The mysterious Mr. Hughes

The legacy of the godfather of the 80s -- John Hughes -- is examined closely in an article this week in the Los Angeles Times.

Hughes is back in the news because the new Owen Wilson flick "Drillbit Taylor" is based on a story that Hughes wrote back in the '80s. And even though Hughes' name reportedly doesn't appear in the credits, it was enough of a "return" to draw the industry's attention.

Click here to read the LA Times article in full. Here are some of the highlights:

• Hughes left Hollywood in 1995. He's living in seclusion with his family in either Chicago or Wisconsin, depending on who you believe.
• He grants no interviews and has no agent. Even fellow directors and writers who try to look him up while in Chicago discover he can't be found. The only actor who's met with him in recent years: Vince Vaughn during the filming of his movie "The Break Up."
• There's no consensus on why Hughes quit the movie business. The Times says, "It's possible that the filmmaker, who gave studio executives headaches when he was riding high, simply grew tired of the messy business of making movies and chose to pursue a simpler life."

With teen movies once again abusing the pre-Hughes formula of breast shots and fart jokes, wouldn't this seem like a good time for his return?

Comments

[Marissa]

Oh my. The fact that many of these teen-flicks pride themselves as being Hughesian makes me ever so slightly nauseous.
If Hughes was and is truly an influence over these current film makers, they wouldn't be so overtly crass. Maybe I'm just hyper-protective of the decade of John Hughes. I mentioned this yesterday when Malibu originally provided us with the link to the article.
I'll make my public plea once again: Mr. Hughes, PLEASE come back!!

[Rick]

Wow, I can only echo both Marissa and our own Mr. Spears. I need a NEW fix of Hughes, baby.

I only wish....

[malibu]

You're so right, Marissa! After being told that Superbad was hilarious and better than 80's teen flicks I was tremendously disappointed when I finally saw it. It was so implausible that it seemed like more of a farce than anything else! That's what is so satisfying about John Hughes' movies--they could happen, and sometimes did in real life.

[Bassnote]

I agree with what Marissa said. These current filmmakers cannot be using hughes as an influence because Hughes was not blatantly crass and crude. Most of these current films completely lack class, and Hughes had that in spades. It's no wonder Hughes remains reclusive, he doesn't want to be associated with this current crop of directors.

[jane]

Interesting article -- quite thought-provoking.

However, I don't dispute or find great fault the current crop of filmmakers citing Mr. Hughes as an influence -- they seem to have chosen to glean from his body of work the elements they want to and then have gone to forge their own course creatively. It's all about interpretation, at least from my perspective.

Loved the J.D. Salinger comparison from Kevin Smith.

[chase]

Hey, what's wrong with breast shots and fart jokes!

[DoctorDrew]

malibu - just what are you putting in the category of John Hughes movies? Here are the 8 movies he directed:

Sixteen Candles (1984)
The Breakfast Club (1985)
Weird Science (1985)
Ferris Bueller's Day Off (1986)
Planes, Trains & Automobiles (1987)
She's Having a Baby (1988)
Uncle Buck (1989)
Curly Sue (1991)

Now to your quote about, "they could happen, and sometimes did in real life." Weird Science, Planes, Trains and Automobiles, Curly Sue. Those movies require a serious suspension of disbelief. Hughes' characters go to incredible lengths to keep its characters from doing the next obvious thing that would make them stop traveling down the road the movie demands.

I understand your point about the farce of modern comedy, and I agree that "Hughes is the poet of the colorful domestic crisis, the movie where typical Americans do typical things in typical places while learning to be better people than they were at the beginning of the film". Let's not forget that many events occurred in his movies (and had to for the plot to continue) that would not happen in real life.

[chase]

Don't know where he is, but check out this Denver band ... that's right, it's "The John Hughes Fan Club" ...

http://www.myspace.com/tjhfc

I am NOT making this up!

[Marissa]

Wow, I haven't had this many people agree with me since I decided to divorce my husband. That wasn't really funny, but it's true.

[Rick]

After reading the LA Times article, I wrote to the author and mentioned similar sentiments to Marissa's and Bassnote's...

Truly, I find it remarkable when people like Judd Apatow, Seth Rogen or Kevin Smith (most especially) assert that their work has been influenced by John Hughes.

It's like hearing Black Flag's Henry Rollins claim that ABBA influenced him. (He really did!) He's quite the man to admit his affection for Sweden's number one export, but let's just say his songs bear precious little resemblance other than a similar note scale.

In kind, Apatow, Rogen, Smith and others might love Hughes' movies the way we do, but it's one helluva a rosy pair of glasses they (and today's Hollywood) are perceiving their work through.

[Rick]

Oops, my mistake: Rollins gave credit to the GeeGees, not ABBA. (But if you can show me the difference, there's a bag of Funyuns in it for you.)