John Hughes passed away on August 6, 2009 of heart failure in New York City. He is survived by his wife of 39 years, Nancy, his two sons, James and John, and four grandchildren.
Please read by site contributor Scott Collins. I think it encapsulates a lot of our emotions.
Also check out in the August 11th issue of The New York Times.
See the trailer for the up and coming documentary Don't You Forget About Me .
See the links below for more information and comments about Hughes' death:
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Hughes' funeral was held by family and friends on August 11, 2009 in Lake Forest, Illinois. He was buried in the Lake Forest cemetery.
"I think he made a better connection with young people than anyone in Hollywood had ever done before or since." talks about John Hughes. Check out this video!
- A blog post from a woman who was pen pals with John Hughes.
Evidentally not everyone was a fan: "John Hughes was a wealth management client of the Northern Trust Bank while I was working there in the early 1990s. Hughes became rapidly legendary for his passive-aggressive manner in which he dealt with his investment team at the bank, to the point that the Northern eventually was left with little recourse but to fire him as a client. Apparently the story goes that Hughes was a legendary jerk in all phases of his life. I guess that is the work of the genius mind for some......Anyway, I too came of age reveling in his outstanding films. At least we have his films to remember him by." (posted response pointed out from )
In 1985 photographer David Strick visited the set of Pretty In Pink for People magazine and captured many candid moments - You can see some of them at the L.A. Times website .
R-One created a video tribute to Hughes that you can watch .
John Hughes Remembered at Blog Talk Radio! Listen to the broadcast !
Darth Mojo posts about Ferris Bueller's Day Off - go check out about the film's soundtrack - You won't regret it!
FREE is available at TCM.com.
December 29, 2009 at 10:00 pm EST the Turner Classic Movie Channel is featuring Ferris Bueller's Day Off uncut, uncensored, and with no commercials as a tribute to John Hughes.
Talking 80s Music.com did a show about music from Hughes' films. You can .
"We'll never see his like again...He was the Wordsworth of the suburban America post-war generation. He was a great, great, great genius and as much of a friend and a great family man as he was a poet." - Ben Stein,
"This is a horrible tragedy. He was an amazing man to work for and with. He respected young actors in a way that made you realize you had to step up your game because you were playing in the big leagues now. That's why he got such great performances out of his actors. My heart goes out to his wife Nancy and their children." - Jon Cryer,
"John and I got along really well. He'd invite me over to the house a lot on weekends to have lunch with his family." - James Spader, ,
"I was a fan of both his work and a fan of him as a person. The world has lost not only a quintessential filmmaker whose influence will be felt for generations, but a great and decent man." - Macaulay Culkin,
"John Hughes was a great director, but his gift was in screenwriting. He created deep and complex characters, rich in humanity and humor." - Steve Martin, {}
The John Hughes Files: Thanks for Ten Years!
Saturday, March 10, 2007
After ten years of having a blast with The John Hughes Files, I'm officially retiring the site. My life has changed and its time to move on. I still have several articles from site regular Scott Collins, which I will continue to add to the section. Otherwise, no new updates will be added, but the site itself will continue to remain online. THANK YOU to everyone who has visited, and especially to those of you who have contributed over the years. It's been very appreciated, by myself and John Hughes movie fans all over the world!
And Congratulations to Marleen Handley of Saginaw, Michigan, the winner of the John Hughes Contest!
Be sure to view , a video tribute by David Blanchard.
Also check out , a compilation of essays about John Hughes films, edited by Jaime Clarke, with a forward by Ally Sheedy.
Sunday, February 11, 2007
Check out , an EW interview with Jon Cryer.
"John had a real need to believe in teenage icons and create teenage iconography - that's what he was doing with Breakfast Club. I think he was really tortured in his high school, and [movies] were a way of him psychologically coming to terms with his youth and sort of reordering it in his mind as a storyteller. I think kids will always latch on to people saying, ''Your experience is important. What you're going through right now is not trivial. We care about it, and we're right there with ya.'"
Also online is at HowItShouldHaveEnded.com
Monday, January 1, 2007
This year The John Hughes Files turns ten years old! Remember these pages?
April 1998
May 2000
Thank You! to everyone who has visited, written, and spread the word about The John Hughes Files! This site is really a collaborative effort on the part of everyone who has enjoyed the films as much as I have over the years.
