Matthew Broderick and John Hughes
on the set of "Ferris Bueller's Day Off," Chicago, IL 1985
on the set of "Ferris Bueller's Day Off," Chicago, IL 1985
"FERRIS BUELLER'S DAY OFF"
Written and Directed by John Hughes
-John Hughes, from the article "John Hughes' Rational Anthem: 'I Won't Grow Up'" written by Julia Cameron, Chicago Tribune, June 8, 1986
The first time I saw "Ferris Bueller's Day Off," Writer/Director John Hughes' superior ode to joy and love letter to my home city of Chicago, I was 17 yeas old and nearing the very end of my Junior year of high school in 1986.
Despite all of the memories that I am able to recall at a moment's notice concerning my adolescence from sights, sounds and the emotions, so much of that year in particular has kind of washed over in a bit of a haze, and frankly, a deeply melancholic one. To the best of my knowledge and memories, it was not a year that was unusually painful or stressful, although the same kinds of stresses were ever present--from grades, romance, a waning self-image, failing to live up to my parent's expectations and then, the added pressure of applying for colleges and those dreaded standardized exams. Perhaps, it was the "Groundhog Day" quality of that year, every day folding into the next, all seeming the same as the one before, restlessly waiting for something new to occur. I wasn't sad, per se, that year but I can honestly tell you that I was not particularly happy either.
By the time "Ferris Bueller's Day Off" arrived, just a mere three months after Hughes' wondrous production of "Pretty In Pink" (1986), as artfully and sensitively directed by Howard Deutch, I was more than ready to see Hughes back in the director's chair, hoping that he would again weave his singularly idiosyncratic artistic/comedic/philosophical spell that had just captured me so completely over the previous two years. With thanks to my cousin Adam, a fellow Hughes devotee (although not nearly to the same degree as I was), I attended an advance sneak preview screening at the Ford City movie theater near my home, a screening at which I received not only a promotional "Leisure Rules" poster but also a button adorned with an early symbol of Hughes' production company, Hughes Entertainment. Once the house lights went down, I was given an evening at the movies that was more than I could have ever wished for.
First, there was seeing a teaser trailer for Hughes' next film (which hadn't even begun filming yet) for "Some Kind Of Wonderful" and then after being raised so highly, the main event began. As you are now all so familiar, "Ferris Bueller's Day Off" tells the day-long tale of 17 year old suburban Chicago high school senior Ferris Bueller (Matthew Broderick in his now iconic performance) and his pursuit to just take it easy one more time before he graduates.
Utilizing his endless charms, he again fakes out his doting parents (played by Lyman Ward and Cindy Pickett--who incidentally fell in love during the filming), much to the seething chagrin of his venomously jealous sister Jeannie (Jennifer Grey) and embarks upon his ninth sick day of the semester. Ferris soon springs his beautiful girlfriend Sloane Peterson (Mia Sara) out of school under the rouse of a death in the family and convinces his life-long best friend, the eternally depressed and perpetually frightened Cameron Frye (Alan Ruck in a beautifully layered performance) to leave the confines of his "sick bed," test the fates and secretly take his Father's precious Ferrari out for the threesome's day of truancy.
As the triumvirate enjoys a splendidly gorgeous Spring day in downtown Chicago, visiting the Mercantile exchange, a Cubs game at Wrigley Field, a tour of the Art Institute and even taking over a Michigan Avenue parade, Ferris is doggedly pursued by his arch-nemesis, the increasingly unhinged Dean Of Students, Ed Rooney (a terrific comedic performance by Jeffrey Jones), who wishes to at long last catch Ferris in the act and force him to repeat his final year of high school as punishment for his rampant defiance of authority as well as his seemingly magical "Pied Piper" affect over everyone he encounters. Through the entirety of his day which involves a variety of wondrous celebrations and surprising revelations, Ferris Bueller once again successfully lives his days via his personal motto: "Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and take a look around once in a while, you could miss it."
