John Hughes Tribute Thread.

Until last night was not even aware of who John Hughes was but I knew his movies. Some of my all time favorites - Ferris, Vacation, Uncle Buck.

Intrigued I did a little reading. The guy lived an incredibly full life. In last few years he became a farmer and kept a pretty low profile which seemed to be his style.

Truly the guy was an unsung comedic genius.

 

Made iconic, tho not necessarily great movie. Acting and dialogue painted with the broadest of brushes. And only slightly less dated than Saturday Night Fever

 

Anybody?

 

Ferris?

Ferris?

 

"no more yanky my wanky"

 

d_b: http://www.sportsjournalists.com/forum/threads/72110/

 

Well said Junkie. A perfect summary of his work. You get the sense that there were a lot of his everyday experiences in his work.

 

It's the eternal deal. Comedies NEVER win critical acclaim or Oscars when they're first released (exception: Annie Hall, but it's the only one), but comedies endure, and end up better regarded in critical HISTORY of movies. Hughes is an accepted part of the history of film in the 1980s, and the Academy acknowledged that, even though it would have collectively puked on its Guccis and Jimmie Choos to give him an award back then.

 

I've always found it interesting that people focus on "The Breakfast Club," "16 Candles," "Weird Science," "Pretty in Pink," and "Ferris" with Hughes when the man also wrote "Vacation," "Uncle Buck," "The Great Outdoors" and "Plains, Trains and Automobiles."

Those last four movies endure as much for me as the first five, if not more so. Hughes was pretty darn good at creating characters that felt relateable, even if they were sometimes archetypes. He managed to capture not only the alienation and loneliness of teenagers, but also middle age men. I really love Plains, Trains and Automobiles.

 

I know movies like Fletch, Caddyshack, Stripes, Blue Brothers, Animal House, etc... have all held up better than the movies that won Best Picture in the years they were released.

I know I'm in the minority and I've liked Woody Allen's films in the past, but I thought Annie Hall was one of his weaker efforts.

 

"The Donger need food!!!"