Director John Hughes, RIP

http://www.tmz.com/2009/08/06/john-hughes-dies/

omg RIP

RIP

Okay. Seriously. FUCK 2009. :-( I first didn't want to believe it was John. Another John.
Again FUCK.

2009 has really been the worst year.

whoah wtf

megaRIP

Are you happy now Gene Siskel?!?!

might put on pretty in pink and cry

and so soon after the success of Drillbit Taylor

Wow. And weird: I just bought the Reach the Rock soundtrack on CD yesterday.

As much as I love the Ringwald trilogy, and Some Kind of Wonderful, I often think of Ferris Bueller as one of the most perfect movies ever made. Or maybe it's just because I've seen it 100 times and know every nook and cranny of it. Either way, I'll miss him.

I just saw Uncle Buck for the first time about a month ago (I don't know how I'd missed it all these years), and it made me really bum out over the loss of John Candy. And now Hughes is gone too. :(

Uncle Buck is awesome.

RIP John Hughes. :-(

there's really obnoxious race/class stuff in all his movies and Ferris is kinda the worst about it but if I had to rank 'em it would be - Breakfast Club, 16 Candles, Pretty in Pink, Ferris>>>everything else

Breakfast Club is so goofily earnest, just like high school

Here's the thread where we talk about the greatness that is the She's Having A Baby soundtrack...

Bimble's response to op is classic for me btw.

Just bght pretty ost at the flea market the other day. Also now realize i prob already have it.

I didn't realize that he didn't direct PiP!

"Man hath but a short time to live
and is full of misery
He cometh up
and is cut down like a flower
He fleeth as if it were a shadow -
- and never continueth in one stay"

between grief and nothing, i'll take grief

He did much more writing and producing than directing, actually.

some of his stuff that i read in the national lampoon as a kid seriously screwed me up and helped make me the screw-up that i am today. i think that's a compliment. breakfast club and pretty in pink certainly huge cultural moments for my generation.

i mean, i read this when i was eleven:

http://www.tgfa.org/fiction/MyVagina.htm

awwwwww man.

Thanks for the 7 or 8 movies that I've seen 20+ times each, JH.

and if you are gonna read My Vagina by John Hughes, you have to read My Penis too. it's only fair.

http://www.tgfa.org/fiction/MyPenis.htm

I hope heaven is full of girls falling for the wrong guy

This is true of John, just as it is true of Ferris:

http://www.idiotsavant.com/ftp/sounds/dude.wav

Am lighting 16 candles in tribute.

couldn't find it on youtube, but I shoulda written my thesis about this scene.

http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=7284684

holy shit, I had no idea John Hughes wrote that "My Vagina" thing; I read that when I was a kid and it was like "WOAH"

RIP

Hughes was responsible for Drillbit Taylor?

Home Alone brings me unparalleled delight. RIP

As much as I love the Ringwald trilogy, and Some Kind of Wonderful, I often think of Ferris Bueller as one of the most perfect movies ever made.

otmfm
twist and shout scene one of my favourite cinematic moments

RIP 1980's

apparently stirrup leggings are back, though.

Definitely had little use for him, but he shaped my perceptions of what constitutes a teen comedy (so that others could do it better); and he had a way with a one-liner.

His Vacation script is still the best thing he did.

To me Planes, Trains, and Automobiles has always been his best. I won't spoil it to those who haven't seen it, but I think John Candy's character in that movie is one of the best written and performed roles in any Hollywood comedy ever.

RIP.

I remember watching Breakfast Club's ending over and over when I a was a teenager... Not that it hasn't happened since. RIP.

PT&A is probably his "best", but I have seen Ferris and BC so many more times.

I've only seen PT&A once, and it's been a long time. I should def re-see.

BC would otherwise be perfect, but I hate how Ally Sheedy's transformation from "goth" to "normal" is supposed to be like a happy ending.

That moment represents everything I despise about Hughes; I always thought he tried to atone by making PIP's Duckie as unabashedly weird ('gay') as possible.

haha oh Tuomaspaws

That moment represents everything I despise about Hughes; I always thought he tried to atone by making PIP's Duckie as unabashedly weird ('gay') as possible.

except that Duckie is TOTALLY gay, the resolution for his character makes no sense! I dunno, all his movies have problems.

I love them, problems and all.

Also, pairing Ally Sheedy with Emilio Estevez in the end seemed a bit too convenient. The romance between Molly Ringwald and the bad boy felt credible, but that other one didn't. It seemed like they wanted to give a happy ending to everyone. (Except for the nerd guy, but who cares about nerds.)

Well, Hughes wants it both ways: every bit of clothing and mannerism signals that he's queer, yet is convincingly in love with Ringwald.

(Duckie, that is)

In all fairness, it is patently obvious that:

1) Ally Sheedy's character acts and dresses the way she does because no one ever pays attention to her;
2) The makeover is the only way Molly Ringwald's character knows how to express wanting to do something nice for her;
3) Emilio Estevez's character is attracted to her well before the makeover happens.

It's pretty genius in its simplistic/not simplistic construction, IMO.

Again, a problem with the story that separates it from reality and makes it a movie. xxxp

wau Dan, you're right!

RIP 1980's

― akm, Thursday, August 6, 2009 9:14 PM (16 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

Definitely had little use for him

Was waiting for someone (figured it would be Alfred or Morbs) to make this comment. A co-worker just tapped on my cubicle with a look of shock on her face, asking me if I'd heard the news, and I felt bad flatly saying "Yup." I saw Ferris Bueller and Home Alone when I was a kid and enjoyed them as preteen entertainment; I didn't see the Ringwald trilogy until the summer before my senior year of college, when I got it in my head that I should finally see this whole cadre of 1980s movies that my entire peer group seemed to always be referencing. (Still haven't seen Say Anything or Weird Science or Better Off Dead.) Of the three, I think I liked Breakfast Club best, at least up until the horrible Ally Sheedy makeover at the very end; Hughes certainly wrote memorable characters and was well-attuned to a particular strain of teenage anomie, but Shakey's right about the obnoxious class/race stuff (it's why Sixteen Candles is my least favorite of the three), and in the end it's just hard for me to get sentimental about this guy. (Btw, I never even saw Reach the Rock. I dig the soundtrack, though, because Hughes made his son, John Hughes III, music supervisor, and III -- who runs the Chicago-based Hefty label -- chose post-rock polymath John McEntire to score it.)

"Sixteen Candles" is alternately fantastic and horrifying.

She can express her kindness to Sheedy by making her bag lady act, I dunno, better or something, because it's clear, as you point out, that Estevez likes her for her awesome battiness (the dandruff snowflakes, eerie private smiles, etc) and not because she looks and acts WASPY.

Ferris Bueller is one of those movies that's always comforting to me when it's on. I watched it a lot as a kid.

Ferris Bueller will be all I ever need (and as it is I last watched it over a decade ago...longer, maybe?), but the thing he was behind to one extent or another that actually had the longest-term impact on me was easily the Pretty in Pink soundtrack. I didn't even bother with the movie!

