Loading ...Remembering John Hughes
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Loading ...by Dale J. Nauertz
John Hughes never directed a “Godfather” or a “2001″. He never won an Academy Award. But he did give us “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off” and, sometimes, that’s even better. All he did was inspire a generation of moviegoers by giving them characters and situations they could identify with. Movies like “Sixteen Candles” and “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off” may not have the gritty verisimilitude of films like “Kids” or “Bully” but the worlds they create, though not as allegedly realistic, feel more like the authentic teenage experience than many that have tried harder to capture that difficult period of life. I was among that generation (having done a lot of my growing up in the 80’s) and I cannot tell you if the jokes and themes of movies like “Sixteen Candles” or “The Breakfast Club” resonate with other generations as they did with me, but I CAN tell you that I loved these movies, and that they just felt a bit more realistic, a bit meatier, than other teenage comedies of the time…or even those that came after.
The teenage comedies of John Hughes captured the ways teens of that era (and, to an extent, ANY era) talk and relate. They captured the cliques and the attitudes and the oversized emotions of high school perfectly. And then they did something even more magical, something that most people would say is bullshit, they dared to realize the dreams of those teenagers in a way that felt honest. In reality, the shy, awkward teen Molly Ringwald plays would have no real shot with the football stud Jake Ryan. But when he pulls up in that car at the end of “Sixteen Candles”, John Hughes makes us believe it because he has spent the entire movie showing us the golden goddess lurking within this awkward (ugly is a bit much) duckling…and, to a certain extent, the great guy lurking within a hopeless nerd nicknamed Farmer Ted (Anthony Michael Hall). Hughes took the whimsical fantasy at the heart of “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off” (its title character is really nothing more than a teenage James Bond) and contradicted it with the troubled character of Cameron (played by an underappreciated Alan Ruck) whose angst over the neglect of his parents provides an unexpected dose of realism to the film. It may be Ferris’s movie, but Cameron is the heart of it. It also dabbles in the fact that high school romances are doomed to fail, though Ferris is such an eternal dreamer that we almost believe he and Sloane will buck the odds.
Hughes wasn’t quite as successful when he drifted outside the realm of teenage comedy (a genre that he practically invented) but his efforts in “adult” comedy during the 80’s were always entertaining. He penned “National Lampoon’s Vacation”, after all, which provided Chevy Chase with one of his finest vehicles and is, bar none, the greatest family vacation comedy ever made. His footing was less sure on “European Vacation” but he scripted another great adventure for the Griswald family with “National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation”, a film that has become a holiday chestnut in the Nauertz household. His greatest triumphs outside the teenage comedy vein, however, were probably a trio of gems starring the late, great John Candy: “Planes, Trains and Automobiles”, “The Great Outdoors” and “Uncle Buck”. He only wrote “The Great Outdoors” which, while providing ample laughs throughout, isn’t exactly a great film (it is, however, my dad’s favorite). “Planes, Trains and Automobiles” and “Uncle Buck”, which Hughes DID direct, ARE, arguably, great films. They have well-rounded characters, benefit from fantastic character-driven humor, and even generate genuine pathos and emotion. The end of “Planes, Trains and Automobiles”, for example, is particularly moving. In certain circles, “Planes, Trains” is regarded as a Thanksgiving classic and I cannot argue with that. For sheer entertainment value as well as surprising, un-schmaltzy emotion, you can’t do much better. But don’t discount the shaggy charms and unexpected emotional weight of “Uncle Buck” either. It’s a film that sneaks up on you. I don’t know how Hughes does it, but if you don’t feel a little lump in your throat when Candy is debating whether or not to take those kids to the horse track…then you’re a cyborg.
Hughes’s biggest financial success was “Home Alone” in 1990, one of the highest grossing comedies of all time. He didn’t direct “Home Alone”, that was handled by the bland Chris Columbus. But its enormous success did prompt Hughes to enter a new genre: children’s films. While “Dennis the Menace” has its moments, I’ve never bothered with such questionable-looking films as “101 Dalmations”, “Miracle on 34th Street” or, especially, “Baby’s Day Out”. Each of them seemed to pile on the cheap sentiment and hits to the crotch while featuring little of the wit and genuine emotion that defined even the weakest of John Hughes’s 80’s output.
