Favorite John Hughes Movie

[Peven]

have to respectfully disagree with Hughes making movies that were realistic about teen life. he created fairy tales of teen life that teens liked to believe in but were not born out in reality, imo. one, the idea that even the most obnoxious asshole has some sort of sweet redeeming side. wrong. the assholes in high school were assholes. period. the big popular jock was not hiding some sensitive side for a 10th grade girl to bring out, in reality he was nailing 10th grade chicks and tossing them aside as fast as he could. the real sweet nice guys didn't end up winning in the end, they got screwed over. the snotty rich girl was just that in reality, a snotty rich girl, not someone who had been repressed by trying to live up to her clique and really wanted to be nice. but teens going through the real shit of high school loved to think that the fairy tales of a Hughes movie could happen to them, why wouldn't they, and that is why they were so popular. they were slices of teen escapism with soundtracks that propped them up where they needed it.

[Maui]

Yo, Rants-R-Us, I mean Peven...never said realistic.

[Fievel]

have to respectfully disagree with Hughes making movies that were realistic about teen life. he created fairy tales of teen life that teens liked to believe in but were not born out in reality, imo. one, the idea that even the most obnoxious asshole has some sort of sweet redeeming side. wrong. the assholes in high school were assholes. period. the big popular jock was not hiding some sensitive side for a 10th grade girl to bring out, in reality he was nailing 10th grade chicks and tossing them aside as fast as he could. the real sweet nice guys didn't end up winning in the end, they got screwed over. the snotty rich girl was just that in reality, a snotty rich girl, not someone who had been repressed by trying to live up to her clique and really wanted to be nice. but teens going through the real shit of high school loved to think that the fairy tales of a Hughes movie could happen to them, why wouldn't they, and that is why they were so popular. they were slices of teen escapism with soundtracks that propped them up where they needed it.

But the jocks really did dance that bad.
Made band geeks look like Tony Manero.

I absolutely love The Breakfast Club, though.
To me it seemed to have blended the perfect amount of "No Fucking WAY That Would/Could Happen!!!" with extremely plausible situations.
And the music rocked.

[Bloo]

When I took Interpersonal Communication in college, our professor had us watch THE BREAKFAST CLUB because of the way they related to each other...either that or he just really liked the movie and wnated to be sure he could watch it at least 3 times a year (2 regular semesters and a summer semester) I don't know

[Peven]

Yo, Rants-R-Us, I mean Peven...never said realistic.

lol, you think THAT was a rant???

[caruso_stalker217]

I thought THE BREAKFAST CLUB was alright. The scene where they dance for no reason and Emilio breaks the glass with... with the yelling. That could've been cut.

FERRIS BUELLER is more my territory. I can rant for an hour about how Ferris is a manipulative sociopath piece of shit.

[Bloo]

I thought THE BREAKFAST CLUB was alright. The scene where they dance for no reason and Emilio breaks the glass with... with the yelling. That could've been cut.

FERRIS BUELLER is more my territory. I can rant for an hour about how Ferris is a manipulative sociopath piece of shit.

I know...I've heard

[caruso_stalker217]

I'm gonna write a thesis one of these days. Then... THEN we'll see...

[Peven]

I thought THE BREAKFAST CLUB was alright. The scene where they dance for no reason and Emilio breaks the glass with... with the yelling. That could've been cut.

FERRIS BUELLER is more my territory. I can rant for an hour about how Ferris is a manipulative sociopath piece of shit.

Ferris Bueller....another grossly over-rated movie from the 80's. didn't think it was worth it when it came out and still don't see what everyone goes apeshit over

[instant_karma]

FERRIS BUELLER is more my territory. I can rant for an hour about how Ferris is a manipulative sociopath piece of shit.

Thank you! I've been telling people this for ages. I think they should do a sequel with Matthew Broderick playing a grown up Ferris who has basically become a cross between Patrick Bateman and Keyser Söze.

