This week we continue our look at teenage life in the ‘80s through the eyes of John Hughes. Can anyone 
tell me what movie we’ll be discussing this week? Anyone? Anyone? Anyone? That’s right, we’ll be discussing Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. And can anyone tell me what this film is about? Anyone? Anyone? Anyone? It’s your basic tale of a high school senior named Ferris Beuller (Matthew Broderick) and his quest to skip a day of school with his girlfriend, Sloane Peterson (Mia Sara) and his paranoid and depressed best friend, Cameron Frye (Alan Ruck) while avoiding being caught by his clueless parents (Cindy Pickett and Lyman Ward), his always doubting and constantly jealous sister Jeanie (Jennifer Grey), or his ever suspicious school dean of students, Ed Rooney (Jeffrey Jones). See this is Ferris’ ninth absence for the school year so this is the last chance he has to skip school before he fails his senior year, so he wants to make the most of his last day of freedom before graduation.
So, he easily convinces his parents that he is very ill (even though he admits that it was probably his worst acting job ever), but his sister doesn’t buy it and becomes very suspicious. Then the trick was to convince Cameron to get out of bed. Cameron leads a very depressing life under the tyrannical rule of his overbearing father (whom we never meet). He finally succeeds in getting Cameron to come over and
he then somehow convinces Rooney, with the use of his accomplice Cameron imitating Sloane’s father, that her grandmother had died and that they would be picking her up at the school to be with her family. One problem, Ferris didn’t have a car Cameron’s car was a POS…so somehow Ferris convinces Cameron to let him borrow Cameron’s father’s vintage 1961 Ferrari 250 GT California out for a spin as to be convincing in front of Rooney when they pick up Sloan (in full disguise) from school. And so begins their adventure into downtown Chicago, where they go to a Cubs game at Wrigley Field, tour the Sears Tower, Chicago Board of Trade, the Art Institute of Chicago, eat at a ritzy downtown restaurant, and Ferris even sings (lip-synched) a couple of songs on a parade float, all while dodging Ferris’ father who they inadvertantly bump into on more than one occassion. It was indeed a full day! Meanwhile, Rooney doesn’t believe Ferris’ illness excuse, and sets out to catch him in the act, suffering injuries and humiliation in his quest.
The group goes to pick up the Ferrari, which they had left at a parking garage earlier in the day despite the pleas of the ever-cautious Cameron that they not leave it there. See, Cameron’s father was overly protective of his Ferrari, knowing the mileage down to the tenth of a mile and Ferris told Cameron that he had a plan to reverse the mileage they put on that day when he first convinced Cameron to let him take it out originally. Cameron had reason to be worried as the parking attentdant and one of his buddies decided to take the car out for a spin and put nearly 200 miles on it
during their joy ride. When Ferris realizes it and tells Cameron, he freaks out and goes into a nearly canotonic state. Eventually, they get Cameron to snap out of it and work on getting the mileage off by jacking up the car’s back tires and putting it reverse with a cynder block on the gas pedal in the hopes that the mileage would come off. Obviously this doesn’t work and Ferris wants to break open the odometer and manaully roll it back, but Cameron tells him not to and starts taking his frustration out on the car by kicking it, slowly knocking it off the jack until it goes flying in reverse out the back of the garage into a ravine below, totally destroying the car. Ferris offers to take the blame, but Cameron declines and wants to stand up to his father for possibly the first time in his life. Ferris then takes Sloane home and then realizes how late it is and makes a mad dash home (on foot) to try to beat him parents home, narrily escaping Rooney thanks to his sister who had been out to get him caught the entire movie. In the end, he makes it back to bed just in time for his parents to walk in none the wiser to his exploits throughout the day.
This, and most of Hughes’ other films of this era, came out as I was just reaching my teenage years. I love pretty much everything about this film, from the “breaking the fourth wall” element where Ferris talks directly to the camera (viewing audience) like this is an instructional video on how to skip school, down to the on screen list of how to convince parents that you are sick especially when you aren’t, to the Ferrari and the beautiful Mia Sara! If you were a teenager in the ‘80s, you have probably quoted lines from this film at one time in your life and probably still do. If you haven’t seen this yet (really, who are you?), go out now and pick this up…you won’t regret it!
