Here's a guy who has his own movie genre named after him. People were always looking for the next John Hughes movie. Dead of a heart attack at 59. Ouch. That's close. Personally, I was on the air when most of these movies were in the local cine. From what I remember, he had his finger pretty much on the pulse of the youth. I found his movies entertaining, fun and for the most part, sweet with usually a nice nice ending. Although he used profanity when needed and he did it very well. The Clark Griswold melt down in "Vacation" is classic. He basically disappeared from public eye, his last public photograph was in 2001. Now, that's the way to do it. Make your money and then say goodbye, see ya, ya gotta have a four wheel drive to find me. I hope he enjoyed his later year, which sounds very strange, coming from a guy six years behind him. All I can say is nice work, man, you made us laugh and think. Your characters were superb,well thought out and well defined.
I would rate my faves as this way, right now, today..
1. National Lampoons Vacation
2. Ferris Buellers Day Off
3. Uncle Buck
4. Sixteen Candles
5. Planes, Trains, etc.
There are people who have the complete opposite view, and one of those views can be found here. Agree or disagree? He's one of the few directors that has music at the forefront of his movies. Music. There it is again. Here's a look back:
"National Lampoon's Vacation" (this clip is definitely not for work or kids)
The song? "Holiday Road" by Lindsay Buckingham.
The Breakfast Club
The song? "Don't You Forget About Me" by the Simple Minds (great song, too)
"Ferris Bueller's Day Off"
The song? "Twist and Shout", "Danke Shoen"
"Sixteen Candles"
The song? Nightranger, Billy Idol, Stray Cats
"Planes, Trains and Automobiles"
No song, but Al Hofer on the radio.
"Pretty in Pink"
The song? Helped revitalize the Psychedelic Furs career
And also great movies without music.....
Uncle Buck
very sweet movie, maybe my favorite of his
"Home Alone"
No song, great movie without one
2 comments:
John Hughes isn't a name you'd think of right away when reeling of the names of great film directors, but maybe he should be--he quietly strung together some very fine movies, and it's hard to imagine what '80s pop culture would've been like without them. 'Sixteen Candles' and 'Breakfast Club' were my two favorites, and my favorite line from a JH film has to be from 'Breakfast Club': "Can you describe the ruckus?" Done too soon.
Hey Randy,
Hope all is well with you and the new station - I guess the time commitment to getting a new venture going precludes blog updates, but it'd be good to hear from you...especially since us Edwardsvillians can't get 100.7!
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