As you probably know, filmmaker John Hughes passed away yesterday, at the age of 59. His movies really shaped my youth--even though most the movies he directed came out when I was very young, or even before I was born, I still remember growing up watching "The Breakfast Club," "Sixteen Candles," and probably my personal favorite, "Ferris Bueller's Day Off." And this says nothing of the things he wrote, including the "Vacation" movies amd "Pretty in Pink.: So today, as a "Short List" tribute, I present my top five moments in John Hughes' filmography:
1. Duckie dancing to Otis Rediing, "Pretty in Pink"
2. Clark Griswold Loses It, "National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation"
3. John Bender's Impressions, "The Breakfast Club"
Sorry, no embedded video on this one--but here is a clip. It's the scene where Bender compares his family to Andrew's (Emilio Estevez).
4. John Candy Gets Grilled, "Uncle Buck"
5. Opening of "Ferris Bueller's Day Off"
Ferris Bueller is a hard one to pick a favorite scene. It's just a progression of great scenes, on after another. This clip contains a few of them, including some deep thoughts on the Beatles.
John Hughes' movies defined the 1980s--the terrible style, the music that was present as such a large part in every film, the smart-ass way the young people moved through life--but I think there's such empathy for the characters, such obvious warmth and intelligence about kids on the fringe, from Cameron to John Bender, that it's no surprise they still find an audience generation after generation.
Many of these movies have become cultural icons, and I think that's a mark of a director, writer, and producer who really understood people--people want to root for Ferris Bueller, or Clark Griswold, because they see themselves in these characters. We've all hated school and wished we could take a perfect day off, or had our best-laid plans fall apart. In John Hughes' world, it worked out--maybe not how you'd expect, but somehow.
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