John Hughes' "Ferris Bueller's Day Off" had me completely within the palms of its cinematic hands from WLS-AM radio jingle that greeted the film's opening credits all the way through to the post end credit surprise of having Ferris himself shoo us all from the movie theater. It was a completely exhilarating experience where, in addition to seeing my home city of Chicago so lovingly displayed on screen, its unabashed humor, enormous heart, poignant pathos and yes, the purity of its poetry spoke beautifully to my teenage soul. During those two hours, I smiled and laughed more than I had during the entirety of the school year. "Ferris Bueller's Day Off" was one of those rare movies that just made me happy to be alive.
To the best of my knowledge, I was quite possibly the first kid in school to see the film as it had not been fully released yet, and because of that, I was compelled to place a few subversive "Save Ferris" cards in various places throughout the school, cards that I would be questioned about by some friends once we all reunited months later for our Senior year together. Even so, by June 11, 1986, everyone knew abut Ferris, his family, friends, enemies and legions of fans, of which we all became. Despite some good reviews, "Ferris Bueller's Day Off," not surprisingly received fair to middling reviews from major film critics and of course, quite a number that were all but dismissive. As for the public, "Ferris Bueller's Day off" transcended its teen age fan base and Hughes' target audience to become one of the top 10 highest grossing films of the year and to that end, the film has endured with a healthy and beloved legacy for nearly 30 years.
But aside from the rule breaking, slapstick comedy and reckless abandon to prancing down a primrose path, I believe that "Ferris Bueller's Day Off" is actually a much more serious, and even sadder film than it is really given credit for. Now, don't get me wrong. I am not trying to suggest that the film is not what it sets out to be and that its charms are somehow masking a darker tale. John Hughes certainly was not Ingmar Bergman. But I do believe that John Hughes created a film that contained a profound existential core that has obviously withstood the test of time and he also made a film that is more personal than it may seem--especially as Hughes himself seemed to deflect any notions to the contrary over the years, allowing the film to just speak for itself (In fact, Hughes' wonderful DVD commentary track--the only one he ever recorded--has been erased from all subsequent re-issuings of the film).
I guess that what I am trying to express to you is that as much as the film meant to me as a teenager, I would have to say that it means even more to me now as an adult, especially as Ferris' life motto carries considerably more weight, meaning and depth as the years continue to fly by. And therein lies melancholic core that does sit at the heart of "Ferris Bueller's Day Off," for as joyous a movie as it is, John Hughes also crafted and concocted a hugely bittersweet, wistful film that stands on the precipice of the future of its main characters as they are also very carefully saying goodbye to a specific time, attitude, place and, even to a degree, each other. John Hughes was astute enough to recognize the pain within the joy and vice versa and how those specific elements could complement each other and ultimately enhance each other, making for a richer experience.
For my annual tribute to John Hughes, now five years after his sudden passing in New York City from a fatal heart attack on August 6, 2009, I salute one of his greatest cinematic achievements, "Ferris Bueller's Day Off." And as with so many movies, even ones that have provided such happiness for generations, it always amazes me that Hughes' original conception ever made it to the screen in the first place.
ORIGIN AND PRODUCTION
"Though it does seem sadly poignant that physically, at least, John's heart really did die. It almost seems undeniably meaningful: His was a heavy heart, deeply sensitive, prone to injury-easily broken."
-Written by Molly Ringwald, Op-Ed Contributor, "The Neverland Club," published in The New York Times, August 11, 2009
It has been said since John Hughes' passing, from friends and colleagues, that on a creative level, Hughes was happiest when he was writing and perhaps, he was never really built for making movies, or at least functioning in Hollywood in the first place. Without any sense of irony, maybe Hughes, despite his brilliance and massive creativity, just really did not have the heart for it. I, of course, have long housed my own filmmaking dreams (and to an extent, I still do) but I do know and realize that the process of making a film can too often be an arduous one filled with all manner of compromises and it can sometimes feel to be just a miracle when anything even gets made. And if the finished results are anything close to what was originally envisioned, then that is quite possibly an even greater miracle. With regards to the genesis, some aspects of filming and the post-production of "Ferris Bueller's Day Off," it seemed that the full realization of this film was indeed one of those miracles.
