A Righteous Dude

Before John Hughes, I never considered film directors. Of course today, I’m all about them. I’ll go to a movie sight-unseen based on a director, but when I was a teenager-forget about it.
It wasn’t until 16 Candles-a film that probably spoke to girls more than guys-that I realized that John Hughes had a way with capturing real teenagers interacting in real situations. Sure, there were moments when the dialogue was a bit too contrived, but you have to understand just how barren the teenage marketplace was back then. There was little that spoke to us, so for a filmmaker like Hughes to make a film that somewhat mirrored what we were going through at the time was special.
And to make the film entertaining and funny was memorable.
My favorite was-and still is-Ferris Bueller’s Day Off-a movie so good that I’ll still watch it (and laugh) when it’s on TV. Of course, some of the appeal has worn, especially since the edited version you find on cable doesn’t do justice to how accurate Hughes’ character study of teenagers was. We swore. A lot. And it was somewhat refreshing to see teenagers on screen decorate their banter with expletives. Without it, his films feel too innocent in places.
I started to question Hughes with Pretty In Pink. It was like they put together a great soundtrack and decided to make a film around it. I remember walking out of the theatres thinking that it wasn’t as good as his other films. It has its moments, but it’s true: it wasn’t as good as his earlier ones.
Maybe I was just getting older.
Apparently, he was too. He began making movies outside of the teenage realm, and some of them (Planes, Trains, and Automobiles especially) were ok. But they didn’t speak to me in the same way and, as a result, John Hughes no longer was one of those directors that I would pay admission for, sight unseen.
His passing surprised me, but what surprised me more was how he had turned into some kind of recluse. Who knew? I just assumed that he continued to make movies, albeit with diminishing returns. I mean, even though I didn’t follow his career, I was sure that a few of those second run features you see on HBO or whatever, would have been his creation. You know what I’m talking about: those movies like The Break Up or any of the last four movies featuring Matthew McConaughey. They all took some Hughes elements in account, so who’s not to say that he made a living just repeating a formula he helped create.
I was wrong. The man deserved more credit than that. To walk away from something that probably could have provided him with that type of career is impressive in some respects.
I wonder why he did it.
And now, it seems, we’ll never learn why.
To quote Sir Ferris: “Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop a look around once in a while, you could miss it.”