John Hughes FAQ

All That's Left to Know About the Man Behind the Movies

Thomas A. Christie

• Publisher: Applause
• Year: 2019
• eBook ISBN: 9781493050840
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Media & Performing Arts
• Subtopic: Film Direction & Production

Looking for a comprehensive chronicle of the films of legendary director, screenwriter, and producer John Hughes? You're holding it in your hands. Covering the entirety of Hughes's career, from his earliest features through to his mainstream box-office successes, John Hughes FAQ explores the key factors that contributed to his legendary status in the world of cinema.

While Hughes has become especially well known for the eight films that he directed between 1984 and 1991—including Sixteen Candles (1984), The Breakfast Club (1985), and Ferris Bueller's Day Off (1986)—he made a considerably greater contribution to cinema through the dozens of high-profile screenplays that he developed for production throughout the '80s and '90s.

John Hughes FAQ investigates many different aspects of Hughes's prolific career in film—discussing his distinctive flair for creating entertaining and engaging characters, his enthusiasm for new technology and eventful road trips, and his insightful social commentary on class and culture. Considering the entire sweep of Hughes's work behind the camera, John Hughes FAQ focuses not only on the popular classics of his filmography but also on many of his movies that have achieved a certain cultural prominence over the passing years.

Table of contents

• Acknowledgments
• Introduction
• 1 John Hughes: The Man Behind the Movies
• 2 When You Grow Up, Your Heart Dies: John Hughes and the Teen Movie
• 3 Life Moves Pretty Fast: John Hughes, Travel, and Transport
• 4 How Can You Give Kris Kringle a Parking Ticket on Christmas Eve? John Hughes and the Christmas Movie
• 5 I Predict Me and Her Will Interface: Technology in John Hughes Films
• 6 What Aren’t We Going to Do? John Hughes and the Great American Vacation
• 7 A Letter Confirming Your Reservation at the Nuthouse: Comic Characterization and Eccentrics in John Hughes Films
• 8 If We Played by the Rules Right Now, We’d be in Gym: Sports and Games in John Hughes Films
• 9 Don’t You Forget About Me: The Forgotten John Hughes Movies
• 10 They Just Don’t Write Love Songs Like They Used To: Popular Music in John Hughes Films
• 11 What a Funny Guy: John Hughes as Edmond Dantès
• 12 She Said We’re Going Downtown: John Hughes’s Chicago and Illinois
• 13 Being Bad Feels Pretty Good: The Antagonists of John Hughes Films
• 14 We’ll Settle Down, Have a Couple of Kids: John Hughes Films and Parenthood
• 15 Dodge City Was Enough Fun for One Day: John Hughes, Patriotism and the U.S.A.
• 16 A Neo Maxi Zoom Dweebie: Geekdom in John Hughes Films
• 17 You Killed the Car: John Hughes and the Road Trip
• 18 You Look Good Wearing My Future: Eighties Youth, the Cold War, and Uncertain Times in the Cinema of John Hughes
• 19 I’m a Kid, That’s My Job: John Hughes and the Kids’ Comedy Caper
• 20 A First-Class Ticket to Nowhere: Authority and the Education System in John Hughes Films
• 21 This Is a Really Volcanic Ensemble You’re Wearing: Fashion in John Hughes Films
• 22 You Have to Learn to Live in the Jungle: John Hughes’s Love Affair with Suburbia
• 23 Deliver the Kiss that Kills: Romance and Class in John Hughes’s America
• 24 When I Get Older, These Kids are Going to Take Care of Me: The Role of Seniors in John Hughes Films
• 25 Don’t You Want to Hear My Excuse? Plot Holes and Narrative Inconsistencies in the Screenplays of John Hughes
• 26 You Don’t Spell It, Son, You Eat It: Restaurants and Dining in John Hughes Films
• 27 The Place Is Like a Museum: Eighties Pop Culture and Set Design in John Hughes Films
• 28 You Can’t Tell a Book by its Cover: The Literary Allusions and Cinematic Tributes of John Hughes
• 29 You Couldn’t Ignore Me If You Tried: The Box-Office Performance of John Hughes’s Cinema
• 30 One Day I’ll Look Back on It and Laugh: The Legacy of John Hughes
• Image Credits
• Select Bibliography