For someone whose entire career only lasted about 14 years, John Hughes left an aggressive filmography behind. I've written over 200 of these VHS of the Week entries over the last 5 years and I want to say Hughes has been mentioned in about half of them! (Actual count: 4 reviews). Between directing, writing, and producing, dude was absolutely omnipresent in the 1980’s. He was the Robert Pollard of 80’s flicks! And if you understand that reference please take out your phone and Venmo yourself $10. Legend had it that Hughes could hammer out original screenplays in under two weeks or some crazy bullshit. Nowhere was this hyper productivity on more vivid display than between the years of 1986-1987....where the following things happened: first, Hughes directed and released both Ferris Bueller’s Day Off and Planes Trains and Automobiles, the latter of which is the greatest film ever made. Second: Pretty in Pink, a film that he wrote but did not direct, was released in January of 1986. Those of y’all who are down with the Pink surely know that the flick’s ending, where our heroine Andie (Molly Ringwald) rejects her long-suffering, hard-crushing BFF Duckie (Jon Cryer) in favor of the loathsome preppie Blane (Andy McCarthy), is one of the most divisive endings in film history. Growing up, I was firmly on Team Duckie. When I was in my early teens, I explained my PIP-related allegiances to my late Aunt Lorie and got the following response: “Dude, fuck Duckie. Why would she want to be with a guy who is annoying as shit?? Besides–Andrew McCarthy is HOT, dude!” Really made me think! You know who else was on team Ducky? John Hughes! His original ending, in which Andie and Duckie end up together, tested in the shitter so Paramount gently forced him to reshoot an alternate ending where Andie ends up with the star of Weekend and Bernie’s 1 & 2. Pretty in Pink opened to solid reviews, did brisk business at the box office, and is widely recognized as a quintessential 1980’s teen comedy. All’s well that ends well, eh? Not if your name is/was John Hughes. According to Wikipedia (where all of the information in this paragraph was lifted from wholesale), Hughes was so cheesed off that he had to change the ending of Pretty in Pink, he decided to rewrite the film, swapping around gender roles, just to give himself the ending he originally wanted. That’s right–John Hughes was so prolific, and has such immense clout in the mid 80’s, that he wrote an entirely new movie as a giant fuck you to his OWN MOVIE, hired the SAME GUY to direct it (Howie Deutch), and had it in theaters 13 months after Pretty in Pink.
Some Kind of Wonderful
Some Kind of Wonderful
Some Kind of Wonderful
For someone whose entire career only lasted about 14 years, John Hughes left an aggressive filmography behind. I've written over 200 of these VHS of the Week entries over the last 5 years and I want to say Hughes has been mentioned in about half of them! (Actual count: 4 reviews). Between directing, writing, and producing, dude was absolutely omnipresent in the 1980’s. He was the Robert Pollard of 80’s flicks! And if you understand that reference please take out your phone and Venmo yourself $10. Legend had it that Hughes could hammer out original screenplays in under two weeks or some crazy bullshit. Nowhere was this hyper productivity on more vivid display than between the years of 1986-1987....where the following things happened: first, Hughes directed and released both Ferris Bueller’s Day Off and Planes Trains and Automobiles, the latter of which is the greatest film ever made. Second: Pretty in Pink, a film that he wrote but did not direct, was released in January of 1986. Those of y’all who are down with the Pink surely know that the flick’s ending, where our heroine Andie (Molly Ringwald) rejects her long-suffering, hard-crushing BFF Duckie (Jon Cryer) in favor of the loathsome preppie Blane (Andy McCarthy), is one of the most divisive endings in film history. Growing up, I was firmly on Team Duckie. When I was in my early teens, I explained my PIP-related allegiances to my late Aunt Lorie and got the following response: “Dude, fuck Duckie. Why would she want to be with a guy who is annoying as shit?? Besides–Andrew McCarthy is HOT, dude!” Really made me think! You know who else was on team Ducky? John Hughes! His original ending, in which Andie and Duckie end up together, tested in the shitter so Paramount gently forced him to reshoot an alternate ending where Andie ends up with the star of Weekend and Bernie’s 1 & 2. Pretty in Pink opened to solid reviews, did brisk business at the box office, and is widely recognized as a quintessential 1980’s teen comedy. All’s well that ends well, eh? Not if your name is/was John Hughes. According to Wikipedia (where all of the information in this paragraph was lifted from wholesale), Hughes was so cheesed off that he had to change the ending of Pretty in Pink, he decided to rewrite the film, swapping around gender roles, just to give himself the ending he originally wanted. That’s right–John Hughes was so prolific, and has such immense clout in the mid 80’s, that he wrote an entirely new movie as a giant fuck you to his OWN MOVIE, hired the SAME GUY to direct it (Howie Deutch), and had it in theaters 13 months after Pretty in Pink.