John Hughes did some of the key films of any ’80s childhood. I have a fistful of his DVDs. Anyone my age who collects movies does. Much will be written of his ability to capture a mood and tone authentically, and I shall agree.
But I want to offer a favorite detail of his style, of which I always think when I consider his work. I love his use of subtle sound effects. My two favorite examples:
- When Edward R. Rooney, Dean of Students, learns that he hasn’t been talking to Ferris Bueller as George Peterson on the telephone, and the camera cuts to the multi-line phone with the button he’s going to have to push, the HOLD indicator lamp’s flashing is synchronized with a soft, ominous chime.
- After Sam’s mom says “Long Duk Dong” in the kitchen, he can’t resist throwing a gong sound in there (both times).
Indeed, it is Sixteen Candles that is getting the nod in my player tonight.
Been a brutal summer for the 1980s, hasn’t it?
Thank you so much, Mr. Hughes. RIP.
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Well, my teenage years just took a major hit…. Hope you enjoyed Sixteen Candles. When I was 14, I thought there was no better movie than The Breakfast Club…
Sixteen Candles hit a little too close to home to be a favorite. (No offense; totally just me.) The other flicks were, to my teenaged mind then, and even looking back now, a wee bit o’ genius. I think you nailed it with “authenticity.” He didn’t really blow things out of proportion in the making of a film storyline. These were characters we “knew,” in situations we were familiar with (okay, so I didn’t have a best friend with a classic car ripe for the stealing), doing things we all did, wished we could, or wished we could have avoided. (Like my hairstyles from about ’85 on. But that’s another story.)
Will the world stop because of his passing? No, but it is another door closed for a lot of us. Thank you, Mr. Hughes, for reminding me that sometimes you have to “stop and look around once in a while.”
Just a few weeks ago, we rented Ferris Bueller’s Day Off so my now teen son could watch it with us. It had been a LONG time since I sat and watched it all the way through. I love that movie. I remember the first time I saw it with a friend in Houston. I hated my job, I hated everything about Houston, and I remember this film helping me feel so much better that day.
So much of JH’s movie success has to be attributed to the soundtracks. He had a lot of good, fun music to use and convey a really genuine mood. I can’t imagine current music being as easy or light to match the autuer’s perspective. Then again, it’s hard to imagine a band like Crowded House or The Psychadelic Furs being in the same league as Bernard Hermann either. Like his entire energy was powered by a single decade, Hughes did almost nothing recent of any note. Residuals from DVD sales must have been good.
BamaDan: I know you and I differ on the degree of our respective affections for Quentin Tarantino, but to me he’s the musical successor of John Hughes. His use of music is genius.
If there’s a new song that works, he uses it, and if there’s a classic that works he’ll use it. But my favorite thing he does is resurrect outstanding old songs you’ve never heard before (but should have, as good as they consistently are) and stick ’em front and center, and they wind up having a hell of a lot to do with what the scene ultimately conveys. Pulp Fiction and Kill Bill (speaking of Bernard Hermann) were great examples, and Death Proof is STUFFED with those songs.
No doubt, QT is a student of true autuers if not a true autuer himself. That’s a common criticism. Probably undeserved. But agreed, he has learned/mimicked others in use of soundtrack for mise-en-scene. Interested in Inglorious Basterds. I guess I can expect to see bloody Nazi torture porn to the tune of something by Cat Stevens.
Yeah, I’m pumped too. I think it comes out week after next. Lea won’t watch Tarantino movies. Is that one Mrs. BD will see with you? If not, we ought to plan to do the lounge at Monaco together.