John Hughes: Difference between revisions

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{{quote|It is thanks to him that not a day goes by when someone, somewhere does not come up to me, taps me on the shoulder and says, "[[Ferris BuellersBueller's Day Off (Film)|Hey Ferris]], [[Never Heard That One Before|is this your day off?]]"|'''Matthew Broderick''', ''Memorial Speech for Hughes at the 82nd [[Academy Award|Academy Awards]]''}}

John Hughes (1950-2009) was an American filmmaker best known for the teen comedies he wrote and directed in the mid 1980s: ''[[Sixteen Candles]]'', ''[[The Breakfast Club]]'', ''[[Weird Science (Filmfilm)|Weird Science]]'' and ''[[Ferris BuellersBueller's Day Off (Film)|Ferris BuellersBueller's Day Off]]''.

He started as a writer for National Lampoon Magazine, and was one of the key developers of ''Delta House'', the TV spinoff of ''[[Animal House]]''. His first big successes as a screenwriter (the year before ''Sixteen Candles'') were ''[[National Lampoon's Vacation]]'' and ''Mr. Mom''. After ''Ferris Bueller'', he directed ''[[Planes, Trains and Automobiles]]'', ''She's Having a Baby'', ''[[Uncle Buck]]'', and ''[[Curly Sue]]'', and wrote and produced ''[[Pretty in Pink (Film)|Pretty in Pink]]'', ''[[Some Kind of Wonderful]]'', the ''Lampoon's Vacation'' sequel entitled ''Christmas Vacation'', and the first three ''[[Home Alone]]'' movies. (He also produced ''Only The Lonely'' for writer-director (and ''[[Home Alone]]'' (and its sequel) director) [[Chris Columbus]], one of only two films he produced that he didn't write - the other was ''New Port South'', written and directed by his son James.)

During the 1990s, he somehow ended up writing and producing a string of more family-oriented comedies, including the live-action versions of ''[[One Hundred and One101 Dalmatians (Disney1996 film)|One Hundred and One101 Dalmatians]]'' and ''[[Dennis the Menace US(film)|Dennis the Menace]]'', and the remake of ''[[Miracle On Thirty Fourth Street (Film)|Miracle On Thirtyon Fourth34th Street]]''. In the following decade he would become a recluse, and the rest of his screenplays would be written under the pseudonym [[The Count of Monte Cristo|Edmond Dantes]]. His last film was the Owen Wilson comedy ''[[Drillbit Taylor]]''.

=== {{creatorworks|Films he |directed include: ===}}

* ''[[Weird Science (Filmfilm)|Weird Science]]'' (1985)

* ''[[Ferris Buellers Day Off (Film)|Ferris BuellersBueller's Day Off]]'' (1986)

* ''[[Planes, Trains and Automobiles]]'' (1987)

* ''She's Having Aa Baby'' (1988)

=== {{tropelist|His films (those few that don't already have pages of their own) provide examples of: ===}}

* [[The Verse]]: In a 1999 ''Premiere'' [http://home.comcast.net/~aimsters4/bclub.html article], Hughes himself declared that ''[[Sixteen Candles]]'', ''[[The Breakfast Club]]'', ''[[Ferris Buellers Day Off (Film)|Ferris BuellersBueller's Day Off]]'', and ''[[Planes, Trains and Automobiles]]'' are all a part of the same universe. Sadly, the crossover possibilities were never explored in film.

{{quote| '''[[Word of God|John Hughes]]:''' When I started making movies, I thought I would just invent a town where everything happened. Everybody, in all of my movies, is from Shermer, Illinois. Del Griffith from ''Planes, Trains & Automobiles'' lives two doors down from John Bender. Ferris Bueller knew Samantha Baker from ''Sixteen Candles''. For 15 years I've written my Shermer stories in prose, [[All There in the Manual|collecting its history]].}}

** It's long been speculated that ''[[Pretty in Pink (Film)|Pretty in Pink]]'', ''[[Some Kind of Wonderful]]'', and ''[[Home Alone]]'' also take place in the Shermerverse, since those movies were written (but not directed) by Hughes and feature similar themes.

** ''[[Weird Science (Filmfilm)|Weird Science]]'' explicitly takes place in Shermer (Lisa is seen teaching the Shermer High gym class at the end), though it has its own [[Speculative Fiction]] internal logic that is inconsistent with the other canon Shermerverse movies.

** ''She's Having A Baby'' does NOT''not'' take place in the Shermerverse, since Neal Page's wife is seen watching that movie on television in ''[[Planes, Trains and Automobiles]]''.

=== {{tropelist|His life provides examples of: ===}}