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As most of the world knows by now, John Hughes had a heart attack last Thursday and passed away at the age of 59. There are many tributes and obituaries all over the net so I will refrain from such an attempt. My EW came today with a very nice piece that is as good as any. Instead here are two of the many great moments I had watching his films.

#1. Riding my bike home after watching Breakfast Club.

I don’t remember who’s house it was, what year it was, or much else really. I remember I was hanging out with a friend in high school and was about to go home. His mom asked if we wanted to watch a video tape. She gave us two choices and I had never heard of either; The Killing Fields or The Breakfast Club. In retrospect that choice seems totally absurd. But I seem to remember it took us a while to decide. Of course in the end we decided against Vietnam genocide and for teen angst. We watched the movie and that was that. I don’t remember saying much before hopping on my bike and heading for home. But that bike ride home! That I remember. Like a raging torrent all this stuff started rushing through my head; Little pieces of the movie that had lodged themselves in a crevice somewhere only to be released by the blood coursing through my brain as I pumped the peddles. Holy crap it was a movie about me. That’s all I really remember, but I remember feeling fantastic.

There haven’t been too many films where I’ve seen myself on the screen. I’m not a doctor, lawyer, cop, gangster, or meteor-destroying-tough-but-lovable-fantastically-gorgeous-dock-worker. Not the smartest kid in class or the dumbest either. Not the rich kid or growing up on the wrong side of the tracks, just normal. It must be hard to write normal people into a movie without it getting dull as dishwater. And that’s really not fair, because I know all sorts of normal people who are anything but dull. I think it would be another 10 years before someone handed me a certain Nick Hornby book and I got to have that experience again. It’s truly enjoyable. Some person you’ve never met, who knows nothing about you, your life or where you come from reaches out across the ether, plucks out a piece of your essence and commits it to paper. The Breakfast Club was the first time that happened and that bike ride home was intoxicating!

In retrospect I think the invigorating thing about that “geek” character (yes, of course that was me) is that he doesn’t go through some magic duck-swan transformation. He comes out the other end of the movie the same person he always was. He’s just more OK with it. Interestingly the other 4 characters pair off, leaving him to essentially “hook-up” with himself. I’m still working that bit out.

#2. The opening three minutes of Some Kind of Wonderful.

It still gives me goosebumps. John Hughes knew about music. He was dialed in to the music that was happening then and there. The fact that he would pull an obscure remix of an obscure flash in the pan like Propaganda for these titles blew my mind. It still blows my mind. There’s only one way this could have happened. He must have actually been listening to the music. My favorite quote from the EW article comes from John Cryer (Duckie): “He told me his whole movie career was just an excise to get a record label.”

Having the music be current probably doesn’t sound all that impressive today. These days producers have “kids” on staff to make sure their soundtracks are current. Indie bands know their only chance of breaking even is getting on the next Garden State or Juno soundtrack. Back then there was no infrastructure. You can tell by listening to the soundtracks of other teen movies of the time. Have you ever heard the Fast Times soundtrack? Terrible! It sounds like it was produced by someone’s dad, which it probably was. (As an aside, I just want to give a shout out to Repo Man. One of the best soundtracks ever!). Eventually Hollywood caught up and now sometimes the movie is just an excuse to sell the soundtrack.

This actually kinda fits in with the Breakfast Club thing. It really was something to see these people on screen moving around to music I was actually listening to at the time. I remember my friends and I would play a game of trying to see if we caught all the names of the bands on the posters in the kids rooms. Although in retrospect Ferris Beuller’s soundtrack was not the best, his room was awesome! When that Jesus and Mary Chain song came on I almost went out in the lobby bought some gum and chewed it up so I could then swallow it! In that spirit here are some great John Hughes soundtrack songs. Enjoy.

New Order - Thieves Like Us (Pretty In Pink)

Jesus and Mary Chain - The Hardest Walk (Some Kind of Wonderful)

Altered Images - Happy Birthday (16 Candles)

O.M.D. - If You Leave (Pretty In Pink)

Propaganda - Abuse (Some Kind of Wonderful)

Oingo Boingo - Weird Science (Weird Science)

Psychedelic Furs - Pretty In Pink (Pretty In Pink)
OK this is cheating. They re-recorded this for the film, but I like the original better. At least I can say this is the recording that inspired the movie title.

Yello - Oh Yeah (Ferris Bueller’s Day Off)

Simple Minds - Dont You Forget About Me (Breakfast Club)

The Smiths - Please Please Please Let Me Get What I Want (Pretty In Pink)

RIP John Hughes. And Thanks.

Technorati : Breakfast Club, John Hughes, Propaganda, Some Kind of Wonderful