I was terribly saddened to hear that John Hughes had died this past Thursday after suffering a heart attack at 59 while out for a walk in Manhattan.  Much has been made of how Hughes’ coming-of-age movies in the 1980s defined a generation, and I am certainly someone who’s adolescent years were shaped and influenced by his films.  It was a little different for me than others, though, because I at his height (Sixteen Candles in 1984, The Breakfast Club in 1985 and Pretty In Pink in 1986) I was 11, 12, and 13, more than a few years shy of Hughes’ mixed bag of protagonists.  For me, these characters weren’t living my life on screen before me, they were living the life I was going to lead, the romantic version of what my teen years were going to be like.  By the time Ferris Bueller’s Day Off rolled around in 1986, though, the nascent teen-angst version of myself was coming into being, and I had found my hero in Matthew Broderick’s free-wheeling, fun-loving rebel with a credit card.

Throughout high school, some long-time friends would tell me that I most reminded them of Duckie, Jon Cryer’s character in Pretty In Pink, probably because of my penchant for wearing some pretty funky shoes with my school uniform, but most likely because I too was a lovable misfit that didn’t seem to know how to handle puberty’s emotional highs, and could come across as an annoying sidekick with bad jokes.  So here’s the dichotomy then:  I wanted to be Ferris Bueller, but I was really Duckie Dale.

John Hughes was a one-of-a-kind filmmaker, the likes of which we’ll most likely not see anytime soon.  Around the world, thirtysomethings are standing with their heads bowed, hands over hearts, and “Don’t You (Forget About Me)” playing in the background.  And Let’s not forget the gorgeous rendition of the Smiths’ “Please, Please, Please Let Me Get What I Want” from Ferris Bueller, or the soaring “If You Leave” by Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark from Pretty In Pink.  And The National, too.

MP3: Simple Minds “Don’t You (Forget About Me)”
MP3: The Dream Academy “Please, Please, Please Let Me Get What I Want”
MP3: Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark”If You Leave”
MP3: The National “Pretty In Pink”