(Still haven't seen Say Anything or Weird Science or Better Off Dead.)

Better Off Dead shits over those other two - and all of Hughes' 80s movies tbh - from a great height. It has none of the problems of Hughes' oeuvre, and all the cleverness and visuals and one-liners

FB is like Star Wars: criticism is beside the point. You feel like a troll pointing stuff out.

His introducing kids to Psychedelic Furs, New Order, OMD, etc, however, is a genuine public service.

the Pretty in Pink soundtrack is pretty epochal.

Also the various posters in FB's room. Cabaret Voltaire! Sisters of Mercy!

I rewatched Better Off Dead recently and just found it really dragging in many parts. Great highs, but lots of dull spots. Hughes movies are much better-paced, imo

is someone going to rep for Career Opportunities? I remember it was awesome when I was 11 or 12, but haven't seen it since.

Jennifer Connelly is very lovely and leggy in it.

Candy deserved an oscar for Planes, Trains.

Also the various posters in FB's room. Cabaret Voltaire! Sisters of Mercy!

Boys and Girls-era Bryan Ferry!

The thing is, it's kind of clear that what he digs about her isn't really the act, it's HER. It's also clear that she's pretty unhappy and just wants to be noticed, which is why she responds positively to the makeover in the first place. He, being a popular high school boy, is likely psyched that she is capable of looking like something besides an alienated goth as that removes at least one axis of strain from their high school relationship, plus when she rips the patch off his letter jacket it's kind of clear to him that she is still the quirky spirit that attracted him in the first place.

The way she looks doesn't have as much to do with what's going on between them as much as it does how that will be accepted by the other kids who didn't go through this magic detention session.

btw I have watched "The Breakfast Club" far far FAR too much

Jennifer Connelly is very lovely and leggy in it.

― Anatomy of a Morbius (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, August 6, 2009 9:38 PM (28 seconds ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

may have been 99 percent of why I liked it.

The Sheedy makeover is awesome because it is so 80s and so stereotypically mainstream movie-like. Did you guys want Ferris to do a parade dance to Rock Lobster, too?

Basically, without the Sheedy makeover, Ringwald's prediction about them never speaking to each other again after that day comes true.

I agree that PT&A was his best film. RIP :(

You may not be wrong, Dan, but you're projecting a lot of subtext that simply isn't there in Hughes' writing or Estevez's performance.

I should rewatch the movie before asserting this but as of now I am convinced that everything aside from the last post I made and the other-kid reaction to the Estevez/Sheedy relationship is explicitly in the movie.

"may have been 99 percent of why I liked it."

may be 99% of the reason to have ever watched it.

christmas vacation is probably my single favorite thing that he was involved with. i mean, he wrote it.

Captured the hell of being stuck in the back seat of long, pointless family car trips with only Ramones on a walkman to blank it out. NO GREATER TRUTH HAS EVER BEEN COMMITTED TO FILM.

...and parents singing "Mockingbird."

Did you guys want Ferris to do a parade dance to Rock Lobster, too?

I don't know about you, Granny, but Ferris Bueller at the parade always reminds of the autographed photo of Matthew Broderick that Ms. Brubeck had in her office.

oh man christmas vacation is hilarious

curly sue might be my least fave hughes thing. but, you know, i'll pretty much watch any of them if they are on t.v. dutch and uncle buck have that creepy dad thing in them that always bugs me. dad has to get mean to get the love. uncle buck just has weird shit all through it.

she's having a baby. i liked that too. haven't seen that in a zillion years. i vaguely remember that soundtrack too. everything but the girl?

and kate bush!

he was pretty great imo, i find all his films pretty entertaining and containing some elements of truth. this may stem from me having grown up in the chicago suburbs, though.

Oh God, I wanted that huge Microphonies poster in FB's bedroom so badly, and his Fairlight (or Synclavier)

My favourite part of FBDO is Cameron's little shimmy on the rotating kitchen barstool during the call to Rooney,
dunno why, but there's something perfect about that.

The scene where Buck knocks all the pots and pans down and then says "SHIT!" made me laugh harder than just about anything I've ever seen. John Candy was a genius.

the weird joke in FBDO that always makes me laugh is cameron in bed, singing to himself "when cameron was in egypt's land" and then the full chorus swelling up for "let my cameron go"

haha

The Great Outdoors

Also 'never had one lesson!"

my favorite john hughes lol is

"dad, what about you?"

"flip you!"

Annette Benning is so fetching and funny in The Great Outdoors. Her first movie role!

those nat lamp stories are FUCKED UP

jaymc, i think i've repressed any time spent in Ms. B's office, which wasn't much to begin with.

those nat lamp stories are FUCKED UP

yeah that was kinda disturbing - they're vaguely pornographic and not really ... funny? and yet they are deeply reflective of adolescent angst and whatnot

UNCLE BUCK.

everything else i kinda take or leave. especially the teen movies. but for uncle buck alone he's earned his cloud.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=po2ahzuziEw

Love him or hate him, if you were a teen in 1980s Illinois, John Hughes meant something. To think I have not seen a John Hughes movie in years, I have been so negligent.

The real genius behind FBDO was Matthew Broderick. Everyone should read the original script to see what a huge asshole Hughes originally made him out to be, and how another another could have completely ruined the movie.

another ACTOR

For those talking about JC in Career Opportunities: 1p3 crush thread :-)

Rogermexico - I had a long drive the other day and listened to the 16 candles sndtrk on repeat. That TT song you linked the youtube to is one of my favorites.

The real genius behind FBDO was Matthew Broderick. Everyone should read the original script to see what a huge asshole Hughes originally made him out to be, and how another another could have completely ruined the movie.

Yeah -- Broderick really is a young Reagan in that movie.

So sad about this. RIP.

http://www.ruthlessreviews.com/5911/ferris-bueller-and-ed-rooney-misunderstood/

that article could have done one better and suggested that while Bueller was a psychopath, Rooney just wanted to pork him ("your ass is mine, bueller!").

"I did not achieve this position in life by having some snot-nosed punk leave my cheese out in the wind. "

From imdb:

"Although he has been offered the distinguished alumni award from Glenbrook North High School, he has refused it in reflection of his not so great memories of the north shore and the school itself."

Researchers estimate that 80% of Ferrari owners are psychopaths

Hughes isn't dead unless Jeffrey Jones has inspected the corpse. Someone roll his old bones over there.

Alf!

Pucker up, buttercup.

Ferris is a total asshole and I never need/want to see that movie again. It is on cable constantly.

Rogermexico - I had a long drive the other day and listened to the 16 candles sndtrk on repeat. That TT song you linked the youtube to is one of my favorites.

― ENBB, Thursday, August 6, 2009 3:14 PM

<3

Soundtrackwise Pretty In Pink gets all the love but it's amazing imo and "If You Were Here" closes the deal like a motherfucker.

