I’m going with a continuation of yesterday’s Bloggery, because the death of John Hughes has hit my generation very hard, and on the day after we’re getting more lists and more memories, including one particularly popular eulogy from the filmmaker’s pen pal, which is shedding some light onto Hughes’ reasons for leaving Hollywood.
One thing that I’m finding interesting about the reactions to Hughes’ death is that he’s yet another example of how, as David Poland wrote back in June, “death is the ultimate disinfectant.” Not that many people stopped loving his ’80s teen movies after the man stopped directing, but the world didn’t quite respect him as much after he focused on writing and producing such family fare as Baby’s Day Out, the Beethoven movies and some unnecessary remakes for Disney.
Hughes’ death may not be the huge media story that Michael Jackson’s was, but given his contribution toward the definition of the ’80s, his decline in the ’90s and his association with Macauley Culkin, it’s not a huge stretch for all those “first MJ, now…” comments going around. When you think of ’80s music, you likely think of MJ. Likewise, when you think of ’80s movies, you think of JH. At least we still have the most important ’80s TV icon. But we might want to say our prayers for Bill Cosby…
Check out the further tributes and such from the film blogosphere after the jump:
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John Hughes was probably my first favorite filmmaker, or at least the first I really knew by name and reputation. So I’m especially saddened by his death from heart attack today, at age 59. Ferris Bueller’s Day Off may no longer be my favorite movie of all time — actually attending high school somewhat ruined the teen mythology that exists in Hughes’ films for me — but it forever remains in my top ten list of titles I enjoy watching over and over again (even if I am critical of the musical number).
Because many of us film bloggers grew up religiously watching his movies, including those he scripted but did not direct, there’s a lot of shared memories and tributes popping up around the web this evening. Check out what people are saying about the legacy of the iconic filmmaker after the jump:
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The Promotion is such an insightfully hilarious and beautifully bittersweet movie about the American and human spirits that I wish Steven Conrad had always been directing his scripts. Conrad previously wrote The Weather Man and The Pursuit of Happyness, both of which can be felt here as less evolved ancestors; structurally they’re quite the same, while The Promotion shares some of the offbeat tone of Weather Man and a lot of the heart of Happyness. But there’s a story in The Promotion that is far more universal, relatable and familiar, which makes this one much, much funnier and much, much more sympathetic.
And certainly Conrad’s ability to balance the sweet and the salty, as a director, is responsible for most of the film’s success. One scene in particular exemplifies the movie best: John C. Reilly, as the new-to-Chicago “Richard”, sits opposite four supermarket executives, interviewing for a promotion to be a full-on store manager, and he’s just had to defend how his Canadian-ness caused him to miss an employee prank. Conrad keeps a close-up shot on Reilly as the actor fluctuates expressions that communicate, non-verbally, a plea of innocence, then ignorance, then stupidity, then insanity, then doubt, then back to innocence again. The combination of comedy and pathos that comes out of this lengthy close-up and perfectly tuned performance, which is broken up by a couple reversals to the executives and which is permitted more time and attention than most films nowadays allow any single moment, is the most brilliantly thoughtful thing I’ve seen done in this kind of movie in a very long time.
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