John Hughes

John Hughes' flicks defined my generation.

As a nerd teenager full of typical teenage angst, I felt so connected with the characters portrayed in John's movies...

"The Geek" (Anthony Michael Hall) in Sixteen Candles


Ducky in Pretty In Pink

Aside: I chose the shoes that I wore to prom because they were like Ducky's in Pretty in Pink. The Pretty in Pink soundtrack has always been and will always be one of my favorite albums of all time.

Brian Johnson (again Anthony Michael Hall) in the Breakfast Club,

I totally had a crush on Lea Thompson in Some Kind of Wonderful and could relate with Eric Stoltz being the unpopular kid admiring the prettiest girl in school from a distance.

(Another awesome soundtrack there, too.)


Gary and Wyatt in Weird Science...

Again, there's that common theme of the unpopular kids wishing they could go out with the prettiest girls in the class.

Then there was Ferris. I think every teenage boy of my generation worshiped Ferris on some level as the epitome of teenage boy existence. We ALL wanted to be the super-cool, carefree, never-get-in-trouble, always-have-fun Ferris Bueller with a smokin' hot girlfriend like in Ferris Bueller's Day Off.

That's just a small smattering of his works. When I went to IMDB, I was amazed to see how many movies he either wrote, directed, or produced that I have seen but didn't realize he was involved in. Check out his filmography! Vacation, European Vacation, Christmas Vacation, Mr. Mom, Planes, Trains, and Automobiles, The Great Outdoors, Home Alone... I bet all of us can think of at least ONE funny one-liner that came out of each of those movies.

- "Look, kids! Big Ben, Parlaiment!"
- "Lips and assholes"
- "Those aren't two pillows!"
- "Yeah, 220, 240, whatever it takes..."
- "Kevin!"

John Hughes' flicks have always been my favorite movies (well, at least since those formative years in high school), and I will forever be grateful to John Hughes for the memories and the laughs.

Rest in peace, John.

John Hughes
(18 February 1950 - 6 August 2009)

AP Photo