The Films of John Hughes

John Hughes died yesterday at the age of 59. The last film he directed was "Curly Sue" in 1991. Hmm, no, I didn't see that one either. Before that, his most recent movies had been "Uncle Buck" and "Planes, Trains and Automobiles." Both of those were pretty good, but not what I would consider great movies.

Ah, but go back a few years, and he made some truly great films, one of which I would put on a very short list of my all-time favorite movies. His first movie was "Sixteen Candles," which served to launch my college-days crush on Molly Ringwald. Very funny movie, especially in the scenes featuring "the Donger." This one also featured a geeky Anthony Michael Hall. Hughes also directed "Ferris Bueller's Day Off." If I come across this movie on t.v., I'll always stick around for the scene in downtown Chicago where Matthew Broderick leads everyone in "Twist and Shout."

But it was his second movie that he'll be best remembered for and is one of my all-time favorites. This would be "The Breakfast Club." I had no desire to see this when it played in theatres and just sort of rented it as an afterthought one night. Wow, I was totally blown away and watched it repeatedly over the next few years. Kinda strange in that basically the whole movie is 5 teens just sitting around talking. Not something that you think would be all that interersting, but it was and holds up well (and, it also had Molly Ringwald).

I couldn't necessarily relate to the characters in the movie (all had messed up home lives and casually did drugs), but nonetheless, it was a movie that has stuck with me all these years. Plus, I would say that it has the all-time greatest theme song. The song was "Don't You Forget About Me" by Simple Minds. It plays over the opening and closing credits. If you are watching the movie for the first time, it's just another song. But after the movie is over, the following lyrics are very poignant:

"Will you recognize me, call my name or walk on by . . . ."