What a shitty day this has been. Btfl Thompson Twins track there, rogermexico. And RIP.

When i was 12 my mum sneaked me into see my first '15' rated film at the cinema and it was Planes, Trains and Automobiles. I often mention that small fact to people as a way of demonstrating that my mum was cool. RIP MR Hughes.

i was sort of embarrassed as a teenager by how much i liked john hughes movies. i was an aspiring film snob and never would have listed the breakfast club as one of my favorite movies, even though it was. it's hard for me to say how well the movies "hold up" because they're so entwined with my adolescence that i don't have a good perspective on them. but i do think john hughes had a real handle on the intensity of the drama of teenage life, how much and how deeply even small social conflicts matter -- and he didn't condescend to that adolescent perspective, he respected it. mythologized it, even. (and wasn't the first or last to do so, obviously, by a long shot. and maybe it's way too easy to call his movies the catcher in the rye of the '80s -- but i don't think it's far-fetched.)

even though I didn't care for it, a big reason I didn't hate Juno is that I hadn't seen a film pandering to teens in that magical Hughes way in a while.

To me Planes, Trains, and Automobiles has always been his best.

looking over this thread, i realize that the only movies hughes directed that i have seen in toto are

- ferris bueller's day off
- sixteen candles

no doubt i've seen parts of the others (breakfast club, weird science, etc.) on television.

of the ones he had a hand in but didn't direct, i've seen home alone and most of the "vacation" series, and again, parts of many others.

i THOUGHT i had seen breakfast club but evidently not, as all the references are going over my head.

Kurt Loder's take on Hughes:

Aug 6 2009 7:32 PM EDT
John Hughes, 1950-2009, By Kurt Loder
The teen-movie king of the 1980s dies in New York City.

John Hughes did one thing extraordinarily well that most critics thought wasn't worth doing at all. He made teen comedies — funny, distinctively humane pictures that resonated with young people in the 1980s in ways that we, now living in a much raunchier age, may not see again.

Hughes, who died of a heart attack on Thursday (August 6), during a visit to Manhattan, was a madly prolific writer, director and producer with a strong aversion to the Hollywood movie-making machine. Even at his hit-churning peak, he remained stubbornly based in Chicago, and rued every moment he had to spend in Los Angeles. "L.A. is a real bad place to get a perspective on the country," he once told the New York Times. "I never saw anything but the 405 freeway going to and from work. And I realized when I sat down to work I didn't have anything to write about."

He was a one-time ad man (and National Lampoon writer) who started out in the business selling scripts for movies like "Mr. Mom" and "Vacation" (the first film in what eventually became a Chevy Chase trilogy). He broke into directing — and scored his first hit — with the 1984 "Sixteen Candles," the movie that turned Molly Ringwald into a major teen star. The following year came "The Breakfast Club," which helped make "Brat Pack" celebrities out of Emilio Estevez, Ally Sheedy, Judd Nelson and Anthony Michael Hall. From that point, he pretty much owned the teen '80s with "Pretty in Pink" and "Some Kind of Wonderful" (which he wrote) and "Weird Science" and "Ferris Bueller's Day Off" (which he wrote and directed). He started branching out with the 1987 "Planes, Trains & Automobiles," a more grown-up sort of picture starring Steve Martin and the late John Candy. (Hughes claimed he wrote the script for it in three days. According to Molly Ringwald, he polished off the screenplay for "Sixteen Candles" in just two.)

Then came his biggest hit, the 1990 "Home Alone" — the movie that turned Macaulay Culkin into an international screamy-face icon. Written and produced by Hughes, and directed by his friend Chris Columbus, the picture was made (in and around Chicago) for about $18 million, and went on to gross more than $530 million worldwide. Hughes no doubt appreciated the financial avalanche (he was always closely involved in the marketing of his films), but there was an equally important creative gratification. "I made a segment of the marketplace laugh at things they don't usually laugh at," he said. "It wasn't macho jokes. It was this little kid running around dropping paint cans on guys. And you could hear grown men laugh. That was really satisfying for me."

After the piddling "Curly Sue" in 1991, Hughes abandoned directing to concentrate entirely on writing and producing, continuing to turn out some scripts under the pen name Edmond Dantès (the titular character in Alexandre Dumas' The Count of Monte Cristo). One of these screenplays, after lying around unproduced for 20 years, was exhumed for last year's Owen Wilson comedy "Drillbit Taylor," with unfortunate results.

Hughes seemed to become somewhat reclusive in his later years — but what did he have left to prove? His movies — solidly constructed, unapologetically mainstream — made a powerful emotional connection with a mass audience, and they may retain a following as long as there are teenagers around to discover them.

"I happen to go for the simplest, most ordinary things," Hughes said of his work. "The extraordinary doesn't interest me. I'm not interested in psychotics. I'm interested in the person you don't expect to have a story. I like Mr. Everyman."

Mr. Everyman liked him right back.

RIP Mr. Hughes. It's difficult to articulate just how much you've influenced me as an aspiring filmmaker. Thank you so much for all you gave.

My family has watched Planes, Trains & Automobiles every Thanksgiving for as long as I can remember. I'm sure we will this year, too.

rip

Shall probably go out and get BC, FBDO and PIP on DVD after work and get some popcorn and watch them all.

PT&A is one of the 10 best hollywood movies of the '80s imo

funny, distinctively humane pictures that resonated with young people in the 1980s in ways that we, now living in a much raunchier age, may not see again.

his teen comedies could be plenty damn raunchy in a post-animal house way, and not that much more "humane" than American Pie (and again, Juno!) in the long run.

i realize nobody on here has really pushed that argument, but i'd hate to see his passing cause some "whatever happened to heart?" thing as if his movies didn't co-exist with porkys and screwballs.

that would be the real tragedy.

Loder is notorious for playing the old man card these days and pretending the past was a better time for...well, everything. I'm aware that it's a bunch of shit, but I love him for it nonetheless.

too soo, slocki? sorry.

"soon"

And for the record, I usually like movies with happy resolutions however unrealistic they might be. But I also like movies with unhappy endings if they better serve the story. I think the Hughes films all had the endings they earned.

http://www.hokubei.com/files/images/jack%20soo-barney%20miller%20b&w.jpg

HEY SEXY GIRLLLLLLFREEEEEEEN

http://www.threadbombing.com/data/media/2/supplies.gif

PT&A is one of the 10 best hollywood movies of the '80s imo

agreed

^ Yes! I love PT&A.

John Hughes R.I.P. [Mark Hemingway]

The revered director and screenwriter died of at heart attack this morning at age 59. His impressive comedic talent was responsible for several classic films in the 80s and early 90s, including Planes, Trains and Automobiles, National Lampoon's Vacation, and Home Alone.

But he'll primarily be known for pretty much defining the American high-school experience for generations to come — Sixteen Candles, Pretty in Pink, Ferris Bueller's Day Off, The Breakfast Club, Weird Science, et al. They're all classics.