[DaleTremont]

have to respectfully disagree with Hughes making movies that were realistic about teen life. he created fairy tales of teen life that teens liked to believe in but were not born out in reality, imo. one, the idea that even the most obnoxious asshole has some sort of sweet redeeming side. wrong. the assholes in high school were assholes. period. the big popular jock was not hiding some sensitive side for a 10th grade girl to bring out, in reality he was nailing 10th grade chicks and tossing them aside as fast as he could. the real sweet nice guys didn't end up winning in the end, they got screwed over. the snotty rich girl was just that in reality, a snotty rich girl, not someone who had been repressed by trying to live up to her clique and really wanted to be nice. but teens going through the real shit of high school loved to think that the fairy tales of a Hughes movie could happen to them, why wouldn't they, and that is why they were so popular. they were slices of teen escapism with soundtracks that propped them up where they needed it.

But the jocks really did dance that bad.
Made band geeks look like Tony Manero.

I absolutely love The Breakfast Club, though.
To me it seemed to have blended the perfect amount of "No Fucking WAY That Would/Could Happen!!!" with extremely plausible situations.
And the music rocked.

Plus I thought it was very incisive. Bender totally called that Molly Ringwald would knock out a couple kids and get studly.

[TonyWilson]

FERRIS BUELLER is more my territory. I can rant for an hour about how Ferris is a manipulative sociopath piece of shit.

Thank you! I've been telling people this for ages. I think they should do a sequel with Matthew Broderick playing a grown up Ferris who has basically become a cross between Patrick Bateman and Keyser Söze.

Sure Ferris was kind of an asshole but sociopathic? Nah, he loves Cameron dearly and the whole day is about creating better memories for the future.

[havocSchultz]

I heard a ruckus!

[instant_karma]

FERRIS BUELLER is more my territory. I can rant for an hour about how Ferris is a manipulative sociopath piece of shit.

Thank you! I've been telling people this for ages. I think they should do a sequel with Matthew Broderick playing a grown up Ferris who has basically become a cross between Patrick Bateman and Keyser Söze.

Sure Ferris was kind of an asshole but sociopathic? Nah, he loves Cameron dearly and the whole day is about creating better memories for the future.

See, I don't think he cares about anybody but himself and would screw over anybody that got in the way of his own gratification.

[Peven]

have to respectfully disagree with Hughes making movies that were realistic about teen life. he created fairy tales of teen life that teens liked to believe in but were not born out in reality, imo. one, the idea that even the most obnoxious asshole has some sort of sweet redeeming side. wrong. the assholes in high school were assholes. period. the big popular jock was not hiding some sensitive side for a 10th grade girl to bring out, in reality he was nailing 10th grade chicks and tossing them aside as fast as he could. the real sweet nice guys didn't end up winning in the end, they got screwed over. the snotty rich girl was just that in reality, a snotty rich girl, not someone who had been repressed by trying to live up to her clique and really wanted to be nice. but teens going through the real shit of high school loved to think that the fairy tales of a Hughes movie could happen to them, why wouldn't they, and that is why they were so popular. they were slices of teen escapism with soundtracks that propped them up where they needed it.

But the jocks really did dance that bad.
Made band geeks look like Tony Manero.

I absolutely love The Breakfast Club, though.
To me it seemed to have blended the perfect amount of "No Fucking WAY That Would/Could Happen!!!" with extremely plausible situations.
And the music rocked.

Plus I thought it was very incisive. Bender totally called that Molly Ringwald would knock out a couple kids and get studly.

yeah, but in real life Judd Nelson's character would just be the asshole that he is at the beginning of the movie, not some deep, sensitive guy just putting up a tough exterior because his daddy was mean to him. dudes like him were assholes with no redeeming qualities. in reality those characters would have been who they were introduced as in the beginning, not the fantasy version that Hughes turned them into as the movie progressed.

[tapehead]

have to respectfully disagree with Hughes making movies that were realistic about teen life.

Cool, but who said they were realistic?

[Spandau Belly]

FERRIS BUELLER is more my territory. I can rant for an hour about how Ferris is a manipulative sociopath piece of shit.

Thank you! I've been telling people this for ages. I think they should do a sequel with Matthew Broderick playing a grown up Ferris who has basically become a cross between Patrick Bateman and Keyser Söze.

