A Brief Tribute to John Hughes

If you are American and "of a certain age," you know who John Hughes is. Sadly, he died of a heart attack today while out for a walk in New York City.

I can't begin to imagine what my teen years would have been like without Hughes. No Ferris Bueller, no Sixteen Candles, no Breakfast Club, no Duckie, no Vacation for Christ's sake! I can thank Mr. Hughes for providing me with tons of excellent one-liners (Oh sexy girlfriend!, Bueller? Bueller?), boyfriend fantasy fodder (Jake from Sixteen Candles, Judd Nelson in The Breakfast Club, Robert Downey Jr. in one of his early roles as an older bully in Wierd Science), and funny scripts that really spoke to my adolescent angst.

I'd seen teen movies before Hughes arrived on the scene...but they often featured 20-something year olds dressed up to look like teens (Fast Times at Ridgemont High, anyone?) and were mostly targeted at guys. The first time I had the pleasure of watching Sixteen Candles and saw it was populated with actors who were close to--if not exactly--the age of the characters they were playing, I was thrilled. Finally someone really seemed to get those wretched-yet-ebullient teen years and understand what it felt like to be a nerd, a jock, an outsider, and everyone in-between. And he did it with the help of some AWESOME music. But the very best part about Hughes' films was they always delivered a happy ending...although in some cases, not the one you expected or hoped for (I still get pissed that Andie chose that drip Blane over Duckie).

Not too long ago, I read an article about how non-diverse Hughes' movies were. Think about it...can you name a single character of color or ethnicity in ANY of his 80s films aside from the heavily stereotyped exchange student Long Duk Dong? Even the poorest of Hughes characters--Andie in P in P, Keith and Watts in Some Kind of Wonderful--were Clorox white. Yeah, yeah...I get it. I do. I imagine there aren't many Gen Xers from inner-city neighborhoods who give those movies a second thought. But you know what? I still love his films.

And now, I'll close with my version of a 41-gun salute to Mr. Hughes...a list of some of my favorite quotes from a few of my favorite films. See if you can guess the film...answers provided at the bottom of this post.

1) "That's a major appliance! That's not a name."
2) "You break his heart, I break your face."
3) "I can't believe it. You make someone a bridesmaid and they shit all over you."
4) "Tell ya what, dipshit. If you don't like my policies you can come on down here and smooch my big ole' white butt."
5) "Does Barry Manilow know that you raid his wardrobe?"
6) "You know, there's going to be sex, drugs, rock-n-roll... chips, dips, chains, whips... You know, your basic high school orgy type of thing. I mean, uh, I'm not talking candlewax on the nipples, or witchcraft or anything like that, no, no, no. Just a couple of hundred kids running around in their underwear, acting like complete animals."
7) "Would you prefer I slip her in the night deposit box at the funeral home?"
8) N: "Why did you kiss my ear?"
D: "Why are you holding my hand?"
N: [frowns] Where's your other hand?
D: Between two pillows...
N: Those aren't pillows!


Answers below......


1) Pretty in Pink (Duckie speaking to Andie about Blane)
2) Some Kind of Wonderful (Watts to Amanda Jones)
3) Sixteen Candles (Ginny, Sam's older sister)
4) Ferris Bueller's Day Off (Principle Ed Rooney)
5) The Breakfast Club (Bender to Mr. Vernon)
6) Wierd Science (Lisa)
7) Vacation (Clark talking to his wife about Aunt Edna)
8) Planes, Trains, and Automobiles (Del and Neil after sharing a bed)