| “ | Merry Christmas, little fella. We know that you're in there, and that you're all alone! | „ |
| ~ Harry |
| “ | I never made it to the 6th grade, kid. And it doesn't look like you're gonna, either. | „ |
| ~ Harry about to shoot Kevin. |
| “ | Marv: What are we gonna do to him?. Harry: We'll do exactly what he did to us. I'm gonna burn his head with a blowtorch. Marv: Smash his face with an iron! |
„ |
| ~ Marv and Harry about to torture Kevin |
Harry Lime and Marv Merchants, also known as The Wet Bandits, and later the Sticky Bandits, or simply known as Harry and Marv, are the main antagonists of the 1990 theatrical Christmas comedy film by 20th Century Fox, Home Alone and its 1992 sequel Home Alone 2: Lost in New York. Harry is the main antagonist of both movie while Marv is the secondary antagonist. They are robbers who rob money and cash, but are also very bad at their job. Harry is the leader, and Marv is the follower, or else, the comic relief.
They are continually defeated by the child hero of the films known as Kevin - who would proceed to cause all manner of cartoon-like injury to the hapless criminals in defense of his home (at least in the first movie), the two robbers were still amazingly determined though and kept on trying to break into the house and capture Kevin but simply continued to be defeated in a string of slapstick-inspired pranks and traps. However, they soon prove to be a very real and deadly threat to Kevin as they are always seen stupidly trying with everything in their power to murder Kevin instead of simply trying to escape. This always proves to be their downfall.
Harry is portrayed by Joe Pesci (who also played Tommy DeVito in Goodfellas and Nicky Santoro in Casino) and Marv is portrayed by Daniel Stern.
Marv later returns as the sole main antagonist of Home Alone's 2002 direct-to-video sequel Home Alone 4: Taking Back The House. He was played by French Stewart.
Home Alone
Harry impersonating a police officer.
In the first film, Harry and Marv rob the houses around the neighborhood that are unoccupied and get information of their security systems by posing as police officers, or at least Harry does this. Whilst robbing these houses Marv tends to leave the water running, leading to the houses being flooded and the real law enforcement officers knowing they are after the same men. Harry disagrees with this, calling it "sick". However the McCallister household, which is the biggest property in the neighborhood, is their most anticipated target.
Marv smiling before being hit by Kevin.
However, 8 year old child Kevin McCallister is home alone on Christmas Eve. Kevin overhears Harry and Marv discussing plans for breaking into his house, and as a response, he sets up cartoon-like booby traps around the house. While trying to deliver the robbing on Kevin's house, they fell into the traps Kevin planned out for them. Eventually, they manage to capture Kevin in one of the houses they've already broke into, and decided to pull the same tricks on him in retaliation, but they ended up being knocked out by Kevin's neighbor, Old Man Marley, who befriended him while he was home alone. Old Man Marley then safely brings Kevin home while the police arrive to take Harry and Marv away to jail.
Home Alone 2: Lost In New York
Harry and Marv capturing Kevin McCallister.
They would later break out of jail in the second film during a prison riot as they changed their names to the Sticky Bandits, and planned to rob the local toy store of the money dedicated for a children's hospital and get revenge on Kevin, who has accidentally stumbled onto New York by getting onto the wrong flight.
During their plot, they try to pursue Kevin, but later hide away inside the toy store to make sure it is left unoccupied by the staff and customers on the night of Christmas Eve, so that they can steal the money undetected. Eventually, Kevin sets off the alarm by throwing a brick in one of the store's windows after taking pictures of them robbing the store, and the bandits pursue Kevin with the money across New York only to end up falling into every one of Kevin's new traps that he set for them in his uncle's house.
Eventually, they manage to capture Kevin again as he slips on some ice in the pavement after calling the police on a pay phone. Taking the chance to get their revenge against him, the bandits take him into Central Park and intend to shoot him with a Colt Police Positive pistol, but not only is the gun too full of gunk from Kevin's booby traps, a pigeon lady (whom Kevin has made friends with) throws bird seed on the bandits, prompting the pigeons to attack them. Kevin then took the chance to light up fireworks in order to mark the bandits' positions to catch the attention of the arriving police. As a result, the police got hold of the bandits and the evidence against them, such as their crime of robbing the store, and the bandits are sent back to jail yet again.
Other Appearances
Marv and Vera.
They do not appear in the third film and the fifth film (which centers around a different kid and villains), but Marv would go on to appear in the fourth film this time as the main later secondary antagonist. This time, without Harry (who is presumably still in jail), instead with his new girlfriend Vera (the secondary later tertiary antagonist) and his mother Molly (the true main antagonist), they plan to kidnap the Prince of the British Royal family and hold him for ransom.
However Kevin ends up crossing paths with Marv again as his dad is dating a rich woman named Natalie, whom the Royal family are due to visit. Marv ends up arrested again at the end of the film along with his girlfriend and mother. The three are then taken into custody.
Marv is played by French Stewart, Vera is played by Missi Pyle and Molly is played by Barbara Babcock.
Gallery
Trivia
- In Home Alone 4, Marv's appearance (besides from a different actor) resembles closely of that to Harry, with a similar hat and clothing.
- Daniel Stern was approached to reprise the role of Marv in Home Alone 4 but he turned it down, calling it "an insult, total garbage."
- It is shown in the second movie that Marv is Jewish, since he called his looting Hanukkah (actor Daniel Stern is Jewish in real life).
- The 1995 film Bushwhacked (which stars Daniel Stern) was originally going to be a spin-off of Home Alone in which Marv was to reform only to however get set up for a crime he didn't commit.
- Macaulay Culkin and Joe Pesci were somewhat enemies in real life. During filming of the first Home Alone, Pesci accidently bit Culkin after getting too serious with his role, leaving a permanent scar. Culkin angrily berated Pesci, saying "I don't care how many OSCARS you have, or whatever - don't go biting a nine-year-old! What the heck's wrong with you!?".[1] It is also said the Pesci intentionally avoided Culkin on set in order to make him genuinely frightened by the sight of him. Their next altercation occurred on the set of Home Alone 2 when Culkin innocently (and jokingly) asked Pesci why he never smiled. Pesci told him to shut up. The feud between Culkin and Pesci may have inspired the first "The Joe Pesci Show" skit on Saturday Night Live (where Jim Breuer portrayed Pesci); the skit ended with Pesci hitting Culkin on the head with a paint can (a reference to a scene from Home Alone) and saying that he laughed when Culkin died in a scene from My Girl.[2]