He’d been less productive in recent years. According to the Internet Movie Database, he had a hand in last year’s “Drillbit Taylor” (which I found a solid dose of entertainment) under an assumed name. Otherwise, his last “written by” credit was something called “Reach the Rock” from 1998. I’d never even heard of it before, but from reading the synopsis it sounds like the sort of film from Hughes’s heyday: the story of a troubled young man trying to decide what to do with his life while causing mischief in a small town. I’ll have to netflix it now and see if it’s a last buried treasure from Hughes, a film that would serve more as a testament to his talent than films like “Flubber” or “Baby’s Day Out”. Still, a lot of filmmakers lose their way at some point. But few of them have a run as impressive and genuinely influential as that of John Hughes between 1983 and 1990: “Mr. Mom”, “Vacation”, “Nate and Hayes” (a pirate movie starring Tommy Lee Jones that is enormously entertaining), “Sixteen Candles”, “The Breakfast Club” (which, while entertaining, is one of his lesser films in my opinion simply because the dramatic elements fall rather flat), “European Vacation”, “Weird Science”, “Pretty in Pink” (with Jon Cryer’s outstanding turn as “Duckie”), “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off” (my personal favorite), “Some Kind of Wonderful” (never seen it), “Planes, Trains and Automobiles”, “She’s Having a Baby” (which, if memory serves, is quite good and very mature), “The Great Outdoors”, “Uncle Buck”, “Christmas Vacation” and “Home Alone” (which is pretty damned hilarious, even if it did shift his efforts in an unfortunate new direction).
I will miss John Hughes. Truthfully, I have missed him for years. I’ve missed the kind of rich, warm, hilarious and human comedies he so effortlessly crafted. The real tragedy of his untimely death is that now he will never have a chance to make the comeback I always suspected was just beyond the horizon. I kept waiting for him to resurface with something brilliant, to find a new muse that inspired his creative juices to flow as remarkably as Molly Ringwald or John Candy did. Now, unfortunately, that will never happen. But the films he left us, the great and the merely entertaining, those will be with us forever.
August 8th, 2009 at 2:56 pm
It’s really easy to explain why he was so great. In his entire career he directed “just” eight movies, but they were THESE movies:
Director:
* 1990s
* 1980s
1. Curly Sue (1991)
2. Uncle Buck (1989)
3. She’s Having a Baby (1988)
4. Planes, Trains & Automobiles (1987)
5. Ferris Bueller’s Day Off (1986)
6. Weird Science (1985)
7. The Breakfast Club (1985)
8. Sixteen Candles (1984)
Classic chick flicks. Classic teen comedies. Classic family films.
All around class.
A guy I never appreciated, but I was wrong.
August 9th, 2009 at 10:37 am
Yeah, theres a lot of great flicks in there. I never realized that he just up and quit directing all those years ago, but continued to churn out screenplays. Apparently he even had a hand in Drillbit Taylor from what I’ve read.
Of the movies he directed the one that I remember the fondest from my youth is Weird Science. The other movies are all good and entertaining in their own way, but WS hits on a special chord. I can’t remember when I first saw it, but I was probably only 9 or 10 at the time. What I do know is that I watched the hell out of it!
If I had to pick one movie to sum up what the 80’s movie-going experience was all about, it would be Weird Science. It is so over the top, so ridiculous, that it could have only been made during that decade.
Thank you John Hughes! You will be missed.
August 11th, 2009 at 11:47 pm
Was reading elsewhere the other day that the reason he just disappeared nearly 20 years ago was in silent protest over how John Candy was basically (in his words: “literally”) worked to death.
Hollywood “encouraged” him to stay “large”, and wouldn’t make concessions for his particular health concerns.
I’ve always loved John Candy… and I was really saddened to hear that, and given a tremendously large respect for Hughes that he took Candy’s death that seriously.
P.S. You’re WRONG Jones! Ferris Bueller is one of the greatest movies every made. I hereby nullify your opinion, and supercede it with my own!
August 13th, 2009 at 6:34 pm
I’m with you, Hossrex, Ferris is the greatest teenage comedy of all time. Suck it, Jones (jk). Though “Weird Science” probably contains my favorite Bill Paxton performance ever (”How would you like a nice, greasy pork sandwich served in a dirty ash tray?”). Other than Paxton and that great scene with the kids in the blues club, however, it’s basically an 80’s “also ran”.
If he really did stop making movies in protest over John Candy, then he’s an even cooler guy than I thought. The death of John Candy was one of the first celebrity deaths that really bummed me out (though I believe the first was Jim Henson, that man was a god with felt and rubber) and the fact that he died while making “Wagons East” makes that movie even less watchable than it otherwise would have been.
August 13th, 2009 at 7:54 pm
Source: http://www.movieline.com/2009/08/why-john-hughes-left-hollywood.php
Pertinent information: “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.”
All around class. I wish I’d appreciated him more when he was alive. I didn’t even know he’d made Ferris Bueller. I’d always just associated him with the Brat Pack.
August 13th, 2009 at 9:46 pm
For whatever reason Weird Science is the one that I latched onto as a kid. I didn’t see Ferris until a few years ago and while entertaining, I didn’t get what all the fuss was about. Perhaps if I had seen it back in the 80’s I would have a different opinion of it.
