Griswold Grip: D'Angelo's Unscripted Jewels Defense in a Christmas Classic

Some of the best moments in American cinema were unscripted. A great comedian, a great performer, can surreptitiously insert those golden moments, those added, ad-libbed lines or actions that end up being some of the greatest, most memorable moments in the film. Case in point: The last three words uttered by the immortal Gene Wilder in this scene:

Now, on this Christmas Day, we see a scene from the famous 1989 film, National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation, producing another, unspoken example, that we shall henceforth call the Griswold Grab.

Beverly D’Angelo took matters into her own hands and made movie history.
After "National Lampoon’s Vacation" (1983) and "National Lampoon’s European Vacation" (1985), the Griswolds returned to deliver more chaos in 1989’s "National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation." The film starred D’Angelo and Chevy Chase, along with Randy Quaid, Juliette Lewis and Julia Louis-Dreyfus, among others.

Feel free to interpret "taking matters into her own hands" advisedly - oh, who am I kidding? Here's what she did:

"It was not in the script for me to guard the family jewels when the police came to stick us up," the actress told Fox News Digital. "I threw that in. That was definitely improvised. That was my little touch. All in one take."
In the film, a police officer orders everyone gathered for the Griswold family Christmas to freeze. A stunned Ellen (D’Angelo) suddenly grabs Clark’s (Chase) crotch and stands still, obeying the command.
"We had one take left, and it was the end of the day," D’Angelo recalled. "I said, ‘I bet nobody catches this.’ We did the shot, freeze, and I put my hand there. It was like, ‘OK, that’s a wrap. Everybody go home.’ It was subtle. And it had to stay in the film because it was the only shot left! What are they going to do? They didn’t have a choice."

There are many obvious jokes to be made here, but I don't want to get yelled at by an editor on Christmas, so I'll leave those up to your imagination.

I didn't see Christmas Vacation in theaters. I did see the original in a theater, as that was pretty much the only way anyone saw a movie in 1983, unless you either had one of the first generation of videotape players or waited for commercial television to butcher a film up for broadcast. I will say that this was the first time I had seen Beverly D'Angelo in a major film, and she was great; my buddies and I were in love with her for months after the film came out.

Real Life Clark Griswold Has Last Laugh on Grinchy HOA — Now They Have to Pay for His Christmas Lights

And now, we see she has a talent for comedic improvisation, which makes her all the more impressive in my book. Apparently, Chevy Chase was in on the gag, too, and approved if it - because, well, of course he did.

American film is replete with great moments like this. It's fun to dig into cinema history, and to learn just how many of these moments weren't in the script. And now, as a Christmas present, we have another one to chuckle over.

Note: Nobody at RedState is receiving any monetary or other compensation from National Lampoon or anyone else, for today's repeated references to National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation. Just to set the record straight on that.

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