# So, I just watched Ferris Bueller's Day Off for the first time. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 29, 2014, 3:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-i-just-watched-ferris-buellers-day-off-for-the-first-time/708407 "2014-12-29T03:57:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2014, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-i-just-watched-ferris-buellers-day-off-for-the-first-time/708407/41 "2014-12-30T01:00:25Z")
> [@Octarine](#): > > I loved both Ferris Bueller’s Day Off and The Catcher in the Rye, but they’re enormously different works. The only thing they have in common is a rather self-centered teenage protagonist who takes a trip to a major US city. Holden Caulfield is a lost 16-year-old struggling with death and terrified of growing up. He’s probably clinically depressed, and spends the whole book trying to find some shred of meaning in life while simultaneously despising and savoring everyone and everything around him. It’s interesting, because I do kind of link these two works together, as they do seem to be equally polarizing, and it _seems_ to me that folks that dislike one tend to dislike the other because of the self-centered protagonist. I personally love both works, even though (and probably a bit because) their protagonists are quite different than me. (I tend to prefer stories where the protagonist is quite unlike me.) ---
**Author:** ![Superdude](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/superdude/32/13450_2.png) [@Superdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superdude)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2014, 1:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-i-just-watched-ferris-buellers-day-off-for-the-first-time/708407/42 "2014-12-30T13:12:48Z")
> [@The\_Second\_Stone](#): > > I liked the movie, but don’t agree with the rule breaking, and have always viewed it as a fantasy. And I agree with Matthew Broderick that Ferris is a bad person. But not if you view it as Ferris was really sick and it’s all a dream and only the Principal Rooney part is real. There’s a [theory](http://fantheories.wikia.com/wiki/Ferris_Bueller%27s_Day_Off) that Ferris didn’t exist at all. > [@cmyk](#): > > _oooooo ow ow! Chick chicka chickaa!_ I loved the reference in [It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hg4BBUKJdok). ---
**Author:** ![seal\_cleaner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e274bd/32.png) [@seal\_cleaner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/seal_cleaner)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2014, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-i-just-watched-ferris-buellers-day-off-for-the-first-time/708407/43 "2014-12-30T16:06:04Z")
I read a tongue-in-cheek review that posited that Bueller was actually Cameron, making the movie a madcap Fight Club. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2014, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-i-just-watched-ferris-buellers-day-off-for-the-first-time/708407/44 "2014-12-30T16:19:52Z")
> [@seal\_cleaner](#): > > I read a tongue-in-cheek review that posited that Bueller was actually Cameron, making the movie a madcap Fight Club. I’ve heard the idea that it’s all Cameron’s fantasy a bunch of times. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2014, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-i-just-watched-ferris-buellers-day-off-for-the-first-time/708407/45 "2014-12-30T17:19:34Z")
I’m torn. I like Ferris the movie, I want to be Ferris the person. But Ferris is a total jerk to Cameron (and the Ferrari!). Nothing will ever happen to Ferris because of anything that happened that day, yet you know Cameron will get, at a minimum, completely disowned by his father. They still won’t be speaking in 20 years. Cameron will be a slacker, and Ferris will be a senator. Of course, Cameron should grow a spine, but that’s just blaming the victim. ---
**Author:** ![Justin\_Bailey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justin_bailey/32/8792_2.png) [@Justin\_Bailey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Bailey)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2014, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-i-just-watched-ferris-buellers-day-off-for-the-first-time/708407/46 "2014-12-30T17:27:31Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > I’ve heard the idea that it’s all Cameron’s fantasy a bunch of times. It’s cute, but it doesn’t make ANY sense. Why would Cameron fantasize about the imaginary parents and sister and dog and prostitute of his imaginary friend? ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2014, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-i-just-watched-ferris-buellers-day-off-for-the-first-time/708407/47 "2014-12-30T17:40:32Z")
> [@Justin\_Bailey](#): > > It’s cute, but it doesn’t make ANY sense. Why would Cameron fantasize about the imaginary parents and sister and dog and prostitute of his imaginary friend? Cuz he doesn’t have those things. He wants to be cool like Ferris. He wants a nice family like Ferris has. He’d even like a pain in the butt sister who’s jealous of him. ---
