John Hughes directed only eight movies. Six of them I could watch anytime, anywhere, as could most people. Of the eight movies Hughes directed, here are my top five: Sixteen Candles, The Breakfast Club, Ferris Bueller's Day Off, Weird Science, Planes, Trains and Automobiles. (Uncle Buck is just slightly less impressive to me than these five, but I still love it.) Is there anyone who can't put themselves into one of these films? There is someone's high school lifestyle approximately personified in at least one of these movies, probably more than one.
More astounding still is that Hughes has done great films from both the female and male perspective. He's captured geeks and jocks, popular girls and nobodies. I don't care how cool you were in high school, you can still identify with Wyatt and Gary in Weird Science. I don't care how popular you were, there is some of you in either Breakfast Club-Molly Ringwald or Sixten Candles-Molly Ringwald. (And speaking of, how perfect is she in these movies? A-plus amazing.)
The only thing that separates these movies from being timeless is their obvious '80's accessories. The cars, clothes and hair all serve to remind us that these stories are actually taking place in a world without cell phones, iPods, ABS brakes or Abercrombie and Fitch. I am put perfectly at ease by a Hughes movie. Going back to the world of the fictional Shermer, Illinois is a comforting thing. (It doesn't always work out for everyone though. See Jay and Silent Bob's issues with Hughes and Shermer in Dogma.)
Some might say these films aren't great because they are full of crude humor, drinking/drug abuse and sex. My answer to those people is that these things are what matter to teens. They are what make up the fabric of teen lives. For better or worse, a teenager's life revolves around sex and drugs and a lot of crude humor. Weird Science is the movie that I like best. I love the ultra-sexy Kelly LeBrock and I really enjoy watching the guys try to impress everyone and be popular. So many kids pine for popularity. The point of a lot of these movies, and I've found this to be true in my life as well, is that outside of school, outside of the cliques, the kids are all very eager to meet on common ground. I remember, just as many of you do, being cool with someone all summer, but losing that friendship when school started. Or being able to say "hello" to someone only if no one else was around them.
John Hughes was an amazing personality. I don't know him personally of course, and maybe he was just existing in the past and trying to make sense of his youth as a jock or geek. In any event he made movies that have lives of their own. He created characters who make you laugh and cry. His characters were ones you empathized with. You don't just watch a John Hughes movie, you part of it is in you and there will always be a draw to his films for that reason.
Not to leave anything out, but John Hughes also wrote a lot of great films. In addition to all the movie he directed, Hughes also wrote The Great Outdoors, Home Alone (1-4), the first three Lampoon Vacation films and Mr. Mom. (They're all worth checking out...except Home alone 3 and 4.)
The only film that has come out lately that reminds me of the magic of a John hughes movie is Can't hardly Wait. The people that made that movie did their hughes homework and I really enjoy the movie. It's like an updated version of Sixteen Candles from the opposite side of the gender divide. Go watch a John Hughes movie ASAP. (I watched Sixteen Candles this afternoon.)
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