Trivia:
* Sloane is based on a high-school version of Nancy Hughes, John's wife. Cameron and Garth Volbeck (Charlie Sheen's druggie character) are based on acquaintances of Hughes from high school.
* Many of the license plates are acronyms for John Hughes' other films. For instance, Mr. Bueller's being "MMOM" for Mr. Mom as well as Jeannie's being "TBC" for The Breakfast Club and even including "FBDO" for the film itself on Rooney’s car. The license plate on Camerons dad's Ferrari 250 GT California is "NRVOUS."
* Cindy Pickett and Lyman Ward, who played Ferris' parents, married in real life after filming this movie, although they subsequently divorced.
* Matthew Broderick and Jennifer Grey became a couple during the making of the movie.
* Broderick wasn't the first choice for the role of Ferris, the original being Michael J. Fox, which is ironic since Broderick was the first choice to play Fox's role of Alex P. Keaton on Family Ties. (Fox would later co-star with Ruck on Spin City.) Jim Carrey and Johnny Depp were also at one point in consideration for the role (Depp turned down the role). (Coincidentally, Matthew Broderick and Jim Carrey starred together in the 1996 movie The Cable Guy.)
* Anthony Michael Hall turned down the role of Cameron to avoid being typecast. Emilio Estevez also turned down the role.
* Most of the interior school scenes were filmed inside Maine North High School, the same location where The Breakfast Club was filmed. Scenes in the principal's office and when Sloane waits for Ferris in the auditorium were filmed inside Glenbrook North High School. The exterior school scenes were filmed at Glenbrook North High School, from which John Hughes graduated.
* Ferrari fans were horrified to contemplate the actual destruction of a very rare automobile. However, it was later confirmed that the destroyed vehicle was an MG with a fiberglass body mockup of the Ferrari. Not long after the film was released, the company that produced the replica was sued for unlawful use of the Ferrari logos. Soon after this, the company shut down to avoid further payout.
* When Jeanie is in the police station, the first shot of the scene that we see is a police badge that says Police Officer Shermer. Shermer is the name of the town in which the high schools are set in The Breakfast Club and Weird Science, both of which were also produced and directed by John Hughes.
tell me what movie we’ll be discussing this week? Anyone? Anyone? Anyone? That’s right, we’ll be discussing Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. And can anyone tell me what this film is about? Anyone? Anyone? Anyone? It’s your basic tale of a high school senior named Ferris Beuller (Matthew Broderick) and his quest to skip a day of school with his girlfriend, Sloane Peterson (Mia Sara) and his paranoid and depressed best friend, Cameron Frye (Alan Ruck) while avoiding being caught by his clueless parents (Cindy Pickett and Lyman Ward), his always doubting and constantly jealous sister Jeanie (Jennifer Grey), or his ever suspicious school dean of students, Ed Rooney (Jeffrey Jones). See this is Ferris’ ninth absence for the school year so this is the last chance he has to skip school before he fails his senior year, so he wants to make the most of his last day of freedom before graduation.So, he easily convinces his parents that he is very ill (even though he admits that it was probably his worst acting job ever), but his sister doesn’t buy it and becomes very suspicious. Then the trick was to convince Cameron to get out of bed. Cameron leads a very depressing life under the tyrannical rule of his overbearing father (whom we never meet). He finally succeeds in getting Cameron to come over and
he then somehow convinces Rooney, with the use of his accomplice Cameron imitating Sloane’s father, that her grandmother had died and that they would be picking her up at the school to be with her family. One problem, Ferris didn’t have a car Cameron’s car was a POS…so somehow Ferris convinces Cameron to let him borrow Cameron’s father’s vintage 1961 Ferrari 250 GT California out for a spin as to be convincing in front of Rooney when they pick up Sloan (in full disguise) from school. And so begins their adventure into downtown Chicago, where they go to a Cubs game at Wrigley Field, tour the Sears Tower, Chicago Board of Trade, the Art Institute of Chicago, eat at a ritzy downtown restaurant, and Ferris even sings (lip-synched) a couple of songs on a parade float, all while dodging Ferris’ father who they inadvertantly bump into on more than one occassion. It was indeed a full day! Meanwhile, Rooney doesn’t believe Ferris’ illness excuse, and sets out to catch him in the act, suffering injuries and humiliation in his quest.The group goes to pick up the Ferrari, which they had left at a parking garage earlier in the day despite the pleas of the ever-cautious Cameron that they not leave it there. See, Cameron’s father was overly protective of his Ferrari, knowing the mileage down to the tenth of a mile and Ferris told Cameron that he had a plan to reverse the mileage they put on that day when he first convinced Cameron to let him take it out originally. Cameron had reason to be worried as the parking attentdant and one of his buddies decided to take the car out for a spin and put nearly 200 miles on it
