John Hughes (Director)
John Wilden Hughes Jr. (born February 18, 1950 in Lansing , Michigan , † August 6, 2009 in Manhattan , New York City , New York ) was an American film director , producer and screenwriter . In the 1980s in particular, Hughes was partly responsible for some successful Hollywood comedies, which are now considered classics, and had a lasting impact on the teenage film genre. The best-known films he worked with include The Breakfast Club , Ferris macht blau , Ein Ticket für Zwei , Kevin - Home Alone and the National Lampoon Comedies.
Life
Early life and beginnings
John Hughes was born the son of a businessman and grew up in Grosse Pointe , Michigan ; then later on in the Chicago suburb of Northbrook . He attended Glenbrook North High School in Northbrook until 1968 . The high school in this location also served as a location for a couple of his later films. A subsequent study at the University of Arizona broke off Hughes, instead he hired himself first as a joke writer for comedians, including Rodney Dangerfield and Joan Rivers . From 1970 he worked as a simple copywriter in Chicago and New York. Based on autobiographical childhood experiences, Hughes wrote the short story Vacation '58 about a chaotic family getaway . This story earned him a job with the satirical magazine National Lampoon , for which he wrote numerous humorous articles in the following years.
His first job for the film industry was the script for the comedy I believe my Straps radio SOS from 1982. He was fired, however, and the finished film received poor reviews. In 1983 Hughes wrote the screenplay for The Shrill Four On The Move , which was based on his short story Vacation '58 . The comedy starring Chevy Chase and Beverly D'Angelo was so successful that there were sequels with the same actors: Help, which plays in Europe , the Americans are coming (1985) and Schöne Bescherung (1989), which is about a chaotic Christmas party. . Hughes also produced the third film in the series. Also in 1983 he wrote the screenplay for the comedy Mr. Mom , which was a great success like The Shrill Four on the Move and established the name John Hughes in Hollywood.
Success as a director
John Hughes had seen some of the teenage films popular at the time in the early 1980s and thought he could do better work. In 1984 the comedy That is allowed only as an adult ( Sixteen Candles ) appeared, for which he took over the direction and screenplay. Sixteen Candles was a success with the audience and also with critics, who otherwise found this genre rather negative. The reason for this was that the film was "funny but never condescending" and that it took the needs of its main character seriously. It was also emphasized that the film staged the American middle class realistically and at the same time warm-heartedly. Hughes films are often seen as contemporary documents of the spirit of the 1980s, also because the politically conservative Hughes incorporated some Reagan-era values such as optimism about the future and the belief in the possibility of social mobility in his films.
John Hughes signed a contract with Paramount Pictures after Sixteen Candles , where he got more influence on the production of his films. Over the next three years, Hughes was jointly responsible for a number of works that today are largely considered classics of the teenage film genre: The Breakfast Club (1985), LISA - Der helle Wahnsinn (1985), Pretty in Pink (1986) , Ferris Goes Blue (1986) and Isn't She Wonderful? (1987). In particular, The Breakfast Club , a chamber play about five teenagers in detention, and Ferris Blue , a life-affirming hymn by Hughes to his home city of Chicago, were also widely recognized by critics. Roger Ebert called Hughes about the "philosopher of adolescence " and the New York Times wrote that the name John Hughes was "identified with a whole genre", namely "comedies about dissatisfied young people". Many of the young lead actors in his films have been dubbed " Brat Pack " in the press . This group included Molly Ringwald , Matthew Broderick , Judd Nelson , Ally Sheedy and Anthony Michael Hall .
With his films from 1987 onwards, Hughes turned back to more adult characters. He was director, screenwriter and producer of the highly critically acclaimed comedy Ein Ticket für Zwei (1987) starring Steve Martin and John Candy . In 1989 Alone with Uncle Buck (1989) followed, in which an overwhelmed John Candy has to take care of his nieces and nephews. Child star Macaulay Culkin played an important role in Alone with Uncle Buck , who later starred in Kevin - Home Alone (1990) and Kevin - Alone in New York (1992), for which John Hughes was the screenwriter and producer. The Kevin films were the biggest commercial hits of his career in the early 1990s. In many of his works such as Kevin or the Chevy Chase comedies, the family plays a decisive role as an important, if not unproblematic anchor in the difficult everyday world.
