John Hughes- Danke Schoen

Recently a friend and I were talking about She's Having a Baby- well, I was talking about it and my friend said she hadn't seen it (You haven't?!?! was my reply). I had just seen a beautiful dance to "This Woman's Work" by Kate Bush and it reminded me of the scene in She's Having a Baby where Kevin Bacon is in the waiting room of a hospital while his wife is having an emergency c-section. It will bring tears to your eyes.

It's one of many movie scenes from a John Hughes movie that I think of, or quote. If someone says "married" half the time I reply with "mawwied" like Long Duk Dong of Sixteen Candles (no matter how un-PC that is).

And how many times have you heard someone say "Bueller? Bueller?" when asking a question. A reference to Ben Stein's teacher in Ferris Bueller's Day Off. At the time I thought Ferris singing Wayne Newton's Danke Schoen during a parade was perfectly cheesey. "I recall Central Park in fall..."

At a slumber party, one of the parents talked to the theater and got us into The Breakfast Club, which was rated R. We thought that was so cool.

Surprisingly, he only directed 8 films- Sixteen Candles, The Breakfast Club, Weird Science, Ferris Bueller's Day Off, Planes Trains and Automobiles, She's Having a Baby, Uncle Buck, Curly Sue. Only Curly Sue would be one I don't know (I've heard of it, but can't quote it).

I would've said Sixteen Candles and Pretty in Pink were the pivitol teen movies for me; I'm surprised he didn't direct Pretty in Pink. And that's where his writing comes in- he wrote a lot of movies.

In addition to the 8 he directed, he wrote:
-Mr. Mom, one of my favorite comedies
-Vacation, Christmas Vacation
-Pretty in Pink
-Some Kind of Wonderful
-The Great Outdoors
-Home Alone (and some sequels)
and about 20 others

John Hughes died today at age 59.

I love that these movies, and soundtracks, are part of my teen years. They were perfect.