Hi there, I'm new here and I'm a big fan of John Hughes movies, I just wanted to know what everyone else who like his movies (especially the ones he directed) actually likes about his movies? For me it's essentially the dialogue and character relationships and his abillity to create humour without sacrificing honesty (even though this occasionally is cheesy). What do y'all think?
Cheers
Ben
Posted by Veronica Sawyer (Member # 2221) on :
I agree that the dialogue and character relationships are a big part of what makes his movies so great.
I also love the way he used music in his movies to elevate the story. I can't imagine watching the last scene in "Pretty in Pink" without hearing "If you Leave."
Posted by logan5 (Member # 1467) on :
quote:What do y'all think?
I think English people that say "y'all" must have picked up the habit from the internet.
Seriously; Hughes' great strength was always his characters. You can feel that he was trying to be honest at the same time as creating the standard 'wish fulfillment' of a Hollywood movie. His themes are all timeless, so you can enjoy the movies no matter what the fashions are within the films or in the society as a whole at the time you watch them. His time as an ad man and a comedy writer means he was able to both state things in a very succinct way, and wring humour out of situations that were teetering on the dramatic. Pathos - that was he's good at; and he manages to get it from all types of situations.
He also had great taste in music. His soundtracks are unsurpassed!
Posted by logan5 (Member # 1467) on :
quote:I can't imagine watching the last scene in "Pretty in Pink" without hearing "If you Leave."
Wasn't the original ending scored with 'Goddess of Love'? Thank heaven for the second ending!
Posted by bb81728 (Member # 8525) on :
haha I just typed y'all because it's quicker than you all. Thanks for the input so far, yeah the soundtracks are also important, especially so in certain scenes from Bueller.
Posted by P a u l (Member # 1022) on :
The thing with the characters is that you feel like John Hughes believed in them all. It wouldn't be enough that you believe in them, he had to as well.
That goes for main and minor characters alike. As evidence, I give you Carl the janitor from TBC, Laura Nelson in Some Kind Of Wonderful, Grace, the school secretary in Ferris, the guy with the toothpick at the bowling alley in Uncle Buck.... the list goes on. Each and every one of his charactters was deep and believable (with the possible exception of Blaine.... )
Posted by Chris the CandyFanMan (Member # 3197) on :
Indeed, and give credit to him for choosing as his protagonists people you wouldn't ordinarily expect to be such in a major Hollywood production. Ordinarily you wouldn't find any film centering sympathetically on a school bully, for instance, or a slobbish traveling shower curtain ring salesman (is that even a real profession?), or if they do they'll go straight for the cliches. But Hughes was smarter than that; he knew life isn't a cliche, that there are shades of gray, and he exploits that wonderfully to show the complexity of life. I also like his cumulative message: yes, evil does exist in the world, and life can be hard and tormented, but to him, most people are good deep down (and even those that are lost souls can do us credit by allowing us to find humor in their shortcomings), and they're more than capable of overcoming whatever differences of problems they have if they're willing to take good deep look around and inside. And that's a message we can all take home, rather than just some shallow cliched conclusion, for if five people with seemingly nothing in common can become essentially like family (if one's willing to be look at it a certain way), or if love can genuinely leap over class and popularity to flourish, or if a man can look at another man the world puts lower than he and see true wisdom and value, or a child can learn the greatest gift one can give is the gift of love and togetherness, what's to stop us in the real world from doing the same? It's something we can take and do ourselves, and like the residents of Shermer find either explicitly or implicitly when they do it themselves, we all become truly wealthy.
Posted by Veronica Sawyer (Member # 2221) on :
A great quote from Mr. Hughes....
"I happen to go for the simplest, most ordinary things. The extraordinary doesn’t interest me. I’m not interested in psychotics. I’m interested in the person you don’t expect to have a story. I like Mr. Everyman."
Posted by Jessie the Sunflower Goddess (Member # 1877) on :
"I happen to go for the simplest, most ordinary things. The extraordinary doesn’t interest me. I’m not interested in psychotics. I’m interested in the person you don’t expect to have a story. I like Mr. Everyman."
This is the best quote from a director that I have ever heard. That was why he nailed everything. He just got people. We need more like him. I miss movies of the 80s because everything nowadays is CGI with absolutely no storyline. Sometimes you just want to watch a story unfold the old fashion way. I want there to be more directors like Mr. Hughes. We will be feeling the effects of losing him for many generations.
