# Favorite John Hughes-directed movie **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 30, 2018, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-john-hughes-directed-movie/820537 "2018-08-30T19:40:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2018, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-john-hughes-directed-movie/820537/1 "2018-08-30T19:40:10Z")
John Hughes was a celebrated director, producer, and writer. Which of the following movies directed by Mr. Hughes would you say is your favorite? Sixteen Candles The Breakfast Club Weird Science Ferris Bueller’s Day Off Planes, Trains and Automobiles She’s Having A Baby Uncle Buck Curly Sue This is ONLY about the movies he DIRECTED. There’s a much longer list of films he produced and/or wrote, and maybe that will come later, but for now we’re only talking about these 8 films. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2018, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-john-hughes-directed-movie/820537/2 "2018-08-30T19:43:11Z")
I’ll go with FBDO. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2018, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-john-hughes-directed-movie/820537/3 "2018-08-30T19:43:15Z")
**Weird Science**. That’s the one film of his that I actually _like_. All the rest are “bleh” to “active loathing.” But **WS** is just fun. ---
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2018, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-john-hughes-directed-movie/820537/4 "2018-08-30T19:43:52Z")
For me it’s close between _Ferris Bueller_ and _Planes, Trains and Automobiles_, but if I had to choose only one, my gut says _Planes_. ---
**Author:** ![Quimby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/22d042/32.png) [@Quimby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quimby)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2018, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-john-hughes-directed-movie/820537/5 "2018-08-30T19:48:06Z")
Wow going into the thread I had an answer in my head and then read the choices and it was not as definite as I first thought. Lots of good movies. ---
**Author:** ![Tzigone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/839c29/32.png) [@Tzigone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tzigone)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2018, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-john-hughes-directed-movie/820537/6 "2018-08-30T19:49:14Z")
I was going to say _Some Kind of Wonderful_ but it turns out he wrote that one, but didn’t direct it. Of those listed, I guess _Sixteen Candles_. I liked it as a teen, but don’t really care for it anymore. The others I either saw and didn’t care for, or saw but don’t really remember, or never saw. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2018, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-john-hughes-directed-movie/820537/7 "2018-08-30T20:52:55Z")
For me it is a coin toss between The Breakfast Club & Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2018, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-john-hughes-directed-movie/820537/8 "2018-08-30T21:09:05Z")
> [@DCnDC](#): > > For me it’s close between _Ferris Bueller_ and _Planes, Trains and Automobiles_, but if I had to choose only one, my gut says _Planes_. Me, too, but I came down on the side of FBDO. I actively despise _Sixteen Candles_. ---
**Author:** ![Randolph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Randolph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Randolph)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2018, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-john-hughes-directed-movie/820537/9 "2018-08-30T21:14:41Z")
Sixteen Candles has aged _terribly_. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2018, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-john-hughes-directed-movie/820537/10 "2018-08-30T21:20:36Z")
Planes, Trains, & Automobiles is clearly the best for me. I just find the whole thing so funny. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2018, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-john-hughes-directed-movie/820537/11 "2018-08-30T21:37:00Z")
I voted for Ferris. But, I ran across _Uncle Buck_ last night, on AMC, which I hadn’t seen in 20 years. Unlike, say, _Sixteen Candles_ (which, I agree, has aged very poorly, even though I really enjoyed it back in the '80s), _Uncle Buck_ is still pretty funny, and the little kids are still adorable. ---
**Author:** ![IvoryTowerDenizen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ivorytowerdenizen/32/17937_2.png) [@IvoryTowerDenizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IvoryTowerDenizen)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2018, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-john-hughes-directed-movie/820537/12 "2018-08-30T21:37:23Z")
Breakfast Club. I was a senior in high school and it really hit home. My school want nearly that cliquey, but the general sense of alienation and putting up a false front rang true. ---
