I’m a total product of the ’80s. Songs, movies, all of it. So when I heard writer/director John Hughes passed away, I felt a part of my own youth died. I mean, in a way, this is more significant to me than Michael Jackson. But that’s me.
OK, maybe not only me. I had a very in-depth conversation last night with my great friend Laurie, her husband and a few others — all about Hughes. He had a huge impact in our movie-watching experience as young adults, and we all had different Hughes movies as our favorites. The Breakfast Club was a popular one, as was Sixteen Candles. And we all had to agree we’d watch Ferris Bueller’s Day Off every other Sunday for the rest of our lives.
Since this is MY blog, however, I’m going to give you my top 10 list, which just veers slightly from my esteemed peers:
10. Home Alone – OK, I’ll give props where props are due with this one. Even though Hughes only wrote this one (directed by Chris Columbus), it was a pretty classic example of a kid kicking ass.
9. She’s Having a Baby – I think Kevin Bacon and Elizabeth McGovern make a very cute couple. The montage when she’s actually having the baby, with Kate Bush’s song “This Woman’s Work” is my favorite.
8. Vacation – Chevy Chase’s meltdown at Wally World is legendary.
7. Pretty in Pink – Ducky’s lip-synching Otis Redding’s “Try a Little Tenderness” is easily the best moment.
6. Uncle Buck – Miles: Where do you live?
Buck: In the city.
Miles: You have a house?
Buck: Apartment.
Miles: Own or rent?
Buck: Rent.
Miles: What do you do for a living?
Buck: Lots of things.
Miles: Where’s your office?
Buck: I don’t have one.
Miles: How come?
Buck: I don’t need one.
Miles: Where’s your wife?
Buck: Don’t have one.
Miles: How come?
Buck: It’s a long story.
Miles: You have kids?
Buck: No I don’t.
Miles: How come?
Buck: It’s an even longer story.
Miles: Are you my Dad’s brother?
Buck: What’s your record for consecutive questions asked?
Miles: 38.
5. The Breakfast Club – Arguably the best known Hughes movie but for me, it’s not quite the top of my list. Still, I covet Ally Sheedy’s dark, Cap’n Crunch sandwich eatin’ wacko — up until pink princess Molly Ringwald cleans her up.
4. Weird Science – OK, did you know Robert Downey Jr. is in this as one of the high school bullies? Love that. My favorite part? The Danny Elfman/Oingo Boingo theme song, among other things.
3. Ferris Bueller’s Day Off – Cameron: “He’ll keep calling me, he’ll keep calling me until I come over. He’ll make me feel guilty. This is uh… This is ridiculous, ok I’ll go, I’ll go, I’ll go, I’ll go, I’ll go. What – I’LL GO. Shit.”
2. Some Kind of Wonderful – see below
1. Sixteen Candles – My heart just melts when Jake shows up at the church to whisk Sam away, and wishes her a very special happy birthday, leaning in to kiss her across the birthday cake on the dining room table. Ahhhhhhh.
Some Kind of Wonderful is No. 2 for me because at the time it came out, I was mildly obsessed with Eric Stoltz. Not as much as Michael Schoeffling’s Jake, but close. Plus, it’s way better than it’s mirror image, Pretty in Pink. And this, my friends, is my favorite scene: the kiss between Eric Stoltz’s Keith and Mary Stuart Masterson’s Watts. Yes, I’m a hopeless romantic: