FLORIDA MOM MAGAZINE - September 08 - John Hughes your my Hero!By: Kat Candler
 Over the Spring of 2008 I taught a film appreciation class to a room full of 20 – 30 high school kids. When we got to the section on 80s cinema I made the mistake of asking,
“How many of you are John Hughes fans?” I was the only one raising my hand. The next reaction I got made me shed a tear or two.
“Who?” they asked.
“Dude, The Breakfast Club, Pretty in Pink, Some Kind of Wonderful, Sixteen Candles!!!!!”
Yeah, they hadn’t seen any of those. The whole class stared back at me with confusion and worry. “Why is our teacher freaking out?” was probably running through their little heads. Needless to say, they got a lesson in 80s comedies and John Hughes that semester.
It’s a wonder everyone always asks me why all of my movies revolve around teens. Duh! I live, breathe and sleep teen angst (yes, at the age of 33). Most of it can be traced back to my deep love for anything John Hughes. I love John Hughes. Like so much. John Hughes captured what only a few other writers in Hollywood have even come close to … major teen angst.
I remember picking up the Sixteen Candles VHS box at the local video store. I was maybe eleven or twelve. Molly Ringwald looking all kinds of cute and Jake Ryan looking all kinds of hot. Little did I know, my entire world would suddenly turn upside down. Sixteen Candles quickly became a staple at all my middle school sleepovers. Who can forget Long Duck Dong, “What’s a hoppenin’ hot stuff?” Or Jake Ryan. Oh, the dreamy, sweater vest wearing Jake Ryan. (I even named my band in college Jake Ryan). And when I got married two years ago in a movie theater, I played the clip when Samantha comes out of the church and Jake Ryan’s leaning up against his apple red Porshe just waiting for her. They kissed, they fell in love and they sat on his dining room table blowing out candles on her birthday cake. That’s what high school love was supposed to be like, right?
And what about the scene in Some Kind of Wonderful when Watts (Mary Stuart Masterson) finally professes her love to Keith (Eric Stoltz) “Because I’m driving you crazy. You’re driving me crazy. And I’d rather have you think good things about me and not see me then see me and hate me. I can’t afford to have you hate me Keith. The only things I care about in this life are me, my drums and you.” Bam! It just punches you in the gut. Luckily Keith and his crush Amanda Jones both realized in the end who he really needed to be with. I can’t say the same for Andie in Pretty in Pink though.
 If there’s an ending that everyone still argues about to this day, it’s when Andie (Molly Ringwald) chooses Blane (Andrew McCarthy) at the High School prom in Pretty in Pink. Couldn’t she see that Duckie was her destiny? All of us did. We swooned for Duckie!
And lastly, The Breakfast Club. Simple Minds singing
“Don’t You Forget About Me”, Judd Nelson walking up to the school in his army boots and a trench coat. Ally Sheedy sprinkling dandruff onto her drawing or sugar packets onto her sandwich. Anthony Michael Hall (pre buff days) blubbering about pulling the cord on his elephant lamp. And of course Molly Ringwald screaming “I NEVER DID IT!” 
I’ve revisited all of these films since my high school days. And what’s so brilliant about Mr. Hughes is that they still stand up. I still cry, I still swoon, I still fall in love. John Hughes, you’re my hero.
BIO: Kat Candler is a freelance filmmaker and film teacher in Austin, TX. www.candlerproductions.com |
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