**Author:** ![Kron](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kron/32/12444_2.png) [@Kron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kron)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2018, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-john-hughes-directed-movie/820537/13 "2018-08-30T21:57:02Z")
I voted for “Couldn’t choose just one”, though my favorites are _Breakfast Club_, _Ferris Bueller_, and _Planes, Trains and Automobiles._ If I absolutely had to choose just one of those, _Planes, Trains and Automobiles_ would win. Love me some John Candy. ---
**Author:** ![Ponch8](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ponch8/32/9883_2.png) [@Ponch8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ponch8)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2018, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-john-hughes-directed-movie/820537/14 "2018-08-30T21:59:47Z")
Out of the ones I’ve seen, I picked _Ferris Bueller_ just a notch above _Uncle Buck_. _Weird Science_ is dead-ass last. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2018, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-john-hughes-directed-movie/820537/15 "2018-08-31T00:22:13Z")
See, I regard **FBDO** as a Crime Against Humanity, and know that Hughes will be spending the next few eons in Purgatory because of it. ---
**Author:** ![Patx2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/73ab20/32.png) [@Patx2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Patx2)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2018, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-john-hughes-directed-movie/820537/16 "2018-08-31T00:27:34Z")
I voted that I couldn’t pick just one. I love Breakfast Club and FBDO. The rest of the list isn’t too shabby, either. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2018, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-john-hughes-directed-movie/820537/17 "2018-08-31T00:40:12Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > **Weird Science**. That’s the one film of his that I actually _like_. All the rest are “bleh” to “active loathing.” But **WS** is just fun. Exactly. Good, goofy fun, with the added bonus of being the only John Hughes movie which had Chet in it. ---
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2018, 2:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-john-hughes-directed-movie/820537/18 "2018-08-31T02:51:34Z")
The Breakfast Club. As a distillation of a specific moment in time for high school it was almost photorealistic in my experience. Ferris Bueller, on the other hand, was a celebratory, non-realistic encouragement to be a dick. And Planes, Trains and Automobiles was just mean-spirited and unfunny, even when I was a kid. ---
**Author:** ![LVBoPeep](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/858c86/32.png) [@LVBoPeep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LVBoPeep)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2018, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-john-hughes-directed-movie/820537/19 "2018-08-31T03:46:36Z")
I had to pick Sixteen Candles because I think it was the first one I watched but it really is a tie between Ferris, Uncle Buck & Breakfast Club as well. Sixteen Candles has aged badly and is pretty questionable but I still love it. Uncle Buck is probably one of the funniest movies ever made. ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Lendervedder](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/happy_lendervedder/32/8488_2.png) [@Happy\_Lendervedder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Lendervedder)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2018, 5:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-john-hughes-directed-movie/820537/20 "2018-08-31T05:04:26Z")
> [@Jonathan\_Chance](#): > > The Breakfast Club. As a distillation of a specific moment in time for high school it was almost photorealistic in my experience. > > Ferris Bueller, on the other hand, was a celebratory, non-realistic encouragement to be a dick. > > And Planes, Trains and Automobiles was just mean-spirited and unfunny, even when I was a kid. The Breakfast Club, remarkable as it may have been at the time, is absolutely unwatchable for me now. Maybe it’s because the dialogue is so cheesy, maybe because it’s so genuinely high school. Either way, I can’t sit through that shit. Ferris Bueller, on the other hand, still captures my interest and makes me laugh out loud whenever it’s on, even if I don’t seek it out. But PT&A makes me laugh out loud and it’s something I still actually look forward to watching every Thanksgiving night. Uncle Buck made (makes) me laugh, but isn’t anything special, IMO. It falls into the category of Adventures in Babysitting, Teen Wolf, the Burbs, Funny Farm and The Great Outdoors. Just a basic 80s movie. The rest: I don’t think I’ve seen any of them from front to finish, but have definitely seen a majority of each of those movies on cable over the years, just picking up scenes here and there. None of them piqued my interest enough for anything more than that. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-john-hughes-directed-movie/820537.md?page=2)