Posted by logan5 (Member # 1467) on :
There can only be one innovator, anyone that comes later will always be some shade of imitator. Sadly, there can't be a 'new' John Hughes, purely because there was already a John Hughes.
We'll always have the great movies he left us with. All I ask of modern teen movies is that they don't make me want to put my head through a wall.
quote:I miss movies of the 80s because everything nowadays is CGI with absolutely no storyline
There are movies out there that aren't like that. Hollywood is the place that makes those monstrosities. Keep the faith Jess! We may not have the 80's anymore, but there will still be the occasional good movie to keep us going!
Posted by gordongecko (Member # 4685) on :
It's simple for me, it's the way his movies make me (and others) feel.
Posted by Jessie the Sunflower Goddess (Member # 1877) on :
Gordon I absolutely love your comment!!!!!!!!!!!!
Posted by Earth Angel (Member # 3301) on :
I think that teen movies these days are pretty much all based on the foundations that Hughes laid.
The stereotypical characters that were beautifully highlighted in the letter at the end of The Breakfast Club are ever present in teen series and films alike.
You can't watch a Hughes film and not feel uplifted.
And...........Ben, welcome to the Rewind Posted by Kash (Member # 297) on :
Aristotle once said "Youth is easily deceived, because it is quick to hope" and John Hughes celebrated both the feckless nature & vibrant promise of youth.
Like Ernest Hemmingway meets J.D. Salinger by way of Horatio Alger: Hughes's work, lazily labelled escapist or clichéd, always sought to convey youth's struggle to reconcile reality with dreams, despair with hope and alienation with camaraderie.
Hughes took a seemingly mundane premise and turned it on it's head, and by doing so let his characters transcend the boundaires of genere. He made them seem like real people and that's why audiences still relate to those films...oh, and he wrote some good jokes too.
Posted by bb81728 (Member # 8525) on :
Thanks Earth Angel, and thanks for all of your comments, it's been really interesting to see what people have to say. I especially agree with
"The thing with the characters is that you feel like John Hughes believed in them all. It wouldn't be enough that you believe in them, he had to as well."
I think that this is spot on, personally.
Posted by gordongecko (Member # 4685) on :
quote:Originally posted by Jessie the Sunflower Goddess: Gordon I absolutely love your comment!!!!!!!!!!!!
Well thank you Jessie. I feel like that's what a lot of people try to say in many more words. You just get a feeling from his movies. It's pretty amazing.
Posted by logan5 (Member # 1467) on :
quote:Originally posted by gordongecko: Originally posted by Jessie the Sunflower Goddess: Gordon I absolutely love your comment!!!!!!!!!!!! Well thank you Jessie. I feel like that's what a lot of people try to say in many more words. You just get a feeling from his movies. It's pretty amazing.
Sorry Gord, Jessie may love your comment - and it does contain a nice sentiment - but for me it was lacking two little things: 1) *what* it is Hughes movies make you feel, 2) *why* you think they make you feel that way.
Come on Gordo, let's see the man behind the six-pack, behind the gleaming white teeth, give a little love; what is it about the John Hughes movies in particular you like, and why?
Posted by P a u l (Member # 1022) on :
quote:Originally posted by Kash: Aristotle once said "Youth is easily deceived, because it is quick to hope" and John Hughes celebrated both the feckless nature & vibrant promise of youth.
Like Ernest Hemmingway meets J.D. Salinger by way of Horatio Alger: Hughes's work, lazily labelled escapist or clichéd, always sought to convey youth's struggle to reconcile reality with dreams, despair with hope and alienation with camaraderie.
Hughes took a seemingly mundane premise and turned it on it's head, and by doing so let his characters transcend the boundaires of genere. He made them seem like real people and that's why audiences still relate to those films...oh, and he wrote some good jokes too.
Sorry, but any post on an 80s movie forum that references Aristotle, Ernest Hemmingway, J.D. Salinger and Horatio Alger needs quoting.... Posted by Muffy Tepperman (Member # 1551) on :
Originally posted by P a u l:
Originally posted by Kash: Aristotle once said "Youth is easily deceived, because it is quick to hope" and John Hughes celebrated both the feckless nature & vibrant promise of youth.
