfriend walks out, and only Tia's confession at the end brings her back.

In the 1983 comedy Vacation, written by John Hughes, John Candy plays a security guard at which theme park?

Walley World is shut for repairs when the Griswolds finally arrive, so Clark pulls a realistic BB gun on Candy's guard and makes him take the family on the rides.