Sure Ferris was kind of an asshole but sociopathic? Nah, he loves Cameron dearly and the whole day is about creating better memories for the future.

I'd actually love them to do a sequel where Ferris is like 40 and he's become some hugely successful compulsive liar scam artist like one of those Enron guys or something. I picture it being like that Shattered Glass made-for-tv movie I rented one time, only kinda funnier and crazier.

[Peven]

have to respectfully disagree with Hughes making movies that were realistic about teen life.

Cool, but who said they were realistic?

all sorts of people i have seen over the years gushing over his movies talking about how well, how spot on he was at portraying teen life and that is why his movies were so special. i think he simply told fairy tales, using teen life as a backdrop, with soundtracks that were easy on the ears. Breakfast Club happens to be my least favorite by far, just irritates me, but i i enjoy a good bit of "Sixteen Candles", Anthony M Hall steals the movie, and "Some Kind of Wonderful" is probably my favorite, but that is partly because Mary Louis Masterson is so gorgeous in that flick.

plus, i think the last 20 years has shown that after Hughes milked the whole teen fairy tale formula he had shot his wad and hasn't made anything worth watching since.

[caruso_stalker217]

I prefer Hughes movies that don't focus on teenagers. TRAINS, PLANES AND AUTOMOBILES and UNCLE BUCK is where the shit is at.

[Maui]

Ferris Bueller is one of those movies, no matter how many times they air it on TV, I will watch it each and every time.

Cameron and the Ferrari stuff is always the highlight for me.

[caruso_stalker217]

My favorite part is when Ferris manipulates Cameron into facing his father and Cameron kills him and gets life in prison while Ferris impregnates Sloan and uses reverse psychology to make her get an abortion. Then at the end when Ferris and Sloan walk away from the abortion clinic and Ferris turns to the camera and his eyes are glowing and the screen freezes. Classic stuff.

[BuckyO'harre]

Then at the end when Ferris and Sloan walk away from the abortion clinic and Ferris turns to the camera and his eyes are glowing and the screen freezes. Classic stuff.

You forgot the "BOM-BOM Chicka-chickaaaa".

Has to have the BOM-BOM Chicka-Chickaaa.

[caruso_stalker217]

That wasn't until after Rooney did six months in Chino for exposing himself to an eight year old. When he moved to Hollywood he had to go door to door to tell everyone he was a pederast.

[papalazeru]

I read this wrong and thought it said John Holmes

It's a really tough one actually.

It's a real toss up betweem my boy side,

Weird Science, Ferris Bueller's day off, Planes, Trains and Automobiles & the breakdast Club

and my girl side,

Pretty in Pink & 16 candles.

I'm gonna go for Teenwitch, which has nothing to do with John Hughes but equally brilliant.

[caruso_stalker217]

Man, I fuckin' hate WEIRD SCIENCE.

Bill Paxton as the pile of shit was good, though.

[TheBaxter]

FERRIS BUELLER is more my territory. I can rant for an hour about how Ferris is a manipulative sociopath piece of shit.

Thank you! I've been telling people this for ages. I think they should do a sequel with Matthew Broderick playing a grown up Ferris who has basically become a cross between Patrick Bateman and Keyser Söze.

i think ferris bueller (the movie) is ok, overrated certainly. didn't like the character at all, but i couldn't decide if it was the character or matthew broderick i hated. broderick is just naturally smarmy and infects every character he plays with his smarminess. at least i can console myself with the thought that he got what he deserved and is now living in a hell that no man should have to endure (i.e., married to sarah jessica parker)

[TheBaxter]

as for john hughes movies of the 80s, i liked them all to some degree. i preferred the silly and absurd (weird science, 16 candles) to the serious. if i had to rank them:

