John Hughes RIP

[Zardoz]

Sad news today, John Hughes, The talented writer and director responsible for many teen films which were a cornerstone of the 1980s, Passed away from a heart attack, he was 59.
Hughes' impressive streak of writing and directing credits included such classics as "Sixteen Candles," "Pretty in Pink", "The Breakfast Club," "Ferris Bueller's Day Off," "Vacation," "Planes, Trains & Automobiles," "Weird Science," "Uncle Buck," "Home Alone" and "Christmas Vacation."

http://www.abcnews.go.com/Entertainm...8270918&page=1

[McMurdo]

Sad news for any of us that grew up in the 80's.

[JRB]

My wife and I will be watching "The Breakfast Club" and "Pretty In Pink" tonight. It'll be sorta social. Demented and sad, but social.

RIP, John. A part of my youth has died with you.

[IRISH]

i lost a very dear friend back in june and at the time it occurred to me that she was the quintessential john hughes character and our high school years were like a hughes screenplay, with soundtrack complete with plenty of simple minds, psychedelic furs, new order, smiths and echo & the bunnymen...

very sad. like mcmurdo said, anyone growing up in the 80s will feel the bittersweet pang of nostalgia and loss in the coming weeks.

[Phogfan86]

I didn't like a lot of his films when they came out, but as I got older, films like Pretty in Pink, Sixteen Candles and Breakfast Club became sort of like historical documents for my high school and college years.

We were just saying no while at the same time being told that greed was good, that greed worked. I always thought Planes, Trains and Automobiles was something of a comedy classic. It could be argued that it was more due to the brilliant comedians -- Steve Martin and John Candy -- at the top of their games who carried the film, but that wouldn't be entirely fair.

He wrote some brilliant stuff that he didn't direct (Vacation, Mr. Mom). No, his films weren't challenging. They were fluff, sure, but there's always a place for that, and he filled that niche exceedingly well. But he wasn't just trying to sneak some pop bubble-gum film under the radar to score a hit. His films were sweet, but not sappy (again, see Planes, Trains and Automobiles). That's what he did, and in his corner of the American film machine, he was the best.

[sathor]

I saw that list, and had to look it up.

Somehow, I can't believe he did Nat. lampoons Christmas vacation. Wow. I am impressed more now.

[jgcunningham]

Here's a link to the original short story he wrote that became National Lampoon's Vacation:http://www.bizbag.com/Vacation/Vacation%2058.htm

[Galician]

On the piece NPR played about his passing, I heard the director of that movie, Harold Ramis, say that Hughes wrote Vacation due to his resentment at having never gone to Disneyworld.

[skauwt]

i loved all those movies the world has lost a great story teller

[Colonel MacNeal]

On a positive point. Molly Ringwald just had twins and she is still beautiful.

Just trying to find the silver lining.