Today, we lost a legend. I don't make comments like that lightly. I hate the term "instant classic", and think all of these "unforgettable" films clogging our cineplexes will be forgotten by the end of the year. However, this man was not one of them. He was a legend, and in the 80's, he was one of the giants in an era where true classics were being routinely pumped out.
Don't believe me? Think of the films that came out in the 80's: Empire Strikes Back, Return of the Jedi, Rocky III & IV, Batman, Blade Runner, The Terminator, E.T., Beverly Hills Cops 1 & 2, Die Hard, the Indiana Jones trilogy, The Karate Kid, Superman II, The Rambo films, Lethal Weapon 1 & 2, Aliens, Predator, the Conan movies...I mean, get real, the amount of classic films that came out in that decade was outlandish, and I'm sure I'm missing some, to boot, that's just off the top of my head. So, in this era where films were expected to be good, this man stood out. As a producer, writer, and director, the man had few peers. Don't believe me? Let's look at the films he did in the 80's.
Class Reunion, Mr. Mom, National Lampoon's Vacation, Sixteen Candles, The Breakfast Club, National Lampoon's European Vacation, Weird Science, Pretty in Pink, Ferris Bueller's Day Off, Some Kind of Wonderful, Planes, Trains and Automobiles, She's Having a Baby, The Great Outdoors, Uncle Buck, and National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation. Wow. That is a ridiculous amount of movies he did, and I'm not even touching his 90's work (which was headlined by Home Alone 1 & 2). The thing is though, every one of them had a quality to them; you might not care about some of them, but you had to admit they were usually enjoyable, and usually fun.
Now think of who is his replacement these days: Judd Apatow. Wow. That's crazy. I mean on one hand, we have a man who basically put the Brat Pack to the forefront, Molly Ringwald had a career because of this man. Anthony Michael Hall had a career because of this man. John Candy, as popular as he was on SCTV, had mostly no memorable movies, until Hughes cast him first in Vacation, and then later, Planes, Trains and Automobiles, and Uncle Buck. Jon Cryer, Macaulay Culkin, Judd Nelson, Jennifer Grey, Annette Bening, all got their first big break in Hughes movies. What has Apatow given us? Seth Rogen. Gee, thanks. There's no comparison.
Hughes had a knack for portraying both the everyman, and the teenager, and not looking down on either. While his average schmoes might be bumbling and comical at times, they still had heart, they had good intentions, and when the chips were down, they did what was right, even at their own expense. His teenagers might have been rebellious, but they were smart, they were interesting, and they didn't engage in b.s. just for the sake of it; they were thinking human beings, not caricatures of anti-authority sentiment. Hughes gave us slice of life, but he made it sweet, and poignant; even if it seemed that nothing mattered in their lives, his characters still tried to find meaning, and they still tried to find love and happiness. Simple, sappy stuff you may say, but we don't get that anymore. Hughes made movies about an innocence at the edge of death (which was basically the mid-90's onward), but he also gave hope that even though you may be ordinary, looked-down upon, picked-on, nothing special, you still had the ability to turn things around and prove yourself.
We will probably never have another one like him. Like I said, his movies were about an innocence that is lost today amongst a sea of selfishness and cynism. The everyman is now sneered at and made fun of, ridiculed and embarassed. Teenagers are scumbags, who you wish are quickly dispatched by serial killers in masks. I think it's fitting that Hughes' career tailed off in the 90's; his films were no longer suitable for the next generation.
Nope, we'll never have another like him. So do me a favour, and sometime tomorrow, or the next day, throw in one of Hughes' films, and enjoy yourself. The great thing about films is that even when their creators depart, their work lives on, and in the case of Hughes, I have no doubt his movies will last an eternity.
Goodbye John, and thanks.
- Stephenstein
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