The writing was indeed the easiest part. In advance of a then upcoming Writer's Guild Of America strike, John Hughes, already famous for writing complete screenplays at the speed of light, even more famously wrote "Ferris Bueller's Day Off" in reportedly five days, the first 50 pages of which were written while Director Howard Deutch napped in Hughes' home office while waiting for "Some Kind Of Wonderful" re-writes. The process of then having the film brought to visual, three dimensional life was another story altogether.
Just as Ferris, Sloane and Cameron are teetering on the cusp of the future and major life changes, so were John Hughes and his chief acting collaborators and muses at the time, Molly Ringwald and Anthony Michael Hall. At that time, Hughes was in his mid 30's while Ringwald and Hall were in their late teens. It would seem that as Hughes had forged such a powerful relationship with both young actors, he may either hoped or expected or some combination of both emotions to have continued working with Ringwald and Hall in some capacity in movie after movie for years to come.
John Hughes had already written outlines and screenplays specific for both young actors including "The Last Good Year" for Hall (complete with a specially created mixtape) and "The Lovecats" (also with a mixtape) and "Oil And Vinegar" for Ringwald. In fact, Hall had been offered the role of Duckie Dale for "Pretty In Pink" as well as Cameron for "Ferris Bueller's Day Off" and Ringwald had also been offered the role of Amanda Jones for "Some Kind Of Wonderful." But for Hall and Ringwald, who each wanted to begin to branch outwards, and also declaring some sense of independence from Hughes, each declined all of those roles, leaving Hughes heartbroken and quite possibly feeling somewhat betrayed. He communicated possibly only once with Ringwald after those years when she had mailed him a letter of gratitude from Paris, to which he responded with a bouquet of flowers that, as Ringwald described, were "as big as my apartment." And as for Anthony Michael Hall, who had once been so close to John Hughes, and forged a relationship that surprisingly afforded Hall to be just this close to receiving the leading role in...Stanley Kubrick's "Full Metal Jacket" (1987)--apparently, Kubrick LOVED "Weird Science" (1985)--Hughes never spoke to him again.
Now without his prime leading actors at his disposal, Hughes needed to branch outwards himself, even though he already knew that he would need someone truly special and possessed a tremendous amount of skills to carry out the role of Ferris Bueller. Matthew Broderick, already celebrated on screen and a Tony award winning actor on Broadway, was the top choice Yet for Cameron Frye, now that Anthony Michael Hall and subsequently, Emilio Estevez had turned down the part, Hughes eventually cast Alan Ruck, who was already friends with Broderick from their stage work in Neil Simon's "Biloxi Blues." The elegant, poised yet younger and admittedly more insecure Mia Sara soon joined the cast and the roles of our truant trio were set.
"Ferris Bueller's Day Off" was filmed over a period of three months during the Autumn of 1985 in and around Chicago, the Northern Chicago suburbs as well as...Long Beach, California (?!), a major concession as dictated to Hughes by Paramount Pictures in order to control costs. In fact, Ferris' home is not in Chicago at all, an element Hughes detested, as he lamented in his DVD commentary, "It kind of disappointed me that the first shot in my movie that takes place in Chicago was in Long Beach."
The writing was indeed the easiest part. In advance of a then upcoming Writer's Guild Of America strike, John Hughes, already famous for writing complete screenplays at the speed of light, even more famously wrote "Ferris Bueller's Day Off" in reportedly five days, the first 50 pages of which were written while Director Howard Deutch napped in Hughes' home office while waiting for "Some Kind Of Wonderful" re-writes. The process of then having the film brought to visual, three dimensional life was another story altogether.
Just as Ferris, Sloane and Cameron are teetering on the cusp of the future and major life changes, so were John Hughes and his chief acting collaborators and muses at the time, Molly Ringwald and Anthony Michael Hall. At that time, Hughes was in his mid 30's while Ringwald and Hall were in their late teens. It would seem that as Hughes had forged such a powerful relationship with both young actors, he may either hoped or expected or some combination of both emotions to have continued working with Ringwald and Hall in some capacity in movie after movie for years to come.
