It's not too often that I get emotional when a celebrity dies. Sure, I understand the sympathy and know it hurts someone, but deep down, I usually don't feel like they impacted me in any way (Michael Jackson?). Last year, George Carlin was taken away before I got a chance to see him perform (and his final stand-up album "Bad For Ya" was top notch commentary) and it got me feeling remorseful.
Since then, I have not been too depressed over the death of anyone until this afternoon when I heard that director/writer/producer John Hughes died.
Now, I am not a hardcore fan of Hughes' work, but he had a subtle impact on me since I was a little kid.
I don't remember the year, but I remember the first Hughes film I saw was "Flubber" starring Robin Williams. I didn't know that he had written it, but from the moment I laid eyes on the manic behavior, I fell in love with the slapstick and the goofy humor that Williams helped direct. I remember sitting in the theater watching it and just enjoying myself.
Sure, I didn't know that it was Hughes, but even when I was little, I was into his work. In fact, "Flubber" is still one of my favorite movies to pop on for a simple laugh. While it's not critically acclaimed, I have come to the conclusion that the only way to appreciate the 1990's Hughes films was to be his demographics: children.
The only other movie I saw on the big screen by Hughes was produced by my current hero, Judd Apatow and co-written by Seth Rogen. It was called "Drillbit Taylor", which is another cult-like movie where critics hated it, but I still can't understand why. It wasn't anyone's best performance, but it was a fun little movie that seemed reminiscent of a high school "Revenge of the Nerds".
The movie didn't hold much impact on me other than my eventual purchase of a $2 t-shirt featuring the movie's logo.
And then, you get to his glory days...
"Sixteen Candles", "Pretty in Pink", "The Breakfast Club", "Planes Trains and Automobiles", "Vacation", "Ferris Bueller's Day Off"...
The titles are endless and majority are in some form a classic. While the Brat Pack trilogy wouldn't affect me until my dad's friend Gina Overturf lent them to me, majority of the other titles hit me at a young age as well.
Everyone remembers "Ferris Bueller's Day Off" and even though I can't remember the first time I saw it, I can remember those afternoons watching it on basic cable and just enjoying it. I can also remember watching "Vacation" with my father and just laughing it up with him (though there was the nostalgic joke "I can't believe Chevy Chase was actually funny")
Even before I knew or cared about who Hughes was, I realized it bridged a generation. While I have always been more of a widespread sources of humor, I can count several people of any age that enjoyed these movies on their first watch as well as now. Some were teens then, and others are now.
But what exactly made Hughes special was his ability to make characters more than cardboard cut-outs. He managed to breathe life into the teen angst genre and make even perverted sex jokes seem endearing. He created characters that felt real and weren't simply there to be laughed at, but rooted for. Many of course were underdogs, but only to the schoolboard.
And the fantasy of "Ferris Bueller's Day Off" probably is what makes it the best. Hughes' portrayal of a student playing hookey could have easily fallen into bad territory, but by making Bueller a well rounded individual (with a brain, which movies like "Porky's" seemed to lack), you found even singing in parades to be a fun little time where you could put yourself in his shoes.
There were many aspects to Hughes' films that you could disect, but the general heart and purity in the storyline is what holds up. These are people you could feel emotion for. The fact that the storylines were also well written makes these even more endearing and worth excessive wear to old VHS tapes.
I also feel that Hughes paved the way for the likes of the writers who came into the scene in the 90's as well as today. Kevin Smith has admitted influence by referencing him in "Dogma". Judd Apatow has worked with him on "Drillbit Taylor". There are many others who have helped to make the underdogs more than sexual deviants, but I feel Hughes is part of a special class of directors (including Harold Ramis and John Landis) who have made comedy everlasting.
I cannot guarantee that everyone likes him, but I think the reason he is so accepted, even today goes beyond the quality writing and acting. He managed to capture childhood moments so perfectly that anyone any age knows what it feels like. Whether it is getting ignored on your birthday ("Sixteen Candles") or being stuck with some oaf ("Planes Trains and Automobiles"), we all have to deal with it and Hughes doesn't go for cheap laughs. By doing that, he enriches the storyline and makes us reminisce on ourselves.
I can't say that Hughes meant that much to me, but I consider his work as a whole to be genius. Even if I missed his glory days for his bad family movies (defending "Flubber" still), I was his target audience, so I got emotionally attached to even the biggest trite he did. The fact that I have fallen in love with all of the old movies and message boards lighting up with every age group, proves that he wasn't just a one trick pony.
The fact is everyone knows "Vacation", "Ferris Bueller's Day Off", and "The Breakfast Club". Even if you haven't seen them, those three have stood the test of time and are in majority of people's vocabulary and collections. I for one can easily say he has five or so films in my favorites list.
And his influence will live on through future efforts like Judd Apatow and his recent release "Funny People", which manages to be original, but shows elements of Hughes that cannot be denied.
R.I.P. John Hughes
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