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?

10 Great Film Endings Set To Fantastic Music.

I just finished watching King of California yesterday. It's a good movie with fine acting by Michael Douglas and Evan Rachel Wood.

The final scene, which segues into the end credits, played to the song "California Stars" by Billy Bragg and Wilco pretty much summed up the entire film experience for me.

In my opinion, the final song in a movie can represent a film's entire soul.

Then, started to think about some other great films with spectacular final scenes set to great music.

Off the top of my head, here are ten great examples:

PULP FICTION
The Lively Ones' Surf Rider kicks in as Jules and Vincent exit the diner in flip flops and dorky t-shirts.



FIGHT CLUB
The Pixies' Where is My Mind brings it all together as buildings crumble while Marla Singer and Tyler Durden's alter-ego hold hands and contemplate their future.



THERE'S SOMETHING ABOUT MARY
The Farrelly Brothers and the rest of the cast ham it up with Build Me Up Buttercup from The Foundations.



THE SHINING
As Jack's fate is sealed in the hedge maze, Kubrick tosses in one more red herring with a cut to the hotel and a slow camera pan to a small portrait of New Year's revelers (with a surprise guest!) circa 1921 set to the eerie music of Midnight With The Stars and You performed by the Ray Noble Band.



THE MATRIX
Had there not been any sequels, this ending set to Rage Against The Machine's Wake Up would have went down as one of the all-time best. It completely sets the tone of the entire experience.


THE BREAKFAST CLUB
As Principal Vernon finishes raeading Brian's hope-filled prose summing up a long day of Saturday detention, on the football field John Bender raises his arms in the air and The Simple Minds' Don't You Forget About Me kicks in.
Click here to listen to Anthony Michael Hall's Breakfast Club prose.


TRUE ROMANCE
After going to hell and back, Alabama, her husband (minus one eye) and son are sitting beside a sunny beach. While we listen to her narration, our ears are dabbled with Hans Zimmer's feel-good score You're So Cool. Perhaps Tony Scott was foreshadowing a happy ending throughout the film with this musical choice?
Click here to listen to You're So Cool.


STAND BY ME
As an older Gordie Lachance (played by Richard Dreyfuss) types in the final sentence to his coming-of-age novel, Ben E. King's Stand By Me begins and the credits roll.


DONNIE DARKO
The viewer is taken on a journey of all the main characters while Gary Jules performs the Tears for Fears hit Mad World in this striking end sequence.

CLOSER
In this beautiful end sequence set to The Blower's Daughter by Damien Rice, Natalie Portman walks the streets of New York City to many rubbernecking males while, in London, Dan finally realizes the true identity of Alice Ayres.


I'm curious, what's your favorite? Are there any that I missed?