John Hughes had already written outlines and screenplays specific for both young actors including "The Last Good Year" for Hall (complete with a specially created mixtape) and "The Lovecats" (also with a mixtape) and "Oil And Vinegar" for Ringwald. In fact, Hall had been offered the role of Duckie Dale for "Pretty In Pink" as well as Cameron for "Ferris Bueller's Day Off" and Ringwald had also been offered the role of Amanda Jones for "Some Kind Of Wonderful." But for Hall and Ringwald, who each wanted to begin to branch outwards, and also declaring some sense of independence from Hughes, each declined all of those roles, leaving Hughes heartbroken and quite possibly feeling somewhat betrayed. He communicated possibly only once with Ringwald after those years when she had mailed him a letter of gratitude from Paris, to which he responded with a bouquet of flowers that, as Ringwald described, were "as big as my apartment." And as for Anthony Michael Hall, who had once been so close to John Hughes, and forged a relationship that surprisingly afforded Hall to be just this close to receiving the leading role in...Stanley Kubrick's "Full Metal Jacket" (1987)--apparently, Kubrick LOVED "Weird Science" (1985)--Hughes never spoke to him again.
Now without his prime leading actors at his disposal, Hughes needed to branch outwards himself, even though he already knew that he would need someone truly special and possessed a tremendous amount of skills to carry out the role of Ferris Bueller. Matthew Broderick, already celebrated on screen and a Tony award winning actor on Broadway, was the top choice Yet for Cameron Frye, now that Anthony Michael Hall and subsequently, Emilio Estevez had turned down the part, Hughes eventually cast Alan Ruck, who was already friends with Broderick from their stage work in Neil Simon's "Biloxi Blues." The elegant, poised yet younger and admittedly more insecure Mia Sara soon joined the cast and the roles of our truant trio were set.
"Ferris Bueller's Day Off" was filmed over a period of three months during the Autumn of 1985 in and around Chicago, the Northern Chicago suburbs as well as...Long Beach, California (?!), a major concession as dictated to Hughes by Paramount Pictures in order to control costs. In fact, Ferris' home is not in Chicago at all, an element Hughes detested, as he lamented in his DVD commentary, "It kind of disappointed me that the first shot in my movie that takes place in Chicago was in Long Beach."
But aside from issues of filming locations, it seemed that John Hughes tried to somehow re-create the bonds he once shared with Molly Ringwald and Anthony Michael Hall with his new cast but there were growing pains. According to author Susannah Gora's excellent book, You Couldn't Ignore Me If You Tried: The Brat Pack, John Hughes And The Impact On A Generation, Hughes' initial emotional difficulties occurred during a wardrobe test, where the acting/creative processes of Broderick, Ruck and Sara were notably less animated than Hall's, who would often volley ideas and improvisations with Hughes, and therefore left Hughes worried if his film would work at all--"Maybe I am just used to something that is different," Broderick recalled Hughes expressing to him.
By the time of filming, it indeed took time for Matthew Broderick and John Hughes to build up trust, understanding and communication with each other. Initial difficulties were raised with Broderick being unsure of how to exactly speak directly to the cameras when Ferris breaks the fourth wall and addresses the audience. Also, there was the fact that Broderick and Ruck, being stage trained actors where the script is law, had trouble with Hughes' improvisational style as he would endlessly mine scenes to unearth their greatest potential. So if that meant, say trying the scene standing on one's head, then let's go for it. But for Broderick especially, that learning process was difficult which led to moments of frustration and mis-communications where Hughes would tend to shut down and even stonewall those around him as he was feeling misunderstood.
