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The first film in the Home Alone franchise, the film stars Macaulay Culkin as Kevin McCallister, a young boy who defends his suburban Chicago home from a home invasion by a pair of robbers after his family accidentally leaves him behind on their Christmas vacation to Paris.
- Overview
- Personality
- Biographies
- Production
- Trivia
- References
- External Links
Harold "Harry" Lyme (also spelled as Lime) and Marvin "Marv" Murchins, also known as the Wet Bandits or the Sticky Bandits, are the main antagonists of the 1990 Christmas comedy film Home Alone and its 1992 sequel Home Alone 2: Lost in New York. Marv later returns as one of the two secondary antagonists (alongside his wife, Vera) of Home Alone 4: Taking Back The House.
They are a duo of incompetent burglars who target rich and renovated houses, and later a store called Duncan's Toy Chest. They are the archenemies of Kevin McCallister.
Harry was portrayed by Joe Pesci, who also portrayed Tommy DeVito in Goodfellas, Nicky Santoro in Casino and Russell Bufalino in The Irishman.
Marv was portrayed by Daniel Stern in the first two films and by French Stewart in Home Alone 4, the later of whom also portrayed Richard Stahl.
Harry and Marv are greedy robbers who rob for money and cash, but are also very bad at being criminals as they are continually defeated by Kevin McCallister, who would proceed to cause all manner of cartoonish injury to the hapless duo in defense of his home (at least in the first movie). Despite their incompetence, Harry and Marv display ferocious determination in their pursuit of Kevin, and prove themselves to be extremely dangerous criminals when he is at their mercy, intending to torture him in the first film and outright attempting to murder him in the second. Furthermore, before encountering Kevin, Harry was able to learn which homes in the neighborhood would be empty for the holidays, and managed to correctly predict which homes automatic lights would activate at what time.
Individually, Harry is shown to be the more intelligent, no-nonsense and leader of the duo, but his short temper, overconfidence, the fact that he is unintelligent in his own right, and tendency to underestimate Kevin results in him not thinking things through and falling into Kevin's various traps. Him being the leader, Harry also often keeps Marv in line by stomping on his foot or telling him to "shut up", whenever he risks exposing them. He is more sadistic as shown when he threatens to bite Kevin's fingers off, "burn his head with a blowtorch", and "smack him right in the face with a paint can" after they captured him in the first movie.
Harry, however, does show some signs of honor, as he was willing to spare Kevin's life in the second movie as long as he handed the camera over; however, he seems to have only been trying to manipulate Kevin in order to get rid of the evidence against them. He also has some standards as he refuses to grope women for their looks; this was shown when he witnessed Marv getting slapped in the face by a beautiful lady for trying to hit on her, and he states that Marv deserves it for doing such a stupid thing. He also keeps Marv around despite the latter's lack of common sense hindering him and even shows some signs of caring for him such as when he checked in on him after Kevin threw a brick at him. Overall, Harry remains the more ruthless of the duo since he is more willing to kill others, even kids.
On the other hand, Marv is a rather gullible and cowardly individual, falling for Kevin's tricks and believing that there are people inside the McCallister house, as well as failing to notice Kevin's traps until he has fallen into them. That said, there are moments where he thinks things through better than Harry; often suggesting ideas for their schemes and preventing him from letting his temper cloud his judgment. He is also shown to be a bit more reasonable, despite being equally willing to kill Kevin after everything that he has put him through.
He is also displayed as more cautious than Harry on occasion, such as when they prepare to kill Kevin in Central Park; upon noticing the number of pigeons in the area, he begins to feel uneasy and suggests that they leave, but his words fall on deaf ears resulting in the duo being incapacitated by the Pigeon Lady. Marv also shows that he can be as ruthless as his partner when angered. For example, when confronting Kevin near the end of the first film, he not only supported Harry's decision to "bite all of Kevin's fingers off", but also wanted to "smash his face with an iron" and "shove a nail through his foot". This proves that Marv while not as smart and a bit kinder, can sometimes be as sadistic as his partner.
Eventually, in the fourth film, it is implied that Marv has had enough sticking with Harry due to the latter's abusive behavior before meeting up with Vera, implying that both Harry and Marv split up their partnership on bad terms.
