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JOHN HUGHES filmography

Vic Sage Dec 15 2006 12:42 PM

This Chicago-area native became hugely successful as the primary auteur of teen angst comedies of the 80s and family comedies of the 90s. A child of the 60s, Hughes' films often have a theme running through them about the "haves" and the "have nots"... conflicts and romances between those on different sides of the tracks. sometimes its just upper-middle class suburban snobbery vs working class crassness. He finds humor and pathos in the romantic and class conflicts of his teen protagonists. There is also a distinct thread of "empowered youth defeating moronic adults" in most of his films. His films also deal with the dysfunctional family, and how they overcome their problems with love. Which was certainly at odds with his more youth-oriented films. Ultimately, in his career, the gooey sentimentality won out over the angst and he became a hack. He began as a staff writer for National Lampoon, seguing into screenwriting on the Lampoon's feature productions. The success of his screenplays for VACATION and the subsequent MR. MOM gave him the leverage to direct. Interestingly, it was the overlooked NATE & HAYES, his unsuccessful attempt to recusitate the pirate genre, which was probably his best work of this period Writer: National Lampoon's Class Reunion (1982) - sucked National Lampoon's Vacation (1983) - ok, big hit Nate and Hayes (1983) - interesting flop Mr. Mom (1983) - ok, hit Hughes then directed 8 films in the next 7 years. While the first 5 were good to excellent, the last 3 sucked, and he finally gave up directing for good.(for OUR good, actually) Writer/director: Sixteen Candles (1984) - launches his directorial career and his own sub-genre... the "teen angst 80s comedy". Writer/director/producer: The Breakfast Club (1985) - The brat pack is born. Dated, but still worthwhile. Weird Science (1985) - stupid, but almost amusing. Ferris Bueller's Day Off (1986) - Hughes creates a teen icon that still persists. Bueller? Bueller? Planes, Trains & Automobiles (1987) - His best grown up comedy, John Candy breaks your heart. She's Having a Baby (1988) - young marrieds; not good Uncle Buck (1989) - Candy almost saves it, but not quite. Curly Sue (1991) - unredeemed treacle. During his directing period, he produced some of his screenplays, with others holding the directorial reins, thereby continuing his Lampoon films, and his "chicago-teen angst comedies with heart" movies. Finally realizing it was easier to make money hiring other people to direct his scripts, he became an even more successful writer/producer, with crap like HOME ALONE. Again, his most interesting film of the period was a John Candy flop ONLY THE LONELY, which was a really touching romantic comedy with John Candy (Hughes neither wrote nor directed it. He produced it, with Chris Columbus the writer/director). Writer/producer: National Lampoon's European Vacation (1985) - if you liked the other one, you'll like this one Pretty in Pink (1986) - another solid addition to the Hughes oevre Some Kind of Wonderful (1987) - Mary Stuart Masterson is no Molly Ringwald. The Great Outdoors (1988) - amusing Candy vehicle National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation (1989) - yet another. Home Alone (1990) - HUGE movie, some entertainment value. Career Opportunities (1991) - Jennifer Connelly. Oh, yeah. Only the Lonely (1991) (producer only) - the best of this period After the failure of a good film like ONLY THE LONELY and the incredible success of crap like HOME ALONE, Hughes continued down the road of utter hack, ultimately becoming a Disney hitman, churning out one abomination after another. He even used the pseudonym of "Edmond Dantes" on some scripts, revealing (either consciously or unconsciously) the depths of his imprisonment within his own cynicism. Writer/producer: Dutch (1991) - crap Home Alone 2 (1992) - crap Beethoven (1992) (writer only, as “Edmond Dantesâ€

Edgy DC Dec 15 2006 01:12 PM

Some Kind of Wonderful is wonderful. So much after Home Alone is the formula revisited.

Vic Sage Dec 15 2006 01:20 PM

Edgy DC wrote: Some Kind of Wonderful is wonderful. So much after Home Alone is the formula revisited. for those who prefer Masterson to Ringwald, i can understand the enthusiasm for WONDERFUL. I didn't think it was bad, just ok. i'm not sure which "formula" he revisited after HOME ALONE. Certainly not his "teen-angst-comedy" formula, which had all but run its course by that time. But yes, the HOME ALONE formula (cute young protagonist defeating bumbling, crazy or evil adults) was certainly revisited ad nauseum. Curly Sue (1991) Home Alone 2 (1992) Beethoven (1992) Dennis the Menace (1993) Baby's Day Out (1994) 101 Dalmatians (1996) Flubber (1997) Home Alone 3 (1997)

RealityChuck Dec 15 2006 01:36 PM

I spotted Hughes when he was a writer for the National Lampoon. He wrote a bunch of really raunchy short stories like "My Penis" and "My Vagina," and the classic High School Yearbook Parody. I never found his movies half as good as his written work.