Like Ernest Hemmingway meets J.D. Salinger by way of Horatio Alger: Hughes's work, lazily labelled escapist or clichéd, always sought to convey youth's struggle to reconcile reality with dreams, despair with hope and alienation with camaraderie.
Hughes took a seemingly mundane premise and turned it on it's head, and by doing so let his characters transcend the boundaires of genere. He made them seem like real people and that's why audiences still relate to those films...oh, and he wrote some good jokes too. **************************** Sorry, but any post on an 80s movie forum that references Aristotle, Ernest Hemmingway, J.D. Salinger and Horatio Alger needs quoting....
Haha love it! leave it to Kash
[ 20. January 2010, 15:33: Message edited by: P a u l ]
Posted by gordongecko (Member # 4685) on :
Logan5,
Thanks for the call out Here it goes....
Ok so many of his films have that replayability to them. You can watch them over and over and still be as in to the movie as the first time you watched them. I think he did such a great job of giving you someone in the movie to relate to so it made you fall in love with a character and intern feel what they were going through. He took you on a roller coaster ride through his films. Sometimes feeling so much anxiety that you wanted to turn it off, only to come back up to the top and intern feel so happy for them. And when you relate to the character it feels like it's you in that movie and in the end you are left feeling great. I watch so many of his films over and over again. It's like stepping in to a time machine and going back to high school, or childhood. So for two hours of your life there are no worries from the outside world, it's you in that movie and that's it. Of course then you have to worry if the popular guy or girl in school likes you (which can actually be a matter of life or death )
So I guess in so many words that's what his films make me feel. It's hard to describe and my writing does not do his films justice but hopefully you can get a small idea of what I mean.
Gordon Gecko
Posted by logan5 (Member # 1467) on :
quote:Haha love it! leave it to Kash [Smile]
[ 20. January 2010, 15:33: Message edited by: P a u l ]
Paul! You edited Muffster's post! Is she swearing and being abusive again?!
quote:So I guess in so many words that's what his films make me feel. It's hard to describe and my writing does not do his films justice but hopefully you can get a small idea of what I mean.
Your writing does just fine. You totally got across how his films make you feel. I think we can all relate.
Hughes films were among the first to show teenagers as they would see themselves, and not as adults saw them. They have characters and not just caricatures.
There's a lot to be said for verisimilitude in movies. If you can really believe/relate to something it makes it that much stronger. Things like the ending of 'Last American Virgin', or the scene with Courtney Gains and Patrick Dempsey from 'Can't Buy Me Love' ("You sh*t on my house!") give their respective movies extra weight.
Hughes films were full of scenes like that, but because he was such a good writer he could smooth them in without the scenes jarring. Unlike say, LAV, which made you feel like you'd been completely blindsided (still great, though!)
Who can watch the scene in PIP where Duckie realises that Andie is going on a date with Blaine and not relate? We've all been there. Well, usually I'm in Blaine's position and I'm watching someone else's heart get smashed... ok, I'm lying. You get the point.
Posted by P a u l (Member # 1022) on :
quote:Originally posted by logan5: Paul! You edited Muffster's post! Is she swearing and being abusive again?!
No - just cleaning up all the crappy html and UBB code that seens to still appear whenever any multi-quote posts are made. We're still trying to resolve this, by the way....
Posted by logan5 (Member # 1467) on :
You're like a code surgeon, delicately slicing the infected code out of quoted text.
I just hack it out with a rusty razorblade when I see it.
Posted by Bernie_Lomax (Member # 8571) on :
JOHN HUGHES IS THE BEST - THE 80'S WOULD NOT HAVE BEEN THE SAME WITHOUT HIS MOVIES. I CANT EVEN COMPREHEND HOW MANY TIMES I HAVE SEEN FERRIS BUELLER'S DAY OFF. THE BREAKFAST CLUB, PLANES TRAINS AND AUTOMOBILES, VACATION - THE LIST GOES ON. I HAVE SPENT SO MUCH TIME WATCHING JOHN HUGHES MOVIES IT IS !@#$%N RIDICULOUS.
I WOULD SAY THE BEST CHARACTER HE CREATED WAS JOHN BENDER - VERNON WAS PRETTY GOOD TOO.
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