In Memory of Hollywood Director John Hughes
Born in Lansing, Michigan in 1950, John Hughes first got his taste for writing while working as an ad copywriter in Chicago. He would soon transition into writing comedy, and his story âVacation â58â would land him on staff of National Lampoon Magazine. The story described his family trips as a child and would be the basis for the 1983 film National Lampoonâs Vacation, starring Chevy Chase.
Other stories that Hughes penned while at National Lampoon Magazine would show his strong understanding of teenage culture. He refused to portray teenagers in the usual Hollywood manner as immoral and ignorant, Hughes saw teenagers to be especially bright and deserving of respect. He would take this viewpoint, and apply it to four films he wrote and directed between 1984 and 1986. Led off by Sixteen Candles, his directorial debut, and followed by The Breakfast Club, Weird Science, and Ferris Buellerâs Day Off, these films would be praised for their realistic depiction of high-school life, and also for being some of the most popular comedy films of the decade. Hughes also broke film convention by having his characters stop to address the camera and audience, which symbolized that they knew they were being watched; as well as having the action continue after the end credits.
These films would be a big part of the Brat Pack era; the Brat Pack being a nickname given to a group of young fresh actors and actresses of the time who frequently appeared together in teen-based coming of age movies.
Hughes' use of popular music in his films is another aspect of his filmmaking that cannot be overlooked. His ability to capture the emotional cues of a film with the addition of select songs such as Simple Minds "Dont you forget about me" or Kate Bush's "This Woman's Work", remains an essential and unforgettable part of many of his movies from the 1980's.
Following his remarkable success in this genre, Hughes shifted his attention to adults with his 1987 comedy âPlanes, Trains and Automobiles.â This began a series of films starring John Candy, such as 1988âs âThe Great Outdoorsâ and 1989âs âUncle Buckâ.
âUncle Buckâ introduced Hughes to child actor Macauley Culkin who soon after starred in 1990âs âHome Aloneâ. With this film Hughes almost single handedly saved a cash-strapped 20th Century Fox. The film, which he had written and produced generated $500 Million worldwide and became his biggest and final hit. Despite becoming a holiday staple, it still generated most of the negative publicity of his career for its loud and fairly violent slapstick comedy.
His following project, 1991âs Curly Sueâ was given a luke-warm reception and dismissed as an overly sentimental family comedy. He then decided to serve only as writer and producer on all his following film projects.
Hughes continued to focus on pre-teens in the movies he would write and produce. Critics in turn felt he had traded his sharp writing and dialogue for crude, broad based humor. These films included âBeethovenâ, âDenise the Menaceâ and âBabyâs Day Outâ.
His involvement with 1994âs remake of âA Miracle on 34th Streetâ brought him scathing criticism yet again, and in turn he began penning and producing remakes for Disney. These remakes, such as â101 Dalmatiansâ and âFlubberâ were financial successes and wildly popular with audiences, however he never regained the glaring success that his first films had brought him.
Hughesâs final major film project was âHome Alone 3â in 1997. It was panned as a terrible entry in the series and was quickly pulled from the box office. Like the film, Hughes faded away from the spotlight and turned his back on Hollywood. He spent the last decade of his life as a farmer in the Mid-Western state of Illinois. During that time he still sparingly penned scripts to films under the fake identity of Edmond Dantes, named after the character from âThe Man in the Iron Maskâ, as Hughes considered himself a prisoner of his own success. His last screenplay was the 2008 film âDrillbit Taylorâ.
Despite John Hughes later difficulty in re-capturing his early success, his reputation as one of the leading interpreters of teenage life remains popular. He is also recognized as the main inspiration for directors, like Kevin Smith, who would follow in his footsteps.