Home Alone
In the first film, Harry and Marv target houses around the neighborhood that are vacant. To ensure of this, Harry impersonates a police officer in order to discover which families will be leaving for Christmas. While robbing these houses, Marv tends to leave the water running and block the sinks, leading to the houses being flooded and the real law enforcement officers knowing which houses they've hit. Harry disagrees with Marv's practice, calling it "sick" and reminding Marv that they need to keep a low profile, but Marv claims that they need a calling card as "all the great ones leave their mark". However, the McCallister household, which Harry referred to as the "Silver Tuna", is the largest property in the neighborhood, and their most anticipated target. However, 8-year-old child Kevin McCallister is home alone on Christmas Eve, having been accidentally left behind while the rest of his family went to Paris. Harry and Marv disguised as air conditioning technicians, and almost accidentally hit Kevin with their car. This is the moment Kevin recognizes Harry's golden tooth, the same fake police officer from earlier. Kevin manages to scare them off multiple times, but they eventually discover that he is alone and they have been tricked the entire time. Despite Marv's protests that they should not rob the house of a child that was left alone, Harry still persists with the robbery, declaring that the McCallister household to be the main reason he chose to rob the neighborhood in the first place. Kevin overhears Harry and Marv discussing plans for breaking into his home at night, and as a response, sets up numerous cartoon-like booby traps around the house. They try to manipulate Kevin into opening the door for them, but after the first injury in the list below they separately attempt to enter the house and get to him, falling into the traps Kevin planned out for them and suffering many comedic dark injuries: •Kevin shoots Harry in the crotch with a BB gun through the dog flap and Marv in the forehead when he peeps his head through the flap. •Harry slips on the icy stairs to the front door twice, Marv falls down the icy stairs to the basement. •Marv pulls a trigger cord dropping an hot iron on his face, loses his shoes and socks on the tar-covered basement stairs and getting a nail in his foot. •Harry touches a red hot doorknob and gets the top of his head aet on fire with a blowtorch, both leaving permanent scars seen in the second movie, then getting feathers blown in his entire body. •Marv stomping on spiky Christmas ornaments with bare feet and having to walk on them. •Both of them slip on toy cars and falling on their backs, then both getting smacked in the head with Kevin's paint cans. •Harry trip on a wire upstairs while Kevin puts a spider on Marv's face, causing Marv to panic and throw the spider into Harry's chest. Harry gets whacked in the stomach by a crowbar by Marv in a failed attempt to kill the spider, prompting an angry Harry to smack Marv in the left arm with the same crowbar. •And finally, both of them get cut down from a zipline and crash front first into the wall of Kevin's house.
Home Alone 2: Lost In New York
Harry and Marv return in the sequel, which takes place one year after the first film, breaking out of a prison in Chicago during a riot and traveling to New York City via a fish truck. After Marv renames themselves as the Sticky Bandits, they immediately begin seeking a new target to rob, after which they plan to acquire fake passports and flee the United States. They eventually decide to rob Duncan's Toy Chest, a successful toy shop that intends to donate all of its earnings to a children's hospital. As fate would have it, Kevin has also made his way to New York, after accidentally boarding the wrong flight while the rest of his family went to Florida for Christmas. Upon encountering him, Harry and Marv pursue Kevin in order to exact revenge for their previous encounter. They eventually succeed in capturing him after Kevin got caught for using a stolen credit card at the Plaza Hotel and is forced to flee, with Marv telling Kevin of their plan, who secretly uses his recorder to record it. Kevin manages to escape from the duo into Central Park, but they refrain from chasing after him, deciding that he won't be able to survive the park at night by himself. Harry and Marv later hide away inside the toy store to make sure it is left vacant by the staff and customers on the night of Christmas Eve, so that they can steal the money undeterred. Eventually, Kevin sets off the alarm by throwing a brick with a note tied to it in one of the store's windows after taking pictures of them robbing the store. The bandits are enraged at Kevin for doing this, so they pursue him with the money across New York only to end up falling into every one of Kevin's new traps that he set for them at his uncle Rob's renovated house, getting these new comedic injuries: •While leaving the store, Marv jumps on a seesaw and accidentally sends Harry flying into the sky and landing on a car, crushing it. •Kevin throws 4 bricks at Marv's face from a 5-story building, one at a time. •Marv gets shot in the crotch, butt, and nose with a staple gun after he foolishly pulled on the "doorknob" string attached to the front doors too much. •Harry slips off the bottom of a ladder that was covered in soap, which even falls in his face. •Marv foolishly falls into a large hole in the floor after kicking open the front doors. •Harry gets downpoured with tons of handtools falling on him. •Marv slips in paint, and gets crushed by a shelf full of much more paint, then gets electrocuted by Kevin. •Harry gets his head on fire by a lightbulb trap after several misleading "good" lightbulbs, then dunks his head in the toilet and blows up cause of paint thinner (but survives with soot on his face). •Marv tugs on a rope, then tugs harder to climb and gets pounded with concrete mix. •Harry climbs up a broken ladder, then falls as it cracks from the top. •Both of them are crushed in the face by a giant pipe from Kevin after dodging the paint buckets, and fall really far, even down an extra floor through the giant hole, then get crushed in the face again as Kevin drops it on them from even higher. •Both of them get crushed by a door as a giant toolbox barreling down the stairs pushes it on them, breaking their noses briefly before fixing them. •As they climb down the rope to finish off their misadventure, Kevin lights the kerosene covered rope on fire, forcing them to drop down several stories, landing on a seesaw that absolutely soaks them in varnish.
