Chosen by Justin, Only the Lonely arrived in 1991 as a gentler, more bittersweet John Candy vehicle than the broad comedy many audiences might have expected. Written and directed by Chris Columbus and produced by John Hughes and Hunt Lowry, the film brought together Candy, Maureen O’Hara, Ally Sheedy, Anthony Quinn, James Belushi and Kevin Dunn for a Chicago-set romantic comedy-drama with a softer heart than its VHS-era packaging probably suggested. A widely reported production budget is not readily available, but the film earned around $21.8 million domestically after opening wide through 20th Century Fox in May 1991.

The production leaned heavily into real Chicago texture, with principal photography beginning on 1 October 1990 and running until 22 December 1990. Locations included North Avenue Beach, the Pump Room, St. John Cantius Church, Greektown and Comiskey Park, with additional interiors built at Chicago Metropolitan Studios. Reception was mixed-to-positive in the period, with particular praise for the performances, and the film has since picked up a modest legacy as one of John Candy’s more tender, underrated leading roles: less “falling through furniture,” more “quietly breaking your heart while still making you laugh.”

Trailer Guy Synopsis

In a city of crowded bars, roaring trains and overbearing family dinners, one Chicago cop is about to face the most terrifying case of his career: falling in love.

Danny Muldoon is loyal, dependable, kind-hearted… and still very much under the command of his mother. But when he meets Theresa, a shy funeral home worker with a quiet charm, Danny sees the possibility of a life beyond guilt, duty and being emotionally handcuffed to the family sofa.

Fun Facts

• Only the Lonely was Maureen O’Hara’s first feature film appearance in roughly two decades, bringing a classic Hollywood presence into a very early-90s comedy-drama.

• Chris Columbus reportedly wrote the role of Rose with Maureen O’Hara in mind, which is ambitious casting energy of the highest order.

• The film’s title comes from Roy Orbison’s famous song “Only the Lonely,” giving the movie an instant dose of old-school melancholy before anyone even says a word.

• John Candy plays a romantic lead here, which makes the film stand apart from many of his broader comic roles of the 1980s and early 1990s.

• The cast includes both Macaulay Culkin and Kieran Culkin in small roles, because apparently the early 90s had a legal requirement that at least one Culkin appear somewhere near a John Hughes production.

• Maurice Jarre, the Oscar-winning composer behind classics such as Lawrence of Arabia and Doctor Zhivago, provided the score.

• The film was shot in the same general Chicago orbit as several John Hughes-associated productions, helping give it that familiar neighbourhood feel rather than a glossy studio rom-com sheen.

• Anthony Quinn appears as Nick, the persistent neighbour with eyes for Rose, adding some old-school screen charisma to the film’s family chaos.

• The story has often been compared to Marty, the 1955 romantic drama about a lonely bachelor trying to find love while dealing with family pressure.

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