A note on John Hughes

When I heard that John Hughes had died recently I did not take too much notice at first, remembering him mainly for some pretty basic kids' comedies a long time ago. However, a few of the tributes (including the home page on the Internet Movie Database) caught my eye and I realised that Highes did after all play a role, if relatively minor, in my cultural coming-of-age in the 1980s (clearly, as any reader of this blog will know, my formative years).

Some examples follow. Probably the biggest rite of passage for me, as for many others, was going to university, and I remember spending the afternoon before I started as a fresher, being well-aware of a sense of the end of one era and the start of another, at 'Pretty in Pink' in the Adelphi cinema (now long gone) in Dublin's city centre. Now that was not a great movie by any standards, and I do not think it would stand the test of time even if viewed now through a lens heavily blurred by nostalgia, but other Hughes movies would have more lasting value. 'Ferris Bueller's day off' was certainly a very funny if now very dated film, which was probably his high point, and must remain a teenage classic for the 1980s, while Hughes moved to more mature (at least chronologically) characters for 'Planes, trains and automobiles', which included a classic scene of male awkwardness which is very true to life, and which has since been much adapted for different circumstances in my life, as seen below:

Another thing Hughes did very well was selecting soundtracks for his movies, including the best song of Simple Minds' career in 'Don't you forget about me' for 'The breakfast club' (better than 'Pretty in pink' but not as good as the other two mentioned), as seen below:

Finally, as this morphs from a movie post into a music one, the best thing I will ever associate with John Hughes' movies was of course the title track for 'Pretty in pink', by the Psychedelic Furs, certainly one of my favourite 1980s' songs of all, shown in a very contemporary 'Top of the pops' performance below:

Even more finally, bringing the story right up to date, I really like (predictably) the National's cover version of the same song from a Daytrotter session, which can be heard here. So, to sum up, John Hughes was undeniably a part of the 1980s, and as I acted as a sort of cultural sponge during that decade, I soaked up some of his influence, and will take this opportunity to acknowledge that, and mark his passing.