John Hughes may always be remembered as the purveyor of fine ’80′s teen flicks but there was more to him than that.
My first taste of Hughes was Home Alone; a wonderful treat for a twelve-year old filled with warm sentiment(ality) and vicious booby traps. I still love the film to this day.
Never a huge fan of his teen films; such as Pretty in Pink, Sixteen Candles, and The Breakfast Club; I do love Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. The character plays like the daydream of an adult reliving their youth, and, perhaps, for Hughes, it was. The film is full of classic sequences but the opening sums up the attraction of the character perfectly.
Chevy Chase was in a lot of bad films. He also had his classics, Fletch and Caddyshack. Yet, John Hughes created a character, nay, an American icon, that should get Chevy’s face carved in stone next to Washington, Jefferson, Roosevelt, and Lincoln; Clark Griswold.
If Hughes had a masterpiece it was surely his trip into the nightmare of public transport, Planes, Trains, and Automobiles. It is John Candy’s finest hour and is certainly up there for Steve Martin. It had both humour,
and alot of heart.
Hughes clearly made an impact on his time on earth. In 1994 he dropped out of the spotlight but, clearly not forgotten, some of his bigger fans recently spent some time stalking him to make a documentary. It is a little creepy but a trailer for the stalkumentary can be seen below.