Harry and Marv

"Merry Christmas little fella, we know that you're in there, and that you're all alone!"

- Harry

Harry Lime and Marv Merchants aka The Wet Bandits, and the Sticky Bandits, or simply known as Harry and Marv, are the main antagonists of the first two Home Alone films. They are robbers who rob money and cash, but are also very bad at their job.

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 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.

Home Alone
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. Whilst robbing these houses Marv tends to leave the sink on, leading to the houses being flooded and the law enforcers 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.

However 8 year old child Kevin McCallister is home alone, and on Christmas Eve. Kevin overhears Harry and Marv discussing plans for breaking into his house. So as a response he sets up cartoon-like booby traps around the house. While trying to deliver the hit 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 as retribution, but end up being knocked out by Kevin's old neighbor Marley, who then safely brings Kevin home while the police arrive and take Harry and Marv away to jail.

Home Alone 2: Lost in New York
They would later break out of jail in the second film during a prison riot, 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.

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 settle their score with him, the bandits take him into Central Park and intend to shoot him with a Colt New Service pistol, but a pigeon lady (whom Kevin made friends with) saves the day by throwing bird feed at them, prompting the pigeons to attack the bandits. Kevin then took the chance to light up fireworks in order to catch the arriving police's attention. As a result, the police got hold of the bandits and the evidence of them robbing the store, and the bandits are sent back to jail again.

Other Appearances
They don't appear in the third film, but Marv would go on to appear in the fourth film this time as the sole main antagonist. This time, however, without Harry (who is presumably still in jail), and instead with his mother Molly, and his new girlfriend, Vera (the secondary antagonist), he plans to kidnap the royal family of England who are visiting them. Marv is played by French Stewart and Vera is played by Missi Pyle.

Trivia

 * They are always seen together like Abbot and Morley and Horace and Jasper.
 * Harry is the more violent one of the two where as Marv's the more stupid.
 * 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 however he turned it down, calling it "an insult, total garbage."
 * It is shown in the second movie that Marv is Jewish.
 * The 1995 film Bushwhacked (which stars Daniel Stern) was originally going to be a spin-off from Home Alone in which Marv was to reform 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 Home Alone 1, 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?". Their next altercation occured on the set of Home Alone 2 when Culkin innocently asked Pesci why he never smiled, Pesci told him to shut up.