john hughes 1950-2009

director john hughes died today at the very early age of 59. the cause of death was a heart attack. ap story can be found by clicking here.

hughes has not directed a film since the early '90s. if you were a teen in the '80s, however, and i was, the impact of his movies is incalculable. there are better filmmakers out there and more important films. yet hughes tapped into the teenager in everyone and his films were both solid works of effervescent human comedy. no one was poor in a hughes film, even if the characters were supposed to be poor, hughes populated his movies with people who always lived in magnificent, yet comfy, houses, and every one, except for a few of the villains, were slightly goofy and full of life. at their best hughes' films embodied a joy of living that can be traced back to the classic cinema of screwball comedies and old musicals.

i'll end with an example of hughes' brand of cinema. in this clip of ferris bueller's day off [1986] the eponymous lead played by matthew broderick sneaks onto a float during a parade in downtown chicago and lip syncs to the beatles' 'twist&shout'. only in the movies can everyone, i mean everyone, spontaneously take part in this joy.