Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: John Hughes has passed away at 59

This is topic John Hughes has passed away at 59 in forum Film-Yak at Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE.

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Posted by Bill Gabel (Member # 1105) on 08-06-2009, 04:10 PM:

Producer,Writer, Director John Hughes died today of a heart attack in Manhattan. He was 59 years old.

Posted by Todd McCracken (Member # 4718) on 08-06-2009, 04:40 PM:

RIP Mr.Hughes

Posted by Phil Hill (Member # 371) on 08-06-2009, 06:16 PM:

WOW! ...And relatively so young.

I always enjoyed his work especially in "Christmas Vacation " , "Sixteen Candles ", and "Vacation".

RIP MR. Talented!

Posted by Pravin Ratnam (Member # 1417) on 08-06-2009, 09:03 PM:

Wow, he brings back many good memories of moviewatching as a teen in the 80s. He somehow merged an indie sensibility with mainstream shlock and presented it as a nice package.

It's too bad he ran out of juice in the 90s and only made a little bit of mediocre stuff under fake names. But man, what he gave us in the 80s was good enough.

I just find it annoying that the death of lesser lights like Farrah Fawcett have been given a lot more attention than John Hughes. Fawcett had a freaking poster to her credit and one season of a show and two Lifetime caliber movies where she was a leading lady.

John Hughes got more coverage on NBC news than any of the entertainment shows from what i sampled today.

Posted by Mark Gulbrandsen (Member # 72) on 08-06-2009, 09:33 PM:

A sad moment for me as I worked on many of those films... Uncle Buck and up to the end of his film making stint in Chicago. Many fine times but also lots of hard work, lots of unbelievable food spreads set out at dailies every day! The first cut of Uncle Buck was 32 reels long and very funny! John certainly contributed more to Hollywood than many film makers have and his films will live on as classics. Yes, even Baby's Day Out has its fans! He was always a gentleman... at least at dailies. John was so wealthy from the Home Alone films that he didn't have to work any more and I think he eventually phased film making out of his life.
RIP John!

Will never forget the first time I saw Christmas Vacation... I had just eaten diner and made the 7PM show at the Strand Theater in Manitowoc, WI. I laughed so hard I almost threw up on the people in front of me... they moved over a few seats after hearing me choke...

Posted by David Stambaugh (Member # 1102) on 08-06-2009, 10:36 PM:

John Hughes made a *huge* mark on Hollywood. Many memorable movies.

Posted by Brad Miller (Member # 2) on 08-07-2009, 12:34 AM:

The only thing I didn't like about John Hughes was that he invented the "intelligent kid that talks like an educated adult". It was funny when he did it, but nobody else knows how to pull it off and it just leaves me GROANING when I see it done these days.

Other than that, a huge loss. [Frown]

Posted by Greg Anderson (Member # 235) on 08-07-2009, 11:52 AM:

While the 1980s were actually happening, I used to always say that John Hughes only had one floppy disc in his word processor. To me, he didn't have many ideas but he certainly had a lot to say about his ideas. He only told two stories: Teen angst stories and slapstick, "family" stories. The more money he made, the lazier he became.

Having said that, his work obviously resonated with audiences. As Brad pointed out, his young characters were always more wise and philosophical than anyone would really be at those ages. Yet, when each of us was that young, we usually thought of ourselves as knowing more than the adults around us. So I suppose that's why audiences loved his work.

Posted by Martin McCaffery (Member # 37) on 08-07-2009, 02:05 PM:

Actually, his nickname in some circles was The Word Processor;>

Posted by Bobby Henderson (Member # 840) on 08-08-2009, 01:00 AM:

What a bad week (had a bunch of other terrible crap falling upon people I know personally).

Budd Schulberg, one of the screenwriters for On the Waterfront died the same day as John Hughes. Unlike Hughes, Schulberg lived to a long old age and passed in his 90s.

My high school years were in the 1980s and Hughes' movies definitely made an impact despite my disgust for all that preppy crap (Izod shirts, argyle sweaters, The Smiths, etc.). Metallica, t-shirts and blue jeans were the shit as far as I was concerned. Still, movies like Sixteen Candles were a lot of fun.

I think the best John Hughes movie didn't involve teens as its main characters. I enjoyed Planes, Trains & Automobiles more than Ferris Bueller's Day Off, The Breakfast Club or even Home Alone. Even though the serious turn Planes, Trains & Automobiles took near its end seemed pretty odd, I thought it worked out to a really nice ending. The last shot of that movie is what I always think about first when I think of John Candy.

Posted by Tim Reed (Member # 137) on 08-08-2009, 01:15 PM:

quote: Bobby Henderson
Budd Schulberg, one of the screenwriters for On the Waterfront died the same day as John Hughes.

I didn't hear this about Schulberg. "A Face in the Crowd" is one of my all-time favorites.

Posted by Julie Lucero (Member # 4959) on 08-08-2009, 01:54 PM:

Sad news. I think this weekend I'll watch THE BREAKFAST CLUB and 16 CANDLES, two of my all-time faves, to honor John Hughes' career.

Posted by John Wilson (Member # 269) on 08-18-2009, 01:07 AM:

web page

This is a blog from a girl named Alison who became pen pals with John Hughes years ago.

[Frown]