**Author:** ![Sir\_T-Cups](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ed655f/32.png) [@Sir\_T-Cups](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sir_T-Cups)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2014, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-i-just-watched-ferris-buellers-day-off-for-the-first-time/708407/48 "2014-12-30T17:44:57Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > If you thought that the movie was trying to be all deep and meaningful, then I can see how you’d dislike it, since it wasn’t deep and meaningful at all. I’m baffled, though, at what led you to think it was trying to be. The only “message” I got was “Bueller likes having fun and goofing off, and is mostly pretty good at it”. > [@pulykamell](#): > > I was going to comment on that, too. It’s just a fun John Hughes teenage movie. I’ve never heard anyone argue that it was supposed to be deep and meaningful, nor does the movie feel like it’s trying to be deep and meaningful. It’s a fun, teenaged romp, a wish-fulfillment comedy. It seemed all deep and meaningful because of the way Ferris talked to the camera. He’s obviously self-centered, but he talks to the camera like he’s a smug know-it-all and feels he has to impart his wisdom on us. The stop and smell the roses line, the feeling that he has to protect Cam and analyses him and all. It’s not even like he’s a petulant kid who wants to play hooky from school, he’s embracing life! YOLO! You should too!! ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2014, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-i-just-watched-ferris-buellers-day-off-for-the-first-time/708407/49 "2014-12-30T17:54:01Z")
I really can’t remember - did the odometer thing not work in the movie, as in not making the odo roll backwards, or are people saying it “didn’t work” because of the catastrophe that followed? ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2014, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-i-just-watched-ferris-buellers-day-off-for-the-first-time/708407/50 "2014-12-30T18:02:18Z")
> [@Amateur\_Barbarian](#): > > I really can’t remember - did the odometer thing not work in the movie, as in not making the odo roll backwards, or are people saying it “didn’t work” because of the catastrophe that followed? It didn’t work in the movie. Here’s the sequence from the script: > [@](#): > > ``` > CAMERON > Hey Ferris! > > Ferris looks up. > > FERRIS > Yeah? > > CAMERON > The miles aren't coming off, going > in reverse. > > FERRIS > I thought that might be a problem. > We have to open the odometer, roll it back by hand. > > ``` > > Cameron shakes his head. > > ``` > CAMERON > No, forget it. > > ``` That’s when Cameron launches into his “stand up to his dad” speech that precedes the Ferrari flying out the back of the garage. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2014, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-i-just-watched-ferris-buellers-day-off-for-the-first-time/708407/51 "2014-12-30T18:04:44Z")
> [@Amateur\_Barbarian](#): > > I really can’t remember - did the odometer thing not work in the movie, as in not making the odo roll backwards, or are people saying it “didn’t work” because of the catastrophe that followed? I’m pretty sure everyone here is saying the odometer thing didn’t work in the movie, in the sense that running the car in reverse didn’t roll the odometer backwards. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2014, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-i-just-watched-ferris-buellers-day-off-for-the-first-time/708407/52 "2014-12-30T18:06:38Z")
[Here’s the tail end of the above-quoted section](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CpWkRaYZK8k), where he says “We’ll just have to crack open the odometer, roll it back by hand” ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2014, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-i-just-watched-ferris-buellers-day-off-for-the-first-time/708407/53 "2014-12-30T18:13:31Z")
> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > I’m torn. I like Ferris the movie, I want to be Ferris the person. > > But Ferris is a total jerk to Cameron (and the Ferrari!). Nothing will ever happen to Ferris because of anything that happened that day, yet you know Cameron will get, at a minimum, completely disowned by his father. They still won’t be speaking in 20 years. Cameron will be a slacker, and Ferris will be a senator. > > Of course, Cameron should grow a spine, but that’s just blaming the victim. No, he becomes known as the [starship captain who loses James T. Kirk on a shakedown cruise.](http://img4.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20070201045145/stexpanded/images/f/f0/JohnHarriman2293.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2014, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-i-just-watched-ferris-buellers-day-off-for-the-first-time/708407/54 "2014-12-30T18:26:42Z")
> [@cochrane](#): > > No, he becomes known as the [starship captain who loses James T. Kirk on a shakedown cruise.](http://img4.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20070201045145/stexpanded/images/f/f0/JohnHarriman2293.jpg) Oh man, I hate that scene. That whole scene was meant, I’m sure, to make Kirk look like a bestest starship captain evah, and Capt Cameron to be a waste of a good chair, but really: everything Kirk suggests is seen as it wouldn’t work/isn’t installed/etc. Why do you think Kirk is the one to suggest them? Because the current, actually NOT incompetent captain of the Enterprise, KNOWS what is and isn’t working/installed. He’s not going to waste breath on non-starters. If Kirk would have just STFU and let the actual crew solve the problem, maybe the crises could have been averted AND Kirk not blown out into the nexus. It’s a case of what caused the Tenerif plane disaster. Everyone was deferring to the senior officer, who was missing critical information, rather than practicing proper crisis management, as in United 232. ---
**Author:** ![dream-scraper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f9ae1b/32.png) [@dream-scraper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dream-scraper)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2014, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-i-just-watched-ferris-buellers-day-off-for-the-first-time/708407/55 "2014-12-30T18:42:12Z")
I never looked at valet parking the same way again after seeing the movie… ---