Home Alone 4
Marv returns in the fourth film this time as one of the secondary antagonists. This time, he is joined by his wife Vera and his mother Molly. They plan to kidnap the prince of a visiting royal family and hold him for ransom. Marv explains that Harry's plans resulted in them being imprisoned twice, so Marv grew tired and decided to sever ties with Harry, implying that that both Harry and Marv separated on bad terms. However, Kevin ends up crossing paths with Marv again as his dad, who is about to divorce his wife, is dating a rich woman named Natalie, whom the royal family are due to visit. Eventually, Marv is defeated once again, and he, along with his wife and mother, end up being arrested and sent to prison.
•Director Chris Columbus' biggest fear as a kid was burglars. It's part of why he wanted to make this movie.
•Michael Richards, Jeremy Irons, Tim Robbins and Christopher Lloyd were considered for the role of Marv, but were too busy with other projects and scheduling conflicts at the time.
•John Heard and Daniel Stern appeared in C.H.U.D. (1984).
•Joe Pesci and Catherine O'Hara appeared in Betsy's Wedding (1990). That movie featured Molly Ringwald and Ally Sheedy, who were frequently directed by John Hughes.
•On the Tonight Show with Johnny Carson, Daniel Stern said he wished Jack Lemmon would have played Harry because he always wanted to work with Jack, and didn’t have much chemistry with Joe Pesci.
•Leads Joe Pesci and Daniel Stern each appeared in films inspired by the life of mobster Henry Hill in 1990, the same years as the release of this movie. Daniel Stern appeared in "My Blue Heaven", which is inspired by Hill's life in witness protection while Joe Pesci starred in "Goodfellas", a more direct adaptation of Hill's life.
•The look for Marv and Harry was based on Fagin, the Jewish thief in Charles Dickens' Oliver Twist.
•Harry and Marv's van is a 1986 Dodge Ram.
•In Home Alone 4, Marv's appearance (besides a different actor) resembles closely of that to Harry, with a similar hat and clothing.
•Harry wears a wedding ring throughout this movie. You can see it for the first time when he's dressed as the police officer, and he has it on throughout the rest of the movie, as well. His possible wife is never mentioned during this movie, though so it is implied that he is likely divorced. Ironically, the Harry-like depiction of Marv would be the one who is married in Home Alone 4.
•The van that Harry (Joe Pesci) drives has "Oh-Kay Plumbing" on the side of it. Pesci is remembered for his character, Leo Getz, saying "OK, OK, OK, OK" in the Lethal Weapon films.
•The "Oh-Kay Plumbing" van that Harry and Marv drive has a slogan that says "Your flood control experts." This is funny because Marv wants them to call themselves the "Wet Bandits" and leaves the water running after robbing houses.
Marv Murchins was a crook who regularly partnered with Harry Lyme, forming the "Wet Bandits", a name derived from their "calling card" of leaving their victims' water running and later, the "Sticky Bandits" after stealing money with a tape-covered glove.
The Wet Bandits were a duo of criminals, comprised of Marv Murchins and Harry Lyme. Marv was solely responsible for the name, after leaving a calling card of leaving the water running at every house they robbed.
Nov 30, 2021 · Daniel Stern (Marv Murchins) While in the midst of a successful, but little-known run as the narrator of The Wonder Years, Daniel Stern parlayed his turn as Marv, Harry's dimwitted Wet Bandits...
Feb 16, 2023 · We've rounded up where the stars of the original Home Alone movie are today, whether we're talking about seasoned actors like Catherine O'Hara and Joe Pesci or the movie's youngsters...
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Nov 16, 2015 · Then: Missing the family who'd ignored him; befriending the mysterious Old Man Marley; outsmarting two nasty burglars (the Wet Bandits) with an onslaught of pranks that were equal parts clever...
