Whatever Happened To John Hughes?

JOHN HUGHES hasn't set foot in Hollywood for years, but his influence has never been more potent. The king of 1980s comedy, Hughes now qualifies as something of a Howard Hughes-style recluse -- he doesn't have an agent, doesn't give interviews and lives far away, somewhere in Chicago's sprawling North Shore suburbs where most of his films were set.

But he has an entire generation of fans in the industry who grew up infatuated with his films, especially a string of soulful mid-1980s teen comedies that helped capture the eternal drama of modern teenage existence. They include "Sixteen Candles," "Pretty in Pink," "Ferris Bueller's Day Off" and "The Breakfast Club," which no less an authority than Courtney Love once called "the defining moment of the alternative generation." Any number of successful actors and filmmakers, from Judd Apatow and Kevin Smith to Vince Vaughn, Ben Stiller and Wes Anderson, are fans, having soaked up Hughes' keen observational humor, love of mischief and shrewd dissection of social hierarchies.

"John Hughes wrote some of the great outsider characters of all time," says Apatow, the writer-director-producer whose new film, "Drillbit Taylor," is loosely based on an old Hughes story idea. "It's pretty ridiculous to hear people talk about the movies we've been doing, with outrageous humor and sweetness all combined, as if they were an original idea. I mean, it was all there first in John Hughes' films. Whether it's 'Freaks and Geeks' or 'Superbad,' the whole idea of having outsiders as the lead characters, that all started with Hughes."

Hollywood is full of older masters who've been mentors to younger acolytes. But Hughes, 58, is the only one who's disappeared without a trace; he quit directing in 1991, moved back to Chicago in 1995 and has basically stayed out of sight ever since.

Keep reading

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See where Hughes' lead characters from his 80s' movies are now.

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Read reviews of "Drillbit Taylor" and about Owen Wilson's failure to do publicity

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Read how it underperformed at the box office

Comments

[rmetz74]

It's true, John Hughes wasn't Fellini... But he sure knew how to spek to a generation of adolescents in a way few people have before or since. He (and Jim Henson) had a lot to do with my becoming an actor. I'm so glad he's still getting the recognition he deserves.

[marko77]

My two favorite teen films: Fast Times at Ridgemont High and American Graffiti. I like parts of Ferris B. but that's about it for Hughes.

[WTEffington]

Goonies!

[VicksieDo]

I always loved his films, and I was just thinking about him, wondering where he was now...
this site is getting so hateful anymore...­sigh

[eanderso]

The line quoted from "Planes, Trains & Automobiles" is the best response to all of the Hughes haters who lined up to comment on this article (who knows why?):

"I could be a cold-hearted cynic like you, but I don't like to hurt people's feelings. [And] I'm not changing. I like me. My wife likes me. My customers like me. Because I'm the real article."

[naturallight]

It seems like most brilliant people only have a few bullets in their gun. Maybe he quit while he was ahead? "Sometimes quitting while you are ahead, is not the same as quitting."

How many one hit wonder bands CD's did you buy to find out the other 8 songs on the album were complete crap.

[jungpatawan]

That's why, in my day, we had 45 RPM records, where at most you only got a lame B-side. If only there were a way today to buy just the song you want....

Not-so-Jung Patawan

[alguien]

there is a way. it's called downloading.

[ImpudentSnob]

The scene of Anthony Michael Hall imitating an African American in WEIRD SCIENCE is gross, insulting, and typical of '80s movies. Thank God Spike Lee came along to give African American characters more humanity and complexity during the decade.

[gra8whit]

Hughes really matched the political zeitgeist of the 80's - Ronald Reagan. Just as Reagan was good at policy (and image) from the White American viewpoint, Hughes was great at telling the adolescent experience from the White American teenager perspective. The movies were all entertaining (except Curly Sue) but I also understood that I was the true outsider, like all occasional minority characters in his movies (hello, Long Duc Dong!). I could tell that, like Ronald Reagan, Hughes had no knowledge of the lives of people of color and was generally incurious of such people outside of the story line purpose to produce a cheap laugh.