Weird Science is so batshit crazy that I can’t help but love it. It isn’t a great movie by any means, but for me it is the embodiment of what the 80’s movie stood for.
For my money, I would have to say that his “best” movie is Planes, Trains, and Automobiles. For all the reasons Dale mentioned in his article as well as the hilarious scene with Steve Martin at the car rental place. That stands as one of the funniest scenes ever in any movie as far as I’m concerned.
August 13th, 2009 at 10:18 pm
I think the best part of John Hughes’ resume, is you can take ten people… and all ten would have a different “least favorite”… and you can guarantee each of those ten “least favorite” would be on top of someone else’s list.
I have no time for movies like “She’s Having a Baby”, but I know a very sensible woman for whom that movie is one of her favorites of all time.
I love Weird Science (I just prefer Ferris)… but of all of his work… I always thought Breakfast Club was probably the most over rated. Good… but sappy and obvious.
What?!? No matter who we are, we all have problems, and often we all have similar problems?
How can that possibly say anything to anyone older than 17? But still… being 30 years old… my contemporaries still love it.
Nostalgia is a strange thing.
August 14th, 2009 at 4:26 pm
Though “The Breakfast Club” has its moments (most of them involving Judd Nelson and the awesome prickery of Paul Gleason…possibly the greatest onscreen prick of the 80’s based on this, “Die Hard” and his glorious turn as Beaks in “Trading Places”) but, yeah, the serious moments land with a thud and the teen melodrama which Hughes provides so effortlessly in films like “Ferris” and “Uncle Buck” just doesn’t work at all in this film. Anthony Michael Hall’s gun story, Emilio Estevez’s story about taping someone’s butt cheeks together, none of these moments really work. The comedy is fine, the drama is just embarrassing. The only exception: any moment involving Judd Nelson. Nelson carries that movie, which is odd considering he’s never been one-tenth as good since. Maybe every actor has only so many good performances within them. For someone like Michael Caine, that’s a pretty deep well. For someone like Judd Nelson, maybe there’s only one.
Nostalgia is, indeed, a strange thing. How else can one explain all the people who liked “Transformers 2″?
August 14th, 2009 at 7:31 pm
My favorite part about people who enjoyed Transformers 2 is that EACH AND EVERY one of them invariably defends why they enjoyed it before they actually EXPLAIN why they enjoyed it.
Like they know they’re wrong.
August 14th, 2009 at 8:55 pm
I think that is just because of the extremely misguided critical backlash against the movie.
I for one enjoyed Transformers 2 a great deal and look forward to picking it up on Blu-ray. After seeing it, I told anyone who asked me about that if they liked the first one then they should like the second. If they didn’t like the first then they shouldn’t bother with the second.
They are definitely their own kind of beast. Pretty much a love it/hate it proposition.
I don’t by any means think TF2 is a perfect movie (far from it actually), but at the same time I have to wonder why critics even bother reviewing movies like it and G.I. Joe (great movie by the way). They obviously are going to hate them, because these are just popcorn movies and nothing more.
One flaw I’ll admit to is that the Transformers movies try too hard to be more than they are. Instead of aspiring to be something they’re not, they should just do what G.I. Joe did. Accept what they are and fucking go for it!
August 14th, 2009 at 10:17 pm
I’m sorry for dragging that piece of shit Transformers movie into a forum about a movie god like John Hughes. Now, let’s forget it ever happened and talk about a movie that really DOES rule…like “Uncle Buck”.
August 15th, 2009 at 3:06 am
When I was 11, my local “mom and pop” video store (remember those?) had movie posters lining the top of the walls around the entire store. I was very much a regular at the time (Schwarzenegger movies, and Nintendo games), and they let me have first pick of the posters as they came off the wall (to make room for new release posters).
I snatched the poster for Uncle Buck the second I could, and had that damn thing on my wall until I was 15, and decided the universe was too pointless to waste time looking at such manifestations of corporate greed, and took down ALL my movie posters (Christmas Vacations, some Spiderman poster… etc).
So I spent that summer listening to the Dead Kennedys, and thinking how stupid my parents were for not understanding (like me) how pointless life was.
Ever want to just smack your teenaged self?
I gotta see “Uncle Buck” again. Seriously. If for no other reason than to rid myself of the last vestiges of that douchbag 15 year old.
August 18th, 2009 at 11:35 am
Man, that sounds horrible. Especially the Dead Kennedys part.
August 19th, 2009 at 6:44 pm
That Dead Kennedys part does sound pretty terrible. LOL
I don’t think I ever went through a 15 year old phase like that. Instead I may have been the opposite in that I embraced the virtues of corporate greed.
The Uncle Buck poster brings back memories of my The Burbs poster that once adorned my bedroom wall. Not sure whatever happened to that. *sigh*