Where in the World is John Hughes, Part 2

A while ago, I wrote this piece asking you, the public, where in the hell was Writer/Director/Producer John Hughes - the man, the myth, the legend who brought us Sixteen Candles, Ferris Bueller's Day Off, The Breakfast Club and - one of my favorite films of all time - Vacation.

Speaking of Vacation - for all of those unaware, Hughes' screenplay originated from a short story he wrote which was optioned by Hollywood to be transformed into a feature-length film. Which, in turn, still leaves hope for me.

But, instead of little old me going on and on about the experience, I'll let John Hughes tell you himself in this rather interesting forward that he wrote for Zoetrope - a quarterly magazine founded by Francis Ford Coppola devoted to short fiction and one-act plays.

And you can read Hughes' short story Vacation '58 right here.

Enjoy.

Where In The World Is John Hughes?

Ever since National Lampoon's Vacation glazed across my eyeballs back in the early 80's, I've been hooked on the work of John Hughes.

For anyone living in a Bigfoot cave, Hughes is a screenwriter/director who gave my thirtysomething generation (although I should say countless generations) reasons to laugh and cry. But mostly laugh.

We all wanted to be Ferris Bueller and take a day off high school...in style. We all wanted to be those two computer geeks that could create Kelly LeBrock via a computer. We all wanted to get detention in hopes of having the delightful conversations and adventures that Anthony Michael Hall and company experienced in The Breakfast Club. We all wanted to have a dad like Clark Griswold. Well, maybe just me.

Much like Judd Apatow is doing at this moment with films like Superbad, Drillbit Taylor and the short-lived TV dramedy Freaks and Geeks, Hughes mastered the fine (yet tricky) art of high school dialogue and comedy in the 80's. Simply put, he was one of the comedic voices of my high school generation.

Off the top of my head, here are my favorite six John Hughes' flicks:

Vacation (wrote)

Weird Science (wrote and directed)

Ferris Bueller’s Day Off (wrote and directed)

The Breakfast Club (wrote and directed)

Sixteen Candles (wrote and directed)

Planes, Trains & Automobiles (wrote and directed)

Oh sure, the man has written a ton more other popular movies as well. Home Alone , Pretty in Pink, The Great Outdoors and Uncle Buck come to mind. He's also had his share of stinkers, but the fresh tomatoes far out-weigh the rotten ones.

Which brings me to the whole point of this entry.

Besides a co-writing nod on the new Apatow-produced Drillbit (which was from a script he'd written a long time ago), Hughes has basically disappeared from the entertainment landscape.

No television. No books. No movies. No producing. No nothing.

A quick scan of IMDB.com has Hughes last directing and writing performance being the lackluster Curly Sue in 1992.

I'm curious what Hughes has been up to in the last 15+ years?

Is he tightening the screws on his new Breakfast Club or Ferris Bueller screenplay? Is he shacked up like J.D. Salinger writing endless screeplays with explicit rules they only be released upon his death? Is he working on the next great-american novel?

Where in the world is John Hughes!

As it turns out, a lot of other movie Web sites and blogs were wondering the same thing. Rather than pull stuff from all of their sites, I thought I'd give you a rundown of various links I found concerning the strange disappearance of John Hughes:

(Click on the links below)

An upcoming low-budget documentary on the John Hughes generation called Don't You Forget About Me

Click here for a Slashfilm article on the new poster for the documentary American Teen, which mimics The Breakfast Club.

Here's a Hughes-centric rant I found on Chud.com titled Leave John Hughes Alone

Here's an interview with Patrick Read Johnson, who worked with Hughes on a couple of his later films.

Want to know what happened the teens in John Hughes' films? Click here for an article from MetroMix Chicago.

Whatever happened to Long Duk Dong? Click here for an article on the last Hollywood stereotype.

Another John Hughes retrospective courtesy of Slashfilm.com.

Just out of curiosity, what's your favorite John Hughes film, if any?