Where was the cult comedy The Great Outdoors filmed? The late John Hughes is the writer/director behind any number of classic 1980s and 1990s comedies, and his work has proven hugely influential. Hughes started his movie career as the screenwriter behind Michael Keaton's Mr. Mom and National Lampoon's Vacation. He soon moved behind the camera and directed a dazzling array of famous teen comedies in a row, including Sixteen Candles, Ferris Bueller's Day Off and Weird Science.
Arguably his most beloved movie is 1985's The Breakfast Club, where a group of outcast teenagers - played by the likes of Hughes' regular Molly Ringwald and Emilio Estevez - share a particularly emotional detention together. He later focused on more adult, but no less hilarious, comedies such as Planes, Trains And Automobiles and 1989's Uncle Buck, both of which starred John Candy. Hughes was also a prolific screenwriter and producer, penning the first three Home Alone movies, Beethoven, and Flubber.
John Hughes also wrote and produced 1988's The Great Outdoors, which paired Dan Aykroyd and John Candy. The duo had previously worked together on the likes of The Blue Brothers and Steven Spielberg's 1941 and would re-team again for Aykroyd's fascinatingly bizarre dark comedy Nothing But Trouble. The Great Outdoors revolves around Candy's Chet having his peaceful family vacation ruined by his sister-in-law's obnoxious husband Roman (Aykroyd) and a bear - played by Bart the Bear (The Edge) - seeking vengeance on him for a previous run-in. Here's where the movie was shot.
While The Great Outdoors is set in Wisconsin, it was shot entirely on in California. The primary location was Bass Lake, which is a resort close to Yosemite National Park. The bar scenes were filmed in the Pines Bar in Bass Lake, which burned down a year after the film was shot but was later rebuilt. The go-kart sequence was shot at Paramount Ranch, while the vacation cabin itself was built on a Universal Studio backlot.
The Great Outdoors isn't the best work of either John Candy or Dan Aykroyd, but it was a solid hit upon release and holds a nostalgia for viewers who saw it at a young age; it's also notable for being Annette Bening's first movie role. Kevin Hart (Jumanji: Welcome To The Jungle) and Nia Long were attached to a remake of The Great Outdoors back in 2017, though nothing has been heard of that project in recent years, meaning it might not be happening any longer.