John Hughes RIP

aidan_walsh

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/8188778.stm

The US film director John Hughes, who created some of the most famous comedies of the 1980s and 1990s, has died at the age of 59.

The director died after a heart attack in New York, his spokeswoman said.

Mr Hughes was the director of such successful films as Ferris Bueller's Day Off, The Breakfast Club and Planes, Trains and Automobiles.

He was also a leading script writer, penning films such as Pretty in Pink and Home Alone.

The spokeswoman, Michelle Bega, told Associated Press that Mr Hughes had been in Manhattan on a family visit and died after suffering the heart attack during a morning walk.

Mr Hughes lived in Illinois, with many of his films set in and around Chicago.

Quite possibly *the* director of the 80s.

Raekwon

He also directed one of my favorite films when I was a kid; Weird Science, 80's Classic.

R.I.P. John

notahopeinhell

The Breakfast Club is one of my favourite films, loved a lot of his work.

Zwillinge

He did some amazing films. Very sad

RIP.

keefg

I was gutted to hear this. RIP indeed, I loved his films when I was growing up in the 80's.

Ghost Train

Didn't know he was behind all the films mentioned, all 80's classics. "Planes, Trains and Automobiles" one of my favs. And writer of the national lampoon films. RIP

Basq

The director of the 80's is right!

To be honest.. I'm absolutely devastated to hear this!

So many timeless fantastic films - Uncle Buck, The Breakfast Club, Weird Science, Planes Trains & Automobiles, Ferris Bueller's Day Off.

Went on a flight last week with the latest Empire which had a poster of "I Love You, Beth Cooper" on the back and for some reason, I thought I read John Hughes wrote that. After reading the credits, it turns out he hadn't but I remember just discussing with my girlfriend how much I love his films.

Probably the first director I admired.. and THE director who made me truly appreciate films as a young boy.

RIP John!

constitutionus

ah jaysus.

uncle buck, planes trains and automobile, ferris beuler day off, weird science ?

the guy practically had a hand in half the films i seen and obviously influenced the guys around him who made the rest.

great loss. RIP man.

Bob the Seducer

Not just the director of the 80s, he was the 80s. His films are the ones a generation grew up on and the ones a decade will be remembered for.

R.I.P. John

MagicMarker

Jebus, IMDB is on the ball!

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000455/

The man is basically responsible for all my favourite movies as a child.

RIP.

poisonated

home alone 1 and 2 was a part of my child hood...don't get me started on the rest of them.

the breakfast club was good
uncle buck - very funny
planes,trains and automobiles - great movie
ferris buellers day off - fantastic
national lampoons vacation - pretty good

It really is very sad to hear about his death.I'm sure his family and friends are absolutely devestated.He wasn't that old either.

niallon

Jesus this is unreal. Even to this day we still call anyone with curly hair "Curly Sue" in my family! He will be dearly missed!

RIP John Hughes

donmeister

The Breakfast Club,Home Alone, and Ferris Buellers Day off are some of my all time favorite films

RIP John!

Galvasean

Bob the Seducer wrote: »

Not just the director of the 80s, he was the 80s. His films are the ones a generation grew up on and the ones a decade will be remembered for.

R.I.P. John

I was about to say that. He truly did inspire an entire generation (and then some).

R.I.P.

thecornerboy

What a shame.

I love his films so much. He managed to to crystalise that decade in film brilliantly. They've perhaps not got the recognition by la-di-dah critics they deserve but for me they're worthy of every praise. He wasn't the typical Hollywood shyster either and he had the good sense to avoid being sucked into making terrible movies year after year.

I've so many great memories of his films. Too many to start listing off. RIP.

Lirange

Anthony Michael Hall must be crushed. The man who made his career.

Going to watch Planes, Trains, and Automobiles again this weekend. RIP

asdasd

Those aren't pillows!

