KevinG Posted August 6, 2009 Share Posted August 6, 2009 http://www.tmz.com/2009/08/06/john-hughes-dies/ Only on TMZ now, no other news outlets have confirmed. R.I.P. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
uncool2pillow Posted August 6, 2009 Share Posted August 6, 2009 Holy crap, I just had a long conversation with a friend about him. RIP. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
mpolak21 Posted August 6, 2009 Share Posted August 6, 2009 Fuck. This is horrible news. --Mike Quote Link to post Share on other sites
watch me fall Posted August 6, 2009 Share Posted August 6, 2009 Well this seriously sucks. May have to break out the Pretty in Pink dvd tonight. RIP. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
gogo Posted August 6, 2009 Share Posted August 6, 2009 Oh man. He made a lot of crap, but he also made some of the most important movies of my youth. The Breakfast Club was my first favorite-favorite movie. I recently turned up an old ring box, where I kept all the stubs from the many times I saw that movie. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Speed Racer Posted August 6, 2009 Share Posted August 6, 2009 The Breakfast Club was my first favorite-favorite movie. My first 'date' was renting the Breakfast Club, and Molly Ringwald's dad in the film was our high school's pole vault coach. That movie will always be 100% awesome to me. And I LOVE Home Alone. I wore our first VHS out, have nearly worn out a second, and need to buy it on DVD. That's the only movie besides Forrest Gump I can talk along to, start to finish. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Atticus Posted August 6, 2009 Share Posted August 6, 2009 I think Breakfast Club must have been the first movie I ever memorized. They just don't make 'em like that anymore. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
ih8music Posted August 6, 2009 Share Posted August 6, 2009 Those aren't two pillows! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Beltmann Posted August 7, 2009 Share Posted August 7, 2009 Those aren't two pillows!Good lord, I love that movie. It might not be among the "best" movies ever made, but it's way, way up there on my list of personal favorites. "You know everything is not an anecdote. You have to discriminate. You choose things that are funny or mildly amusing or interesting. You're a miracle! Your stories have NONE of that. They're not even amusing ACCIDENTALLY! "Honey, I'd like you to meet Del Griffith, he's got some amusing anecodotes for you. Oh and here's a gun so you can blow your brains out. You'll thank me for it." I could tolerate any insurance seminar. For days I could sit there and listen to them go on and on with a big smile on my face. They'd say, "How can you stand it?" I'd say, "'Cause I've been with Del Griffith. I can take ANYTHING." You know what they'd say? They'd say, "I know what you mean. The shower curtain ring guy. Woah." It's like going on a date with a Chatty Cathy doll. I expect you have a little string on your chest, you know, that I pull out and have to snap back. Except I wouldn't pull it out and snap it back - you would. Agh! Agh! Agh! Agh! And by the way, you know, when you're telling these little stories? Here's a good idea - have a POINT. It makes it SO much more interesting for the listener!" Quote Link to post Share on other sites
gogo Posted August 7, 2009 Share Posted August 7, 2009 Good lord, I love that movie. It might not be among the "best" movies ever made, but it's way, way up there on my list of personal favorites.Quotes from that movie make up a large portion of the conversation around our house. And everyone is classified as a Del or a Neil. When we go on family vacations, rooms are assigned based on those categories. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Speed Racer Posted August 7, 2009 Share Posted August 7, 2009 Regardless of whether or not he accurately captured the 80's (too young to attest to that), he solidified an image of the 80's that is for me (and likely many) now, and will likely remain, a touchstone. And despite how totally 80's his films are, there is not a one that does not capture the timeless mess that is being a teenager, or a kid, or an adult. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Beltmann Posted August 7, 2009 Share Posted August 7, 2009 The stories were always a bit prefabricated, but what set his movies apart was an uncommon humanity, well-rounded and observant characterizations, and a genuine warmth for people and their quirks. Hughes was a good writer. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Analogman Posted August 7, 2009 Share Posted August 7, 2009 Of course, he did other films besides the teen comedies. I think most of those were after my HS years. I didn't really see them until sometime in the late 1990s, I think. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