1. sixteen candles - funniest of them all, plus molly ringwald cuteness, long duk dong, farmer ted, the cusacks... still not as funny as "better off dead" though
2. weird science - this one has no point except to be funny, and ridiculous, and show off how hot kelly lebrock is/was. and that's enough.
3. pretty in pink - good movie, but it had the wrong ending, which kinda ruins it. still the best of his "serious" teen films, but not as good as "say anything"... which i guess just goes to show that whatever john hughes could do, john cusack could do better.
4. some kind of wonderful - gender-reversal pretty in pink with the correct ending restored. but a bit obvious, and sunk by eric stoltz's horrible acting (he got better)
5. ferris bueller - matthew broderick's in it. nuff said. but at least it has a few laughs.
6. breakfast club - i guess it's kind of a love-it-or-hate-it film. there are just too many stupid and, yes, "unrealistic" moments that take me out of the film. hughes was trying to hard, and while you couldn't really say ANY of his films were realistic, this is the one where he was trying to be the most serious, and have some kind of a message, and so the contrived moments pop out more and take away from it.

outside of the teen 80s genre, the only really worthwhile things he's done are vacation and planes, trains, and automobiles. i guess travel/vacation films are his backup genre. PTA was funny, and the rental car scene was classic... but i think candy and martin probably had more to do with the film's success than hughes. vacation is pretty classic (could do without european and christmas vacation, though). home alone, all i can remember is macauley culkin and i hate that little fucker.

[so sorry]

hates all the haterz

Hughes' teen movies rule. Realism be damned. That wasn't what they were 'about', man.

Baxter, good rankings, but I'd shuffle 3-6 around a bit.

Personally for me, Hughes was unstoppable in the 80s. Teen comedies or otherwise (Mr. Mom/Vacation for example). Its a damn shame that he couldn't keep up with the Gen X crowd that he endeared himself to so well. Would have loved for him to "grow up" with my generation. (Not sure if that made sense to you guys, but it did in my head!)

[Fried Gold]

What's the reason for him not having directed since 1991?

[Maui]

I'm gonna go for Teenwitch, which has nothing to do with John Hughes but equally brilliant.

I know, I know, it's this well choreographed dance number that makes Teenwitch the marvel that it is.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jEa1BYBgeQI

[TheBaxter]

ah, the 80s. back when you and your friends could roll up your jeans to your knees and go dancing in the middle of the street without everyone automatically assuming you where ghay.

[tapehead]

What's the reason for him not having directed since 1991?

Curly Sue.

[papalazeru]

What's the reason for him not having directed since 1991?

Curly Sue.

[Fried Gold]

What's the reason for him not having directed since 1991?

Curly Sue.

I can't believe it took six hours to someone to follow through on that.

[tapehead]

'Chris Columbus' would also have been a correct answer.

[caruso_stalker217]

outside of the teen 80s genre, the only really worthwhile things he's done are vacation and planes, trains, and automobiles.

UNCLE FUCKING BUCK.

[caruso_stalker217]

I just made the mistake of looking up current Kelly LeBrock pictures.

What a shame.

[Tyrone_Shoelaces]

I heard a ruckus!

Could you describe the ruckus, sir?

[havocSchultz]

I was just in my office, and I heard a ruckus!

[Fried Gold]

Hardcore pro-wrestler Ruckus?

[Nancy]

My favorite John Hughes movies are - Ferris Bueller's Day off & Sixteen Candles.

[TheButcher]

FERRIS BUELLER is more my territory. I can rant for an hour about how Ferris is a manipulative sociopath piece of shit.

Thank you! I've been telling people this for ages. I think they should do a sequel with Matthew Broderick playing a grown up Ferris who has basically become a cross between Patrick Bateman and Keyser Söze.

i think ferris bueller (the movie) is ok, overrated certainly. didn't like the character at all, but i couldn't decide if it was the character or matthew broderick i hated. broderick is just naturally smarmy and infects every character he plays with his smarminess. at least i can console myself with the thought that he got what he deserved and is now living in a hell that no man should have to endure (i.e., married to sarah jessica parker)

From /film:

Over on Metatalk, Cool Papa Bell has created something I’m calling the Ferris Bueller Fight Club Theory:

My favorite thought-piece about Ferris Bueller is the “Fight Club” theory, in which Ferris Bueller, the person, is just a figment of Cameron’s imagination, like Tyler Durden, and Sloane is the girl Cameron secretly loves.

