Don’t You Forget About Him

The year 2009 has not been a good year for Hollywood. Actress Natasha Richardson passed away in March after a tragic skiing accident, Farrah Fawcett lost her battle with cancer on June 25th and Michael Jackson died the same day from a drug-induced heart attack to name just a few. As if that wasn’t enough, on the 6th of August we lost John Hughes, a legend in the teen movie scene.

As he was active in the ’80s, the name might not be familiar. But how about these titles: Pretty in Pink, Sixteen Candles, Home Alone 1 and 2 and Beethoven? No doubt that you will find traces of John Hughes amongst your family’s DVD collection. Hughes wrote almost 40 and directed eight films that have become classics, but he is best known for being the forerunner of the present day’s teen-movie genre.

John Hughes was born on February 18, 1950 in Michigan. He graduated from Glenbrook North High in 1968, and his experiences in high school gave him a special sensitivity and a relevance to deal with teenage issues in his movies. He hit the big time when his screenplay National Lampoon’s Vacation (1983) became a major hit, but his directorial debut Sixteen Candles (1984) would establish him as the godfather of teen movies.
photo credit: courtesy of Paramount

What made Hughes’ films successful were the realistic way they depicted high school life. Other movies usually showed teenagers as caricatures or stereotypes, all about partying and having fun, causing mayhem or just providing comic relief. Sixteen Candles was one of the first teen flicks to offer a different perspective. The lead character Sam, an awkward high-school girl with a crush on the popular senior, dealt with the indignities and complications of growing up and of finding one’s identity. The Breakfast Club (1985) dug further into the different cliques and stereotypes in high school, which resonated with teens and created a cult following. More films such as Pretty in Pink, Weird Science and Ferris Bueller’s Day Off followed until Hughes’ retirement in 1994.

He was a farmer for the rest of his life, rarely appearing in the Hollywood limelight, which led to a documentary and an anthology about John Hughes titled Don’t You Forget About Me. And on August 6th 2009, Hughes passed away from a heart attack at the age of 59. His influence remains on countless filmmakers today, and his legacy lives on in the form of timeless classics.
Let's not forget about him.