John Hughes - a Teenager's Favorite Film Director

If you are over the age of 30 and are ever asked to name a few of your favorite "teen" movies, you are likely to mention such films as "Sixteen Candles," "The Breakfast Club," and "Ferris Bueller's Day Off." Each is a good film in its own right and probably deserves to be on such a list. What do these films have in common besides having teenagers in the lead roles? The answer is John Hughes.

Hughes is widely regarded as the king of teen movies and it's a title well deserved. Beginning in 1984 and lasting for seven years, Hughes wrote and directed eight movies with all but one featuring young adults or younger in the lead roles. Teenagers latched onto his films because he knew how to speak for them without looking down on them. He was the pulse for American teenagers and spoke their language fluently.

Hughes' films were unflinchingly upbeat with lead characters who had a tough edge on the outside but were softies on the inside. Teenagers appreciated the fact that almost every adult character in a Hughes movie was a buffoon who was easily outsmarted by youth. It was their fantasies come true.

Hughes was also a master of using music in his movies. He often used new wave music of the era and had huge singles come from his films including Don't You Forget About Me and If You Leave.

Hughes' movies spoke to an entire generation and studios attempted repeatedly to duplicate his films with little or no success. In fact, in the last fifteen years only "American Pie," "Clueless," and "Mean Girls" have measured to up to the Hughes standard.

Then as quickly as he came onto the scene, John Hughes went away. He hasn't directed a movie in 16 years and hasn't been credited with an original screenplay in 6 years. He last screen credit was 5 years ago.

What happened?

No one seems to know for sure. Hughes hasn't given a public interview to the media in almost 20 years and the rare interview he has given to students has provide little insight. Did he stop directing because the generation he spoke to had grown up and moved on to jobs and families of their own? Was the pressure and daily grind of directing too much? Was his writing becoming too repetitive? You can clearly see him doing similar stories (Some Kind of Wonderful closely resembles Pretty in Pink; Curly Sue resembles Uncle Buck;Dennis the Menace AND Baby's Day Out resemble Home Alone) and doing needless remakes (101 Dalmatians; Flubber; Miracle on 34^th Street).

Did he make one too many enemies in Hollywood and burn one too many bridges? Hughes hated going to Hollywood and maintained a home in the Chicago suburb of Lake Forest. He wasn't one to schmooze at parties or attend premieres. He rarely granted interviews and was an outsider to the film community. What saved him was that his movies made money and producers clamored to work with him.

Stories still persist that Hughes was an egomaniacal dictator on his sets who fired crew people left and right, sometimes on a whim and had the ability to treat people like best friends one day and then kept them at a distance another. For the record Hughes has denied these allegations that were admittedly made by a select few people fired by Hughes who may have a grudge on him.

Or perhaps he felt he had accomplished enough in his life and enjoyed writing more and decided to let others handle his projects.

Hughes began working toward his dream of Hollywood in the late 70's when he became editor of National Lampoon magazine. After the enormous success of "Animal House" in 1978 Hollywood practically begged Lampoon staffers to bring their ideas in for consideration. Not wanting to miss his opportunity he submitted several ideas and was hired to write his first script. A spoof titled "Jaws 3, People 0," the script sold but ended up never being made. The same went for his next script called "The History of Ohio From the Beginning of Time to the End of the Universe."

With his next script Hughes finally got a sale that went into production. Titled "National Lampoon's Class Reunion," the film is a horror spoof of the mad slasher films so popular in the early 1980's. Hughes claimed the script was re-written and totally changed against his wishes while director Michael Miller once provided a script to a reporter titled "Reunion At Horror High" that has Hughes' name on it and, apparently, almost completely resembles the finished product Hughes has since disowned. Either way the film is terrible and was a bomb at the box office. Hughes claimed it was a learning experience, as he would fight for his right to direct his scripts himself.

1983 was a major year for Hughes, as three more of his scripts would be produced. The first was "Mr. Mom" starring Michael Keaton in his first starring role as a man who has to assume the household duties after his is fired and his wife has to take a job. The film was an unexpected box office hit and was soon followed by "National Lampoon's Vacation" starring Chevy Chase. That film was also a big hit and Hughes was able secure the right to direct his next two produced scripts after "Savage Islands," a pirate adventure, that was also taken away from Hughes and changed into a spoof re-titled "Nate and Hayes" starring Tommy Lee Jones. The resulting film was savaged critically and bombed at the box office.

1984 saw Hughes' first film as director, "Sixteen Candles," which introduced the world to Molly Ringwald and Anthony Michael Hall. The simple story told of Samantha (Ringwald) who is about to turn 16, is in love with the school hunk and has to put up with the pressures of her sister's upcoming wedding. Hall plays "The Geek," who is hot for Samantha. You can also spot John and Joan Cusack in small roles. Teenagers easily identified with the two leading character and turned the modest $6 million budget into a $24 million hit.

1985 was a busy year for Hughes. His second film as director was "The Breakfast Club," a film that still speaks for the teenage generation to this day. The basic story is 5 teenagers, all of them different from one another (brain, athlete, princess, etc.) spending a Saturday in school detention and learning a lot about each other and themselves. There wasn't a teenager who couldn't identify with at least one of the characters and that resulted in a box office smash grossing over $46 million.

Next up was Hughes's screenplay for the sequel, "National Lampoon's European Vacation." The film indicates that Hughes may have been overworked as he shared credit with another writer and the end result was disappointing. The film was a mild hit but failed to equal the numbers of the original.

