Production

John Hughes claims that the scene wherein Macaulay Culkin speaks with Amy Madigan through the mail slot in the front door was what gave him the idea for Home Alone. The film was shot almost entirely on the campus of New Trier West High School in Northfield, Illinois. The house set was constructed in the gymnasium. The piano music at the beginning of the film is by Hugh Harris, it is taken from his 1989 song "Rhythm Of Life"; the full song is played at the end of the film.

Towards the end of the film when Buck fires a golf ball at the fleeing Bug, the "club swing" shot was filmed on the grassy school bus turn-around of the New Trier West campus, but the Bug fleeing shot was filmed in the parking lot of a small grocery store in Glencoe, Illinois, more than 3 miles (4.8 km) away. For the scene in which Miles rapidly interrogates Buck about the fine details of his life, John Candy had the script pages stuck on his back so that Macaulay Culkin could maintain the scene's breakneck pace.

William Windom, Mike Starr and Anna Chlumsky make minor appearances.

Danny Devito was considered the role for Buck.

Reception

During its opening weekend in the United States and Canada, Uncle Buck grossed $8.7 million in 1,804 theaters, ranking #1 at the box office. It stayed the #1 film for a total of four weeks in a row.

The film grossed a total of $66.7 million in the United States and Canada, and $12.5 million in other territories for a worldwide gross of $79.2 million. In 1989 it was the 18th top grossing film in the United States and Canada, and the 20th top grossing film worldwide.

As of November 2007, Uncle Buck is Macaulay Culkin's highest grossing film outside of the Home Alone series.

TV series

In 1990, a television series named Uncle Buck was broadcast on CBS. It starred Kevin Meaney as Buck, a slob who drinks and smokes. When his brother and sister-in-law die in a car accident, Buck is named as the guardian of Tia, Miles, and Maizy. The show was not received well by TV critics, but it did quite well on Monday nights. However when the show was moved to Friday, in an attempt by CBS to establish a comedy night there, the shows ratings quickly fell and it was cancelled.