REMEMBERING JOHN HUGHES-ONE YEAR LATER: MY TOP TEN FAVORITE SCENES & SEQUENCES

Inspired by and dedicated to Susannah Gora, author of You Couldn't Ignore Me If You Tried: The Brat Pack, John Hughes and Their Impact On A Generation. Her wonderfully written and researched book was a source of validation for me, as well as Hughes fans all over, as she treated the teen films of the 1980s, and the work of John Hughes in particular, with great respect, dignity, intelligence and heart.

REMEMBERING JOHN HUGHES-ONE YEAR LATER

August 6, 2009 was a day that will be forever etched into my memory as that was the day John Hughes passed away suddenly after suffering a massive heart attack while taking a morning stroll in Manhattan while visiting family. It is so strange to think that this particular celebrity death has affected me so deeply. I still cannot believe that he is gone and although I never met him, it still makes me sad to think of it. Since that time, there has been a certain re-evaluation of his work in film, including a stirring and heartfelt tribute to him during this year's Oscar telecast.

I had been planning to write something new about him for quite some time but didn't really know exactly what I would set out to do. And then inspiration struck.

Author Susannah Gora had recently written and published a new article commemorating Hughes' passing by detailing her five favorite scenes from his films. As always, the best ideas are the simplest and I decided to embark upon my favorite scenes from Hughes' films and you know me, I could not limit myself to five. So, I stretched it to ten and I will try my best to keep it as clean and neat as possible, not allowing myself to become too carried away with the memories.

10. "Fats man, lemme tell you my story, man..." The bar sequence from "Weird Science" (1985)
Shortly after geeky and friendless high school Sophomores Gary Wallace (Anthony Michael Hall) and Wyatt Donnely (Ilan Mitchell-Smith) create their dream girl Lisa (Kelly Le Brock) via their home computer and assortment of seemingly random objects, Lisa obtains a car and drives the two boys into the city of Chicago for a night out on the town. The trio arrive at a bar filled predominantly with adult African-American clientele. Feeling terribly out of place and not wanting to offend, Gary and Wyatt accept the heavy duty liquor offered to them. After a spell and seemingly countless drinks, Gary, now blindingly drunk, recounts the story of a unrequited crush over a well developed 13 year old girl by channeling his inner Delta bluesman by way of Chicago street pimp. It is a sequence, much like the classic scene from "National Lampoon's Animal House" (1978), that teeters very dangerously to offensiveness but is rescued by Hughes’ satirically playful direction and Anthony Michael Hall’s tour de force performance, which extends upon the classic stoner split second “The chick cannot hold da smoke. That’s what it is!” moment from “The Breakfast Club.” To this day, I still laugh and laugh HARD! Further credit to the comedic collaboration between Hughes and Hall as they wisely allow the character of Gary to remain in his alcohol fueled soul man state a few scenes after the trio leaves the bar and returns to the sleepy confines of Shermer, IL.

9. "Blaine, what about prom?" from "Pretty In Pink" (1986)
To this day, I feel that Molly Ringwald was at her best and gave her most honest performances during her work with John Hughes and this scene, which occurs late in the film, is one of her finest, rawest moments. It is also a testament to the richness of the Andie Walsh character. In addition to the peer and class warfare pressures she endures on a daily basis, which has now increased and intensified through her romance with "richie" Blaine McDonough (Andrew McCarthy), the tensions of Andie's home life are finally coming to a head. She is an 18 year old, desiring to attend college but is forced into parenting her depressed and quite possibly alcoholic Father, Jack Walsh (Harry Dean Stanton) while also contributing heavily to their home finances through her afterschool record store job. By this crucial point in the film, the cracks from those combined stresses reveal themselves with uncontained fury in the school hallways as Andie confronts Blaine for his sudden cold shoulder towards her. Every ferocious shriek, shout and punch Andie delivers to Blaine is felt emotionally, making for a scene that has always left me a bit rattled. And McCarthy gives it all he's got through his reactions. He crumbles and winces with each verbal and physical attack and admonition, giving you the feeling that he is internally telling himself the exact same things Andie is accusing him of. And ultimately, he is punishing himself for his own sense of weakness.

