John Hughes-The Voice of a Generation

John Hughes(1950-2009) A Voice of a Generation

It was a a sad and empty day when I heard of writer and director John Hughes death. Here was a film maker I grew up with who spoke to me and my generation after writing some sharp adult comedies. He never spoke down to his audience and he touched a nerve with teenagers with his coming of age movies. He was a talented writer with National Lampoon writing material for adults but his strongest movies were about teenage kids trying to make sense of themselves and the World they inhabited. His teenage characters struggled to make sense of school, family and the stereotypes that held them down. He harvested great talent and future stars giving them a chance to shine and become great actors. His touch with young talent was amazing and his stories were about something. A brief period before those movies all teenage movies were full of sex, bad comedy and teenagers played by adults in their late 20's. Besides the classic 'Risky Business' there was nothing that spoke to teenagers. So in that vein John Hughes was an influential voice in movies that reached many including me.

Hughes started out writing material for others with 'Mr. Mom' starring Michael Keaton. The plot was like a sitcom but it had brilliant moments of satire on the role of women and family in society. He followed up with the very funny and classic comedy 'National Lampoon's Vacation' which starred a very young Anthony Michael Hall. This was an accurate look at how messed up family vacations could get. There were moments that were easily recognizable and some that were laugh out loud funny. Then Hughes made the first movie that would change his career and start a string of successful movies that spoke to a new generation.

'Sixteen Candles' was a delightful and smart teenage comedy that was also deep and profound. Hughes found a new bright actress by the name of Molly Ringwald who gives a great and sweet performance. The characters were well written and not your stereotypical shallow characters seen in many high school comedies. These included a geek with heart and feelings played wonderfully by Anthony Michael Hall. There were some very funny and recognizable moments. The Long Duk Dong character was a little bit of a stereotype but also damn funny. Then Hughes would get a little more serious with 'The Breakfast Club' which is my favorite movie of his. The story was simple but the dialogue was truthful and funny. Hughes exposed the usual stereotypical high school labels put on teenagers as we saw the depth and real feelings behind the facades. Teenage movies weren't supposed to be this serious and truthful. Hughes followed up with a deceptively broad comedy in 'Weird Science'. I am one of the only fans of this movie but I urge the naysayers to revisit this movie. Yes this had some stupid moments but also some memorable lines and underneath it all a lot of heart.

'Ferris Bueller's Day Off' is now known as a comedy classic but at the time the movie got bad reviews. This was a funny, extremely entertaining comedy with an iconic character and a great use of Chicago locations. This has to be one of the best movies filmed in Chicago. Again there was some laugh out loud moments but also some heart and perceptive dialogue. It also introduced us to a major talent in Matthew Broderick. After that Hughes made some decent teenage comedies in 'Some Kind of Wonderful' and 'Pretty in Pink' but they weren't as strong as the others. Hughes rebounded with the holiday classic 'Planes,Trains and Automobiles' and exposed a new side of the great comic actor John Candy. All of Candy's other movies aren't anywhere as good as the movies he did with Hughes. Candy was also charming and funny in 'Uncle Buck' and gave his best performance of his career in 'Only the Lonely'.

Then Hughes created a monster in the hugely successful 'Home Alone' where he introduced to another major talent in McCauley Culkin. To me this is not a very good movie but I do admit Hughes knew what audiences craved and knew how to create a hit. I liked this movie the first time but oh now I can't stand it! This was a very over rated comedy but successful in what it was trying to do. John Hughes hit a snag after that writing more broad comedies that didn't work like 'Dutch' and 'Curly Sue' and then sort of sold out writing stuff like '101 Dalmations, and later 'Drillbit Taylor' but there was a reason. Hughes was tired of the spotlight and wanted to spend time on his farm with his family. He was not the Hollywood type and you could see that in his earlier movies that were a little bit different than the norm. He then started to write movies under the name Edmond Dantes. Not many film makers though had that small period of success and made so many iconic movies as he did. He spoke deeply to every teenager including this one. He was one of us and he wanted to show audiences that he cared. He was a great influence on many and helped pave the way for great entertainment including 'Freaks and Geeks'. His movies will always be with us and speak to new generations of families and children forever.