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John Hughes (film director)
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John Hughes II (b. February 18 1950, Lansing, Michigan) is a noted American film director, producer and writer, responsible for some of the most successful comedy films of the 1980s and 1990s, including Ferris Bueller's Day Off, The Breakfast Club, Pretty in Pink and Home Alone.
Contents
- 1 Film career
- 2 Trademarks
- 3 Trivia
- 4 Selected Filmography
- 5 External links
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Film career
A 1968 graduate of Glenbrook North High School in Northbrook, Illinois, Hughes used Northbrook and the surrounding North Shore area for shooting locations in many of his films. He started out as a writer for the National Lampoon Magazine, and his first film, Class Reunion, was the first of many of his National Lampoon movies. He wrote, but did not direct, the three
Vacation movies released under the National Lampoon banner, the 1983 original National Lampoon's Vacation, 1985's European Vacation, and 1989's Christmas Vacation (which he co-produced).
He is probably best known for writing the genre-defining
coming-of-age 1980s
teenage dramatic comedies co-starring
Molly Ringwald:
Sixteen Candles,
The Breakfast Club and
Pretty in Pink (the first two of which he also directed). He also wrote and directed
Weird Science and
Ferris Bueller's Day Off, which were also teen comedies, but the humor in both films was broader, and likely had a stronger appeal to young males than his other films. These films (save
Weird Science) were acclaimed by many critics for their complex, three-dimensional portraits of the
tragicomedy of
adolescence, as well as their acute probing of the social hierarchies of high school (See also
Brat Pack), and as a result, have aged better than most films of the genre
[citation needed].
To avoid being pigeonholed as a maker of teen comedies, Hughes branched out in 1987, directing what many perceive to be his funniest film:
Planes, Trains & Automobiles starring
Steve Martin and
John Candy. His later output would not be so critically well received, though films like
Uncle Buck proved popular. Hughes's greatest commercial success came with
Home Alone, a film he wrote and produced about a mischievous child (played by
Macaulay Culkin) who was accidentally left behind when his large family went on vacation, leaving him to his own devices in an upscale
Chicagoland home being chased by a pair of burglars.
Home Alone would be the top grossing film of 1990, and remains the most successful live-action comedy of all time. Hughes has not directed a film since
1991's
Curly Sue.
Trademarks
- Many of his teen comedies were set in the fictional Shermer, Illinois.
- Almost all of the films that Hughes has been involved in either take place in the North Shore (Chicago) suburbs or are connected to Chicagoland.
- The soundtracks to his teen movies often featured 1980s new wave music.
- Many of his movies feature a scene where a character mouths something another character is saying, indicating he/she had heard it before.
- Many of John Hughes' films end with a stilled shot. Also, many scenes consist of stilled shots. For example, in Ferris Bueller's Day Off when Cameron is sitting in his car debating whether or not to skip school, the camera is focused in on the inside of the car for the entire scene, including while Cameron exits the car and is seen flailing around in the background.
- Many of his films have an extra scene after the credits.
- Many of his teen films feature European sports cars (either vintage or 80s contemporary).
Trivia
- Shermerville was the original name of Hughes' hometown, Northbrook.
- He has been noted as an inspiration for many in the film industry including Kevin Smith, as noted in his films Dogma and Mallrats.
- He has also written screenplays using his pseudonym, Edmond Dantès (name of the main character in Alexandre Dumas' novel The Count of Monte Cristo).
- His son, John Hughes III, records music under the name Bill Ding for Chicago's Hefty Records. These include And the Sound of Adventure (1996), Trust in God, But Tie Up Your Camel (1997), and the Horrendously Named EP (1998). More recently, John Hughes III has recorded under the name Slicker.
- When John was 16, he visited a Zen temple, hoping to study and learn the truths of the universe, but was reportedly thrown out by a screaming monk whom he'd annoyed.
- Along with Arnold Schwarzenegger, Bruce Willis and Sylvester Stallone, Hughes was asked to join Planet Hollywood because the fame surrounding his films was thought to be highly profitable for the chain. He had no interest in it, however, and the restaurant debuted without him. One of the restaurants houses the vest and license plate from Ferris Bueller's Day Off.
- Hughes was one of the select few invited to John Candy's private funeral.
- February 18th is John's birthday, the same as Molly Ringwald. He is exactly 18 years older
Selected Filmography
Writer
Director