Hughes's work wasn't really political, but I always loved this bit from the original Ferris Bueller screenplay. It never made it into the film, but it made me laugh out loud when I read it:

FERRIS:
My uncle went to Canada to protest the war, right? On the Fourth of July he was down with my aunt and he got drunk and told my Dad he felt guilty he didn't fight in Viet Nam. So I said, "What's the deal, Uncle Jeff? In wartime you want to be a pacifist and in peacetime you want to be a soldier. It took you twenty years to find out you don't believe in anything?"
(snaps his fingers)
Grounded. Just like that. Two weeks.
(pause)
Be careful when you deal with old hippies. They can be real touchy.

Also, if you've never read "Vacation '58," the short story Hughes published in the old National Lampoon magazine that later became the basis for the Chevy Chase movie — well, it's available on the web and it's hilarious. He will be missed.

Was there any reason he went from his niche of teen movies to kiddie flick hackwork (beethoven, baby's day out, etc)? Not that his teen movies were much better.

My guess is because Home Alone was such a huge success, he tried to replicate it... then after Curly Sue bombed I guess he just stopped caring?

Well he still wrote and produced Baby's Day Out and Flubber after that - his career is sort of like the end of 2001

only bad.

err, the end of his career that is.

Aw man this sucks. Loved a good many of his movies (not so much the later ones, of course). Though, now that he's dead, I can reveal my secret love of 'Curly Sue'. My sister and I used to watch it all the time, and whenever I'm at a football game or I hear the National Anthem being sung, I always have to stop myself from saying 'play ball!', like Curly Sue standing on her bed saluting the TV in the middle of the night.

wow, ferris bueller was kind of an asshole

Has anyone actually SEEN reach the rock? We had the soundtrack at my college radio station and I saw two minutes of it on some network Fox Sunday Matinee oddly enough, but it's the last script actually credited to him. It's in one of Ebert's your movie sucks books.

Though, now that he's dead, I can reveal my secret love of 'Curly Sue'.

That's the last film he directed! Maybe he'd have liked to have known this information while he was still alive.

imdb trivia says he was considering directing maid in manhattan, but like Drillbit Taylor, who knows how many years it was in development before it actually came out.

Maid in Manhattan isn't bad as far as rom-coms go. I can't imagine he'd ever really commit himself to the genre as hard as he did to his teen films, but he probably could've made several very watchable films if he'd wanted.

this is crazy. Some people are saying it's a hoax but she sounds legit.

John told me about why he left Hollywood just a few years earlier. He was terrified of the impact it was having on his sons; he was scared it was going to cause them to lose perspective on what was important and what happiness meant. And he told me a sad story about how, a big reason behind his decision to give it all up was that "they" (Hollywood) had "killed" his friend, John Candy, by greedily working him too hard.

I always thought hollywood wasted Candy, rather than overworking him.

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2009/08/06/arts/06hughes_190.jpg

Since I was in my 20s at the time...

aside from "Some Kind of Wonderful" (directed by Howard Deutsch), lousy fucking movies. Although I never made it past the first 5 obnoxious minutes of "Ferris."

especially beloved by kids who hate their parents. I hated kids from about the time I was 6.

because it's clear, as you point out, that Estevez likes her for her awesome battiness (the dandruff snowflakes, eerie private smiles, etc) and not because she looks and acts WASPY.

If this is true, why does Estevez' character looks totally smitten by Sheedy when he sees her after the makeover? Maybe there's some hidden subtext that he was hot for her all along, but the overt text totally contradicts that. And, you know, this isn't some super nuanced and realistic theatre piece where that sort of ambiguity is a positive thing. It's a teen-oriented movie with a anti-conformist message that's mostly handled very well, yet in that one moment it still succumbs to conformist/sexist cliches. I think the interpretation you and Dan suggest is simply reading too much into the film; certainly most of the BC's main target audience, i.e. teens, wouldn't have interpreted that scene in this way.

I hated kids from about the time I was 6.

hahaha me too

She looked hotter after the makeover. No offense, weirdos!

It doesn't matter if she looked hotter or not. That the makeover provided her a "happy" ending is pretty much against what the rest of the movie is about.

RIP

[/really wanted to post (nonexistent) YT of Emilio Estevez from BC getting all aggro/enthused after smoking weed & grooving SO HARD that he shatters glass!]

She looked hotter after the makeover. No offense, weirdos!

No! That was one of the dullest maid-to-maiden makeovers I've ever seen in a movie. I realize, though, that they were just using what Molly Ringwald had to work with being trapped in an empty high school and all, but Sheedy was much hotter when she was all mopey and clad in black.

certainly most of the BC's main target audience, i.e. teens, wouldn't have interpreted that scene in this way.

I think the reason 30-somethings and those who've seen them as hand-me-downs from older friends/siblings hold such a candle for John Hughes films is that the characters are left wide open for projection and interpretation. The adults or authority figures in all the movies rarely have any nuance (barring one insightful moment here and there), but the kids are always on the verge of some huge transformative action. Hughes was smart enough to leave space in what's presented to let you connect the dots on how they get there.

Sheedy: sexy underbite transcends all (non)makeovers.

It doesn't matter if she looked hotter or not.

It mattered to me!

Well, obviously you were then one of those conformists that scene was pandering for. :)

Ahh man... :-(

@omar little, please tell me what film 'Supplies' is from... Dying here!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qtRQsCgYmtc

It's from UHF by Weird Al Yankovic, a very funny movie!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RB2GboGOuTI

Geddo Watanabe has a few awesome scenes in that movie.

I remember hearing/reading a comment from him that the reason he stopped making "those movies" is that he could no long relate to teenagers anymore.

Which is kinda enh as a reason; those teenagers grew up, same as he did. Make flicks about them.

Still, him as a writer is endlessly classic.

Thanks Tuomas, I actually saw UHF when young, plenty of times even, but I totally forgot about this. Fits in perfectly though.

"Badgers? BADGERS? We don need no stinking badgers!"

Well, he did do Planes, Tranes and Automobiles, which is definitely about adults, but after that went to writing/directing movies about kiddies. What does that tell, I wonder?

(x-post)

It suggests he had kids and wanted to make 'family' work while they were little, a la Robin Williams.

Exactly. Once he had little kids, he had a fresh supply of inspiration (though he mostly used it to create broad comedy).

RIP. that Phoenix mash-up gave me goosebumps.

I always had a soft spot for Maid in Manhattan, and now I understand why.

One of my favourite FB quotes comes from Grace: Oh, he's very popular Ed. The sportos, the motorheads, geeks, sluts, bloods, waistoids, dweebies, dickheads - they all adore him. They think he's a righteous dude.. Also, when it randomly comes up in conversation, I am incapable of saying 'nine times' without it coming out in Ed Rooney's voice.

I remember hearing/reading a comment from him that the reason he stopped making "those movies" is that he could no long relate to teenagers anymore.