Increasing withdrawal
In 1991, his comedy Curly Sue (1991), which he directed, scripted and produced, received a rather disappointing reception. Curly Sue became John Hughes' last directing project. In the early 1990s, despite commercial success, he began to withdraw from the Hollywood business because he wanted to spend more time with his family. As further reasons for the withdrawal are mentioned that Hughes insisted on greater creative freedom in his films, which is why he delivered more frequent arguments with the producers; also the early death of his close friend and repeated lead actor John Candy in 1994. In the 1990s he was still involved as a producer and screenwriter on family films such as The Miracle of Manhattan (1994), 101 Dalmatians (1996) and Flubber (1997).
For his screenplays, Hughes also regularly used the pseudonym Edmond Dantès , the name of the main character in the literary classic The Count of Monte Christo by Alexandre Dumas the Elder, in the film credits from the 1990s . After 2003 Hughes stopped working as a screenwriter, but he still came up with the idea for the 2008 comedy Drillbit Taylor - A man for all accidents .
Private life and death
Hughes was married from 1970 until his death to Nancy Ludwig (1951-2019), whom he had known from school. With her he had two sons. He lived near Chicago for a long time , most recently withdrawn on a farm in Williams Bay , Wisconsin . His son John Hughes III. works as a musician, while James tried his hand at writing and producing. John Hughes died unexpectedly of a heart attack in August 2009 at the age of 59 while taking a walk in Manhattan in New York .
Filmography (selection)
| year | Movie title | Director | (Executive) producer |
author | additional | - |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1982 | I think my straps are sending SOS (Class Reunion) | ✘ | ✘ | Cameo | ||
| 1983 | Mr. mom | ✘ | ||||
| The shrill four on the move (National Lampoon's Vacation) | ✘ | ✘ | Also songwriter for " Walley World National Anthem " | |||
| Pirate Island (Nate and Hayes) | ✘ | |||||
| 1984 | This is only allowed as an adult (Sixteen Candles) | ✘ | ✘ | |||
| 1985 | The Breakfast Club | ✘ | ✘ | ✘ | ✘ | Cameo as Brian's father |
| Help the Americans are coming (National Lampoon's European Vacation) | ✘ | |||||
| LISA - The Bright Madness (Weird Science) | ✘ | ✘ | ||||
| 1986 | Pretty in pink | ✘ | ✘ | |||
| Ferris turns blue (Ferris Bueller's Day Off) | ✘ | ✘ | ✘ | ✘ | Cameo: Man Between Taxis (anonymous) | |
| 1987 | Isn't she wonderful? (Some Kind of Wonderful) | ✘ | ✘ | |||
| One ticket for two (Planes, Trains & Automobiles) | ✘ | ✘ | ✘ | ✘ | Also songwriter for " I Can Take Anything " | |
| 1988 | She's having a baby | ✘ | ✘ | ✘ | ||
| Great Outdoors - Vacation for three (The Great Outdoors) | ✘ | ✘ | ||||
| 1989 | Alone with Uncle Buck (Uncle Buck) | ✘ | ✘ | ✘ | ||
| National Lampoon (Christmas Vacation) | ✘ | ✘ | ||||
| 1990 | Kevin - Home Alone | ✘ | ✘ | |||
| 1991 | Kevin's cousin alone in the supermarket (Career Opportunities) | ✘ | ✘ | |||
| Mama, me and the two of us (Only the Lonely) | ✘ | |||||
| The Poison Dwarf (Dutch) | ✘ | |||||
| Curly Sue - A curly head creates a stir (Curly Sue) | ✘ | ✘ | ✘ | |||
| 1992 | A dog named Beethoven (Beethoven) | ✘ | ||||
| Kevin - Home Alone 2: Lost in New York | ✘ | ✘ | ||||