Mia Sara, who was perhaps 17 or 18 at the time and had only acted in one film, Director Ridley Scott's fantasy epic "Legend" (1985), prior to "Ferris Bueller's Day Off" personally felt inexperienced, inadequate and therefore also felt that she did not deliver as best as Hughes had wished, even though Hughes had never expressed anything negative about her or her actual performance. Today, Sara has expressed ho wished she had apologized to Hughes for any difficulties she may have caused ("I wish I hadn't been so immature," she recalled). Seemingly, out of his younger cast members, only Jennifer Grey clicked instantly with John Hughes. As she practically gushes in Gora's book, she exuberantly stated, "there was a freedom, a flow, an ease, like slipping on something that fit really well. I remember not caring what the movie was about. I just wanted to do whatever this guy wanted me to do."
Once all of the interpersonal kinks were worked out, filming progressed on a much smoother path, most notably the classic parade sequence in which an advertisement was placed in both the Chicago Tribune and the Chicago Sun Times announcing that John Hughes needed 5000 extras dressed for a Spring Day (by this point, it was November) to join the cast for filming...and 10,000 people arrived to twist and shout along with Ferris. On a more intimate level, Matthew Broderick and John Hughes' relationship improved greatly. "By the end, we were at such ease with each other," Broderick recalled in Gora's book. "We just enjoyed each other and we had absolute ease working together. By the end of shooting, we really did." Broderick and Hughes remained friends off and on throughout the years after "Ferris Bueller's Day Off," and Broderick was even one of the few actors invited to attend Hughes' funeral in 2009.
The next hurdle for the film arrived during post-production with the very first test screening of the film and by all accounts, that particular screening was an unmitigated disaster. This time, undaunted, John Hughes knew precisely what was needed and within a two week period, he, alongside Editor Paul Hirsch, re-edited the film into the version we all know and love today. As the late Paramout Pictures studio executive Ned Tanen expressed in Gora's book, "he took the thing, and edited it and it was brilliant."
And brilliant it absolutely is and shall forever be as "Ferris Bueller's Day Off," aside from existing as one of John Hughes' finest films as well as a high watermark for the teenage comedy genre that has endured over time, it is a enthusiastic, blue sky soaked joyride that is also gently rebellious. From the antics of the title character within the story as well as breaking the fourth wall to speak directly to the audience, "Ferris Bueller's Day Off" consistently broke a variety of rules (from filming in 35mm widescreen--unheard of for a teen film, and of course, the absence of an official soundtrack) for the greater integrity of creating a film experience for the ages that was unabashedly hilarious and seismically felt with all moments from humorous to dramatic beautifully and richly earned. It was an unquestionable success but indeed a more hard fought one than when Hughes made "Sixteen Candles" (1984) and "The Breakfast Cub" (1985), experiences he alluded to in interviews that he wished to retrieve again.
LIFE MOVES PRETTY FAST:
THE LOVE STORY OF FERRIS AND CAMERON
"I'm not doing this for me-I'm doing this for you."
-Ferris Bueller
As I stated at the beginning of this tribute, mentioned that when first saw "Ferris Bueller's Day Off" at the age of 17, I was filled and lifted with a powerful sense of elation. Now, at the age of 45, while I still feel my heart lift, the process of aging and living life has afforded me to see some darker shadings and even more serious qualities to the story of a boy who skips school one more time. Chicago film critic Richard Roeper, who has proclaimed "Ferris Bueller's Day Off" as being his favorite film of all time has even expressed that he feels the movie to be a "suicide prevention film." Whether he designed that statement to signify the palpable joy one can potentially receive when watching the film or something deeper, I do not know for certain. But, for the purposes of this tribute, I wish to delve deeper.
Maybe this is why the film has grown in stature for me over the years as well because as I continue to work and work, year in and year out, I have grown more reflective of how I wish my time away from working needs to be. I have also found myself growing more reflective of the things I actually have not done or achieved within my life or also, the places in the world that I have not seen due to existing on that treadmill. I am more conscious of how I am currently living within life's midpoint as I am forced to wonder about how much time will I be afforded to do the things I not only like to do or wish to do but perhaps, what I need to do in order to increase the quality of the life that I am leading for my family, friends, and students as well as myself. Ferris Bueller is a character who is imploring, and quite possibly challenging, us to engage with life-for what is life worth living if we do not interact with it on some level that speaks to the soul. Yes, we all need to have the opportunity to recharge. But for some, we need that push to actually be a part of the life experience and not passively, or in the case of Cameron Frye, fearfully, exist through it.
