JOHN HUGHES

2/18/1950- 8/6/2009

By Candy Marshall

• John Hughes was born in Lansing, Michigan on 2/18/1950

• In 1963, his family moved to Northbrook, IL where he attended Glenbrook N. H.S. which later became the inspiration for The Breakfast Club movie

• He started his career in entertainment by selling jokes to comedians (including Rodney Dangerfield and Joan Rivers)

• He then worked in advertising where he worked with Lampoon Magazine which eventually led to penning a story about his childhood vacation. This led to National Lampoon’s Vacation

• 1984 Sixteen Candles was released, followed by several high school, teen life movies

• 1987 Trains, Planes and Automobiles moved him away from teen comedies

• 1994 John Candy died of a sudden heart attack. John Hughes was shaken by this news of his friend and decided to retire.

• 1994-2009, John stayed out of the spotlight and granted very few interviews.

• 8/6/2009 while walking in Manhattan, he suffered a heart attack and died at the age of 59

BIOGRAPHY

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=63YwKyH7__w

FILMOGRAPHY (ALL OF MY FAVORITES)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=63YwKyH7__w

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DvmVYNr0lk0

Here are two tributes to the wonderful John Hughes

COMPLETE FILMOGRAPHY

Delta House (1979) (TV)National Lampoon's Class Reunion (1982)

At Ease (1983) (TV)Mr. Mom (1983)

National Lampoon's Vacation (1983)Nate and Hayes (with David Odell) (1983)

Sixteen Candles (1984) (also Director)The Breakfast Club (1985) (also Director)

National Lampoon's European Vacation (1985) (Story Only)Weird Science (1985) (also Director)

Pretty in Pink (1986)Ferris Bueller's Day Off (1986) (also Director)

Some Kind of Wonderful (1987)Planes, Trains and Automobiles (1987) (also Director)

She's Having a Baby (1988) (also Director)The Great Outdoors (1988)

Uncle Buck (1989) (also Director)National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation (1989)

Home Alone (1990)Career Opportunities (1991)

Only the Lonely (1991) (Producer Only)Dutch (1991)

Curly Sue (1991) (also Director)Beethoven (1992) (as Edmund Dantes)Home Alone 2: Lost in New York (1992)

Dennis the Menace (1993)Baby's Day Out (1994)

Miracle on 34th Street (1994)101 Dalmatians (1996)

Flubber (1997)Home Alone 3 (1997)

Reach the Rock (1998)Just Visiting (2001)

Maid in Manhattan (2002) (as Edmund Dantes)Drillbit Taylor (2008) (Story Only) (as Edmund Dantes)

RealismHughes defined the realism of teens and the peer pressures of school. The scenes and story lines were exactly what it was like in school. We have the social division, the embarrassment of riding the bus, the constant banter we had with our parents as we fought for our independence, trying to be in the popular

circle and being judged on what style of clothing we wore. These are still realistic of what a teenager has to deal with today.

ComedyAt times the comedy genres exaggerated the situations which only added to the humorous scene. Hughes helped us laugh at our teenage selves and laugh at things we may have otherwise cried about. Scenes like

Long Duck Dong and his attempt at understanding what a quiche is was just one of many scenes that defined comedy.

DramaHughes also added drama to his comedies. In the Breakfast Club, there were plenty of times that the

audience would laugh, but when Bender showed the scars on his arms from physical and emotional abuse at home, the laughter stopped. It brought us back to the realism that Hughes was so brilliant at.

MusicSoundtracks for his films were also from artists that defined the 80’s. The strong pop music played in his movies were on cue with the movie themes. Would there be a greater song than Simple Minds, Don’t You (Forget About Me)? In The Breakfast Club as detention ended. Or Thompson Twins, If You Were Here for the birthday cake scene in Sixteen Candles? The music made these scenes memorable. There are several

songs that if I hear them, I could name the Hughes film it was from and name the scene where it was played.

ActorsJohn Hughes often used the same actors in his films including Molly Ringwald (4 films), Anthony Michael

Hall (3 films) and McCauley Caulkin (4 films). These actors were iconic to his films.

SIGNATURES

BIBLIOGRAPHY

American Movie Classics. (n.d.). Film Genres. Retrieved from American Film Classics Company LLC website: http://www.filmsite.org/ genres.html

IMDB.com. (n.d.). John Hughes. Retrieved June 15, 2012, from Amazon

website: http://www.imdb.com/ name/ nm0000455/

Oscars. (n.d.). John Hughes Tribute at the Oscars. Retrieved from YouTube.com website: http://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=DvmVYNr0lk0

Wikipedia. (n.d.). John Hughes. Retrieved June 15, 2012, from Wikipedia website: http://en.wikipedia.org/ wiki/ John_Hughes_(filmmaker)