07 August 2009

Don't You Forget About Me

How could anyone possibly forget about John Hughes? He achieved immortality -- even prior to his death on Tuesday -- through his relentlessly quotable movies. So, here is a wee tribute to the man who is single-handedly responsible for my Molly Ringwald complex, a writer and director whose movies were not so much films as they were a parallel universe for us teenagers of the 80s.

When the light gets into your heart, baby!

Some favorite quotes in no particular order:

"Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it." -Ferris Bueller, Ferris Bueller's Day Off

"Could you describe the ruckus, sir?"
-- Brian, The Breakfast Club

"Now, you listen to me, mister. God did not put me on this earth to be awakened by filthy suggestions from a foul-mouthed hooligan like you." -- Grandma Baker, Sixteen Candles

"Very clever dinner. Appetizing food fit neatly into interesting round pie." -- Long Duk Dong, Sixteen Candles

"No more yankie my wankie, the Donger need food!" -- Long Duk Dong, Sixteen Candles

"I did not achieve this position in life by having some snot-nosed punk leave my cheese out in the wind." -- Ed Rooney, Ferris Bueller's Day Off

"Dimented and sad, but social." -- John Bender, The Breakfast Club

"Knock knock" "Who's there?" "Who." "Who who?" "Helen we got an owl out here in the hall..." -- Grandpa Fred, Sixteen Candles

"Well, uh, let's see, he was wearing a red argyle sweater, and tan trousers, and red shoes...No, he's not retarded." --Grandpa Baker, Sixteen Candles

"I make $31,000 a year and I'm not about to throw it all away on a punk like you." -- Mr. Vernon, The Breakfast Club

"Blane? His name is Blane? That's a major appliance, that's not a name!" -- Duckie, Pretty in Pink

"What about prom, Blane! What about prom!" - Andie, Pretty in Pink

"You look good wearing my future." -- Keith, Some Kind of Wonderful

"We're all pretty bizarre. Some of us are just better at hiding it, that's all." -- Andrew, The Breakfast Club

"Automobiiillee" -- Long Duk Dong, Sixteen Candles

"When Santa squeezes his fat white ass down that chimney tonight, he's gonna find the jolliest bunch of assholes this side of the nuthouse." -- Clark Griswold, Christmas Vacation

"Those aren’t PILLOWS!" -- Neal, Planes, Trains & Automobiles

"Break his heart, I'll break your face" - Watts, Some Kind of Wonderful

"I don't know why they call this stuff Hamburger Helper. It does just fine by itself." -- Cousin Eddie, Vacation

"Boat leaves in two minutes... or perhaps you don't want to see the second largest ball of twine on the face of the earth, which is only four short hours away?" -- Clark Griswold, Vacation

"She get married to oily bohunk." -- Long Duk Dong, Sixteen Candles

11 comments:

Lisa Daria said...

john hughes died?

KJ said...

Oh, Liser.

Pitch perfect as usual.

Still need to get to Tosca Cafe with you, my dark one.

KT said...

Great list of lines. Some of my faves:

16 Candles:
Farmer Ted, "This information cannot leave this room, Okay? It would devastate my reputation as a dude."

Geeks, "What is it?"
Farmer Ted, "Just bring your camera"
Geeks, "Extraterrestrial?"
Farmer Ted, "Better."
Geeks, "Female extraterrestrial?"
*Note: one of the geeks is, of course, John Cusack.

Breakfast Club:
Bender (speaking of the physics club): "It's sorta social, demented and sad, but social."

Bender: "What's your name"
Claire: "Claire. It's a family name."
Bender: "It's a fat girl's name."
Claire: "I'm not fat."
Bender: "Not at present, but I can see you're pushing maximum density."

Thanks for the flashback, KJ!

lpd said...

"You gotta WOOF it."

Roving Lemon said...

Two of my faves from Sixteen Candles:

"Grandparents forgetting a birthday?! They live for that sh*t!"

"I loathe the bus. There must be a more dignified form of transportation."

BJ said...

Some Kind of Wonderful - favorite all time:

"You're stupid. I always knew you were stupid." - Watts

My favorite JH movie.

BAGS said...

It's got to be from Planes, Trains and Automobiles:

Another driver is trying to alert them that they're driving on the wrong side of the highway.

Neal: He says we're going the wrong way...

Del: Oh, he's drunk. How would he know where we're going?

jal said...

My absolute fave from 16 Candles:

Grandma Helen: Oh Sam, let me take a look at you. Fred, she's gotten her boobies.
Grandpa Fred: I better get my magnifying glass. Ha Ha Ha.
Grandma Helen: Oh, and they are so PERKY.
[reaches to cup them]
Grandma Helen: [cut to:]
Samantha: I can't believe my grandmother actually felt me up.

Miss you KJ.

Susan Sullivan said...

I went out and bought Vacation, Ferris Bueller, 16 Candles and Breakfast Club on DVD tonight. Just realized I forgot Pretty in Pink and Some Kind of Wonderful. I am going to order them on Amazon.
Can't wait for a rainy weekend (yes, I said it) to stay
in my PJs and have a Hughes marathon...

Susan

Heather said...

My fav: "If I woke up tomorrow with my head sewn to the carpet I couldn't be more surprised than I am right now." - Clark Griswold, Christmas Vacation.

lpd said...

Let's not forget Weird Science:

"Chips, dips, chains, whips..."