Director John Hughes, RIP

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.

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