Nothing epitomized the human and suburban experience better than the films of director John Hughes in mid-80s. Hughes, 59, passed away yesterday of a heart attack while visiting family in New York City.
The writer/director had been largely inactive since the late '90s, only occasionally producing the random feature or receiving a story credit. The last movie he directed was 1991's Curly Sue.
To read Hughes' filmography is to take a stroll through the psyche of the American teenager in the "Me" decade. The characters in The Breakfast Club, Ferris Bueller's Day Off, Sixteen Candles and Weird Science were flawed yet golden young people who we could all relate to, whether brains, athletes, basket cases, princesses, criminals or all of the above.
Popular music played a ridicously intricate role in all of Hughes' films. Each song he used was masterfully chosen for its maximum emotional leverage. Bands like Simple Minds, the Thompson Twins, Yello, Simply Red and the enigmatic Oingo Boingo are all inexorably linked to the movies they were used in, and can owe a great deal of their subsequent success to their inclusion in Hughes' flicks.
"Ladies and gentlemen, you are such a wonderful crowd, we'd like to play a little tune for you. It's one of my personal favorites and I'd like to dedicate it to a young man who doesn't think he's seen anything good today - Cameron Frye, this one's for you."
Well shake it up baby...
And this is just funny no matter what damn month it is...
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