Sunday, December 17, 2006
References were added for the film Totally Awesome.
Trivia for was added (thanks, Chris!), as well as for Home Alone, Home Alone 2, and Miracle on 34th Street.
Site regular Scott Collins has blessed us with an abundance of John Hughes articles! Two from 1984 are up right now: and . Many more are to come!
Warner Bros. has announced that they will release National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation on both the HD-DVD and Blu-ray formats on December 5th. Universal has announced that they will release The Breakfast Club on HD-DVD on December 26th.
More Gilmore Girls have been added. Thanks, John!
Saturday, September 23, 2006
Currently on the market is the Brat Pack Collection, featuring Sixteen Candles, The Breakfast Club, and Weird Science, plus an additional music CD featuring songs from the films. to see the back side of the packaging that features the song listing.
John has sent along more from "The Gilmore Girls." Thanks!
has been updated for Weird Science.
Sunday, September 3, 2006
A "Family Fun Edition" of Home Alone is coming your way just in time for the holidays! Released to own November 21, the film will be presented in 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen, along with an English Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround track. Extras will include an audio commentary with director Chris Columbus and Macaulay Culkin, a making of Home Alone featurette, a How to Burgular Proof your Home featurette, a Home Alone Round the World featurette, and a Where's the Buzz Now featurette. Completing the package will be deleted scenes, a 'smell-o-vision' feature, an Angels with Filthy Souls feature, three trailers, and three set-top games (Battle Plan, Trivia Game, and Head Count). Retail price, $19.98. See the cover art . (Thanks to John for letting us know!)
Remember the band at Andie's hangout in Pretty In Pink? That was the Rave-Ups (Molly Ringwald's character in Sixteen Candles had the name written across her binder), and their song "Shut Up" has been added to the !
for Sixteen Candles was added, as was an MST3k .
Saturday, August 19, 2006
Some more links to video clips have been added to the page.
Monday, August 14, 2006
This just in: The new Pretty In Pink DVD (releasing on August 29th) does not include the actual original ending from the film. Instead is a feature with the cast talking about it, rather than the clip itself. (Thanks to Jeremy for this info.)
So I was browsing in Target today, when from the toys section I hear, "Hey, sexy giiiiirlfriiiieend!" I wandered over to see if Long Duk Dong was stalking me again, and I found a ! How about that!
Check out info on the upcoming film, !
Friday, August 11, 2006
Some more links to video clips have been added to the , and some more have been included. A bit of was also added for National Lampoon's Vacation.
Wednesday, July 19, 2006
See Ferris Bueller in Shermer! Netflix Rolling Roadshow is showing Ferris Bueller's Day off on August 10th in Northbrook, IL (which used to be officially called "" years ago), underneath the watertower that was painted with the "Save Ferris" logo in the film. Afterward a John-Hughes tribute 80s prom will be held at the local Marriott. for more details.
Courtesy composer , you can now listen to these original film scores!
Coming out on October 10th is Too Cool For School, a DVD collection of the three special editions of Ferris Bueller, Pretty In Pink, and Some Kind of Wonderful. It will retail at $39.99.
Monday, July 17, 2006
Mystery Solved! The song that is playing in Sixteen Candles when the girls enter the gym for the school dance was a piece composed by since, for legal reasons, they were not able to use "Our House" by Madness. Ira used the word "Filene," which was the nickname of his girlfriend at the time. (Thanks to Ira Newborn for this info, and to Lawrence Bennion for helping unearth it.) !
The webblog recently did a show about Pretty In Pink. to hear the show, give feedback, and download wallpaper for your desktop.
Saturday, July 15, 2006
More songs have been added to the brand new ! You will find a lot of songs from Sixteen Candles in particular, since there is no complete soundtrack on CD, and when it was released on record and cassette, only five songs were included. That's always amazed me, because it would make an excellent compilation (same for Weird Science, which I believe was only released on LP). There are also a lot of songs listed from Ferris Bueller's Day Off, another soundtrack-less Hughes film. Many of the other films have official soundtracks available. Locating them, however, may prove difficult (especially if you're trying to find the one from Planes, Trains & Automobiles).
Friday, July 14, 2006
Check out these fun videos from YouTube.com!
Also be sure to check out the page - more links to trailers and clips have been added.
