Marv and Harry

**Marv Murchins** and **Harry Lime** (also known as **The Wet Bandits**, and later the **Sticky Bandits**) are the main antagonists of the 1990 Christmas film Home Alone and its 1992 sequel Home Alone 2: Lost in New York. They are two burglars who target various houses (including the McCallister house) and later a toy store called Duncan's Toy Chest and also Kevin McCallister's arch-enemies.

Marv is portrayed by Daniel Stern while Harry is portrayed by Joe Pesci.

## History

### Home Alone

In the first film, Marv and Harry 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, which was shown in his first scene where he asks the McCallister family if they are going on a Christmas vacation, in which they answer yes. After the McCallisters (expect Kevin) are gone, Marv and Harry first attempts rob many stuffs from the McCallister house. However, Kevin (seeing the shadows of the two burglars) goes to the basement and turn on the light, making it look like if his family is still in the house. Marv and Harry are tricked and confused by this and leave immediately.

Marv and Harry then raid the Murphy house while also hearing a message by Peter McCallister on a phone, giving the phone number to his brother's Paris apartment (Rob), confirming to the bandits that the McCallisters are gone, and they planned to rob the house later that night. Marv then left a 'calling card' by clogging the drains of the sink in the house and leaving the water running, much to Harry's disappointment. As the two burglars argue as they drive, they accidentally almost run over Kevin. As Harry and Marv talks to Kevin, Kevin recognizes Harry by seeing his smile with the golden tooth. Being suspicious of Kevin, they followed him but lost track of him at a nearby church. Not wanting to enter the church, they fled and Kevin (who was hiding in the nativity scene as a hooded shepherd) returned to his home.

The two burglars later attempted to break into Kevin's home the second time, Kevin had the house lights on and mannequins, making it look like if the McCallister family was still in house. Marv and Harry saw this and decided to come back the day before any witnesses.

When the Wet Bandits arrive at the house the next day, Harry sent Marv to break into the house by going throughout a dog door with his right foot, but instead lost his shoe instead, which he quickly grabbed. Kevin, alarmed, turned on the Angels with Filthy Souls tape and set off a bunch of firecrackers, tricking Marv into thinking that there are people still inside the house. Marv told Harry about this in which confuses Harry, considering they worked at the neighborhood too and Harry pretended to be a cop in front of the neighborhood's residents. While Marv wanted to flee, the two decide to see who's really at the McCallister house. Later, the two saw Kevin cutting down a tree from the yard and Harry saw Kevin alone in the window, leading to them to realize that Kevin is home alone. The burglars decide to come back at 9:00 at night, unaware that Kevin overheard their plans.

That night, Marv and Harry went to back door of the house and attempted to trick Kevin into thinking they are Santa Claus and his elf. Kevin then poked the BB gun out of the doggy door, and shot Harry in the groan, causing him to squeal like a pig. Harry then orders Marv to get Kevin in which Marv attempted to do by going into the doggy door, but Kevin shot him with the BB gun. Harry then attempts to go on the front door while Marv attempts to go to the basement in which they got through some of Kevin's traps. Despite this, the two burglars got inside the house and attempted to get Kevin, although this failed as they still got through Kevin's traps.

Marv and Harry then go upstairs and chased Kevin, but Harry tripped over the wire while Marv avoids Kevin's trap and leapt at Kevin, managing to grab his foot. As Marv tells Harry to get up and help him capture Kevin, Kevin placed Buzz's pet tarantula on Marv's face, causing him to scream over the spider. As Kevin head to the attic, Marv attempts to kill the tarantula with a crowbar, only to accidentally hit Harry. Harry then angrily hits Marv with the crowbar and orders to get Kevin once again. They continued to chase Kevin, only to see him in a treehouse on the other side of the backyard. Marv and Harry climbed the rope leading to the treehouse, but Kevin use the hedge trimmers to cut the rope, leading the two to crash into the house and fall to the ground. Marv and Harry then chase Kevin to the Murphy house (in which they already break into) but knowing that Kevin wants the two buglers to follow him in order to lead them into the boy's trap. Marv and Harry go to the front door and ambush Kevin there.