With that sentiment in mind, we can look at the relationship between Ferris Bueller and Cameron Frye, as being so much more than simply adolescent hijinks which leads to Cameron finding the courage to confront his cold, demanding Father. "Ferris Bueller's Day Off" is a story abut how Ferris, through those aforementioned adolescent hijinks, helps Cameron to begin to confront and take the reins of life itself.
The character of Cameron Frye, I feel, is one of John Hughes' most perceptive as well as most tender creations, for what plagues this particular high school senior extends far beyond the high school hallways and becomes something that I think is recognizable within all of us. As we witnessed through that beautiful sequence set at the Art Institute Of Chicago, when Cameron becomes transfixed on the image of the sad little girl in Georges Seurat's painting A Sunday Afternoon On The Island Of La Grand Jatte, he is a figure filled with feelings of failure, uncertainty and insignificance, fearing that his life is as meaningless and spiraling into a certain nothingness, just like the painting itself as it becomes nothing more than a series of dots in Cameron's eyes. His sense of self-worth and self-esteem are dangerously low and fueled by his sense of feeling unappreciated and unloved by his Father. And even at times, we can perceive that Cameron feels that he is nothing more than a catalyst to Ferris' grand schemes and we can definitely see that he is also deeply in love with Sloane Peterson (most notably, in that tenderly bittersweet walk the two share at the parade), giving him a passion that will forever be unrequited thus fueling his pain. Cameron Frye is fully aware of, and has therefore cloaked himself in, life's disappointments. And for all of us in he audience, how could we not relate to this person in some way or another? So, when Ferris informs Cameron that "I'm not doing this for me-I'm doing this for you," Ferris is again speaking, albeit indirectly, to all of us for we can also learn precisely what Cameron desperately needs to learn for himself.
When we first meet Cameron Frye, he is home alone (no pun intended) encased in morbid repose deep inside of his "sick bed." As Ferris instructs him over the phone to get out of bed and come over to pick him up for the day off, Cameron, after declining again, moans to himself, "I'm dying." Once Cameron does finally decide to leave his home to pick up Ferris, there is that fantastic moment when he literally fights with himself to even start his own car. Or let's take the scene late in the film, set back at Cameron's house after their adventures in downtown Chicago. The trio are sitting around the swimming pool/Jacuzzi while Cameron sits deeply in a catatonic state, which occurred after seeing the amount of mileage accrued throughout the day on his Father's prized and never driven Ferrari GT, due to the joyride taken by those two Chicago parking lot attendants. Cameron, to Ferris and Sloane's shock, propels himself into the waters of his swimming pool seemingly hoping to drown. This is Cameron's natural inclination to dealing with life: To retreat. What Ferris Bueller offers to him throughout this transformative day are the tools needed to confront life, no matter what happens and by any means necessary, because Ferris Bueller can already envision a dark future for his best friend unless something seismic happens to him today. As Ferris himself expresses, from Hughes' original screenplay:
"Cameron's never been in love. At least, no one's ever been in love with him. He's gonna marry the first girl he lays, and she's gonna treat him like shit because he's gonna kiss her ass for giving him what he's built up in his mind as the end-all, be-all of human existence. She won't respect him because you can't respect someone who kisses your ass. It just doesn't work."
And neither does living a life being afraid.
"Ferris Bueller's Day Off," aside from the titular pursuits, is a tremendously sensitive portrait of a young man precariously existing on the edge of the future without any life skills and how his best friend, through a certain and almost magical joie de vivre, passionately expresses to him that because the future is unwritten, embrace it NOW before it is too late. And because of that conceit, I think what John Hughes devised is truly one of his finest love stories: the love story of Ferris and Cameron, two lifelong friends, soon to separate, (possibly forever), and one last blast they share.