Thursday, July 13, 2006
Look for more songs to be added in the near future.
Owen Wilson Becomes A "Drillbit" Posted: Tuesday June 20th, 2006 Source: The Hollywood Reporter
Owen Wilson is set to star in Paramount's comedy "Drillbit Taylor" for director Steven Brill (Without a Paddle).
Based on an original idea by John Hughes, who wrote a 70-page scriptment a few years ago, the screenplay was completed by Chris Brown and Seth Rogen (Freaks & Geeks).
The story revolves around two high school freshmen targeted by the school bully on the first day of school. The boys hire what they think is a low-budget mercenary (Owen Wilson) to protect them, but he turns out to be anything but.
Filming begins September 2006 in Los Angeles and will hopefully be released in summer 2007.
More info about this project will be posted as it develops!
Saturday, June 10, 2006
See the covers for the new Pretty In Pink and Some Kind of Wonderful DVDs at ! (Thanks to Eric and Antoinette for the link!)
A Chicago-based band named JoyFocus has recorded a song titled "Mr. Hughes Come Home" and you can hear it ! Check it out!
This graphic was sent to me by Antoinette Jurado, and I liked it so much I had to share it:
Monday, May 29, 2006
R.I.P. Paul Gleason
Actor Paul Gleason, otherwise known as principal Richard Vernon in The Breakfast Club, has died at age 67 of mesothelioma, a rare form of lung cancer linked to asbestos. at CNN.com.
(Left:) Gleason spoofs his role in "Not Another Teen Movie"
Friday, May 19, 2006
See the original Pretty In Pink ending! Now you can see the original ending, where Andie chooses Duckie over Blaine. The Special Edition DVD debuts on August 29. The DVD will have anamorphic transfer, Dolby Digital 5.1 & 2.0 tracks, and a commentary with director Howard Deutch, as well as the featurettes "The First Time: The Making of Pretty in Pink," "Zoids and Richies," "Prom Queen: All About Molly," "Volcanic Ensembles," "Prom Stories," "Favorite Scenes," "The Lost Dance: The Original Ending" and "Wrap Up: The Epilogue." The DVD will sell for $14.99.
But that's not all! The SE of Some Kind of Wonderful comes out the same day, for the same price. This DVD will appear in anamorphic transfer, Dolby Digital 5.1 & 2.0 tracks, as well as commentary with director Howard Deutch and Lea Thompson, "The Making of Some Kind of Wonderful," "Meet the Cast," "The Music" and "John Hughes Time Capsule" featurettes. (Thanks to everyone who reminded me about these!)
Saturday, April 30, 2006
Added some more today. (Thanks to Sasha for the heads up!)
Saturday, April 8, 2006
An early John Hughes script, Nate & Hayes, will be released on DVD this June 20th.
More "Gilmore Girls" references have been added to . (Thanks to John for pointing them out!)
Previous News (2002-2006):
Available through YouTube.com, view the video ! It's a creative music video with Sims characters acting out The Breakfast Club; includes songs and sounds from the film. Definitely worth a look.
The new Ferris Bueller DVD info is here! It retails for $19.99, and the extras include:
Getting the Class Together - The Cast of Ferris Bueller The Making of Ferris Bueller's Day Off: Production Stories Who is Ferris Beuller? The World According to Ben Stein Vintage Ferris Bueller Class Album
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Featured Artist: Yello
Yello is an electronica band comprised of two Swiss musicians, Dieter Meier and Boris Blank. They are most well known in the United States for "Oh Yeah," which was featured in Ferris Bueller's Day Off. I personally became a fan of Yello after hearing "Desire" in Dutch (years before I knew who John Hughes was), and ordered two of their cassettes from a catalog. The tapes I received were Stella and, my all-time favorite, One Second. Interestingly, both albums contain "Oh Yeah."
As a special feature, I'm offering mp3 downloads of all their songs that have been heard in John Hughes movies (I'm guessing he has been a fan of theirs for some time). And, although it's difficult to choose, I'm including three of my all-time favorites to help you expand your Yello knowledge. Enjoy!
Ferris Bueller's Day Off:Oh Yeah (2.82 MB) plays when we see Cameron's father's car, and during closing credits.
