John Hughes RIP.

For those of us who were teenagers in the mid 1980s, there was a strong chance you saw 16 Candles, Breakfast Club, Pretty in Pink or Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. John Hughes nailed mid 1980s suburban North American teen culture complete with a cool soundtrack. With his sudden passing a few days ago from a heart attack, I felt old for the first time.

Hughes’ 1980s teen movies all took place in the North Shore suburbs of Chicago, not too dissimilar to where I grew up in Oakville just outside of Toronto. While none of his work would be considered Oscar material in its time. Hughes films with the Brat Pack had almost a Frank Capra vibe to it and I think members of Generation X of a certain age are mourning not just the loss of the creative filmmaker who created these movies but also a lifeline to a slightly less complicated more optimistic time.

The high point of Hughes’ later work included Planes, Trains and Automobiles and Uncle Buck, I never quite got Home Alone. The thing all the good movies provided so many decent quotes, my favourite being from Ferris Bueller’s Day off, “Life moves pretty quick, if you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.”

In closing I should disclose when I was 16 I had a crush on both Molly Ringwald (16 Candles, Pretty in Pink and Breakfast Club. Thank you Mr. Hughes for getting it right and entertaining us.

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Please check out this blog for more insight on why John Hughes left the movie business. It is a well written post that packs an emotional punch. be forewarned.