One day while he’s lying sick in bed, Cameron lets “Ferris” steal his father’s car and take the day off, and as Cameron wanders around the city, all of his interactions with Ferris and Sloane, and all the impossible hijinks, are all just played out in his head. This is part of the reason why the “three” characters can see so much of Chicago in less than one day — Cameron is alone, just imagining it all.

It isn’t until he destroys the front of the car in a fugue state does he finally get a grip and decide to confront his father, after which he imagines a final, impossible escape for Ferris and a storybook happy ending for Sloane (”He’s gonna marry me!”), the girl that Cameron knows he can never have.

What do you think?

From MetaFilter: Crimes committed by Ferris Bueller during his Day off.

Seeking list of crimes committed by Ferris Bueller during his Day off.

I would like a comprehensive list of each offense Ferris and his friends commit during the movie "Ferris Bueller's Day Off". Ideally, please list the offense (criminal trespass to vehicle, battery, etc.) and the category of crime if it was committed by an adult (eg, felony, Class A Misdemeanor, etc.) Illinois jurisdiction. Thank you very much.

[so sorry]

From /film:

Over on Metatalk, Cool Papa Bell has created something I’m calling the Ferris Bueller Fight Club Theory:

My favorite thought-piece about Ferris Bueller is the “Fight Club” theory, in which Ferris Bueller, the person, is just a figment of Cameron’s imagination, like Tyler Durden, and Sloane is the girl Cameron secretly loves.

One day while he’s lying sick in bed, Cameron lets “Ferris” steal his father’s car and take the day off, and as Cameron wanders around the city, all of his interactions with Ferris and Sloane, and all the impossible hijinks, are all just played out in his head. This is part of the reason why the “three” characters can see so much of Chicago in less than one day — Cameron is alone, just imagining it all.

It isn’t until he destroys the front of the car in a fugue state does he finally get a grip and decide to confront his father, after which he imagines a final, impossible escape for Ferris and a storybook happy ending for Sloane (”He’s gonna marry me!”), the girl that Cameron knows he can never have.

What do you think?

Interesting, but where he's wrong is that even though Tyler Durden was a figment of Edward Norton's character, he was actually screwing that dirty whore (even though he thought it was Tyler). So in this dude's Beuller Theory, Cameron would have to be doing Sloane, even though he believes its Ferris the whole time.

[Peven]

also, "Fight Club" was actually a good movie.....

[TheButcher]

From The New York Times November 25, 1987:
Movie Review Planes, Trains and Automobiles

THE circuitous journey that is embarked upon in John Hughes's ''Planes, Trains and Automobiles'' is supposed to range from New York to Chicago, but its final destination is surprising. The two traveling companions, Neal Page (Steve Martin) and Del Griffith (John Candy), do indeed make it to the Windy City, but they also reach the place where confidences are voiced, insecurities are expressed and friendships are formed.

One need not be a student of Mr. Hughes's teen-oriented films (among them ''Sixteen Candles'' and ''Some Kind of Wonderful'') to sense that these are not usually the concerns of middle-aged traveling businessmen. However, Mr. Hughes conceives of this film's adult characters as lost adolescents, and seems to regard their mature status as a terrible burden that they will, with luck, be able to shed. So Mr. Martin, in the film's earlier sections, is the epitome of corporate stiffness, doing most of his acting with his cheek muscles and bristling murderously when someone steals a taxi from him at rush hour. The film is no more comfortable with this exaggerated version of grown-up reserve than it is with the misplaced, confessional pieties that color its conclusion.

The real trouble with ''Planes, Trains and Automobiles,'' which opens today at Loew's Astor Plaza and other theaters, is simpler: there wasn't much of an idea here to begin with, and when Mr. Hughes works with non-teen-age characters he has smaller reserves of colloquial humor upon which to draw. It's harder to have one man complain that traveling with the other is ''like going on a date with a Chatty Cathy doll'' than it would be to have a teen-ager deliver that line. None of Mr. Hughes's earlier films have revolved around anything more complicated than prom dates and parent troubles and getting along with schoolmates, but they had a texture and authenticity that ''Planes, Trains and Automobiles'' lacks.