8. "You're going the WRONG WAY!!!" The highway sequence from "Planes, Trains and Automobiles" (1987)
In a film loaded end to end with great scenes, this extended section is a comedic masterpiece. Travelling salesmen Neal Page (Steve Martin) and Del Griffith (John Candy) are now headed to Chicago via rental car. As Neal sleeps in the passenger seat, Del blares and driver's seat dances to the music of Ray Charles. Afterwards, he tosses his lit cigarette out of the window, which unbeknownst to him, has ricocheted into the back seat of the car. This leads to a section where both of his coat sleeves are trapped in the car seat and the car ultimately ends up barreling along the highway in the wrong direction and into the path of two semi-trucks. With this sequence, Hughes greatly delivers a broadly comedic and action set piece that is entirely character driven. Everything we have learned about Neal and Del figures into this section and informs the comedy, making every moment count humorously and emotionally. It is an effortless and brilliant balance of tone, timing and execution, where even the smallest details carry equal weight to the grandest moments.

7. The Art Institute sequence from "Ferris Bueller's Day Off" (1986)
This short, wordless scene provides an elegant interlude to this euphoric film. So melancholy, beautiful, graceful and even haunting, Again Hughes finds ways to make this sequence comedic, romantic, completely character driven, bittersweet and even intensely personal, as Hughes presents to us some of his personal favorite works of art from the museum he frequently visited during his own teenage years. It is a dreamy marvel of a sequence.

6. "You wanna hurt me?" The hotel room scene from "Planes, Trains and Automobiles" (1987)
This is the scene where Neal Page (Steve Martin) unleashes his long pent up rage at Del Griffith (John Candy), who stands there, takes it all, does not crumble and asserts his individuality. It is a scene that would almost be too painful to endure if Neal's viciously cruel rant was not also so savagely funny. What takes this sequence to the next level is how Hughes occasionally cuts to the face of Del Griffith, where we can have a few moments to witness his pain and hurt feelings at the other end of Neal's harshness. It deftly transforms the sequence into a social lesson and depicts how the sadistic rules of the playground exist well into middle age. This is the scene that not only raised the acting stakes and bar for Martin and especially Candy, but it also elevated this film from terrific comedy into something much deeper and memorable.

5. "You could come back next fall as a completely normal person." The auto shop scene from "Sixteen Candles (1984)
John Hughes' directorial debut was a revolutionary stamp in the teen film genre not only because it sensitively featured a girl, front and center, in the typically male driven genre where teenage girls were consistently exploited. Hughes' film, more than any other that had preceded it, featured teenage characters lost and enveloped in conversation, speaking their language and opening their hearts to their peers and often surprising themselves in the process. This sequence arrives during the first third in this laugh riot of a movie. 16 year old Samantha Baker (Molly Ringwald), sadly sits in a car inside of the high school's auto shop, lamenting her unrequited crush on Senior Jake Ryan (Michael Shoeffling), as well as her entire family's forgetfulness in regards to her 16th birthday. Just when things could not get worse, she is accosted once again by Farmer Ted, The Geek (a standout Anthony Michael Hall). She allows him to sit next to her in the car and then, magic happens. Samantha and The Geek embark upon a six minute stretch of conversation that was filled with sparkling, sharp, insightful. literate and perceptive comic dialogue that would become a Hughes trademark. And that scene was the moment when the bar of the teen film genre had been dramatically raised.

(HONORABLE MENTION): A tender scene set in the middle of the film between Samantha and her confused yet loving Father (Paul Dooley). It wasn't just a quiet spot in an otherwise raucous film. And it wasn't even solely a heartwarming scene between a parent and child. It was Hughes himself consoling and speaking to every lonely, misunderstood teenager in the audience.)

