John Hughes: A Profile
This is the second of my director’s profiles but this man is just as much my favourite director as David Fincher, maybe even more so. John Hughes was a genius. He created the Brat Pack, gave the American teenage audience of the 80’s an identity and wrote some of the best children’s films I’ve seen. I’m not even going to hide my admiration for this writer, director, actor and producer.
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| The Breakfast Club |
Hughes began his career writing in television but his first film came in 1984, it was called Sixteen Candles. It starred the little known Molly Ringwald as the fifteen year old who has a huge crush on the popular boy at school but can’t escape the geekiest boy (Anthony Michael Hall) who loves her. When her family forget her Sweet Sixteenth due to her older sister’s wedding she experiences the worst, most embarrassing week of her life. It put Hughes on the map as a writer and director who really knew what it felt like to be an awkward teenager at high school. It was the release of The Breakfast Club however in 1985 that began the huge popularity of the Brat Pack. It became an American phenomenon as the five stars, Emilio Estevez, Anthony Michael Hall, Judd Nelson, Molly Ringwald and Ally Sheedy, were launched into the spotlight following the film’s release. The Breakfast Club depicts a day in the life of five high school students, each from different backgrounds and different heights of popularity. They are forced together for Saturday detention where they dance, smoke drugs, talk honestly and emotionally about their lives and it is slowly revealed how they all came to be there. The film spoke to the teenage population and inspired Hughes to write other great high school films such as Pretty in Pink and Some Kind of Wonderful.
Hughes broke away slightly from the teen angst with Weird Science, a more sci-fi / coming of age film. One of his biggest hits was also Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. It starred Matthew Broderick as Ferris who decides to feign illness in order to take a day off school and the boy can do no wrong. Bueller has all the luck in the world as he evades detection from his parents, teachers and sister even convincing the entire student body that he is severely ill. The farcical comedy is hilarious from start to finish; spawning t-shirts you can still buy today saying ‘Save Ferris’.
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Hughes and Broderick
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John Hughes wasn’t just a teen-angst writer but also penned some classic children’s films. They included the Home Alone and Beethoven films. Although he may have released two sequels too many for both sagas these films have become classics for 90’s children everywhere. A Christmas doesn’t go by without me watching the first two Home Alone films! He also penned the screenplays for Flubber, Maid in Manhattan, 101 Dalmations, Miracle on 34th Street and Baby’s Day Out.
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| Home Alone |
Hughes died suddenly and tragically in 2009 of a heart attack aged only 50 years old but his films live on as a brilliant representation of 1980s America. The actors who made their name due to Hughes paid a fitting tribute at the 2010 Academy Awards Ceremony - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DvmVYNr0lk0.
So if you’ve never seen a John Hughes film I would recommend, my personal favourite, The Breakfast Club and definitely Ferris Bueller’s Day Off to follow!
Emily x