Once the destruction of the Ferrari, a supreme curve-ball that life delivers, places Ferris and Cameron onto a new path, Ferris' desire to take the full responsibility to save Cameron is definitely touching but not nearly as touching what Cameron finally discovers within himself. When Cameron furiously states, "I'm not going to sit on my ass. As the events that unfold to determine the course of my life I'm going to take a stand. I'm going to defend it. Right or wrong, I'm going to defend it," we are amazed that he has at last arrived at this epiphany. When he decides to not allow Ferris to save him from his Father's wrath and forge ahead on his own, we feel Cameron's spiritual deliverance and powerfully so. And most of all, we can see how this day, this one spectacular day, was entirely designed by Ferris as a final gift to his best friend.
A gift that Cameron Frye has finally accepted.
JOHN HUGHES' DAY OFF
At the time of the film's original release, John Hughes once expressed in an interview, and I am paraphrasing of course, that the character of Ferris Bueller represented the person he wished to be while Cameron Frye represented the person that he typically is. Over the years, Hughes denied any and all previous statements that seemed to connect him to the overall personalities of his characters, as if he was then attempting to disconnect himself from Hollywood and therefore, his public persona. Even for Molly Ringwald herself, in her beautifully written tribute, expressed that Hughes' own films became less personal after "The Breakfast Club" and without any disrespect to her, especially as she did know and love the man and I am just a lifelong fan, I emphatically disagree. I think that if we are to know anything about what kind of a person John Hughes may have been in his real life, all we have to do is look at the films and we will easily find the threads.
I firmly believe that "Ferris Bueller's Day Off" is a much more personal film than Hughes himself ever let on publicly and furthermore, I think it just might be one of his most personal films this side of his auto-biographical masterpiece "She's Having A Baby" (1988). As much as the film is a love story between two lifelong friends, the film is also John Hughes' love story to a beloved city as well as a love story between aspects of himself from his past and (then) present as he created a cinematic universe in which the world itself was possibly what he wished the real world to be.
On a cosmetic level, let's regard the aesthetic cues and clues. In the Bueller household, most specifically in the kitchen for instance, you can see young children's artwork on the refrigerator created by Hughes' own two sons. Ferris' bedroom was reportedly modeled after Hughes' own teenage bedroom as well. And the vanity license plate found on Ferris Father's car reads "MMOM," an acronym of the film "Mr. Mom" (1983), for which John Hughes wrote the screenplay.
Much of the film's school scenes were all shot inside of Glenbrook North High School, Hughes' alma mater. Cameron Frye's hockey jersey bears the name and number of Gordie Howe from the Detroit Red Wings, Hughes favorite player from his childhood upbringing in Michigan. Hughes also harbored a love of parades, and he would sneak out of his advertising office at Leo Burnett to view them. Also, when Hughes was moonlighting as a writer for National Lampoon, and in true Ferris Bueller style, he would arrange his Chicago office workspace to appear as if he had just stepped out for a moment when he had actually taken flights to and from the Lampoon offices in New York city.
As for the Art Institute sequence, the very one which Hughes himself referred to as "self-indulgent" on the DVD commentary, we are gathering a trip directly into John Hughes' own teenage years as he spoke of how the museum was a place of refuge for him and this sequence allowed him to showcase the works of art that had been his personal favorites. Even deeper are the characters of Ferris, Sloane and Cameron themselves as their adventures around the city were updated versions of himself, his cheerleader girlfriend and future wife Nancy Ludwig and a third person, a friend on whom Cameron was partially based that Hughes also described in the commentary as "a lost person."
Much of the film's school scenes were all shot inside of Glenbrook North High School, Hughes' alma mater. Cameron Frye's hockey jersey bears the name and number of Gordie Howe from the Detroit Red Wings, Hughes favorite player from his childhood upbringing in Michigan. Hughes also harbored a love of parades, and he would sneak out of his advertising office at Leo Burnett to view them. Also, when Hughes was moonlighting as a writer for National Lampoon, and in true Ferris Bueller style, he would arrange his Chicago office workspace to appear as if he had just stepped out for a moment when he had actually taken flights to and from the Lampoon offices in New York city.