Which is kinda enh as a reason; those teenagers grew up, same as he did

When you grow up, your heart dies.

If this is true, why does Estevez' character looks totally smitten by Sheedy when he sees her after the makeover? Maybe there's some hidden subtext that he was hot for her all along, but the overt text totally contradicts that. And, you know, this isn't some super nuanced and realistic theatre piece where that sort of ambiguity is a positive thing. It's a teen-oriented movie with a anti-conformist message that's mostly handled very well, yet in that one moment it still succumbs to conformist/sexist cliches. I think the interpretation you and Dan suggest is simply reading too much into the film; certainly most of the BC's main target audience, i.e. teens, wouldn't have interpreted that scene in this way

kind of ironic that you are blasting this movie's handling of its non-conformist message for not conforming to your idea of how it should have happened

I think you're using the word "conform"/"conformist" there in two different ways that aren't really comparable. Anyway, I'm not saying how what should've happened, merely pointing out that for a movie whose main theme is criticism of conforming to expected social roles, it puts Sheedy conforming to expected ideals of femininity in an oddly positive light.

The movie is less about not conforming to social roles and more about befriending people who you like, no matter who they are. It's really odd that you WANT Sheedy's character to stay in a place that she's created because she is, by her own admission, deeply unhappy and trying to get people to notice her; is it really big surprise that when people do start noticing her and paying her positive attention, she would change the way she presents herself? Is the important thing here that she "betrayed" her weirdo self by putting on less eyeliner and a headband or that four other diverse students at her school decided she was funny and sweet and want to be her friend?

yeah, being so invested in her weirdo image makes you the shallow one a lil bit friend.

that said, she looks totally shitty post makeover, that thing where she's a thinly veiled Nan Goldin smack-lesbo was pretty good and she was waay hot in it, I wish they'd show it on tv again.

http://www.movieactors.com/freezeframes-77/BreakfastClub42.jpeg

She looks like Matt Dillon in drag.

Really?

... Huh.

i'd say stick to your guns instead of two homos but whatevs

instead of LISTENING to two homos, eh

Stuck between two homos in a resulting paste.

funny that the most controversial elements of two of his molly ringwald movies involve a girl successfully leaving the world of dorks behind and hooking up with the prom king. I get the Pretty In Pink ending (turning a preppy douche into a good guy is more of a victory than settling for your passive-aggressive best friend) but as plaxico points out, TBC's ending would work a little better if she didn't look hotter before the makeover.

hey did you guys know that John Hughes movies had funny jokes and sharp dialogue and charismatic acting hidden somewhere beneath all that suffocating sociopolitical commentary you disagree with so vehemently? (xpost)

(The biggest thing I, personally, took away from that movie was the idea that I could dress however I felt like dressing; this meant that some days I would show up at school wearing a tuxedo jacket, Guess! jeans and combat boots and other days I'd show up in Dockers and a Genera sweater; there's no particular reason to pigeonhole yourself into one particular "style" because that is not the sum totality of who you are.)

xp: lol I am not backing down at all, I just didn't/don't see the Matt Dillon connection
xxp: The "success" of the makeover is less important to me than the
vulnerability she showed by letting someone else strip off her armor. Also I would ask out either version because she is Ally Sheedy and pretty hot regardless of style.
xxxp: lol some dude OTM

C'mon, Dan: WIN! WIN! WIN!

...my old man...
(the for-TV edit of that movie is so classic)

i heard there was an outtake where Ally Sheedy curls into a ball and sings some phil ochs song to herself when everybody starts prancing around, before finally joining their egyptian-walking. they couldn't have included it (it would have killed the magical reality that allows them to suddenly have a dance montage), but it would have underlined the idea that Ally was doing a good thing (accepting friendship) rather than abandoning punky glamour for wan "prettiness."

she didn't look hotter before to Andrew, jesus.

i'm all about the little kicks that MR does on the stairs, defining cinematic image imo

she didn't look hotter before to Andrew, jesus.

like with pretty in pink, it shouldn't be surprising that the initial reaction of indie/outcast boys isn't "she abandoned her eyeliner/smiths-loving dork friend and got the prom king YAAAAY"

key word there is initial

"turning a preppy douche into a good guy is more of a victory than settling for your passive-aggressive closeted Smiths-loving best friend"

John Hughes movies had funny jokes and sharp dialogue

I so wish. "Long Duc Dong"

so no one's posted Vacation '58 yet?

http://www.bizbag.com/Vacation/Vacation%2058.htm

who is your obsession with Duckie's homo repression?

never occurred to me that Duckie didn't actually want to bone Ringwald. lots of straight dudes wore goofy clothes and listened to fey bands while pining for girls in high school, in his time and in my time.

It's not Duckie's fault. Hughes didn't tell him what he'd done to that character.

xpost

TS: the little brother in Sixteen Candles ("I just hope you just burn the sheets and mattresses after he leaves") vs. the little brother in The Last Dragon ("Chocolate covered yellow peril!")

http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/la-hughesteensmar24-pg,0,2280297.photogallery?index=12

lots of straight dudes wore goofy clothes and listened to fey bands while pining for girls in high school, in his time and in my time.

See also Robert Downey Jr.'s Weird Science character for a classic pre-grunge KROQ fratboy type. (As Rollins once muttered in some routine back in the eighties, 'Rednecks in Southern California are like rednecks anywhere except they have Oingo Boingo bumper stickers.')

He is reportedly working as a carpenter making handcrafted furniture in northeastern Pennsylvania.

Man I hope he went full Amish.

John Hughes' The Village

amish u so much

damn, son. RIP.

you made Ally Sheedy hotter than hot.

damn, son. RIP.

you made Ally Sheedy hotter than hot, debatably.

yeah, being so invested in her weirdo image makes you the shallow one a lil bit friend.

I'm not saying she should've stuck with her weirdo image, but if the only way Hughes could think of to make her character feel noticed and loved is to give her a traditionally feminine makeover (which is immediately followed by a "scwhing!" reaction from Estevez, emphasizing that her newfound "sexiness" is what makes her noticed), then it's kinda sad. Surely there could've been other ways to portray her transformation? You know, something that symbolizes personal change, rather than a superficial makeover and the subsequent attention from boys.

or maybe her hair was hiding her face and the big reveal was her pretty face

attention from the opposite sex is a big deal to teenagers

sometimes i think tuomas is a really sophisticated troll whose specialty is making me hate my own opinions

sometimes i think he's a really stubborn foreigner who thinks he understands US pop culture and social mores way better than he actually does

I like to picture Tuomas as a figure skater. He wears like a white outfit, and he does interpretive ice dances of my life's journey.

Photoshop plz

Tuomas Sundance

http://z.about.com/d/figureskating/1/0/i/F/-/-/evgeni.jpg

oh shit, lol

"Wow. And weird: I just bought the Reach the Rock soundtrack on CD yesterday."

a great, great (if dark) soundtrack.

