John Hughes (film director)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| John Hughes | |
|---|---|
| Born | February 18 1950 Lansing, Michigan, United States |
John Hughes, Jr. (born February 18 1950) is a noted American film director, producer and writer, responsible for some of the most successful comedy films of the 1980s and 1990s, including National Lampoon's Vacation, Ferris Bueller's Day Off, Weird Science, The Breakfast Club, Sixteen Candles, Pretty in Pink, Planes, Trains & Automobiles, Uncle Buck and Home Alone.
Contents |
[edit] Biography
[edit] Personal life
Hughes was born in Lansing, Michigan to a mother who volunteered in charity work and John Hughes, Sr., who worked in sales.[1] A 1968 graduate of Glenbrook North High School in Northbrook, Illinois, Hughes used Northbrook and the surrounding North Shore area for shooting locations in many of his films. Since 1994, Hughes has lived a reclusive life, not granting or giving interviews or photographs to the media. A photograph of him visiting his son on the set of his son's film in 2001 was taken. In addition, he has not worked on a film since Maid in Manhattan, though he will return with Drillbit Taylor in 2008.
[edit] Career
Hughes started out as a writer for the National Lampoon Magazine, and his first film, Class Reunion, was the first of many of his National Lampoon movies. He wrote, but did not direct, the three Vacation movies released under the National Lampoon banner, the 1983 original National Lampoon's Vacation, 1985's European Vacation, and 1989's Christmas Vacation (which he co-produced).
He is probably best known for writing the genre-defining coming-of-age 1980s teenage dramatic comedies co-starring Molly Ringwald: Sixteen Candles, The Breakfast Club and Pretty in Pink (the first two of which he also directed). He also wrote and directed Weird Science and Ferris Bueller's Day Off, which were teen comedies as well. The humor in both those films, however, was broader, and perhaps had a stronger appeal to young males than his other films. Many of these films were acclaimed by critics for their complex, three-dimensional portraits of the tragicomedy of adolescence, as well as their acute probing of the social hierarchies of high school (See also Brat Pack).
To avoid being pigeonholed as a maker of teen comedies, Hughes branched out in 1987, directing Planes, Trains & Automobiles starring Steve Martin and John Candy. His later output would not be so critically well received, though films like Uncle Buck proved popular. Hughes's greatest commercial success came with Home Alone, a film he wrote and produced about a mischievous child (played by Macaulay Culkin) who was accidentally left behind when his large family went on vacation, leaving him to his own devices in an upscale North Shore home being chased by a pair of burglars. Home Alone would be the top grossing film of 1990, and remains the most successful live-action comedy of all time. Hughes has not directed a film since 1991's Curly Sue.
He has been noted as an inspiration for many in the film industry, including Kevin Smith (as noted in his films Dogma and Mallrats). He has also written screenplays using his pseudonym, Edmond Dantès (name of the main character in Alexandre Dumas' novel The Count of Monte Cristo).
[edit] Trademarks
Many of his teen comedies were set in the fictional Shermer, Illinois. Almost all of the films that Hughes has been involved in either take place in the North Shore suburbs or are at least in the Chicago metropolitan area. The soundtracks to his teen movies often featured 1980s new wave music.
Hughes frequently worked with actor John Candy, as well as Molly Ringwald and Anthony Michael Hall in his teen films.
Many of his movies feature a scene where a character mouths something another character is saying, indicating he/she had heard it before. Many of his films end with a stilled shot. Also, many scenes consist of stilled shots. For example, in Ferris Bueller's Day Off when Cameron is sitting in his car debating whether or not to pick Ferris up, the camera is focused in on the inside of the car for the entire scene, including while Cameron exits the car and is seen flailing around in the background.
Many of his films have an extra scene after the credits, feature European sports cars (either vintage or 80s contemporary), and have songs by The Beatles either playing or sung by the characters. Hughes admits to being a huge Beatles fan.[citation needed]
Several of his films also include unrealistic timelines referred to by some fans as Ferris Bueller Time. These timelines often interfere with the willing suspension of disbelief by the viewer. It's highly unlikely that Ferris, after his sister has already left for school, could set up his contraptions to fool visitors, take a leisurely shower, convince Cameron to come over who then argues at length with himself about going with Ferris, scheme and pick up his girlfriend from school in mid to late morning, have a nice lunch, go to a three hour Cubs game (assuming he sat there for the entire game), participate in a parade, then just hang out with his friends for a while, wreck Cameron's dad's car and get home before his sister and parents in a typical six hour school day.
This same device was also used in the first two Home Alone movies. For instance in the first movie, when Kevin goes into the church and hears the choir sing it is well after dark already. He then befriends the old snow shoveller and talks with him at length. Kevin then notices it is almost nine o'clock (the time when the Wet Bandits are to show up) and rushes home. In this small amount of time Kevin is able to come up with an idea of what traps to set, how to set them and draw up a map of his house and a plan for his traps. He then sets up all the dozens of intricate traps and still completes it all before the Wet Bandits arrive.
This format is used again in Home Alone 2: Lost in New York in almost the same way since the first movie is just a template for the second movie.
[edit] Filmography
[edit] Writer
|
|
[edit] Director
|
|
[edit] Producer
|
|
[edit] References
[edit] External links
fr:John Hughes (réalisateur) nl:John Hughes ja:ジョン・ヒューズ nds:John Hughes (Speelbaas) pl:John Hughes pt:John Hughes fi:John Hughes (ohjaaja) sv:John Hughes (filmproducent)
