Goodbye John and Thanks

Iconic filmmaker John Hughes has passed away. As a child of the 80's, I grew up on his films. Not only did his films speak to us because the characters were our age, but because the themes of these films were so close to our own lives. We have all felt like "a brain, and an athlete, and a basket case, a princess and a criminal". They made us feel like someone knew what we were felling, the teen angst, the self-doubt. And (unlike real life) they had pretty happy endings. We felt hope after watching a Hughes movie.

But he didn't just write and direct those classic 80's films, he also wrote some truly great comedies. "Vacation", which is one of my all time favorite movies (we'll just forgive the sequels, okay?) and "Mr. Mom" which made Michael Keaton a star. In fact, while he wrote 38 films, he only directed 8. And of those films he directed, he made 7 of them in only 5 years. When you are hot, you're hot. He continued to write until as recently as last year (the film "Drillbit Taylor" which I haven't seen but which does star my crush Owen Wilson) under the name Edmond Dantes. (Hmm, do you think John Hughes just liked the Dumas novel, or did he feel like a man who escaped some cruel machinations to achieve unheard of wealth and power?)

My hat is off to you. Mr. Hughes. I truly hope you enjoyed the ride. And when you get to Heaven, I hope the moose outside doesn't tell you it's closed.

"Life moves pretty fast. You don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it." Amen.


P.S. On a very irreverent side note, is it just me or did John Hughes look an awful lot like Billie Jean King?