RIP. this just came out of nowhere, didn't it?

http://wellknowwhenwegetthere.blogspot.com/2009/08/sincerely-john-hughes.html

long interview from 1985.
http://www.slashfilm.com/2009/08/06/47-minute-interview-with-john-hughes-from-1985/
John Cusack originally cast as Bender! Virginia Madsen.

Hey, I pretty much feel identical to Tuomas re Breakfast Club. The last five minutes nearly ruined all of the goodwill the movie had accumulated to that point.

and Ally Sheedy stopped being hot

There is an interesting article about "indie girl has a cry"-fetishism lurking behind all of this.

and you call yourself a cure fan

that blog post about being pen pals with Hughes was a little touching, I admit

Also, if you've never read "Vacation '58," the short story Hughes published in the old National Lampoon magazine that later became the basis for the Chevy Chase movie — well, it's available on the web and it's hilarious. He will be missed.

I'm imagining Vacation being set in 1958, Chevy in some post-war leisure wear as he carts the family across the country in some giant car every bit as fictional as the one used in the movie that actually got made. And maybe Christie Brinkley is riding a horse instead of driving a Ferrari.

for the record, guys, JH had nothing to do with Better Off Dead (a personal favorite of mine), other than (arguably) paving the way for its existence.

16 candles had excellent cameo by john cusack and even more excellent cameo by joan cusack. it's hard to find better deployment of cusacks than in this movie.

this thread has had 2 posts comparing Better Off Dead, favorably or unfavorably, against JH's work, and 0 posts implying that it is one of JH's works

er 3 posts, typo

sorry some dude. In scanning, I made erroneous assumptions.

lol @ cusack deployment

Haha I was thinking the same thing.

me too!

"Deploy the Cusack" is very "Release the Kraken"

Westmoreland always said they could've won the war with better cusack deployment strategy

thx Pillbox, maybe since you posted V '58 four hours after I did, someone will notice.

Since John Cusack was a total unknown when cast in 16 Candles, his role cannot be described as a "cameo."

he was wearing a red codpiece, though

I give up. I can't win on this thread. Maybe if I take my Adderall & come back to it, I will be able to read posts. Or maybe, just maybe there is a special girl out there who will understand how misunderstood I feel & reach out to me.

there is that chick who needs a new penpal

No no no I can assure you that "people" (eg. my friends etc) waited for the credits to find out who John Cusack was; that known, he was on the grapevine and when he visited my college a year after that to see an Evanston friend there was a chain of young women trying the 'got a light?' approach just to speak to him.

Sooner or later, everyone goes to the zoo.

http://i153.photobucket.com/albums/s236/mezxspectrum/ferrisbueller7.jpg

http://wellknowwhenwegetthere.blogspot.com/2009/08/sincerely-john-hughes.html

RIP

I call BS on Morbius' challops. I don't believe he really thinks Planes, Trains and Automobiles is a "lousy fucking movie."

OK, never saw that one; never liked the clips. I prefer Candy in the unalloyed brilliance that was SCTV.

however, this is probably my favorite film of those Hughes had anything to do with (a producer):

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0102598/combined

OK, never saw that one; never liked the clips. I prefer Candy in the unalloyed brilliance that was SCTV.

― Indiana Morbs and the Curse of the Ivy League Chorister (Dr Morbius), Friday, August 7, 2009 5:02 PM (5 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

how can you "prefer" him when you haven't even seen the movie you're talking about

I'm talking about his film career in general, c'mon! You'd never get those weird SCTV character riffs into studio movies.

"John Hughes" signifies high school movies, that's the gist of what ppl are talking about.

"John Hughes" signifies high school movies, that's the gist of what ppl are talking about.

― Indiana Morbs and the Curse of the Ivy League Chorister (Dr Morbius), Friday, August 7, 2009 9:14 PM (4 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

Except we've been talking about Planes, Trains and Uncle Buck and Vacation.........

bye

lol

I'm talking about his film career in general, c'mon! You'd never get those weird SCTV character riffs into studio movies.

"John Hughes" signifies high school movies, that's the gist of what ppl are talking about.

― Indiana Morbs and the Curse of the Ivy League Chorister (Dr Morbius), Friday, August 7, 2009 5:14 PM (15 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

ya but john candy wasn't in any of the high school movies... o why do i even bother

i would like to see a johnny larue movie tho

As much as I like PT&A, I contend that John Candy's career high was in Vacation as the security guard at Wally World.

"This is a Magnum PI!"

"moose out front shoulda told ya!"

This is great...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZOkNIUw0c2s

glenn kenny, who wasn't really a fan:

I'm just remembering catching The Breakfast Club on cable with My Lovely Wife a few months back. The film resonates with her a lot more than it does with me, but one thing I noticed and admired about it was that, a couple of dumb touches aside (the shattering glass door, the dance scene), it's very nearly well...European, in that it's a picture that basically consists of a group of characters sitting around talking. It took some stones for Hughes to do that. Not only to do it but to make a hit out of it. So there's that, too.

No joke, if "Planes, Trains ..." were released today, we'd see John Candy nominated for a supporting actor Oscar next year. You know it's true.

Hughes has very few antecedents, as far as sympathetic and not reactionary treatment of teen turmoil (minus the really bad things). But technically speaking, his films really are as close to the French new wave as those of any other American director. I noted somewhere else that "Ferris Bueller's" is as audacious and fun as "Breathless," just nowhere near as cynical.

waht

FB is a totally cynical enterprise; it makes Breathless look like a Shelley poem.

I mean, fine, you like John Hughes, but to say his films are as close to French New Wave as American movies gets is pretty horrifying and depressing.

I didn't say close in quality. I specifically said close on a technical level, as in, how they're made, what he does as a director. It has nothing to do with how much I do or do not like him as a director.

FB is a pretty audacious movie stylistically though, especially in those first 5 minutes that Morbs couldn't get through.

I mean: random musical numbers, characters breaking the fourth wall, text typed on the screen, movie continues during the ending credits, adventurous framing ...it may not be as good as "Breathless," but to say it isn't related implies you've seen nothing but the Gere remake.

also wtf Godard loved shitty Hollywood movies

Jour de Congé de Jeune Homme Bueller

Godard didn't think the Hollywood movies he loved were shitty!

I don't think FB is shitty either btw

I propose that Michel Gondry make a movie about sending Godard back in time to watch Ferris Bueller's Day Off so he can be inspired to film Breathless. Wait that doesn't work...

yes it does

Be Kind to the Future

Starring Crispin Glover as Godard and Paul Giamatti as Mia Sara.

Meanwhile, this classic not nouvelle vague (but possibly Jerry Lewis) inspired bit from the later Hughes oeuvre:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wuiVqV16oag&feature=related

Starring Crispin Glover as Godard and Paul Giamatti as Mia Sara.

Would watch.

After seeing it last night I'm convinced PT&A is his best.

I think PT&A is the best holiday movie post-Christmas Story.