Edgy DC Dec 15 2006 01:54 PM

Vic Sage wrote: cute young protagonist defeating bumbling, crazy or evil adults. Yeah, that's pretty much it. It may be at best tiresome and at worst vomitaceous, but when Home Alone alone strikes for something like $300 million domestic (I think it was the bet grossing comedy ever --- still is, for all I know), the smart thing business-wise (if crass and cynical and artistically bankrupt) is to keep digging to try to hit that vein of gold once more.

Vic Sage Dec 15 2006 01:57 PM

absolutely. the only point to be made here is that Hughes was a guy who came out of the 60s and National Lampoon. He went from putting class conflict into teen comedies to regurgitating a vomitous formula for the rest of his career. Money makes people crazy.

Johnny Dickshot Dec 18 2006 12:05 PM

RealityChuck wrote: I spotted Hughes when he was a writer for the National Lampoon. He wrote a bunch of really raunchy short stories like "My Penis" and "My Vagina," and the classic High School Yearbook Parody. I never found his movies half as good as his written work. 'My Vagina' is up there among the funniest things I ever read. This is a first-person essay by a teenage guy who walkes up one morning to find his genatalia has switched M to F. Idiotic? Sure. Raunchy? You bet. But really well done! Hughes (I never knew this was his work) almost perfectly captures the mindset of a teenager who's mortified and curious at the same time. I suppose some of his movie characters (Farmer Ted) had the same qualities. I thought PJ O'Rourke and Doug Kenny were behind the High School Yearbook Parody. That's probably funnier than 'MV' . That in fact is the funniest thing ever written.

Edgy DC Dec 18 2006 12:14 PM

Yeah, I don't see Hughes associated with that, unless under a pseudonym. My classmate interviewed John Hughes in college. If I recall correctly, he started out as pay-by-the-joke writer for Rodney Dangerfield, among others.

RealityChuck Dec 18 2006 01:39 PM

No, I guess Hughes wasn't involved. Shows what happens when you use the Internet for research. But his National Lampoon stuff was classic.

Edgy DC Jan 22 2007 07:28 PM

Vic Sage wrote: Interestingly, it was the overlooked NATE & HAYES, his unsuccessful attempt to recusitate the pirate genre, which was probably his best work of this period Ralph/Norrin/Vic, you owe me the last two hours of my life.

Vic Sage Jan 23 2007 08:26 AM

I saw it 20-something years ago and remember being impressed by it at the time. Maybe it doesn't hold up... or maybe I don't... or maybe its just fine, and you lack sufficient appreciation of pirate movies.

Edgy DC Jan 23 2007 08:58 AM

Yeah, the problem is what I lack. What I lack is time to waste on crap. Or perhaps I lack what you were smoking. Nate and Hayes Roger Ebert, November 22, 1983 "Nate and Hayes" is one of the more inexplicable films I've encountered recently. The part I can't explain is: Why did they make it? The movie is a loud, confusing, pointless mess that never seems to make up its mind whether to be a farce or an adventure. You know you're in trouble when people are carrying swords and talking like TV game-show contestants. The movie uneasily occupies a niche between swashbuckling pirate movies and "Raiders of the Lost Ark." It stars Tommy Lee Jones as "Bully" Hayes, a buccaneer who sails the sea looking for plunder. "That man has ruined the Pacific," a missionary complains, sounding as if there went the neighborhood. We meet Hayes on the eve of his execution, and then there's a long flashback, a whole movie long, about how he arrived on Death Row. We see him carrying an engaged couple out to the Pacific island where they plan to be married before spending a lifetime converting the savages. They're a sweet couple: the Rev. Nathanael (Michael O'Keefe) and his fiancee, Sophie (Jenny Seagrove). But then the evil Ben Pease (Max Phipps) attacks and spoils everyone's plans. He looks by the way, a little like Frankenstein's monster, and he's mad all the time. No wonder he's mad. Hayes explains that he once shot off Pease's private parts and that, since then, "he's gone around blaming all of his troubles on me." The movie's plot is carefree nonsense. At one point Nate is marooned alone on a tiny rock in the middle of miles of sea. At another point, Sophie is given as a gift to native chieftains and lowered over a fire as a sacrifice. At a third point, there's a battle between a sailing ship and an armor-clad warship. None of this has anything to do with anything. Ah, yes, you ask, but are the pirates swarthy, the maidens tempting, the savages fierce, the battles thrilling and the heroes bold and brave? Nope.