Weird Science was my favorite movie when I was about ten years old.
And, I remember liking The Breakfast Club quite a bit when I was in middle school. That Simple Minds song at the end of the film always got me.
I still like Ferris Bueller’s Day Off.
The Breakfast Club ruled the world in 1985. My sister swears by 16 Candles. As much as I like that film, I say “the chicks cannot hold the smoke.” And “So Ahab, cah boh mon doobage” I thought Ferris was too smug by 1/2, and loathe as I am to admit I’ve never seen Weird Science.
I think Weird Science and Ferris Bueller are amazing.
The art gallery scene in Bueller is incredibly beautiful. You often don’t get moments of grace in Teen movies, now or ever.
Weird Science is so good, and incredibly weird. Probably the weirdest commercial film I’ve ever seen.
The great things about those movies was the fact that they didn’t just have the geek rue the day, they were actually instructive. They spoke to the uptightness and the fear of life that is built into the psyche’s of some “introspective” young teenage boys. It shows the faults and the pleasures of being a dork.
Beethoven, anyone?
John Hughes defined the coming-of-age of Generation X. He was the quintessential 80s teen film director, watching either in the cinema or or on a big box VHS or on cable t.v. Great characters, endlessly quotable lines and fun situations that most can related to, even if you grew up in London, rather than Chicago. I wish Elizabeth Shue could have starred in one of Hughes’ movies. But we got the “Karate Kid” and the stoopid, guilty pleasure “Adventures in Babysitting”, the latter being directed by the workmanlike Chris Columbus. Yes, “Babysitting” is banal crap, but Shue is just cute as all hell. “Karate Kid”-again, a film that defined kids viewing, those who were born in the 1970s and who grew up in the 1980s. Right, no more about Shue. Hughes can’t be underestimated: “The Breakfast Club”, “Weird Science”, “Ferris Bueller” are classics: “D.o.o economics, anyone, anyone?”
My ancient eyes thought this said John Sturges. Never mind. (But I suppose I could give a shoutout to “Planes, Trains and Automobiles,” with the incomparable Edie McClurg at the car-rental counter.)
john hughes is woefully underrated. each film mentioned on here is brilliant to me. i dont know if its a generational thing or not though. i mean, i’m gen x myself, and i agree that these are the movies that defined us in the 80s. so i dont know if i’’m objective about the situation. but i know this: these are ALL good, good films.
I love Tom’s mention of “Planes, Trains, and Automobiles.” Easily Hughes’ funniest movie, and it tends to get overlooked a lot because it doesn’t fit into the teen dramedy mold that Hughes is famous for. Even after seeing it a million times I can’t control myself when Steve Martin curses the rental car lady…one of the funniest scenes I’ve ever seen!
“Uncle Buck”, “Planes, Trains, and Automobiles”. I also love the Hughes written “The Great Outdoors”, “Vacation”, and “Christmas Vacation”
One can see the influence of very “arty” directors in many of Hughes films. The casting of Richard Edson in Ferris Bueller (star of Jarmusch’s “Stranger than Paradise”) and the cutting in the aforementioned art gallery scene is very remniscent of “Pierrot le Fou”. Also, the Faulkner Wild Palms quote “Between grief and nothing, I will take grief” is quoted not only by Ed Rooney, but also in Breathless.
I think Planes, Trains and Automobiles would be a great film were it not for the absolutely atrocious soundtrack (aside from the classic “Mess Around” sequence). It’s uncharacteristic for Hughes to feature such awful music, because in his other movies he has such impeccable taste, the use of “Tweedlee Dee” in Uncle Buck and his inclusion of old bluesmen as characters in Weird Science come to mind.
Also, am I the only one who thinks that “The Breakfast Club” would make a good stage play?
This whole Breakfast Club obsession people have continues to make me scratch my head. I just don’t get it. The movie was boring. I don’t know, maybe because I was born in the 80s and didn’t “grow up” in the 80s that its appeal has eluded me. Ferris Bueller is a masterpiece, hands down. After that, Uncle Buck is a gem. God, I miss John Candy. As far as his scripts that he didn’t direct, it’s hard to argue that any are better than Mr. Mom. I close second might be Home Alone but purely on a popcorn basis.
I love Planes, Trains and Automobiles. brilliant
The Breakfast Club IS now a stage play.
Moreover, in response to the question as to why it still has meaning and relevance twenty five years after it was made. I believe it is the way it brilliantly peels away the layers within the school stereotypes (people we all have known – even been) to reveal the same miasma of insecurities, obsessions and dreams.
Sure it’s klunky in places and the continuity gets lost in a dope-cloud at points (How didn’t the teacher hear Bender falling through the roof?!). And yet, like no other film, it places me back in the discombobulating mass of hormones, cruelty and euphoria that was school and teenage-life.
Mark Maynard
Among his directorial works are:
Ferris Bueller’s Day Off (1986)
Weird Science (1985)
The Breakfast Club (1985)
Sixteen Candles (1984)
He has also many famous works where he was only the writer, but these are some of his bigger directorial works. I would like to hear some opinions about his work.