Uh, Hmm, Well, Ah...Oh!

Duh! I know what I can start out with tonight...my own little tribute to John Hughes. R.I.P. My first introduction to him was of course back in 1984 when "Sixteen Candles" came out...my parent's, brother and I had gone to the drive in to see a double bill of ? -a movie I don't remember and "Sixteen Candles". I can't remember the other movie (it was probably "Back to the Future or something wholesome like that) but then we started watching "Sixteen Candles" and when the scene came up of the girl taking a shower and bare breasts were shown, we were outta there. My parent's were deep into the religion by this time and they didn't want my brother (my 17 year old brother) exposed to that kind of thing...I can't really quite put into words what I'm trying to say here, suffice it to say that masturbation was wrong and nudity in TV/movies was wrong, etc. and of course they didn't want to contribute to material for him to use "later"!

Anyhoo, I remember being really upset because I had heard about the movie and all my "worldly" friends had seen it and I didn't think it was fair we couldn't watch it because of my brother.

It took me years to actually see it...and though a great movie, it's not my favorite of his.

Then "The Breakfast Club" came out and again, heard about it but was not allowed to see it and didn't get a chance to until a few years after the release and I bought it on videotape.

Now, this one? I LOVED. To this day, this is one of the few movies I can quote along with. I loved how they got high (it took me until I was in my 20's to do that for the first time, such a late bloomer!) and I loved how the Molly Ringwald & Judd Nelson characters interacted, especially at the end when she goes to see him in the storage room (you all saw my 100% BC quiz score on Facebook right? I know this movie well! :P ) I still love Judd Nelson because of this movie.

What a frickin' awesome movie overall right? My first high school, Harding, was full of cliques and I could relate to feeling like an outsider because of the religion & stuff. (My second/final high school was Como Park and while there were cliques, I actually had friends from all of them, unlike at Harding)

Then came "Pretty in Pink" and this is my 2nd favorite John Hughes movie of all time. Molly Ringwald and super cute Andrew McCarthy & Jon Cryer. Bonus that James Spader was in it too! Instant lust crush on him! And who can forget that great soundtrack ("If You Leave" not my favorite track even though it is a great song that introduced me to OMD, who became one of my favorite groups)

Next, "Ferris Bueller's Day Off" and somehow, I think I saw that -in the actual movie theater. I'm not sure how or why...(maybe it had a better rating than some of the others? PG or PG-13 or something?) and yes, this one was a GREAT movie. Instant crush on Matthew Broderick. And to this day, whenever I hear "Shake It Up Baby" by The Beatles I'm instantly reminded of that parade in downtown Chicago. My favorite scene is when Jennifer Grey is making out with Charlie Sheen at the police station.

Then in 1987, I saw a movie that is to this day one of my all-time favorites. (I must have been allowed to see it again because of a PG rating...) I remember hearing about it and thinking cool, another John Hughes movie and those are always good...I went downtown St. Paul, to the movie theaters at Galtier Plaza, with my cousin D and ?? (crap, apologies for forgetting who else was there) and seeing what I think is the best (in my opinion) of his movies...

"Some Kind of Wonderful"

Dreamy Eric Stoltz and girl-crush worthy Mary Stuart Masterson. The storyline was right up my alley...girl secretly in love with her best friend. Happy ending? You betcha. And that soundtrack? ("I Go Crazy" by Flesh for Lulu and "Turn to the Sky" by The March Violets) Fucking awesome. I can pretty much say all their lines throughout the entire thing (well, I used to be able to...not so sure now since it's been a couple of years since I've watched it :( ) ...this movie having what I consider the best on-screen kiss scene EVER when they're in the garage and MSM's character is asking ES's character if he thinks he "can deliver a kiss that kills...Amanda Jones is no minor leaguer who will be swept off her feet at the touch of your amateur lips..." and then comes the most perfect movie kiss EVER (uh, have I mentioned that I think this is the best movie kiss EVER?? :P ) ...it gave me chills & thrills and still affects me to this day!

I loved this one so much I even bought "the book" they published of it (good but yet slightly different from the movie even though the movie came out first from what I recall...weird)

Ah, memories. Did these movies accurately portray the realities of my teenage years with cliques & being from the wrong side of the tracks? Yeah. We weren't rich and my clothes usually came from thrift stores. Did I fit in with the cool kids at school? Well, not at Harding. Did I long for the boy I liked to like me back? Of course (And after years of unrequited crushes it finally did happen once, in high school, but that's a story for another post). Was I guilty of being "...with someone for the wrong reasons then alone for the right." ? (Not so much and it was this that helped me avoid being in a relationship with A when that was offered to me a few years later)

It's amazing how much a person can be shaped by their memories of a time and what affect someone else's words can have on another.

Later came a movie that I didn't care for, which was disappointing because I had expected to like it based on the previous movies of his I had seen and that was "She's Having A Baby". While it had a great cast with Kevin Bacon and Elizabeth McGovern (and an oh so young & cute Alec Baldwin) & a phenomenal soundtrack ("Desire" by Gene Loves Jezebel, "Apron Strings" by Everything But the Girl, "This Woman's Work" by Kate Bush) it made me sad to think that this was the reality of getting married. Now yes, it was just a movie but from all I had known, it was a fairly accurate portrayal of getting married (because what other choice did you have if you didn't want to lose someone -gee now there's a reason to get married (not because you really like and are in love with someone that you want to spend your life with!) resisting temptation and then giving into society's pressures to live in the suburbs, get a mini-van and then procreate...) ...OK, OK, I probably read waaaaay to much into that but I took things so literally in my younger years. I was trying to learn about the world from movies, TV & books because god knows, in the religion, they weren't teaching you about real life! Anyhoo...this is one of the reasons, still to this day, that I have no desire for the marriage, move to the suburbs, have a mini-van and 2.4 kids lifestyle.

Well! That was quite the rant on that one wasn't it?

Good grief, it's almost 2am and it's been raining and stormin' outside something fierce with no sign of letting up.

Well, I'm sad that the brilliant mind that brought these life-altering movies to my life has left this world and will be ever grateful for his contribution to the movie world.