The Hughes Enigma

by Peter Bart, Variety Magazine
Monday, June 27, 2005

Instant recognition is the dream of every artist, but the ego jolt stemming from that success can prove to be a time bomb. A case in point is John Hughes, a tempestuous talent who burst on the scene exactly 20 years ago.

During his heyday in the mid-'80s, Hughes created hits like "The Breakfast Club," "Sixteen Candles" and "Ferris Bueller's Day Off" that studios to this day would yearn to replicate. When Warner Bros. put "Home Alone" in turnaround, Joe Roth became an instant hero for picking it up at 20th Century-Fox.

To be sure, working with Hughes during his peak years was akin to a tour of duty at Abu Ghraib. He randomly fired aides and a.d.'s and daily reminded everyone around him that he was the resident genius. CAA launched him, but he quit to go to ICM, then returned to CAA all within a two-year span, finally ending up at William Morris and then recently back at CAA. He built a sprawling farm-retreat near Chicago, declined ever to talk to the press and rarely, if ever, visited Hollywood.

Now and then Hughes tried a comeback, but with marginal success. He wrote "Maid in Manhattan" for Jennifer Lopez and rewrote some scripts under the name of Edmond Dantes. Revolution Studios periodically announced a new overall deal with the Hughes Machine, but little materialized.

Hughes' films were, to be sure, perfectly crafted for Reagan America. They were superficially hip, but mushy soft at the core. They were seemingly edgy, but always optimistic.

Hughes' audience, now middle-aged, remembers Hughes' films with a fond glow and would love to revisit them. The trouble is they're not young anymore. Neither is Hughes.