With nothing else on TV, I will succomb to watching this cheezy flick. I always tend to come in the middle (just as well). OK, so I fail to understand:
So, why does Ferris’ sister, who hates him with a passion and risks life and limb to prove he’s a charlatan, save his worthless little neck in the end? Does she hate the school principal even more? 
“They’re coming to take me away ha-ha, ho-ho, hee-hee, to the funny farm where life is beautiful all the time… :)” - Napoleon IV
Jeanie (his sister) ends up having a little “day off” of her own, courtesy of the Chicago PD and Charlie Sheen. She then has a newfound respect for Ferris and his abilities to seize the day. But that doesn’t mean she can’t enjoy him getting in trouble for a couple of seconds at first.
Blessed are the Fundamentalists, for they shall inhibit the earth.
*
I gotcha now, but the “intellect” level there was too “deep” for me. Such fine points truly eluded me. I guess that one passing remark by the mother (near the end) about her speeding ticket, despite the chase scene, was to also help insinuate all this? That his ever-caring and generous sister finally pulled over for the cop simply to buy her brother some time?
Sure was clear to me!
“They’re coming to take me away ha-ha, ho-ho, hee-hee, to the funny farm where life is beautiful all the time… :)” - Napoleon IV
She didn’t pull over for the cop to buy her brother some time. She was still after him at that point.
She pulled over for the cop because she was being chased by a cop. Eventually the reality of running from the cops and what would likely happen to her overcame her desire to bust Ferris. That and the fact that her mother was screaming at her to stop.
Jeanie didn’t decide to save Ferris till the moment she held his fate in her hands. After she was sure Ferris realized she had him she went the other way and let him off the hook. Her ‘day-off’ coming through and teaching her something although you can be sure that she’d make Ferris realize he owed her one sometime on the future.
Flash back to the scene between Jeannie and the thug (played by Charlie Sheen). The thug helps Jeannie to realize that it’s her responsibility in life to make herself happy. She shouldn’t blame her unhappiness on the way Ferris lives his life.
So, in the end, (as previous posters have pointed out), she gets to have her own Ferris moment, and also to Stick It To The Man (Jeffrey Jones). Plus she get Ferris to realize he’s not the only one who knows how to have fun.
Totally too contrived for me! First, at what point does the audience realize she feels remorse for “Ferris” based upon the “lesson” Charlie Sheen’s character attempts to teach her? If that’s the case, it’s so disjointed! The scene with Sheen preceeds the scene where she races Ferris home. If the Sheen scene convinced her, why did she race Ferris home? You could say that Ferris didn’t know she’d had this change of heart, but the devilish look in her eye at the start of that scene where they cross paths doesn’t hint at her having a change of heart to “get him”. (I guess the audience is left to presume the sister had some great revelation while racing to beat Ferris home.)
Secondly, do you think “Ferris” had any clue why his sister chose to save his neck at the last second? Of course, why look a gift horse in the mouth, but still! Lastly,
as I recall the chase scene, we never actually see the sister pull over for the cop. We only here reference to the ticket once they arrive at home. I think the reference is made by the mother. In short, we never really see evidence of the sister having a change of heart…even if the Sheen scene made her stop and think for a second.
Sounds like I’m overanalyzing, but really the ending was just so lame, IMHO.
“They’re coming to take me away ha-ha, ho-ho, hee-hee, to the funny farm where life is beautiful all the time… :)” - Napoleon IV
I’ve never been able to figure out if Jennifer Grey’s character is supposed to be Ferris’s older or younger sister? Isn’t Jennifer Grey older than Matthew Broderick and she looked a lot older than him in the film.
I don’t believe in spending a lot of time in examining the meaning of John Hughes films.
It’s Bueller, BTW, not ‘Bewler.’
Give me immortality, or give me death!
I’m pretty sure that she refers to him as her “younger brother”. She also makes a motherly comment about him being sick during her showdown with the principal.
But…
He’s a senior and she’s still in high school. They’re either fraternal twins or he was conceived soon after she was born.