**Author:** ![scabpicker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scabpicker/32/8268_2.png) [@scabpicker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scabpicker)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2014, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-i-just-watched-ferris-buellers-day-off-for-the-first-time/708407/56 "2014-12-30T18:53:47Z")
> [@dream-scraper](#): > > I never looked at valet parking the same way again after seeing the movie… My car’s not a Ferrari, but I didn’t valet my car in Chicago because of this movie. Yes, it’s unrealistic, but some people love dumb machines. As far as the message of the move: I’ve always felt that it was a funny commentary on how far one could get on confidence, and paying the price for it getting out of hand. Yep, Ferris doesn’t end up paying the price, Cam does. Life isn’t neat in its judgment - same thing with Ferris’ sister and the car. Cameron should have shown up in his beater and had Ferris deal with picking his GF up in his POS from the start. He didn’t, and he took his father’s (even then) priceless car out. He himself made the problem something that’s going to take 20 years to mend. Until the car ran out the back of the garage, he just had to account for an early rebuild of the engine and transmission. Now, I’m gonna tell you all the secrets this gum wrapper has to offer… ---
**Author:** ![Dale\_Sams](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/779978/32.png) [@Dale\_Sams](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dale_Sams)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2014, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-i-just-watched-ferris-buellers-day-off-for-the-first-time/708407/57 "2014-12-30T19:04:14Z")
> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > Oh man, I hate that scene. > > That whole scene was meant, I’m sure, to make Kirk look like a bestest starship captain evah, and Capt Cameron to be a waste of a good chair, but really: > > everything Kirk suggests is seen as it wouldn’t work/isn’t installed/etc. Why do you think Kirk is the one to suggest them? Because the current, actually NOT incompetent captain of the Enterprise, KNOWS what is and isn’t working/installed. He’s not going to waste breath on non-starters. If Kirk would have just STFU and let the actual crew solve the problem, maybe the crises could have been averted AND Kirk not blown out into the nexus. > > It’s a case of what caused the Tenerif plane disaster. Everyone was deferring to the senior officer, who was missing critical information, rather than practicing proper crisis management, as in United 232. Kirk DOES shut-up and Captain Cameron suggests something nonsensical, you see Kirk shake his head before the suggestion is dismissed. Finally, Scotty channels his inner technobabble and saves the day The real problem is that Starfleet CONTINUES to man Sector 001 with understaffed, unoperational starships. Giant cloud monster? Send out the Admiral who doesn’t know his ships specs and the ship that hasn’t had a full shakedown. The creator of the galaxy’s most dangerous weapon is in trouble? Send out the ship manned by cadets. Enterprise hijacked by distraught crew? Don’t send anyone after your new ship broke down. Whale probe? Clear the sector! Fuck Earth! You guys really don’t long range missile tech? ---
**Author:** ![Quimby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/22d042/32.png) [@Quimby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quimby)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2014, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-i-just-watched-ferris-buellers-day-off-for-the-first-time/708407/58 "2014-12-30T20:09:14Z")
> [@cochrane](#): > > No, he becomes known as the [starship captain who loses James T. Kirk on a shakedown cruise.](http://img4.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20070201045145/stexpanded/images/f/f0/JohnHarriman2293.jpg) There are a couple of good Trek novels set on the Enterprise B that rehabilitate his character nicely. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2014, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-i-just-watched-ferris-buellers-day-off-for-the-first-time/708407/59 "2014-12-30T22:23:16Z")
> [@Amateur\_Barbarian](#): > > A 1940s Jag, maybe. Any prewar car, very possibly. A 1970s major maker? I’m going to need an authoritative cite to counter 40+ years of experience and automotive electronics design that lapped into early digital speedo conversions using the mechanical drive system. The Ferrari in this insipid movie was a 1961 model, by the way. ---
**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2014, 9:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-i-just-watched-ferris-buellers-day-off-for-the-first-time/708407/60 "2014-12-31T09:55:06Z")
> [@scabpicker](#): > > My car’s not a Ferrari, but I didn’t valet my car in Chicago because of this movie. Yes, it’s unrealistic, but some people love dumb machines. My dad didn’t valet his car because of Chicago. And that was long before the movie. Anyway, I agree with > [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > I’m torn. I like Ferris the movie, I want to be Ferris the person. > > But Ferris is a total jerk to Cameron (and the Ferrari!). Nothing will ever happen to Ferris because of anything that happened that day, yet you know Cameron will get, at a minimum, completely disowned by his father. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-i-just-watched-ferris-buellers-day-off-for-the-first-time/708407.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-i-just-watched-ferris-buellers-day-off-for-the-first-time/708407.md?page=4)