As for the Art Institute sequence, the very one which Hughes himself referred to as "self-indulgent" on the DVD commentary, we are gathering a trip directly into John Hughes' own teenage years as he spoke of how the museum was a place of refuge for him and this sequence allowed him to showcase the works of art that had been his personal favorites. Even deeper are the characters of Ferris, Sloane and Cameron themselves as their adventures around the city were updated versions of himself, his cheerleader girlfriend and future wife Nancy Ludwig and a third person, a friend on whom Cameron was partially based that Hughes also described in the commentary as "a lost person."
So, Ferris Bueller is John Hughes? Well...to be clear, I think that Hughes, like any writer, placed all manner of himself into his characters but I would not be surprised if Ferris, for his good and bad points, did not cut a tad closer to the bone. To some degree, it could be perceived that John Hughes himself possessed a certain "Pied Piper"/"Peter Pan" aspects that lent themselves to his film career, most specifically the speed at which he created, the ability to turn out one high quality motion picture after another despite all of the industry obstacles and with testimony after testimony from the actors he worked with, they all seemed to adore him. But even Ferris Bueller like Peter Pan has a dark side.
In Molly Ringwald's tribute she expressed pointedly about herself and Anthony Michael Hall that, "We were like the Darling children when they made the decision to leave Neverland. And John was Peter Pan, warning us that if we left, we could never come back." Using that as a leaping off point, we can easily make some comparisons to both Ferris Bueller and therefore, Hughes himself.
On three occasions during the film, we can see that Ferris clearly hates being one-upped, forcibly challenged or when he finds that his elaborate plans and schemes are threatened to be upended. First, when Cameron is making his phony phone call to Ed Rooney and becomes a tad over-zealous, Ferris lashes out with a slap to Cameron's head and a kick to the seat of his pants. Or take the restaurant scene when Ferris attempts to pass himself off as Abe Froman the Sausage King Of Chicago and the Maitre D is relentlessly resistant, we can see that Ferris is again growing in anger. And then, there was even Cameron's pseudo suicide attempt in his swimming pool where once Ferris realizes that he was duped when Cameron offers a sarcastic "Ferris Bueller, you're my hero," Ferris is more than a bit displeased at being fooled.
Being increasingly furious at the situations he cannot manipulate as easily as he normally is able lies at the heart of the character of Ferris just as much as his near magical attributes and massive popularity, much like John Hughes himself, whose temper was legendary and his grudges that Ringwald described as being "supernatural." This specific quality to Hughes' personality is not one that I necessarily thought of as bratty (although some of his tantrums were wholly unnecessary) but one that demonstrated how unfit for the business of Hollywood a sensitive soul like John Hughes actually was. Ferris' occasional difficulties possibly mirrored and were maybe representative of Hughes' own anger and difficulty working within an industry that has increasingly grown less interested in filmmakers creating personal statements.
And with that, I completely believe that "Ferris Bueller's Day Off" is as personal a statement as could be as the very best of John Hughes' films were all indeed deeply personal statements that were housed inside of commercial, populist entertainment. Like all of the audacious flights of fancy Ferris undertakes within the film, John Hughes, for a time, had the audacity to create movies about teenagers for teenagers that treated teenagers with respect, dignity and as people deserving of stories with humor, heart, class and integrity. And if that is not an act of audacious rebelliousness, especially within an industry that endlessly treats teenagers as nothing more than commodities, then I do not know what else could be.
John Hughes once stated in an interview during the original release of "Ferris Bueller's Day Off" that "Most of my material is about life getting changed, or realizing something. Ferris says, 'Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and take a look around once in a while, you could miss it.' That's the thing I most fear-missing my life."
And what else is life itself, but the euphoria, the sadness and all in between and here was this one movie starring this teenage prankster and sage that definitely changed my life and continuously has forced me to make realizations about what my days on this Earth can and should mean. And as with so many artistic touchstones that I have experienced, I have John Hughes to thank once again. May my life, and all of yours, be as charmed, and as full and as rich as Ferris Bueller's and of course, John Hughes'.
I still miss you, John. And I always will.
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