The Great Outdoors is a 1988 American comedy film directed by Howard Deutch, written and produced by John Hughes, and starring Dan Aykroyd and John Candy with supporting roles done by Stephanie Faracy, Annette Bening (in her film debut), Chris Young, Lucy Deakins, and Robert Prosky. It tells the story of two families spending their week-long vacation at a lake resort in the fictional town of Pechoggin, Wisconsin with hilarious outcomes. Aykroyd, Candy, and Young reprise their roles from Hughes' previous film, She's Having a Baby. The film was met with mixed reviews and has gained a cult following. Plot Chicagoan Chester "Chet" Ripley, his wife Connie, and their two sons Buckley "Buck" and Ben are spending a week vacationing at Wally and Juanita's Perk's Pine Lodge Resort in Pechoggin, Wisconsin, for the summer. They get a vacation cabin called The Loon's Nest from its owner Wally. All goes as planned until Connie's sister Kate, her investment broker husband Roman Craig, and their twin daughters Mara and Cara arrive uninvited. Ghost stories after the family BBQ include one of a man-eating grizzly bear that Chet met directly when he was younger. Chet says that while he and Connie were honeymooning at the same lake, he was attacked by a giant grizzly bear. When he fired at it with a shotgun, the buckshot shaved the hair off the top of the bear's head and from then on, it was known as the "Bald-Headed Bear" of Clare County. After Roman pulls Chet around Lake Potowotominimac on an impromptu water ski ride with his rented speedboat, tensions between the families erupt. Chet is ready to pack up and go home even as his teenage son Buck tries to romance a local girl named Cammie. The budding romance goes well until Chet is challenged to eat a 96-ounce steak called "the Old 96'er" at the restaurant "Paul Bunyan's Cupboard" which causes Buck to break their date. Buck tries to apologize to Cammie for being late, but Cammie refuses to speak to him. Connie and Kate bond at a local bar when the conversation drifts to Kate's feelings of loneliness with Roman despite their wealth. Later, just at the peak of tension between families, Roman tells of the time at his and Kate's wedding when he overheard a conversation between Chet and their father-in-law describing how they think Roman is a crooked businessman. Roman then