Dutch: (8.51 MB) comes on whenever we see the deck of nudie playing cards, and it plays again during the closing credits. (3.38 MB) plays throughout the road scene in which Dutch and Doyle get a ride from two topless dancers. Early the next morning they pull into a truck stop, and we hear part of (4.65).
Planes, Trains & Automobiles: The very beginning of (5.95 MB) plays when Neal and Del stare in horror at the one and only bed in the Braidwood Inn motel room.
Three of Christine's Favorites: You can hear both (5.89 MB) and (7.05 MB) on the One Second album. (4.91 MB) appears on Flag.
(These make for excellent driving music, by the way; Yello is almost always in my car's tape deck.)
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Here's something cute...Allposters.com has, among other things, an tee-shirt for sale. (It's only available in Small, however.)
Molly Ringwald is considering doing a sequel for Sixteen Candles. Read more about it .
Scott Collins gives us the scoop on the Breakfast Club reunion at the 2005 MTV awards:
"Then, the moment we were all waiting for...Molly Ringwald, Anthony Michael Hall and Ally Sheedy came up on stage and they were presented their award by Paul Gleason. John Kapelos was in the audeince cheering them on as well. It was very sweet. Molly did the talking for the cast and she mentioned that while they knew they were making something of value, they had no idea that 20 years later, they would still be talking about it and it would have become something so treasured to people. She said that they didn't make the movie for critics or the Oscars but for "you--the MTV audience." Then, she made special mention of John Hughes. I don't remember it verbatim but it went along the lines of "I want to make mention of someone who should be here tonight and I wish he was here tonight and that's John Hughes because without him we would not be here. He wrote an amazing script and we had a great time making this movie." Anthony Michael Hall quipped that Emilio Estevez and Judd Nelson were in Africa with David Chapelle and they send thier best. Ally Sheedy whooped it up and shook her hair at the podium, echoing her classic movie moment of dandruff."
Roger Ebert has profiled Planes, Trains and Automobiles as one of his second volume of favorite films in his forthcoming The Great Movies II, now available at bookstores everywhere. Here's what Chris Fulmer said about it: "In the 4-page spread for it, the White-Haired One lists why he finds it to be so durable and touching, and also shares insight on a conversation he had once with John Candy, in which he concludes Candy was very much Del in real life. A definite must read from the nation's #1 movie man."
I thought I would experiment, and I created an interactive John Hughes Crossword!
There are two versions of the same puzzle:
(works on most browsers) (requires Internet Explorer 5 or later)
Now here's something interesting: In Fort Lauderdale, Florida is . Building 19, the student center, is named the "Robert E. Ferris" center. Adjacent to this is the "Buehler Planetarium." Just a coincidence, or an intentional match? (Brought to our attention by Rob in FL)
I created my very first online quiz: There are one of eight characters you could be, depending on the answers you choose (but none of them are from The Breakfast Club - those guys have gotten their day in Quiz-dom as it is).
News on "32 Candles": USA Network pays homage to the 1984 classic coming-of-age flick Sixteen Candles with a two-hour original movie sequel, 36 Candles. Set twenty years after the original comedy, the definitive movie about first love returns in this look at what happens "happily ever after..." Samantha Baker comes home in time for her high school reunion and 36th birthday -- a day she wants to forget but can't since her dysfunctional family keeps reminding her. Farmer Ted, Long Duk Dong and first love Jake Ryan all converge on Shermer High for the reunion festivities. Confronted with her past and at a crossroads in her own life, Sam must figure out if what she wants at 36 is the same as what she wanted when she was 16 years old. Blue Crush producers Buffy Shutt and Kathy Jones of Shutt-Jones Prods. are developing the film with Ken Holdren producing. (from )
Visitor count since October 1999
The John Hughes Files is an unofficial fan site. The webmaster does not have any personal contact with Hughes or his company. Information is gathered through news sources, various industry professionals, and through word of mouth. The site is designed, created and maintained by Christine M. Gieseke.
The John Hughes Files was established December 1996. RiverBlue.com - Since Summer 1997.
Previous Poll Results
Who do you think Andie should have ended up with in Pretty In Pink?
Duckie - 234 (56%) Blaine - 116 (28%) Neither - 42 (10%) Both - 21 (5%) Total votes: 413
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Getting the Class Together - The Cast of Ferris Bueller
Scott Collins gives us the scoop on the Breakfast Club reunion at the 2005 MTV awards: 
