Waxing Nostalgic....Here listed are the films directed by John Hughes, the famous directer who just passed away recently. I have seen all of these movies with the exception of the last four. Actually has anyone seen the last four?
Most of these movies came out when I was in high school and early college. At the time they were very popular. Friends could recite lines from each film all day long. We knew the soundtracks. We know all the actors and their character's names. I think everyone I know had a copy of The Breakfast Club or Planes, Trains & Automobiles at least. These movies became the image of my generation. Freaky hair, silly school stories, famous actors, and for the most part very memorable music.
Yet while I enjoyed many of these movies and still do, I could not help but wonder how popular these movies are, but are not considered good to movie buffs. They do not get awards, they do not get recognition as being the top films of all time. I just find it odd, that their popularity did not translate to movie awards or recognition. I'll agree you cannot put Ferris Bueller next to Saving Private Ryan; that's not what I'm saying. There just has to be some importance given to a movie(s) that does so well. Maybe? Maybe not.
I recall when these movies were coming out, they were touting the fact it was a John Hughes film when it was being promoted. Like it was supposed to be something great and we had to see it. I never once felt these were great movies compared to the works of DePalma, Scorcese or Tarantino etc. I'm not dogging Hughes for these films, or their quality. I enjoyed them, and I think pop culture is important; and for the most part this list contains the films of my youth. So it's at least important to me. No matter how good, silly, or bad they were in the eyes of the critics; they were my movies. I could easily list 100 movies better than any of these, but what would be the point?
This group of films by Hughes, these generic simple predictable stories mean something...to me anyways.
* National Lampoon's Vacation (1983)
* The Breakfast Club (1985)
* Pretty in Pink (1986; executive producer)
* Ferris Bueller's Day Off (1986)
* Some Kind of Wonderful (1987)
* Planes, Trains & Automobiles (1987)
* She's Having a Baby (1988)
* The Great Outdoors (1988)
* Uncle Buck (1989)
* National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation (1989)
* Home Alone (1990)
* Career Opportunities (1991)
* Only the Lonely (1991)
* Dutch (1991)
* Curly Sue (1991)
* Home Alone 2: Lost in New York (1992)
* Dennis the Menace (1993)
* Baby's Day Out (1994)
* Miracle on 34th Street (1994)
* 101 Dalmatians (1996)
* Flubber (1997)
When I think of these movies for some reason, I think of The Simple Minds song “Don’t You (Forget About Me).