lamradio Posted August 7, 2009 Share Posted August 7, 2009 Car Rental Agent: [cheerfully] Welcome to Marathon, may I help you?Neal: Yes.Car Rental Agent: How may I help you?Neal: You can start by wiping that fucking dumb-ass smile off your rosey, fucking, cheeks! Then you can give me a fucking automobile: a fucking Datsun, a fucking Toyota, a fucking Mustang, a fucking Buick! Four fucking wheels and a seat!Car Rental Agent: I really don't care for the way you're speaking to me.Neal: And I really don't care for the way your company left me in the middle of fucking nowhere with fucking keys to a fucking car that isn't fucking there. And I really didn't care to fucking walk down a fucking highway and across a fucking runway to get back here to have you smile in my fucking face. I want a fucking car RIGHT FUCKING NOW!Car Rental Agent: May I see your rental agreement?Neal: I threw it away.Car Rental Agent: Oh boy.Neal: Oh boy, what?Car Rental Agent: You're fucked! RIP John Quote Link to post Share on other sites
jakobnicholas Posted August 7, 2009 Share Posted August 7, 2009 Joe Posnanski, a very great sportswriter from the Kansas City Star (who just announced he took his dream job as head senior writer at Sports Illustrated), wrote this on his blog: John Hughes directed eight movies. I saw all eight movies. I don’t know if there’s another director I can say that about. I can say that Martin Scorsese is my favorite director, but I haven’t seen every one of his movies. Boxcar Bertha? No. New York, New York? Always thought I would see it, but no. There are others. I love Woody Allen but haven’t come CLOSE to seeing every one of his movies in large part because he releases a new one every 27 days. Francis Ford Coppola? It’s no secret that I’m a Godfather junkie, but I’ve seen fewer than half of Coppola’s directing efforts … and I never saw Godfather III. Well, I did see it. But I didn’t see it. Ya dig? Because it never happened. This goes for popular directors too. Steven Spielberg? I’ve seen most, but I’ve missed a few through the years. Ron Howard? I like his movies, but never saw Da Vinci Code and never will and I despise the very idea of “How The Grinch Stole Christmas” so much that I would ask the pilot to drop me off early if it was ever showing on a plane. If someone asked me if I like Rob Reiner movies, I’m sure I would say yes. But I haven’t seen one of his since The Story of Us back in 1999, and that movie was so exaltedly terrible that I’m pretty sure it will never drop out of my 10 worst movies ever (where “North” has it’s own reservation). I wrote about The Bucket List … but I never saw it. John Hughes though … eight-for-eight. I saw them all. There are reasons for this, of course. Hughes has not directed a movie since 1991 — And in those days I would try to see pretty much every movie that came out. That 1991 movie, incidentally, was the tooth-aching “Curly Sue,” when Hughes decided that Jim Belushi was ready to carry his own movie — or at least carry it with a homeless girl with naturally curly hair. Before that, was Uncle Buck, She’s Having a Baby (Elizabeth McGovern, you are missed), Planes, Trains and Automobiles, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, Weird Science, The Breakfast Club and Sixteen Candles. Saw them all, of course. But more than that: Every person I knew growing up saw them all. We would not have called ourselves “John Hughes fans” by any stretch. But we saw his movies. And we kept seeing them. For some reason, I thought Hughes had something to do with the preposterously horrific St. Elmo’s Fire — probably because he discovered most of the cast. It is nice to know, upon Hughes’ death, that he actually did not have anything at all to do with that horror show. And in retrospect, it makes perfect sense: Yes, John Hughes became known as the “Bard of Teen Angst” or whatever … but really his movies did not have real ANGST in them, not the sort of grotesque, angry, self-mutliating angst of St. Elmo’s Fire or Bright Lights, Big City or Footloose or Wall Street or Dead Poets Society or dozens of other movies and books of my generation. And, look, I liked many of these books and movies — but John Hughes’ movies were different. They were, above all, fun. Was there angst? I guess. Duckie seemed troubled. Cameron had some issues.* But it always seemed to me that the angst was not over the top, that even the characters seemed to understand that it was all just something they had to go through. The John Hughes message — if there was a message — was so blindingly obvious that you could not miss it. Don’t judge kids by their looks! Rich kids suck! But don’t judge them because some don’t suck! Don’t travel with shower salesmen! Don’t let Emilio Estevez smoke a joint because he will go dance crazy! *Did you know that Alan Ruck — who played Cameron in Ferris Bueller — was THIRTY when the movie came out? Did you know he was born in Cleveland? You did? You wouldn’t want to spend too much dissecting the oeuvre of John Hughes because that was never the point … but as a director and writer (add the Vacation movies, Pretty in Pink, Home Alone to the mix) the overriding essence was always to make people laugh. You remember that game