Mr. Martin and Mr. Candy are an easy twosome to watch even with marginal material, though, and the film is never worse than slow. In fact, it's even promising at first, with the bound-for-trouble promise of a quick trip home for Neal Page, who phones his wife to tell her he'll be there by 10. As a blow-by-blow anatomy of a horrid traveling experience, replete with flight cancellations, snowstorms and unscheduled detours, ''Planes, Trains and Automobiles'' has great potential, but it begins to meander once Neal and Del become a reluctant duo. Neal detests the loud, tirelessly jolly Del on sight. But Fate forces them to share a plane ride, a hair-raising taxi trip and even a bed.

The great, embarrassed flurry of man-talk (''helluva game, helluva game!'') with which these two leap out of bed the next morning is indeed funny, and the film does have its scattered moments. But too often, the audience has as much reason as Del and Neal do to wonder where, if anywhere, they are going. Easy Riders PLANES, TRAINS AND AUTOMOBILES, directed by John Hughes; written by Mr. Hughes; director of photography, Don Peterman; edited by Paul Hirsch; music by Ira Newborn; produced by Mr. Hughes; released by Paramount Pictures. At Loews Astor Plaza, Broadway at 44th Street; Loews Orpheum Twin, 86th Street at Third Avenue; Gemini Twin, Second Avenue at 64th Street, and other theaters.

Running time: 90 minutes. This film is rated R. Neal Page...Steve Martin Del Griffith...John Candy Chairman...William Windom John Dole...Lyman Ward Car rental clerk...Edie McClurg Sue Page...Laila Robins Martin Page...George O. Petrie Joy Page...Carol Bruce Walt...Richard Herd Peg...Diana Douglas

[so sorry]

huh?

[The Vicar]

huh?

Followed quickly by "what?"!

[TheBaxter]

based on that review, i can only conclude that janet maslin is bad at watching movies.

[Peven]

it is really just a so so movie, the gags pretty simple and unoriginal, and the ending about as sappy and predictable and hollywood as it gets.

a few laughs here and there, not bad, but aside from the talent of the two stars an average movie

[Spandau Belly]

so after 24 years of this film being available, I suddenly got the urge to see

SOME KIND OF WONDERFUL

It's been a while since I've seen PRETTY IN PINK, and from what other people say, this film is a redo of that one with Hughes trying to polish it up and fix things such as the conclusion. And from what I remember of PRETTY IN PINK those people are correct and this is Hughes's second go around at this story. Maybe the third time would've been the charm? I'm not just saying that to be mean, because I actually think this is an okay movie, but it needs some more work and maybe some more re-invention. I honestly think the whole story would've been better if it had been set in a post-highschool lifestage. Maybe even the summer after highschool has ended because the film seems to keep trying to address the message of growing up and leaving the teenage way of thinking behind.

Going from my distant memories of PRETTY IN PINK, this story does work better with the gender flip. Mostly because Watts the tomboy drummer is actually attractive and cool, whereas if I were Molly Ringwald I probably would've given Duckie the "just friends" card knowing I could date hot rich dudes now and marry Duckie later when I'm less interested in thrills and looking more for comfort. I'm so awful, I know.

The movie is a bit rushed, especially during key moments when the director should give the actors a bit of room to let these revelations come out and sink in, he just kinda gets them to blurt out their feelings and then move onto whatever happens next. Also, the buddy rapport between Eric Stolz and Watts never really got enough time early on. It would've been nice to see these two interact before Stolz developes his crush on Lea Thompson.

Additional comments:
Did Brian DePalma guest direct that moment of Lea Thompson in the locker room? Holy moley!

Also, did they not actually play the song 'Some Kind of Wonderful' by Grand Funk Railroad in this movie? That seems a bit odd to me, like something you're sorta obliged to do. In SIXTEEN CANDLES they did play the Platters song during the opening credits if memory serves me correctly. I kinda hope I just missed it or maybe it's one of those cases where the rights to the music reversed and when they put this out on DVD they had to use new music. Wierd.

Conclusion
So overall, this is an okay movie. I can't exactly explain why I suddenly felt so compelled to see it, but I don't regret watching it.