| 1993 | Dennis (Dennis the Menace) | ✘ | ✘ | |||
| A family named Beethoven (Beethoven's 2nd) | ✘ | Based on his characters, no script involvement | ||||
| 1994 | Juniors day off (Baby's Day Out) | ✘ | ✘ | |||
| The Miracle of Manhattan (Miracle on 34th Street) | ✘ | ✘ | ||||
| 1996 | 101 Dalmatians (101 Dalmatians) | ✘ | ✘ | |||
| 1997 | Flubber | ✘ | ✘ | |||
| Home Alone (Home Alone 3) | ✘ | ✘ | ||||
| 1998 | Reach the rock | ✘ | ✘ | |||
| 2000 | Beethoven: Holiday with Obstacles (Beethoven's 3rd) | ✘ | Based on his characters, no script involvement | |||
| 2001 | Just visiting | ✘ | ||||
| New Port South | ✘ | |||||
| Beethoven 4 - Double barks better (Beethoven's 4th) | ✘ | Based on his characters, no script involvement | ||||
| 2002 | Manhattan Love Story (Maid in Manhattan) | ✘ | Hughes' idea | |||
| 2003 | Kevin - Home Alone 4 | ✘ | Based on his characters, no script involvement | |||
| 2008 | Drillbit Taylor - A man for all accidents (Drillbit Taylor) | ✘ | Hughes' idea |
Web links
- John Hughes in theInternet Movie Database(English)
- John Hughes in the nndb (English)
- A master of family dreams - obituary at faz.net, August 7, 2009
- Sweet Bird of Youth - Full article on Vanity Fair, February 10, 2010 (English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ Dean Goodman: "Brat Pack" Director John Hughes Dies of Heart Attack , Reuters. August 6, 2009. Retrieved February 7, 2015.
- ↑ Pat Saperstein: Director John Hughes dies at 59 . In: Variety . August 6, 2009 ( variety.com [accessed February 6, 2018]).
- ↑ a b c d John Hughes - Biography, Movie Highlights and Photos. AllMovie, accessed February 6, 2018 .
- ^ A b c Christian Heger: On the death of the director John Hughes: A master of family dreams . In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung . August 7, 2009 ( faz.net ).
- ^ Henry Knight: Does The Breakfast Club hold up? Retrieved February 6, 2018 .
- ^ Politics in American Popular Culture. Retrieved February 6, 2018 .
- ↑ Michael Weiss: Some Kind of Republican. In: Slate. September 21, 2006, accessed February 6, 2018 .
- ↑ a b c Michael Cieply: John Hughes, Who Captured the Lives of Teenagers in the 1980s, Dies at 59 . In: The New York Times . August 6, 2009 ( nytimes.com ).
- ^ A b David Kamp: David Kamp on John Hughes . In: Vanity Fair . February 10, 2010 ( vanityfair.com ).
- ↑ Anthony Breznican: John Hughes . In: Entertainment Weekly . November 7, 2014 ( ew.com ).
- ↑ Maureen O'Donnell: Nancy Hughes, inspiration, trusted adviser and wife of filmmaker John Hughes, has died at 68 September 24, 2019, accessed February 19, 2020 .
- ^ Pauline O'Connor: A NIGHT OUT WITH: John Hughes III; The Whole Menagerie . ( nytimes.com [accessed September 23, 2018]).
- ↑ James Hughes at IMDb. Retrieved September 23, 2018 .
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Hughes, John |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Hughes, John Wilden Junior (full name); Dantès, Edmond (pseudonym) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | American film director, producer and screenwriter |
| DATE OF BIRTH | February 18, 1950 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Lansing , Michigan , United States |
| DATE OF DEATH | August 6, 2009 |
| Place of death | Manhattan , New York City , New York , United States |