RIP: John Hughes

John Hughes died on August 6, 2009 in New York of a heart attack while walking his dog. He was 59 years old.

As the oldest member of this lady-gang, Pink Mafia, it’s my duty to tell you just how much this man truly affected my youth.

First, Pretty In Pink. When people talk about epic moments in film, they’re talking about Duckie lip synching Otis Redding’s “Try A Little Tenderness” to Andi at the record store while she waits in vein for Blaine, her crush from the richer side of the tracks who appears at the very last second to take her on a date.

Pretty In Pink made me want to make my own clothes and work in a record shop and respect the Annie Potts like women in my life.

Hughes Music Trivia: “If You Leave” is actually by Psychedelic Furs, OMD did a cover in the studio and they chose it as the lead song for the movie. Burn!

In Sixteen Candles, I fell in love with Jake Ryan, who has yet to be replaced by any real life boyfriend as the ultimate hottie. Even if he wore those high wasted bermuda pants and was all bruding in tight gym shorts.

Gawd, when he says, “Make a wish” and she replies, “it’s already come true”. There isn’t a girl on the planet who can resist it.

Hughes Music Trivia: Sixteen Candles was named after the Stray Cats song.

Enter Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. I went to Chicago with my grade seven class and all I wanted to do was go to the Art Institute of Chicago and see what Ferris and Sloan and Cameron saw. My crush on Cameron Frye was so heavy that at one point, I’d even convinced myself that Alan Ruck (the actor that played him) and I would be together one day. This is at 13 years old (as a side note, he’s old enough to be my dad).

Hughes Music Trivia: John Hughes was a huge Beatles fan and often had his characters sing Beatles songs in his movies, “Birthday” by the geek in Sixteen Candles, “Love” by Duckie in Pretty In Pink, but “Twist And Shout” in this one, hit it out of the park.

Even though Weird Science came out before, I was too young to watch it at the time, so it wasn’t until years later that I finally saw it. Kelly Lebrock cemented her total babe status in this movie. Incidentally, it was also the first time I fell for the geek on film which lead to a long string of geek boyfriends for pretty much the rest of my life. I would still shower with Wyatt in a heartbeat, and he could wear a snow suit for all I care.

Hughes Music Trivia: Well it’s not really music, but the part where Anthony Michael Hall goes to the bar with Kelly LeBrock and gets wasted begat the whole joint-smoking scene in The Breakfast Club.

Some Kind Of Wonderful was the movie that made me think the girl with the dyke haircut could still get the guy in the end. I saw it when I was a kid and didn’t think much of it, but by high school, I was basically Watts. Still am. I love Mary Stuart Masterson’s portrayal of the tough girl who didn’t fit in with the other girls. Felt boyish and awkward and was hopelessly in love with her best friend Eric Stoltz, who in the end, finally notice the shit out of her.

Just check this opening scene and tell me you’re not 100% head over heels:

Finally, The Breakfast Club. Every girl wants to be either Molly Ringwald or Ally Sheedy because of this movie. In university I wrote poetry for Ally Sheedy. My, “I would go gay for her” feelings have never ceased.

By the time Judd Nelson pounded his fist into the air in the closing scene, while Simple Minds, “Don’t You (Forget About Me)” began playing in the background, I was sold like a cheap piece of real estate.

I couldn’t wait to get to high school for “strong lips”, “a black corvette and a pink guy”, “you two donkey dicks couldn’t get laid in a morgue” , “This is 1987, don’t you know that a woman can be whatever she wants to be?–I know, my mom’s a plumber”, and…”life moves pretty fast. You don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it”.

Hughes left Hollywood after John Candy’s death, saying that “Hollywood killed his friend”. He left for his kids, but he continued to write (ummm Maid in Manhattan anyone?). Truth be told, he left us a long time ago.

And like anyone who grew up in the 80s, I pinned and stewed and hoped that he’d come back. Because we need him now more than ever. And he’s gone.

We lost an international treasure yesterday people. And no amount of Mean Girls or Donnie Darko’s will ever replace him. He was the voice of a generation, without being to trite about it.

He was the creator of all my teenage dreams and his movies were the evidence that I was not alone.

RIP John Hughes, you will be missed.

xo AVF