[asere]

Who cares where John Hughes is !
What I want to know is when the new Fellinis, Bergmans, Bunuels, Coppolas,etc. will be coming along.
Cinema today is an insult to all the great masters of the industry.

[JaneaneTheAcerbicGoblin]

Amen, sister (or brother!).

There are some great filmmakers working today, like Bela Tarr (Hungary), Alexander Sokurov (Russia), Manoel de Oliveira (Portugal), Clint Eastwood, Jacques Rivette (French), Catherine Breillat (French), so it isn't completely hopeless. But I understand your point. When the ones you mentioned were alive, it was like a great film every year from them. In 1960, The Virgin Spring, La Dolce Vita, and Viridiana were all released (or close enough together). Antonioni's L'avventura was released that year as well. It must have been an amazing time, and no, I'm not being nostalgic. I wasn't alive then.

[amanda85]

I recently had the privilege to see Antonioni's very controversial "Zabriskie Point" on the big screen (actually the first time I saw it in a theatre) and I was pondering on how contemporary the message still is. America is pretty much dealing with the same issues as in the late 60s/early 70s: a needless war, economic woes (mostly caused by the war), lack of values, lack of morals, sheer hypocrisy, out-of-control consumerism etc.
I know some critics don't consider it one of his best efforts, but I think this movie has been misunderstood for so many years and it's now been re-evaluated in a much more positive light. It is actually a lot more accessible than the famous "trilogy" (La Avventura, La Notte, L'Eclisse) and even more so than "Blow up", his first international success, but I don't think that should detract from a very original and very "different" movie about America.

[whizzobutter]

This article is a bit amnesiac. Hughes also put out "Home Alone" which was not only dreck, it also spawned even worse sequels. "Breakfast Club" is far too cute, where it could have been great.

Uncle Buck and PLanes/Trains suffered from schmaltzy endings worthy of a Billy Crystal flick.

Daniel Stern obviously didn't learn much from him, or got hit in the head too many times in Home Alone, because he made (and acted badly in) the dreadful Rookie of the Year.

Hughes wrote" Reach the Rock" right down the street from me, and you can't even find it in a rental store. I think he disappeared because his muse deserted him. Sixteen Candles is excellent, and every subsequent film got worse and worse.

[robotfog]

he made maybe 2 or 3 decent movies. The rest were mindless chatter to me.

I wonder why he's hiding out, though? I hope he's not sick or anything.

[truthyguy]

Well, if you want to see him that badly, he is coming over for dinner. Drop by.

[Hollywoodaholic]

I was writing a script for National Lampoon at the same time John Hughes was segueing from writing for the magazine to writing a script for Lampoon at Universal to follow "Animal House." The script he was working on was to be the third sequel to Jaws, called "Jaws 3, People 0." The opening scene had newly fat cat writer Peter Benchley basking in the sun at his multimillion dollar Beverly Hills estate, then taking a bounce on the diving board to go for a dip, when a great white shark leaps out of his pool and devours him in a blood-spewing frenzy.

Too bad Universal balked at taking a dwindling franchise in such a radical direction and never made that Hughes script. It was twisted. It was funny.

[feo]

Now John Sayles is good. John Hughes? Boring.

[ReelBusy]

Actually John Sayles is a genius. John Hughes is very good too.

[Stranded]

Man, talk about your puff pieces. John Hughes is Hollywood's greatest hack. He's never found a formula he couldn't exploit to death. After he cashed in on the teen market, he really went for the gold:

Home Alone 1, 2, 3
101 Dalmations (aka Home Alone 4, with puppies)
Baby's Day Out
Dennis The Menace
Curly Sue

Way to go, John. Thanks, though, for going away.

[marignymitch]

He made a string of awful movies after his early hits and he's hiding out in shame. (By the way, I can think of at least one exception in the outsider as star school of thinking: Ferris Beuller was the most popular kid at his high school.)