"Ferris Bueller's" is as audacious and fun as "Breathless," just nowhere near as cynical.

CHRIST ON A STICK

hey morbs, I thought you said bye.

I'm sure there's another thread about movies you haven't seen you can post on.

I think PT&A is the best holiday movie post-Christmas Story.

― Your heartbeat soun like sasquatch feet (polyphonic), Saturday, August 8, 2009 2:25 AM (38 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

Unless you count Die Hard.

speaking of Godard...

I gotta say, that's pretty funny. I should write for the Times.

While he was capable of occasional cute lines, a feature from his ad days, I thought Hughes' movies symbolized the death of whatever smart comedy Hollywood could muster. Perfect pap for the Reagan '80s. His takes on suburbia were toothless and tame, which is why most of them raked in so much serious green....

Before he struck Hollywood gold, Hughes worked for a time at National Lampoon. This was during P.J. O'Rourke's editorial reign, when the mag's guns were aimed at women, people of color, and queers. Hughes was one-third of the Pants Down Republicans (alongside O'Rourke and Denis Boyles), white guys who rejected liberalism in favor of the emerging GOP consensus, only theirs allowed drugs, drinking, loud music, and sexual promiscuity....

http://dennisperrin.blogspot.com/2009/08/permanent-vacation.html

zzzzzzz

http://i27.tinypic.com/2ufg2af.jpg
Denis Boyles
P.J. O'Rourke

chilling

i wasn't his biggest fan but i'd rather read someone mount a defense of 'ferris bueller' as a serious film than another lame pseudo-analysis from someone who think it's real insightful and daring to label all cultural artifacts from the 80s "reaganite."

^^ someone buy this man a drink

I always assumed that whole pants-down republican thing was satire.

Some people take irony so far they become the thing they mock. Not sure Hughes did this but O'Rourke definitely did.

Sorry, that Ferris opening monologue is as Reagan Youth as it gets.

I always assumed that whole pants-down republican thing was satire.

Are you familiar with PJ O'Rourke's last 25 years?

Original script:

12 INT. BATHROOM. SHOWER STALL. 12

Inside the shower. Ferris' hair is standing straight up.
It's molded into a fin with shampoo.

FERRIS
It's on European socialism. I mean,
really. What's the point? I'm not
European. I don't plan to be European.
So, who gives a shit if they're socialists?
They could be fascist anarchists and it
still wouldn't change the fact that I
don't own a car.

He turns the shower head around and uses it like a
microphone.

FERRIS
(sings)
WELL SHAKE IT UP, BABY,
TWIST AND SHOUT...

13 INT. HALLWAY. LATER 13

Ferris comes out of the bathroom with a towel wrapped around
his waist. He's drying his hair with another of a different
color.

FERRIS
Not that I condone fascism. Or
and "isms". "Isms", in my opinion
are not good. A person should not
believe in an "ism". He should
believe in himself. John Lennon
said it on his first solo album.
"I don't believe in Beatles, I
just believe in me." A good point
there. After all, he was the Walrus.

He opens a linen closet and tosses the towel in it.

FERRIS
I could be the Walrus and I'd still
have to bum rides off people.

He passes CAMERA and goes into his room.

FERRIS (OC)
I'm not very political? Let me
put that into perspective...

14 INT. BEDROOM 14

Ferris tosses the towel he's dried hair with on the bed.

FERRIS
My uncle went to Canada to protest
the war, right? On the Fourth of
July he was down with my aunt and he
got drunk and told my Dad he felt
guilty he didn't fight in Viet Nam.
So I said, "What's the deal, Uncle
Jeff? In wartime you want to be a
pacifist and in peacetime you want
to be a soldier. It took you twenty
years to find out you don't believe
in anything?"
(snaps his fingers)
Grounded. Just like that. Two weeks.
(pause)
Be careful when you deal with old
hippies. They can be real touchy.

Reagan Youth? Hardly. Narcissistic teen? Totally.

diff?

you should write some ferris bueller/alex p.keaton fanfic

A Leopold/Loeb for the ages.

Um, not all youth under Reagan were Reagan youth? Besides these guys, at least.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/bc/Reaganyouthband.jpg/220px-Reaganyouthband.jpg

From the same shooting script:

STREAMS OF ROCK 'N ROLL FADE IN AND OUT. HUEY LEWIS TO LIONEL RITCHIE TO HUSKER DU.

Would the world have turned out different were Huey Lewis and Husker Du on the same soundtrack? Imagine the conflicted kids!

Would the world have turned out different were Huey Lewis and Husker Du on the same soundtrack?

I'm sure there's a film both will be on coming out soon. (The former song will soundtrack an ironic dance attempt in a bar gone awkwardly wrong, the latter will soundtrack some sort of sort of uplifting emotional moment for a young tousled-headed man wondering about these strange feelings inside himself. He will then laugh them off in favor of flirting with a red-headed lass with freckles, and they will then awkwardly dance some more. Name of movie: What Isn't Going On.)

Oh and then Mickey Rourke comes in and kills everyone. Directed by Eli Roth.

His takes on suburbia were toothless and tame, which is why most of them raked in so much serious green....

Yeah, god knows what the movies need are more fierce takes on suburbia.

Adventureland Soundtrack

1. Satellite Of Love - Lou Reed
2. Modern Love - David Bowie
3. I’m In Love With A Girl - Big Star
4. Just Like Heaven - The Cure
5. Rock Me Amadeus - Falco
6. Don’t Change - INXS
7. Your Love - The Outfield
8. Don’t Dream It’s Over - Crowded House
9. Looking For A Kiss - The New York Dolls
10. Don’t Want To Know If You Are Lonely - Husker Du
11. Unsatisfied - The Replacements
12. Pale Blue Eyes - The Velvet Underground
13. Farewell Adventureland - Yo La Tengo
14. Adventureland Theme Song - Brian Kenney

Pretty close, jaymc!

Meanwhile, we definitely need more movies exploring the horror that lurks beneath the placid surface of the suburbs. Forget for the time being that the suburbs, generally speaking, are indeed actually pretty toothless and tame. We demand the truth, and the truth is never as neat as the nice yards and good schools of the North Shore suburbs. That's all a myth that the Man wants you to buy into, man. (If you can afford it.)

Like this one. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0254888/

Unflinching, man.

Damned stoner.

or like those lameasses Updike and Cheever, amirite?

you guys are Buellers, essentially. Methinks thou dost protest in spades.