show “Make Me Laugh,” where (fittingly) comedians would try and make contestants laugh. And the first comedian would try and tell jokes and usually get nowhere. The second comedian, meanwhile, would go “Blah! Booga! Bully bully bully!” and make funny faces and that was usually the one who broke the contestant. John Hughes was like the second comedian. He wasn’t trying to win Oscars. He was trying to make Oscar break a smile. That’s John Hughes to me. If I had been born 15 years earlier, I probably would have thought his movies were beyond stupid. If I had been born 15 years later, I probably would not have gotten the joke. But I was born at the right time … and the movies made me laugh a lot. Movies, to me, are a mysterious thing. Words that look good on the page sometimes don’t sound good in the movies. Words that would look dumb on paper sometimes jump off the screen. Plots that shouldn’t work do, and plots that are brilliant and intricate on a storyboard sometimes just confuse the heck out of people in movies. John Hughes’ movies were simple and fun for me and they still are, and you know what? I like simple and fun movies. I don’t think there are enough of them in the world.\ Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Beltmann Posted August 9, 2009 Share Posted August 9, 2009 Quotes from that movie make up a large portion of the conversation around our house. And everyone is classified as a Del or a Neil. When we go on family vacations, rooms are assigned based on those categories.This thread inspired me (and Stacy) to revisit Planes, Trains last night. Definitely holds up, despite the atrocious soundtrack. And I stand by my long-held belief that it contains the finest acting work ever by John Candy and Steve Martin. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
uncool2pillow Posted August 9, 2009 Share Posted August 9, 2009 This thread inspired me (and Stacy) to revisit Planes, Trains last night. Definitely holds up, despite the atrocious soundtrack. And I stand by my long-held belief that it contains the finest acting work ever by John Candy and Steve Martin.I agree with pretty much everything you say here, esp. the soundtrack. The song playing in the taxi is from a god awful band called Balaam & the Angel. I think I've referenced my personal disdain for this band on this board before. They opened for Iggy Pop in '88 at the Metro. I'm pretty sure they were hired to open only to piss off the crowd and work up the kind of anger Iggy needs to thrive. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Sir Stewart Posted August 10, 2009 Share Posted August 10, 2009 This is sad to hear. I probably came close to memorizing Sixteen Candles as I turned into a teenager, then I became addicted to The Breakfast Club. I only saw Pretty In Pink for the first time a couple of years ago (when I was already way past any target market age), and it stands a damn fine movie with some great performances. Throw in Some Kind Of Wonderful, Planes Trains & Automobiles, Weird Science, Christmas Vacation, Uncle Buck, and Ferris Bueller and I see one heck of a track record, with (usually) a sweet soundtrack. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Artifice Posted August 10, 2009 Share Posted August 10, 2009 Joe Posnanski, a very great sportswriter from the Kansas City Star (who just announced he took his dream job as head senior writer at Sports Illustrated), wrote this on his blog: John Hughes directed eight movies. I saw all eight movies. I went to college with Joe. Actually, I got hired for the same job by the first newspaper that hired him, right after he was promoted. Great writer, good piece, and RIP John Hughes. Yes, his films helped define the '80s. That IMDB resume is absolutely ridiculous. Very few others have had their hands in so many classics & blockbusters. And in just over a decade. Sports analogy - it's kinda like John Wooden's run in college basketball. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
bobfrombob Posted August 13, 2009 Share Posted August 13, 2009 Molly Ringwald on Hughes: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/12/opinion/12ringwald.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1&em Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Good Old Neon Posted August 13, 2009 Share Posted August 13, 2009 Molly Ringwald on Hughes: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/12/opinion/12ringwald.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1&em This is not the Molly Ringwald sitting atop John Hughes photo link I was sort of expecting, and maybe even looking a little forward to. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
jakobnicholas Posted August 13, 2009 Share Posted August 13, 2009 Molly Ringwald on Hughes: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/12/opinion/12ringwald.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1&em Wow. That's a very beautiful, touching piece by Ringwald. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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