Vintage

"I feel like a part of my childhood has died. Nobody made me laugh harder or more often than John Hughes..."

--Jude Apatow, in a statement, on news of the passing of John Hughes.

It is sad news to hear that the mostly unheralded writer-director John Hughes succumbed to a heart attack while out walking in Manhattan recently and has left for his own heavenly vacation.  I say mostly unheralded because Hughes, in my book, is largely, and possibly, the best comedic film writer of all time.  The man never really was recognized as such not that awards legitimize true accomplishments or cinematic virtuosity. The problem with awards is that they are mostly political in nature.  You can be a master, but if you can't game the politics, you will mostly likely not get that many awards for your efforts. 

I learned the political nature of awards as a first grader when I won a VFW statewide art contest with my patriotic portrayal of war.  I drew people getting blown up.  I drew little guys missing arms and legs.  Tons off explosions festooned my Statute of Liberty like glorious fireworks.  By the way, Lady Liberty was the central element in this contest.  More pacifist efforts went unheralded. Hughes films were similar in this regards.  

Although, it should be noted the famed film critic Roger Ebert, does recognize Planes, Trains and Automobiles as one of the all time great films and rightly so.  Awards or no awards, when it comes to the weird, curious and bizarre world of the 1980s, if not the white 1980s, no one captured the spirit of the adolescent suburban experience quite like Hughes.  

Hughes is the guy that wrote Family Vacation, mind you, one of my all time favorite comedies, which works on so many levels for adults and kids alike.  Can a film not be great, if it still makes us laugh generations later?  How many comedies achieve this?  Clark Griswold is the product of John Hughes - think about that.  He is the guy that sees Griswold in all of us.  Hell, I wanted to be Clark Griswold when I was kid.  I wanted a nice suburban house.  I wanted a big family and nagging aunts and all the middle class trappings.  I wanted to put in a pool for the kids with the Christmas bonus.

If you grew up in the 80s, can you NOT recite your favorite part to The Breakfast Club or identify with one of its colorful characters such as the jock (Emilio Estevez) or the burnout (Judd Nelson)? For chicks out there, how about the prim and properly pampered Molly Ringwold character to say nothing of the disenfranchised quasi goth girl portrayed by Allly Sheedy?  That one man could conjure this up on a typewriter, is impressive. He saw this angst in our daily commutes.  

His humor captured a goodhearted side of humanity.  As funny as all the situations are in Planes, tell me it is not a heartfelt movie in the end.  It is a movie about middle class values and finding time to put all that suburban comfort aside, to see the humanity that underscores many of the world's most colorful, kind and yes, annoying, people.  Hughes was a master of this.  He was the Frank Capra of our time.  We'll humbly give him a Life Time Achievement Ace in the Cool Comedy category. Well miss you John Hughes.  Enjoy Heaven's Wally World!