Farewell to John Hughes

When the news broke that John Hughes died a few days ago of a heart attack at the age of 59, news articles across the internet have been accompanied by testimonies of former Brat Packers and other stars who were put on the map because of him or were admirers from afar: Matthew Broderick, Molly Ringwald, Jennifer Grey, Jon Cryer, Steve Martin and even Roger Ebert.

If Michael Jackson's music was such a part of the soundtrack of my youth, John Hughes was by far the filmmaker who helped me fall in love with movies and influenced my sense of identity and humor. He had a true affection for the underdog -- or in high school terms, the geek. Although our hearts throbbed for Jake Ryan and Ferris Bueller, the real heroes of his movies were Farmer Ted, Cameron Frye and Keith Nelson (I had to look up that last name -- I don't think they even mention Keith's last name in "Some Kind of Wonderful").

At one point, I think I had all of the words memorized to "Sixteen Candles," "Pretty In Pink," "Ferris Bueller's Day Off," and parts of "The Breakfast Club." I admit, I wanted to be Molly Ringwald. When my classmates all wanted Acura Integras, I wanted a purple Karmann Ghia. And I will always remember a day in junior high when I proudly went to school in a funky-styled outfit I had put together myself only to get made fun of by the popular girls. Though mortifying at the time, in looking back I suppose it was a true Andie Walsh moment.

Hats off to the man who championed us off-beat kids and teens, who ever needed someone to validate our cause. Thanks, John. We'll miss the screwball jokes interlaced with profound moments of tenderness that were your films.


1. You can never go too far.
2. If I'm gonna get busted, it's not gonna be by a guy like that.