When they finally capture Kevin, they decide to torture Kevin with the traps he put them through. As Harry was about to bite Kevin's fingers, Marv and Harry are knocked unconscious with a snow shovel by Old Man Marley, whom Kevin befriended earlier after learning the rumors about him being a murderer is false. Marley then takes Kevin to home safety while Marv and Harry get arrested thanks to their plot being exposed (due to Marv always leaving the water running). As the criminals are hauled into the police car, Harry glares at Kevin, who sarcastically smiles and waves as the Wet Bandits are taken away.

### Home Alone 2: Lost in New York

In the beginning of the film, it reveals that Marv and Harry escaped from prison as well going to New York by going into a fish truck. As they travel around New York City, Marv rename themselves as the Sticky Bandits and the two burglars immediately began seeking a new target to rob. They then plan to rob Duncan's Toy Chest, a successful toy shop that plans to donate money 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 goes to Florida for Christmas. When Marv and Harry saw Kevin again, the later find suspicious of the kid. The two burglars then meet Kevin once again when they saw him and decided to get revenge on him for their previous encounter. Marv and Harry then chase Kevin throughout the streets although Kevin uses a necklace in order to trip them over. The two burglars finally capture Kevin after the latter was caught for using his dad's credit card at the Plaza Hotel. After The burglars then rips Kevin's ticket just so Kevin cannot go back to home in Chicago or Miami with his family, Marv reveals their plan to rob Duncan's Toy Chest as well as killing him and going Rio by using fake passports much to Harry's annoyance. Kevin then secretly use his Talkboy to record Marv and Harry's plan. As the duo still have Kevin, Kevin escapes from them by having them being punched by a woman. Marv and Harry then chase Kevin once again but stopped when Kevin hides in a horse-drawn carriage, believing that Kevin won't survive in the park tonight.

That night, Marv and Harry hides inside the toy store to make sure it is left vacant by the staff and the costumers on the night of Christmas Eve, so they can steal the money. As Marv and Harry steals the money, Kevin knocks the window as well as taking a picture of the two burglars. Kevin then throws a rock with a note on it to the window, setting off the alarm, the bandits are enraged by this and chase Kevin with the money, but Harry accidentally gets send by Marv with a seesaw into a car, crushing it. The two burglars then chase Kevin through Uncle Rob's renovated house but however got through Kevin's traps inside and outside the house. After Kevin calls the police about Marv and Harry's plan, he then heads to the Central Park in order to trap the bandits, but he accidentally slipped over some ice, causing Marv and Harry to capture him again. The bandits then take Kevin to the park where Harry plans to shoot Kevin, but his gun is jammed due to it being covered with varnish thanks to Kevin's booby traps. The pigeon lady (whom Kevin has made friends with earlier) yells at Marv and Harry, causing to Kevin get away from them as well as throwing bird seed at them, causing a large flock of pigeons to attack Marv and Harry. Kevin then takes the chance to light up the fireworks in order to mark the bandits' position to catch of the arriving police.

The police officers then arrest Marv and Harry after discovering the photos and a cassette tape with a note labeled "Bad guys saying they'll kill me" that Kevin uses as evidence. Harry then tells Marv to shut up after Marv tells the police about their prison breakout and plan as well as their new name. The police then return the money to Mr. Duncan and inform him about what happened. Mr. Duncan then tells the police to send the money to the children's hospital. Mr. Duncan then reads Kevin's note and accepts it as well as bringing presents to Kevin and his family as a reward for stopping Marv and Harry's plan to rob the toy store's money.

## Personality

Marv and Harry are greedy robbers who rob for money and cash but are also very bad being criminals as they are continually defeated by Kevin McCallister, who defeats them by having his bobby traps and some of his friends. Despite their incompetence, Marv and Harry display ferocious determination in their pursuit of Kevin and prove themselves as dangerous criminals when he is at their mercy, as shown in the first film where they intended to torture Kevin with the traps, he put them through and outright attempting to murder him in the second film. This also shows that Marv and Harry have no problem with killing or attacking children. Furthermore, before encountering Kevin, Harry was able to learn which homes in the neighborhood will be empty for the holidays, and managed to correctly predict which homes automatic lights would activate at the time.