Ms Kael:

The Breakfast Club
US (1985): Drama
97 min, Rated R, Color, Available on videocassette and laserdisc

Set mostly in the library of a suburban Chicago high school, this encounter-session movie by the writer-director John Hughes is about five students-a cross-section of the student body-who in the course of serving a 7-4 Saturday detention peel off their layers of self-protection, confess their problems with their parents, and are stripped down to their "true selves." The five are: a champion wrestler (Emilio Estevez), a popular redhead "princess" (Molly Ringwald), a grind (Anthony Michael Hall), a glowering rebel-delinquent (Judd Nelson) who wears an earring, and a shy, skittish weirdo (Ally Sheedy). With the exception of Sheedy, who's a marvellous comic sprite and transcends her role until she is jerked back into the script mechanics, the movie is about a bunch of stereotypes who complain that other people see them as stereotypes. Hughes has talent, and when the kids are just killing time the dialogue has an easy, buggy rhythm, but this is a very wet enterprise. It appeals to young audiences by blaming adults for the kids' misery and enshrining the kids' most banal longings to be accepted and liked. Judd Nelson, who is supposed to represent what authorities want to crush, has the worst-conceived role, though Paul Gleason's part as the callous dean is a close runner-up. Also with John Kapelos as the school janitor.

and on Pretty in Pink:

John Hughes, who wrote the script and supervised the work of the first-time director, Howard Deutch, never goes beyond a kid's point of view; this picture isn't actually about teenagers--it's closer to being a pre-teen's idea of what it will be like to be a teenager. In its sociological details, it might have been made by little guys from Mars.

she did like Sixteen Candles though.

it's really a shame she never reviewed Weird Science

you guys are Buellers, essentially.

You're Rooneying all over this thread.

You're Rooneying all over this thread.

Having only seen five terrible minutes of FB before turning it off, Morbs might not even get the reference.

I don't -- Jeffrey Jones? not into little boys.

are links to reviews from Kael supposed to be powerful evidence in your favor?

"ok I haven't seen this movie, but Kael hated it!"

Not the most original thought ever, but both Ferris Bueller and Election are improved if you imagine that Broderick is playing the same person. All his smartassery got him nowhere!

(I like FB even though I think Ferris is a dick - it gets by on exuberance + supporting cast.)

The movie deals with how selfish Ferris is too. Cameron finally calls him on it.

As I've gotten older, I kind of see Jennifer Grey as the hero of the movie.

oh damn. Just heard this news now! RIP.

Actually, I've never seen Bueller either, I just know Dennis Perrin is kinda full of crap.

Planes, Tranes . . . is by far my favorite Hughes.

Also, this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=89Ou-iK2_kQ

is funnier if you picture Morbs as Linda Fiorentino and everyone else as Jay & Silent Bob.

"ok I haven't seen this movie, but Kael hated it!"

I've seen both those movies, so please fuck the piss off.

Josh in Chicago seems particularly dense, but I'll chlk it up to Hughesmovie chauvinism. SO PROUD

btw I have no memory of that Bueller "draft-dodging uncle" bit, cuz it's not in the movie.

Pancakes, you deserve the Indians.

The Indians that you said were going to win the division? Or the real ones?

As soon as I saw that this thread existed, I had already read it.

Except for comparing Bueller to Breathless. Never saw that coming. Thanks for that.

was gonna get behind the godard/hughes thing for the hell of it but couldn't think of a good angle

AO Scott took care of it for ya already

But I don’t think I’m alone among my cohort in the belief that John Hughes was our Godard, the filmmaker who crystallized our attitudes and anxieties with just the right blend of teasing and sympathy. Mr. Godard described “Masculin Féminin,” his 1966 vehicle for Jean-Pierre Leaud and Ms. Karina, as a portrait of “the children of Marx and Coca-Cola.” Mr. McCarthy and Ms. Ringwald, in “Pretty in Pink,” were corresponding icons for the children of Ronald Reagan and New Coke.

( http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/08/movies/08appraisal.html )

"ok I haven't seen this movie, but Kael hated it!"

I've seen both those movies, so please fuck the piss off.

Josh in Chicago seems particularly dense, but I'll chlk it up to Hughesmovie chauvinism. SO PROUD

btw I have no memory of that Bueller "draft-dodging uncle" bit, cuz it's not in the movie.

― Indiana Morbs and the Curse of the Ivy League Chorister (Dr Morbius), Sunday, August 9, 2009 6:06 AM (12 hours ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

I never made it past the first 5 obnoxious minutes of "Ferris."

― Indiana Morbs and the Curse of the Ivy League Chorister (Dr Morbius), Friday, August 7, 2009 6:54 AM (2 days ago) Bookmark

^aspergers

"I didn't see the movie, but I saw the trailer and I can basically judge a movie from that"

I mean I'm honestly confused now, did you see all of ferris bueller?

I mean you'd have no memory of ANY bueller bit, right?

the draft dodger thing in the screenplay was quoted from the opening scene (which I saw)

now go teach yr Hughes/Fitzgerald seminar

Man those 5 minutes really had an impact on you.

srsly though you should watch it sometimes. Jennifer Grey is really funny in it.

Was anyone else disconcerted when Molly Ringwald went from the ultimate outsider in "Sixteen Candles" (even though she got the guy in the end, to the popularity queen in "Breakfast Club"? It made more sense for me when she returned to quirky with "Pretty in Pink." Somehow, I never really believed her as the popular one, for in the Hughes canon, this is usually the buxom blonde cheerleader.

I watched these films in junior high--they were always enjoyable, but even at the time I felt they were incredibly stereotypical and unbelievable. Looking back, the standout performance for me is Jon Cryer as "Duckie." Anthony Michael Hall also confused me by going from uber dork to BMOC not much later in his career.

Nice fashions and aesthetics though, and yes the "Pretty in Pink" soundtrack is amazing. I want what MW is wearing in the first pic:

http://themoment.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/08/07/teen-spirit-a-john-hughes-style-tribute/

molly on john.

John was my Truffaut.

Might or might not be further evidence for the 'Ferris was a jerk' school.

The Great Outdoors is a kind of an odd one in that although I remember enjoying it as a kid, I was probably fully aware that it was just a Vacation/Planes, Trains and Automobiles knockoff. A re-watch confirms this: I would not be at all surprised if Hughes had cobbled together the script almost entirely from outtakes from those other two. The direction, by the guy who helmed Pretty in Pink and Some Kind of Wonderful is horribly slapdash as well. The whole thing, from conception to shooting and editing, gives the impression of being a rush job to make a summer release date (which probably was the case).

The subtitled racoons are still pretty funny, though.

The subtitled racoons are still pretty funny, though.

Tru.

the raccoons and the steak and having to eat the gristle are all i remember about this movie

They're all that are worth remembering.

the raccoons and the Ol' '96er are the only decent in a gruesome fucking movie (Annette Bening's in it!)

https://www.criterion.com/films/29272-the-breakfast-club

50 minutes of never-before-seen deleted and extended scenes

god i wonder how many of these will be "problematic"

Kind of love that Molly is a lefty pundit on Facebook now.

The most eloquent and detailed review that will probably ever be written of She's Having a Baby: https://www.filmfreakcentral.net/ffc/2021/03/shes-having-a-baby.html

Morbs goin' HAM upthread.

classic morbs in maximum annoying mode. complete with denis perrin links and pauline kael c&p