John Hughes

John Hughes may not have been a director in recent years, but he was the only director that mattered in my teen years. In the 1980′s Hughes wrote and directed movies that captured teens so well, it was like he was living in our high schools. His films: Sixteen Candles, The Breakfast Club, Pretty in Pink and Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, are all cult classics that myself and my friends would watch (and still do) over and over again.

John Hughes died of a heart attack in Manhattan with family at the young age of 59. He retired from directing films in 1991 but continued to write until 2008. John created the “Brat pack” and also created the movie one-liners that many of us will never forget.

Sixteen Candles the story of a girl (Molly Ringwald) who loves a boy (Michael Schoeffling) while geeky guy friend (Anthony Michael Hall) is in love with her. Her sister is getting married and it seems like everyone has forgotten about her.

The Breakfast Club was a story of five students spending the weekend in detention. They cover the stereotypes that we were familiar with then. John Bender (Judd Nelson) “The Criminal”; Claire Standish (Molly Ringwald) “The Princess”; Brian Johnson (Anthony Michael Hall) “The Brain”; Andy Clark (Emilio Estévez) “The Athlete”; and Allison Reynolds (Ally Sheedy) “The Basket Case”. During detention they start to open up and find out that while they come from different high school cliques, they had more in common than they thought.

Pretty In Pink is a love story about a poor girl that falls in love with the rich boy while the best friend is in love with her. Duckie might be one of the most lovable characters in all of John Hughes films. Duckie stays by her side and we learn that sometimes you can’t control love.

Ferris Bueller’s Day off is the story of a boy that seemed to be able to get away with everything. While everything and anything happened to him, it always seemed to work out in the end. I think the film will always be remembered by Ben Stein saying, “Bueller….Bueller?”

John wrote about teen angst and drama in a way no one else has achieved today. Maybe it was simpler times then, where the big worry was a date to the dance. Today’s Gossip Girl generation lacks the classic humor and wit that made Hughes popular. I would love to have a Netflix movie night In honor of John Hughes, but none of his films are available for streaming. So we’ll watch that and hope we can have the movie night in the future.