Friday, August 07, 2009

Pretty in Pink

How can John Hughes be dead?

That's just impossible.

That is how I found out that John Hughes was indeed dead. Well, that and a quick confirmation from CNN.com. No offense to Rebecca, but even her sources need to be verified. (and my, someone updates wikipedia immediately!)

Whether you liked his stuff or not - and it was very very hit or miss - for a long time, Hughes defined teen and family movies. Even if you're not of my cohort, the movies that are of today are direct descendants of his work in the 80s.

Just last week (?), I posted his Sixteen Candles done in 30 seconds by Bunnies. It was fun, but not as great as the real thing. That ranks in my top 10 movies of all time. Yes, it's not Citizen Kane (which is also in my top 10), but it's a great 100 minutes of film fun. Every line a great quote. Seriously.

I wanted to like Breakfast Club so much, but I could never buy into it. Did anyone buy a 33 year old Judd Nelson as a high school student? I liked the concept, just not the execution.

I didn't even like either the concept or execution of Pretty in Pink. Ok - I liked the fact that Annie Potts got work. And who doesn't like it when Duckie sings and dances to "Try a Little Tenderness"? Maybe if she ended up with Duckie and blew off 33 year old high school student Andrew McCarthy, I could have bought into it.

What I really don't get is why I liked the exact same story so much better when it was repackaged a few years later in Hughes' own Some Kind of Wonderful. (Morty will now deny it, but eons ago we claimed it as a guilty pleasure.)

Oh - and in Pretty in Pink, we had to endure OMD's "If You Leave"....and more than once!

Of course I don't know anyone who doesn't like Ferris Bueller.

I will cop to not knowing he wrote National Lampoon's Vacation. As funny as that was - and let's face it, it was - you still had to endure three (three!) Home Alones.

They cannot all be masterpieces. And if nothing else - we have Sixteen Candles.

Maybe when Rebecca is in town this weekend, she'll come over and we'll just get some beer, and Rainbow Chips Deluxe (yes, it is as gross as it sounds) and kick back and watch it - and have some good laughs.


Song by: the Psychedelic Furs

3 comments:

Larry Ohio said...

I don't know how I got through my life without ever seeing Sixteen Candles. But now I want/need to see it. I gotta figure out how to get my hands on it, because you can bet it will be sold out of all blockbusters for weeks to come.

BTW, I completely loved Breakfast Club and Ferris Bueller's Day Off.

Blobby, I got bad news for you. You've been bumped. I got a new #1, sorry.

anne marie in philly said...

I like "planes, trains and automobiles". steve matin and john candy.

john candy does a schmenge bros. to a ray charles song. I piss myself during that scene it's that funny!

rebecca said...

I can't believe I missed doing this over the weekend.

Pooh.