during their joy ride. When Ferris realizes it and tells Cameron, he freaks out and goes into a nearly canotonic state. Eventually, they get Cameron to snap out of it and work on getting the mileage off by jacking up the car’s back tires and putting it reverse with a cynder block on the gas pedal in the hopes that the mileage would come off. Obviously this doesn’t work and Ferris wants to break open the odometer and manaully roll it back, but Cameron tells him not to and starts taking his frustration out on the car by kicking it, slowly knocking it off the jack until it goes flying in reverse out the back of the garage into a ravine below, totally destroying the car. Ferris offers to take the blame, but Cameron declines and wants to stand up to his father for possibly the first time in his life. Ferris then takes Sloane home and then realizes how late it is and makes a mad dash home (on foot) to try to beat him parents home, narrily escaping Rooney thanks to his sister who had been out to get him caught the entire movie. In the end, he makes it back to bed just in time for his parents to walk in none the wiser to his exploits throughout the day.This, and most of Hughes’ other films of this era, came out as I was just reaching my teenage years. I love pretty much everything about this film, from the “breaking the fourth wall” element where Ferris talks directly to the camera (viewing audience) like this is an instructional video on how to skip school, down to the on screen list of how to convince parents that you are sick especially when you aren’t, to the Ferrari and the beautiful Mia Sara! If you were a teenager in the ‘80s, you have probably quoted lines from this film at one time in your life and probably still do. If you haven’t seen this yet (really, who are you?), go out now and pick this up…you won’t regret it!
Trivia:
* Sloane is based on a high-school version of Nancy Hughes, John's wife. Cameron and Garth Volbeck (Charlie Sheen's druggie character) are based on acquaintances of Hughes from high school.
* Many of the license plates are acronyms for John Hughes' other films. For instance, Mr. Bueller's being "MMOM" for Mr. Mom as well as Jeannie's being "TBC" for The Breakfast Club and even including "FBDO" for the film itself on Rooney’s car. The license plate on Camerons dad's Ferrari 250 GT California is "NRVOUS."
* Cindy Pickett and Lyman Ward, who played Ferris' parents, married in real life after filming this movie, although they subsequently divorced.
* Matthew Broderick and Jennifer Grey became a couple during the making of the movie.
* Broderick wasn't the first choice for the role of Ferris, the original being Michael J. Fox, which is ironic since Broderick was the first choice to play Fox's role of Alex P. Keaton on Family Ties. (Fox would later co-star with Ruck on Spin City.) Jim Carrey and Johnny Depp were also at one point in consideration for the role (Depp turned down the role). (Coincidentally, Matthew Broderick and Jim Carrey starred together in the 1996 movie The Cable Guy.)
* Anthony Michael Hall turned down the role of Cameron to avoid being typecast. Emilio Estevez also turned down the role.
* Most of the interior school scenes were filmed inside Maine North High School, the same location where The Breakfast Club was filmed. Scenes in the principal's office and when Sloane waits for Ferris in the auditorium were filmed inside Glenbrook North High School. The exterior school scenes were filmed at Glenbrook North High School, from which John Hughes graduated.
* Ferrari fans were horrified to contemplate the actual destruction of a very rare automobile. However, it was later confirmed that the destroyed vehicle was an MG with a fiberglass body mockup of the Ferrari. Not long after the film was released, the company that produced the replica was sued for unlawful use of the Ferrari logos. Soon after this, the company shut down to avoid further payout.
* When Jeanie is in the police station, the first shot of the scene that we see is a police badge that says Police Officer Shermer. Shermer is the name of the town in which the high schools are set in The Breakfast Club and Weird Science, both of which were also produced and directed by John Hughes.
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