They decide to strike after finding out that the entire family is headed to Paris for the holidays, not anticipating that 8-year-old Kevin McCallister (Macaulay Culkin) was mistakenly left home alone – and he’s got a few nifty tricks up his sleeve to keep them out of the house.
Each year, as the battle between Kevin and the Wet Bandits unfolds on our screens, many of us wonder just how rich the McCallisters were to afford a lavish home in the suburbs of Chicago and a trip to Paris for the entire extended family for the holidays?
In the 1990 film directed by Chris Columbus, two burglars known as the Wet Bandits target the McCallister home in a wealthy neighbourhood, speculating that it could contain a lot of ‘top-flight goods’ such as VCRs, stereos, fine jewellery and ‘odd marketable securities’.
Everyone has a list of festive films they watch in the run-up to Christmas – ours includes The Holiday, Christmas with the Kranks and, of course, Home Alone (specifically the first one, but I don’t mind the second).
In real life, the now-famous house is located in the Chicago suburb of Winnetka, one of the most expensive neighbourhoods in the United States.