4. The parade sequence from "Ferris Bueller's Day Off" (1986)
With the exception of John Landis' "The Blues Brothers" (1980), the people, sights, sounds, architecture and spectacle of my hometown of Chicago has rarely been more lovingly represented on film. This sequence, where Ferris Bueller (Matthew Broderick) takes over a German heritage parade float and gets 10,000 dancing extras to sing along to The Beatles' "Twist And Shout," makes you want to get up on your feet in the theater aisles. It is Hughes' love letter to his cherished city yet amidst the joy, he still finds way to inject a taste of character driven melancholy bittersweetness with a brief shared walk featuring Ferris' depressed best friend Cameron Frye (Alan Ruck) and devoted and sly girlfriend Sloane Petersen (Mia Sara) as they discuss the paths of their unknown futures.

3. "When you grow up, your heart dies." The "group therapy" sequence from "The Breakfast Club" (1985)
This 20 minute section is the centerpiece and climax to this emotionally exhausting film. Only Hughes' second directorial feature, he shows a command of location, actors, performances and writing that most filmmakers would kill for. It is a lengthy sequence which features no less than the painful confessions of both athlete Andrew Clark (Emilio Estevez) and class brain Brian Johnson (Anthony Michael Hall); the sexual and classist duels between rich girl Claire Standish (Molly Ringwald) and abused working class tough delinquent John Bender (Judd Nelson); as well as the bizarre mind games and sage like interpretations from "basket case" Alison Reynolds (Ally Sheedy). From Claire's lipstick bra trick to verbal peer pressure battles to wondering exactly what will happen to them on Monday, the sequence never feels overstuffed and flows as naturally as any real world conversation. I watched and studied this sequence constantly during my own high school years and when I see it today, I am continually impressed with its blitzkrieg of honest fury, confusion, tension, release, resolution and tolerance. There hasn't been a film within the teen film genre to even approach the levels set by this masterpiece of a sequence ever since.

(HONORABLE MENTION: The classic "Eat my shorts!" battle between Teacher Richard Vernon (Paul Gleeson) and John Bender. Razor sharp intensity where the threat of violence is in the air and concluding with the best "F.U.!!!" heard in the movies. This scene was a verbal brick through a glass window.)

2. The kiss from "Sixteen Candles" (1984)
The image is now iconic. The sight of Samantha Baker and Jake Ryan sitting on a tabletop with a birthday cake set in between them is a teenage dream fulfilled and the concluding kiss remains one of the most romantic scenes I have seen in any movie, before or since.

(HONORABLE MENTION: The kiss from "Some Kind Of Wonderful" (1987) runs a close second in my mind for being one of the most romantic scenes in the movies. So tender, gentle and sexually charged, Keith Nelson (Eric Stoltz) and Watts the Drummer Girl's (Mary Stuart Masterson) first kiss is another teenage dream fulfilled. And the music, Stephen Duffy's "She Loves Me," captures exactly what that first kiss would sound like as it scrambles your brains.)

1. The birth sequence from "She's Having A Baby" (1988)
For me, this powerful sequence, scored to Kate Bush's "This Woman's Work," is John Hughes' finest moment as a filmmaker. As Jefferson "Jake" Briggs (a spectacular Kevin bacon) sits in a hospital waiting room worrying about the fate of his wife Kristy Bainbridge (Elizabeth McGovern) and their as yet unborn child, he mentally takes stock of his life and all of the mistakes he has made thus far within the first five years of their marriage. He discovers within himself the hardest faults. That he has taken more than he gave, that he was loved more than he loved and the realization sets forth a shattering montage of images that contain regret, sorrow, agony, pathos, comedy, elegance and a heart as wide as the open sky. This sequence had it ALL! When I first saw it at a college campus FREE advance sneak preview, there was not a dry eye in the house and I truly dare anyone to view that scene now and not feel an honest lump in the throat.

There you have it, my Top Ten favorite scenes and sequences from the films of John Hughes (and yes, with a couple of cheats tossed in). This is my commemoration to this man, whose work inspires me to this day and will continue to for as long as I live.

As always, THANK YOU, John Hughes.