JP Liz

RIP

Some Kind of Wonderful is one of my fav films ever

uncleoswald

thecornerboy wrote: »

He wasn't the typical Hollywood shyster either and he had the good sense to avoid being sucked into making terrible movies year after year.

Lets not get carried away. He did morph into the ultimate Hollywood hack for the last 20 years. His credits includes Dennis the Menace, Flubber, Baby's Day Out, Home Alone 2, 3 & 4, Beethovens 2nd, 3rd, 4th & 5th, Just Visiting, Maid in Manhattan and Drillbit Taylor.

Now I certainly don't hold it against him, everyone runs out of steam eventually and he had a great innings and everyone has got to work.

Weird Science, The Breakfast Club and Ferris are genuine genre defining movies but my personal favorites are PT&A and Uncle Buck. They are two of the best watches at christmas and when I blubber like a baby at the end of each of them this year at least I can pretend I'm remembering John Candy and John Hughes.

sham69

Legend.
PT+A one of the funniest films ever.
Love the breakfast club, only watched it last week.
So many great films to mention, very sad news.
Sixteen Candles never seems to get a mention?
RIP..

Expresso Bongo

sham69 wrote: »

Sixteen Candles never seems to get a mention?

Probably because it's a load of crap.

Still the other 80s stuff was great. I'd say Ferris and Breakfast Club are probably two of my most watched movies ever.

I still intend to make a trip to the Home Alone house some day if I'm ever in the area. Among his other achievements he really made Chicago look like a nice place!

RIP

MagicMarker

uncleoswald wrote: »

Lets not get carried away. He did morph into the ultimate Hollywood hack for the last 20 years. His credits includes Dennis the Menace, Flubber, Baby's Day Out, Home Alone 2, 3 & 4, Beethovens 2nd, 3rd, 4th & 5th, Just Visiting, Maid in Manhattan and Drillbit Taylor.

Now I certainly don't hold it against him, everyone runs out of steam eventually and he had a great innings and everyone has got to work.

Weird Science, The Breakfast Club and Ferris are genuine genre defining movies but my personal favorites are PT&A and Uncle Buck. They are two of the best watches at christmas and when I blubber like a baby at the end of each of them this year at least I can pretend I'm remembering John Candy and John Hughes.

What exactly is wrong with Home Alone 2? It's every bit as good as first one. Baby's Day Out is also good for what it is imo.

uncleoswald

MagicMarker wrote: »

What exactly is wrong with Home Alone 2? It's every bit as good as first one. Baby's Day Out is also good for what it is imo.

I haven't seen Home Alone 2 in years so perhaps I was hard on it. My girlfriend loves Baby's Day out actually and I only watched it recently, can't say I liked it but perhaps if I had seen it when I was younger I would have a different opinion of it.

I doubt many people can argue witht the others though.

gidget

Funnily enough i was actually watching youtube clips of national lampoon's european vacation last night and then walked down to see on Sky news the announcement he had died.

To think the way we look at the classic films of the 60's or 70's today and now fast forward to another 10 or 20 years when our kids and grandkids will be calling these movies the classics!!

RIP Mr. Hughes! Thanks for the memories.

Basq

An excellent read!

Planning on having a John Hughes weekend starting tonight with The Breakfast Club, Ferris Bueller and Weird Science.

TinCool

Yep, I'm gonna be watching Buellers and Wierd Science myself this weekend. May be Uncle Buck and PT+A too.

I have great memories associated with these movies.

RIP.


P.S. This is my 2000th post. It only took me 11 years to get this far :P

MagicMarker

basquille wrote: »

An excellent read!

Planning on having a John Hughes weekend starting tonight with The Breakfast Club, Ferris Bueller and Weird Science.

Wow! Legend.

thecornerboy

uncleoswald wrote: »

Lets not get carried away. He did morph into the ultimate Hollywood hack for the last 20 years

I can't agree with that at all. I'll excusing him from writing the odd script to pay the bills. He last directed a film 18 years ago and last produced one (2
total indie films aside) 12 years ago. He was anything but the typical Hollywood player.