Anyone remember the principal (Rooney) being in the house that set off the whole Chicago PD thing with the 911 call to them? Then she found his wallet after he fled. Answer is twofold I beleive. In crunch time a sibling will stand up for the other, and she got a little revenge for going to the station.
I believe this might come into play a little more heavily than the “feels empathy with Ferris” theory. She has spent much of the afternoon in the police station and then gotten two speeding tickets and basically, since she has come to realize that it isn’t her problem that Ferris gets away with everything (thanks to Charlie Sheen), the reason for her “bad” day (minus Charlie) is none other than Edward Rooney himself. He’s the one who caused her to call 911 and get picked up for making a phony phone call. I think it’s more of a “get-back-at-the-man” and get revenge thing that she helps Ferris. Not to mention the fact that she’s still glowing from her “interlude” with the philosphical drug dude (Chuck.)
Those who are dancing look insane to those who cannot hear the music.
One-of-a-kind, custom-designed Wally sig available on request.
I love that movie and try to watch it whenever it comes on. 1 question:
Does the speedometer really goes backwards when you reverse the car?
Major Feelgud, no, and the fact that they thought it might is even dumber than the sister’s change of heart.
“You guys are outta your league…You’re looking at a woman who has her own harpoon!”
In regards to the odometer thing:
In alot of older cars this would work. I’ve done it. No, I wasn’t breaking the law. I just watched the odometer while backing up and saw that it too went backwards. They changed them so they wouldn’t. Not that it really matters. People who clock odometers do it by going under the dash, not by running the car in reverse. You know how long you’d have run a car to go back 20,000 miles in reverse (which is an even lower gear than first)?!
I for one welcome our new insect overlords… - K. Brockman
Don’t forget, right before Ferris runs in front of his mom and sister in the car, mom just told Jeannie that she was going to buy Ferris a car with the commission from the Vermont deal (which Jeannie blew by forcing the mom to come to the police station). Jeannie had already mused on the fact that she had a car and he didn’t earlier in the movie; maybe the realization that she’d screwed him out of a chance at his own set of wheels made her decide he’d be punished enough by that. Just a thought.
Live a Lush Life
Da Chef
I think it’s simpler than that. Jeannie obviously resents Ferris, I am sure Ferris knows this. That Second or so at the door before she sticks up for him it her moment. She won and has Ferris’s fate in her hands, and* he knows it!* The fact that she let him off is her revenge on Rooney. I think that the interlude with Charlie Sheen gave her the wisdom to accept the victory. And this is way to deep an analaysis of an enjoyable but shallow flick. But remember- You can never go too far. Almost used that as my sig.
Cecil said it. I believe it. That settles it.
Relax, I’m not as Dave as I look!- A Wallified sig!
I was in high school when the movie came out, and my understanding of Jeanie’s last-minute reprieve was this:
No one, no matter how evil, would wish another year of high school on their worst enemy.
As much as Jeannie (%Shawnaaaah%) hates Ferris for getting away with things; Rooney broke into her house, scared her half to death, and caused her to go to the police station for making a fake 911 call (so they thought).
So when she had the chance to screw one or the other, she chose the one who had been actively responsible for her pain, rather than the one who she was simply annoyed with.
And maybe, just maybe, Jeannie saw in Rooney the kind of over-zealous rule-enforcer that she had become…
Nah, she wanted Rooney to suffer real bad.
Besides, Ferris is a righteous dude.
It was before the back door scene that Jeannie got on Ferris’ side. She almost hits him with the car, then as Katie is getting her papers together, Jeannie scrunches her nose at Ferris in a kind of wink-wink way. Then she starts driving erratically to hopefully get pulled over and give Ferris time to get home.
Strangely, Katie says she got two tickets on the way home. I’ve never known a ticket to take less than 20 minutes. Katie and Jeannie shouldn’t’ve made it home by the end of the movie.
Aside question: did Abe Frohman just blow off lunch? 