Hughes's next directorial effort, "Weird Science," is his strangest movie to date telling the story of two teenagers who use their computer to create the perfect woman (Kelly LeBrock). Hughes fails to follow his initial premise and takes the film off in different directions with middling results. For the first time critics were almost universally against a Hughes film and it made only $23 million.

1986 started with Hughes adding producer to his credits without directing. For "Pretty in Pink," the story of an unpopular girl (Ringwald) asked out on a date by a high school hunk, much to the chagrin of the school geek who loves her, Hughes handed over the directing reigns to Howard Deutch. Despite the obvious similarities to "Sixteen Candles" the film was a smash at the box office earning over $40 million.

Hughes's next film as director is considered by some to be the one he is most associated with- "Ferris Bueller's Day Off." Once again Hughes elicits laughs from a simple story about a young man ditching school for the day and, along with his best friend and girlfriend, takes a tour of Chicago including Sears Tower, The Art Institute and Wrigley Field. As popular as the film is today the critical reaction was mixed and the film grossed $28.6 million, well under expectations. Was Hughes burning himself out too quickly?

1987 brought "Some Kind of Wonderful," which is "Pretty in Pink" with the genders of the lead characters reversed (and Deutch returning as director). Hughes was obviously repeating himself and audiences seemed to catch on as the film made only $17 million. Later that year Hughes forayed into enemy territory by making his first and, to date, only film about adults called "Planes, Trains and Automobiles." Hughes fans got a nice change of pace and Hughes created what many believe to be his cinematic masterpiece. Steve Martin and John Candy star as travelers thrown together the week of Thanksgiving as each one tries to make his way home. Though it is now considered a movie mainstay during the holidays and received mostly positive reviews, the film underperformed at the box office despite the pairing of two comedic geniuses of that era grossing only $22 million.

1987 also brought a change in the way Hughes would write future scripts. Hughes admits that he took his kids to see Disney's "101 Dalmatians" (a film he would write the remake of) and found himself walking the lobby out of sheer boredom. He vowed to never again write a movie for kids that didn't have elements that would keep adults interested as well. This may explain the enormous success of future scripts for the "Home Alone" series as well as the Dalmatians remake.

Hughes' downslide continued in 1988 with the critically acclaimed "She's Having A Baby" starring Kevin Bacon and Elizabeth McGovern as a couple who fall in love, marry, and prepare to start a family. Despite the reviews the film grossed only $16 million at the box office. Interestingly this film was completed before "Planes, Trains and Automobiles" but wasn't released until four months after the former film. Hughes and Deutch re-teamed again for the Dan Aykroyd/John Candy vehicle "The Great Outdoors." The film was critically savaged and bombed at the box office.

Hughes' 7^th film as director came in 1989 starring Candy in the title role as "Uncle Buck," about a big lug forced to baby sit his brother's kids during a family emergency. Despite the familiarity of the themes and actions, Hughes bounced back with a $30 million hit. Later that year came Hughes' script only contribution to the third film in the series, "Christmas Vacation," brought the film $35 million at the box office making it the most profitable in the series.

1990 was the biggest year of Hughes' professional life as writer/producer of "Home Alone." Hughes hired acclaimed writer Chris (Gremlins; The Goonies) to direct and the rest was history, becoming the highest grossing film comedy in history making over $140 million.

1991 brought Hughes's 8^th and, to this point, final film as director with "Curly Sue." The film, about a con man and his daughter who meet a woman lawyer and overtake her life was Hughes at his formulaic worst. The film was a low for Hughes as director that may explain why he hasn't returned to the director's chair since. The film flopped at the box office and Hughes went away but thankfully held on to his computer.

From 1991 to 2002 Hughes has written 13 movies, most of them geared to children. He wrote the original "Beethoven," and the aforementioned ill advised remakes of "Dalmatians," "Flubber," and "Miracle on 34^th Street." He also wrote "Career Opportunities," "Dutch," "Baby's Day Out," "Home Alone 3," "Reach the Rock," and "Just Visiting." Sadly all of those films flopped at the box office. He also wrote the hits "Dennis The Menace" and "Home Alone 2: Lost in New York."

Hughes was last credited in 2002 for the story of the Jennifer Lopez flop "Maid In Manhattan" which came from an original Hughes script called "The Chambermaid." At first it was rumored Hughes was interested in directing when either Sandra Bullock or Hilary Swank was in the running for the lead role. Once they bowed out Hughes bowed out and the script was changed to suit Lopez. Once that happened the entire story was re-written and subsequently failed at the box office.

Where is John Hughes? He continues to be the J.D. Salinger of film. Reportedly he lives on a sprawling farm in Wisconsin though that hasn't been confirmed. Whenever a film of his is released on DVD with special features Hughes is always absent (Interestingly he did record a commentary for the laser disc of "Ferris Bueller" in the 90's that has since been transferred to the DVD). Is he still writing? Is he going to direct again? Hughes once said he would retire in 2000 at the age of 50 so perhaps he has.

Today Hughes is 57 and his teenage movies are likely far behind him. As a movie fan I am hopeful he will come back just once more and make a film like "Planes, Trains..." and go out on top again.

Molly Ringwald was once asked about Hughes, from whom she has been estranged for many years, and his future in films. She thought about it for a minute and then replied, "John will have the last laugh. He always does."