TinCool

thecornerboy wrote: »

I can't agree with that at all. I'll excusing him from writing the odd script to pay the bills. He last directed a film 18 years ago and last produced one (2
total indie films aside) 12 years ago. He was anything but the typical Hollywood player.

Totally agree with you there.

Larianne

Uncle Buck is one of my favourite films, followed by Planes, Trains and Automobiles.

Expresso Bongo wrote: »

I still intend to make a trip to the Home Alone house some day if I'm ever in the area. Among his other achievements he really made Chicago look like a nice place!

RIP

My cousins live in Wilmette which is near Winnetka in Chicago's suburbs and they actually went to New Trier High School where Uncle Buck picks up Tia in the film. I was shown the 'steps' and I nearly died. I also saw the church and chemist (which is now an ice cream place) from Home Alone. My cousins thought I was weird.

gary nevillevil

Well as i read on another site with the headline the "man who shaped a million 1980s teenage fantasies"? how true....RIP

Ruu_Old

RIP

Basq

As I said on my blog, Michael Jackson's death didn't really affect me the way it did for some people... John Hughes however!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZOkNIUw0c2s

Duckjob

Uncle Buck, for me, was one of the funniest films I've seen to this day. Love the scene where he's looking at the wedding album and finds a photo with him folded out of shot.

RIP.

Cork

From Ferris Bueller, Uncle Buck and Molly Ringwald.

John Hughes was a legand.

I always tought that he'd make a comeback.

The soundtracks of Ferris Bueller + Pretty in Pink were class.

Even that he did not direct Pretty in Pink - It had his finger prints all over it.

Smiths, Echo + the Bonnymen, New Order etc

(Hopefully they'll re-issue Pretty in Pink with original ending)

What great films. What a talent.

RIP

asdasd

Ebert has a lovely piece about PT&A which is in his top films of all time.

Lovely quote at the end.

The movies that last, the ones we return to, don't always have lofty themes or Byzantine complexities. Sometimes they last because they are arrows straight to the heart. When Neal unleashes that tirade in the motel room and Del's face saddens, he says, "Oh. I see." It is a moment that not only defines Del's life, but is a turning point in Neal's, because he also is a lonely soul, and too well organized to know it. Strange, how much poignancy creeps into this comedy, and only becomes stronger while we're laughing

Basq

Edgar Wright (director of TV's "Spaced", "Shaun of The Dead" and "Hot Fuzz") also has an nice little write-up on him in his blog:

http://edgarwrighthere.com/2009/08/john-hughes/

Many would agree on the resonance of his writing, his characters, his dialogue and his pop sensibilities.

But the more I think about it, the more I realize what a huge debt I (and many others) owe to Mister Hughes as a visual innovator. He didn’t just write great comedy, he directed great comedies. And with style to burn.

FERRIS BUELLER’S DAY OFF is not just some 80’s time capsule, it is one of the best directed comedies of all time.

It is difficult to measure the impact of the man’s work on film and television. I can safely say Spaced would probably look a little different if it wasn’t for him. I am sure I would not be the same director without him.

As a young film fan, John Hughes was one of the first auteurs of whom I was aware. He meant just as much to me growing up as John Landis or John Carpenter.

Basq

Alec Baldwin: Remembering John Hughes

FredBaby!

uncle buck was one of those movies we used to watch whenever it was on...i can't remember how many times i've seen it!

the breakfast club-'nuff said!

RIP- John Hughes

LiamMc

I liked alot of his stuff. I am sorry to hear he past on.

Elmo

Innovative film for younger audiences. Unlike like the patronizing films of the 2000s, it is a pity that his style of direction and writing have been lost.

RIP

Aglomerado

When I heard the news that John Hughes had died, I had to play my Ferris Bueller DVD and laugh my head off.

That closing scene with a messed-up Ed Rooney getting on the school bus has me in stitches every time.

That and the Breakfast Club (brilliant soundtrack) are the greatest teen films ever. (For me, at least).

Planes, Trains and Automobiles makes me laugh to the point of incontinence!

RIP

Draupnir

Just hearing this news now for the first time, PT&A was the first movie I ever genuinely loved and one of the first I bought on DVD. Will have to watch it now in memory of John Hughes, just as I did when John Candy died. RIP.

asdasd

Just hearing this news now for the first time, PT&A was the first movie I ever genuinely loved and one of the first I bought on DVD.

Welcome back from the Moon :-)

just as I did when John Candy died

Given the survival rate from that movie Steve Martin must be a worried man.

Draupnir

asdasd wrote: »

Welcome back from the Moon :-)

Not quite the moon, but somewhere far stranger!

Basq

Draupnir wrote: »

Not quite the moon, but somewhere far stranger!

Hey... leave Carlow outta this! :pac:

Watched PT&A again last night.. the final 5 minutes of the film with

Neal realising Del's wife died, and that he'd spend Thanksgiving alone

still gets me every time. As does the shot of

Del and Neal carrying Del's massive case towards Neal's house

.

Draupnir

basquille wrote: »

Hey... leave Carlow outta this! :pac:

Watched PT&A again last night.. the final 5 minutes of the film with

Neal realising Del's wife died, and that he'd spend Thanksgiving alone

still gets me every time. As does the shot of

Del and Neal carrying Del's massive case towards Neal's house

.

It was Kerry actually!

Anyway, those final two scenes get me every time two even though you know they are coming. Then the terrible cover of Paul Young's "Everytime you go away" kicks in and I am reaching for the tissues

My favourite scenes are the ones in the first motel though, from the shower/tiny towel scene to the argument scene where John Candy shows his acting ability so well, the scene were they are trying to sleep and he keeps cracking his knuckles and finally the wake up "those aren't pillows" gag.

It really is just comedy genius from start to finish.

Cork

Very good article from March this year:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23677561/ns/entertainment-movies/

He deserves to be thought of as not just the maker of nice, lightweight comedies from the ’80s, but the maker of some of the best movies of the ’80s. In the simplest terms, in the most convenient of definitions, I’ve always considered him cinema’s equivalent to Brian Wilson, the pop genius who once called his music a “teenage symphony to God.” I can’t think of a better definition of Hughes’ hugely influential ’80s movies than that.

blastman

Draupnir wrote: »

Then the terrible cover of Paul Young's "Everytime you go away" kicks in and I am reaching for the tissues

Actually, it was written by Daryl Hall, Young's version is a cover as well.

Was very sad to hear this, The Breakfast Club and Ferris Bueller's Day Off are two of my favourite films of all time. I also thought Pretty In Pink, Some Kind Of Wonderful, PT & A and Uncle Buck were great films. As someone who was a teenager during most of the eighties, I wanted to be Ferris Bueller or John Bender (mainly because I fancied the ar$e off Molly Ringwald!). And of course, the soundtracks were always worth a listen (always remember Lick The Tins' version of I Can't Help Falling In Love With You closing Some Kind Of Wonderful).

RIP, John.

I wonder now will they give The Breakfast Club the DVD release it deserves and include the full version with the extra hour or so of footage? Hughes claimed to be the only person to see the proper version of the film, it would be a fitting tribute to him.

bnt

Molly Ringwald has written a piece about Hughes for the New York TImes, here:

I still believe that the Hughes films of which both (Anthony) Michael (Hall) and I were a part (specifically “Sixteen Candles” and “The Breakfast Club”) were the most deeply personal expressions of John’s. In retrospect, I feel that we were sort of avatars for him, acting out the different parts of his life — improving upon it, perhaps. In those movies, he always got the last word. He always got the girl.