National Lampoon's Vacation is, essentially, the cosmic nexus of 1980s comedy.
Written by John Hughes and directed by Harold Ramis, it was the perfect synthesis of their sensibilities: A sweet-yet-searing look at the inner lives of teenagers and the inherent absurdity of adulthood in the modern era. The two of them are responsible for more great comedies between 1978 and 1993 than anyone else, easily.
And now they're both gone.
Ramis' death comes as something of a shock; I had heard rumors he wasn't well, but hadn't realized how sick he was. In the previously mentioned 16-year stretch, he either wrote or directed (or wrote and directed): Animal House, Caddyshack, Meatballs, Stripes, Vacation, Ghostbusters, Ghostbusters II, and Groundhog Day. With the exception of Ghostbusters II,* you could plausibly describe each and every one of those flicks as 3.5 or 4 star films.
Aside from the aforementioned Hughes, it's hard to think of another director who was that prolific over the same stretch of time.**
Ramis knew better than just about anyone else how to play up the tension in the world between sweetness and sarcasm: Venkman telling Janine that she had the bug eyes then quickly apologizing; "so I got that going for me, which is nice"; "I'm a god, I'm not the God." It is, perhaps, not surprising that his muse was Bill Murray, a man who oozes both qualities in equal quantities.
He was a great director and, by all accounts, an extremely decent man. The world is a poorer place without him in it. RIP.
*I'd still give it three stars. But I'm a sucker for those films.
**Mel Brooks, maybe, though his peak years were more like 1974-1987. Still, lots of overlap.