We recently learned Kevin McCallister was, in fact, loaded in ‘Home Alone’ — and now, the Internet has its sights set on Clark Griswold … and that mysterious bonus check.
A Reddit thread that was recently started dives deep into the question of what sorta dough Chevy Chase’s character in ‘Christmas Vacation’ was expecting, what he ended up getting, and what the hell he even did for work … which is all left unanswered in the film.
It’s not nearly as sophisticated or scientific as the NYT piece that broke down the ‘Home Alone’ finances, but it’s interesting … ’cause a lot of folks seem to have good guesses.
Based on clues dropped in the movie, one user — who kinda takes the lead on all the sleuthing here — suggests Clark was some sort of chemical engineer at a cereal company … and that his salary at the time likely landed in the ballpark of about $75k-$80k in 1989.
If that’s true, these online accountants figure Sparky might’ve been anticipating a fairly high bonus of about 20%-25% … do the math, and that’s likely a bonus of about $20k or so.
He also mentioned putting down a $7,500 deposit for it already, and hoping the check would cover the rest — and based on some historical data … people say the number checks out for pool construction in the late ’80s. Clark was hoping for (but didn’t get) a five-figure bonus.
Of course, that’s not exactly how things worked out — at first, anyway — in the holiday classic. Clark gets stiffed by his boss, and his cousin Eddie kidnaps the guy to force him to pony up. In the end, the CEO of the company does give out the bonus — plus an extra 20%.
In the end, the Internet suspects Clark walked away with about $24k in the end … more than enough to install the pool and pay for it in full. Not bad for the bungling Griswolds!
As it turns out … all our fave Christmas movie characters were pretty well-to-do in the 20th century. Something tells us they’d be hurting in 2023 though — these gifts are expensive!
