Apparant heart attack. He was 59.
Breaking news on MSNBC.com right now.
Whaaaaaaaa? Whoa. Damn. His movies were such a big part of my childhood/teenagerdom. Damn…
That’s a shocker. Fifty-nine is very young to have his body of work under one’s belt, and Breakfast Club alone pretty much IS the 1980s high school experience to millions of Gen X’ers.
Wow. That is quite a shocker.
Was he, by any chance…Home Alone? :d&r:
I think he was on Vacation.
In New York?
Woosh?
Variety has this to say:
Not to disparage the guy, but I think it’s a little odd to label his films “culturally significant.” It just seems a strange thing to say about such a populist artist. When I think of Pretty In PInk, I think “teen film”, “goofball teen comedy”, or even “80s pop culture landmark” but…“culturally significant”?
Has there been any reports from the Dacron Republican-Democrat about his death?
I never really cared for his films, but I fully and totally understand his and his movies significance.
RIP buddy, you meant a lot of things, to a lot of people.
Hughes set the standard for goofball teen comedies. Kind of a low bar to set, but.
Besides, I would actually characterize Ferris Bueller as culturally significant. Any movie that can implant a quote into mainstream pop culture qualifies IMO. (“Bueller? Bueller?”)
His movies were definitely culturally significant. Those were *the * movies of that era.
John Hughes, we won’t forget about you.
I thought that was a ref to yet another John Hughes (written) movie, Home Alone 2: Lost in New York.
Ah…Well, he did die in NYC which is why I suspected the whoosh. Carry on.
Sixteen Candles was good.
“Well, uh, let’s see, he was wearing a red argyle sweater, and tan trousers, and red shoes… NO, he’s not retarded.”
Even as a teen I found Hughes’ whole “teens good, adults bad” mindset kind of obnoxious. Oh well. I guess now he won’t be kept awake by the thought of “these kids” taking care of him in his old age…
Not to mention “rich people bad, poor people good.” He had a fairly typical Baby Boomer attitude: wealth is a pie, there’s only so much to go around, and if Peter has so much, he’s personally depriving Paul. Wonder how he reconciled his own wealth…
Hell yeah! I still watch The Breakfast Club on an annual basis.
And tonight I’ll be watching Planes, Trains & Automobiles, as tribute.
R.I.P., John – we Gen X’ers will always remember you.
“220, 221, whatever it takes.”
RIP John
Edit:
I didn’t realize how small his body of work as a director actually is:
Curly Sue (1991)
Uncle Buck (1989)
She’s Having a Baby (1988)
Planes, Trains & Automobiles (1987)
Ferris Bueller’s Day Off (1986)
Weird Science (1985)
The Breakfast Club (1985)
Sixteen Candles (1984)
That’s it.
I much preferred the stories he wrote for the National Lampoon to his movies. They were by far funnier and wilder and I’m really sad that they don’t seem to be collected anywhere (I can’t even find a list of titles, other than “Vacation '58,” “My Penis,” and “My Vagina.”). He was one of the Lampoon’s best writers (and that says a lot).
His films were never as outrageous as the stories, and certainly not as bawdy.