Harry is shown to be more intelligent while acting as the no-nonsense leader of the duo. He is also shown to be short-tempered, as shown when he gets in Kevin's traps, Harry gets angry and wishes to have his hands on the kid. Despite this, there are times where Harry is unintelligent, considering he still gets in Kevin's traps and defeated at the end of the film. He is 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 film.

Harry, however, does show signs of honor, as he is willing to spare Kevin's life in the second movie as long, he handled the camera over; however, Harry only does this just so he can 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 witnesses Marv getting slapped in the face by a beautiful lady after accidentally bumping into her and getting his hand stuck in the woman's bag and Harry also states that Marv deserve it for doing a stupid thing. Harry, despite disliking Marv's incompetence is shown to care about Marv, as shown when he checked on him after Kevin throws a brick on Marv. Harry is also affable, just as long Kevin is not around. Overall, Harry remains the most ruthless of the duo since he is willing to kill others, including kids.

Marv is rather gullible and cowardly while also acting less intelligent than Harry, falling for Kevin's tricks and believing that there are people inside the McCallister house, as well as failing to notice Kevin's booby traps until he has fallen into them. That said, there are moments where Marv think things through better than Harry; often suggesting ideas for their scheme and preventing him from his temper cloud his judgement. He is also a bit more reasonable, despite willing to kill Kevin after everything he put him throughout. He is also displayed as more cautious than Harry on occasion, such as when they prepare to kill Kevin in Central Park, Marv notices the number of pigeons in the area, he begins to feel uneasy and suggest Harry they should leave. Marv is also shown that he can be as ruthless as his partner when angered. For example, when he and Harry captured Kevin in the first film, the former not only supports the latter's decision to bite Kevin's fingers off, but also wanted to "smash his face with an iron" and "shove a nail through his foot". This proves that while Marv is not as smart as Harry and a bit kinder, can sometimes be sadistic as his partner.

Despite this, like Harry, Marv can also be affable just as long that Kevin is not around.

## Trivia

* In the first Home Alone film, Daniel Stern improvised Marv's lines "Why the hell are you dressed like a chicken?" and "Maybe he committed suicide". (The original line for the former is "Why the hell did you set your head on fire?").
* Daniel Stern, who played Marv in the first two Home Alone films, was approached to reprise his role of Marv in Home Alone 4, but he declined it after reading the script, calling it "an insult, total garbage." On the other head, Joe Pesci was never approached to reprise his role as Harry, likely because he had retired from acting during that time. Instead, Harry's name is only mentioned.
* During shooting of the first Home Alone film, Joe Pesci, who is known for playing short-tempered characters, forgot that he was in a family-friendly movie during Harry's tantrums. As a result, he was advised by director Chris Columbus to say "fridge". This explains why Harry mutters under his breath during his tantrums. Ironically, some of characters in the film cuss such as Marv saying "shit" when his shoe falls through the McCallister's dog door.
* A popular rumor is that in an original screenplay for the first Home Alone film. Marv and Harry were the secondary antagonists, having been hired by Kevin's cheapskate uncle Frank who was jealous of his brother Peter's wealth, to rob Peter and the other houses in the neighborhood as well as getting and killing Kevin. This rumor has not been confirmed. Additionally, the original screenplay has Marv and Harry still acting as the main antagonists just like in the final cut as well as the screenplay ending with the duo in prison watching Angels with Filthy Souls (the gangster movie Kevin watched and later use it to trick the pizza delivery boy and Marv earlier in the film).
* The only screen time Harry interacted with Kevin's family in Home Alone and Home Alone 2: Lost in New York is at the beginning of the first film, where Harry is at the McCallister house impersonating a police officer. Marv does not have screen time where he interacted with Kevin's family in either film.
* According to the original screenplay of the first film, Harry was going to be the one attempting to break in through the Mccallister's dog door and tricked by Kevin playing Angels with Filthy Souls. This was kept in the film's novelization.