John Hughes was the patron saint of adolescents who found great success with a series of hit comedies, most of them centering around the plight of teenagers. Yet how many of those titles remain classics? Let's take a look back at 12 of his greatest films as both a writer and director, ranked worst to best.
Born in 1950, Hughes first came to the attention of Hollywood as a writer after penning "National Lampoon's Vacation" (1983) and "Mr. Mom" (1983). That financially successful one-two punch landed him his first directing gig: "Sixteen Candles" (1984). A tender coming-of-age story about a teenage girl (Molly Ringwald) suffering one indignity after another on her sweet sixteen firmly established him as the premiere helmer of adolescent comedies, leading to "The Breakfast Club" (1985), "Weird Science" (1985), and "Ferris Bueller's Day Off" (1986).
Yet Hughes also excelled at entertainments outside the classroom, including the road trip farce "Planes, Trains & Automobiles" (1987), starring Steve Martin and John Candy as an odd-couple making their way home for Thanksgiving; and Chris Columbus's "Home Alone" (1990), in which Macaulay Culkin devises a series of tortures for a pair of bungling burglars (Joe Pesci and Daniel Stern) trying to break into his house on Christmas.
Hughes died of a sudden heart attack in 2009 at the age of 59. Though he never once competed at the Oscars, the 2010 Academy Awards ceremony featured a tribute reel to the late filmmaker, with several of his recurring stars -- including Ringwald, Culkin, Anthony Michael Hall, Matthew Broderick, Jon Cryer, Ally Sheedy, and Judd Nelson -- gathering onstage to talk about his enduring legacy.
Tour our photo gallery of Hughes's 12 greatest films, including a few classics that should've brought him awards consideration.
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12. SHE’S HAVING A BABY (1988)
Image Credit: Paramount/Kobal/REX/Shutterstock Written and directed by John Hughes. Starring Kevin Bacon, Elizabeth McGovern, Alec Baldwin, William Windom, Holland Taylor.
After directing a series of successful films about teenage angst, Hughes turned his attentions to more adult troubles with mixed results. “She’s Having a Baby” stars Kevin Bacon and Elizabeth McGovern as a pair of Chicago newlyweds who are having difficulty conceiving. After some unromantic poking and prodding, McGovern finally gets pregnant and Bacon begins to feel trapped by his new role as an expectant father. Some very precise observational humor and pathos is overshadowed by a few truly bizarre set pieces and directorial flourishes, as if Hughes weren’t confident enough that his stars could carry this small-scale story.
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11. WEIRD SCIENCE (1985)
Image Credit: Universal/Kobal/REX/Shutterstock Written and directed by John Hughes, based on the EC Comics. Starring Anthony Michael Hall, Ilan Mitchell-Smith, Kelly LeBrock, Bill Paxton.
“Weird Science” is like “Frankenstein” for nerdy, randy teenagers. Anthony Michael Hall and Ilan Mitchell-Smith star as two high school dorks who create the perfect woman by feeding centerfolds into a government computer. Lightening strikes at exactly the right moment, turning this collection of measurements and data points into a living, breathing human (Kelly LeBrock). Rather than play a witless sex object, LeBrock creates an intelligent, worldly individual who teaches these immature boys a few valuable life lessons.
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10. MR. MOM (1983)
Image Credit: Moviestore Collection/REX/Shutterstock Directed by Stan Dragoti. Written by John Hughes. Starring Michael Keaton, Teri Garr, Martin Mull, Ann Jillian, Christopher Lloyd.
Perhaps no other concept in Hughes’s oeuvre has dated as badly as “Mr. Mom,” a slapstick farce that still exists in a world when women stay at home while the men earn a living. Still, there’s more than a few laughs in this comedy about a recently unemployed executive (Michael Keaton) who has to take care of the kids when his wife (Teri Garr) finds a new job at an advertising agency. Most of the jokes are pitched at the sitcom level, playing off of Keaton’s ineptitude with cooking and cleaning.
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9. PRETTY IN PINK (1986)
Image Credit: Paramount/Kobal/REX/Shutterstock Directed by Howard Deutch. Written by John Hughes. Starring Molly Ringwald, Harry Dean Stanton, Jon Cryer, Annie Potts, James Spader, Andrew McCarthy.
“Pretty in Pink” isn’t exactly the most original of concepts: Andie (Molly Ringwald), a kid from the wrong side of the tracks, falls in love with a rich kid (Andrew McCarthy) while her nerdy best friend (Jon Cryer) secretly pines for her. Yet like all Hughes films centered on teenagers, the script contains some achingly honest truths about adolescence, and makes Ringwald the girl every guy falls in love with. Harry Dean Stanton is a standout as Andie’s ne’re do well father, as is Annie Potts as her outlandish coworker at the local record store.
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8. UNCLE BUCK (1989)
Image Credit: Universal/Kobal/REX/Shutterstock Written and directed by John Hughes. Starring John Candy, Jean Louisa Kelly, Macaulay Culkin, Gaby Hoffman, Amy Madigan, Garrett M. Brown, Laurie Metcalf.
Though he’s best remembered for his collaborations with Molly Ringwald and Anthony Michael Hall, Hughes also found great success working with John Candy, that genial, lovable leading man who left us far too soon. In “Uncle Buck,” he plays a clumsy, slobbish layabout who agrees to watch after his brother’s (Garrett M. Brown) three children (Macaulay Culkin, Gaby Hoffman, Jean Louisa Kelly) when he and his wife (Amy Madigan) have to leave suddenly. Despite the cute kids, this is far from a sweet domestic comedy: rather, it’s at times surprisingly sour and unpleasant, made charming by Candy’s screen persona.
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7. NATIONAL LAMPOON’S CHRISTMAS VACATION (1989)
Image Credit: Warner Bros/REX/Shutterstock Directed by Jeremiah S. Chechik. Written by John Hughes. Starring Chevy Chase, Beverly D’Angelo, Juliette Lewis, Johnny Galecki, John Randolph, Diane Ladd, E.G. Marshall, Doris Roberts, Randy Quaid.
The “National Lampoon’s Vacation” series veered wildly from the sublime to the stupid (the less said about the Griswold family’s European and Vegas adventures, the better). In “Christmas Vacation,” bumbling patriarch Clark (Chevy Chase) and his long-suffering wife Ellen (Beverly D’Angelo) welcome the entire family home for the holidays, and predictable hijinks ensue. Unique amongst other films in the franchise, this outing contains a surprising amount of sentiment to go along with the laughs, making it a hilarious and touching Yuletide classic.
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6. SIXTEEN CANDLES (1984)
Image Credit: Universal/REX/Shutterstock Written and directed by John Hughes. Starring Molly Ringwald, Paul Dooley, Justin Henry, Anthony Michael Hall.
With his directorial debut, Hughes firmly established himself as the premiere maker of gently comedic, heartbreakingly accurate stories of teenage life. Molly Ringwald stars as a young girl whose sweet sixteen is ruined when her family completely forgets about her birthday. It’s all downhill from there as she suffers one embarrassing indignity after another, mostly at the hands of an insufferable dork (Anthony Michael Hall) with a cruel sense of humor. While most adolescent comedies of the day gave into raunchiness, Hughes relies on lightheartedness and quirky character observations, which would serve him well in subsequent films.
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5. HOME ALONE (1990)
Image Credit: 20th Century Fox/REX/Shutterstock Directed by Chris Columbus. Written by John Hughes. Starring Macaulay Culkin, Joe Pesci, Daniel Stern, John Heard, Catherine O’Hara.
Hughes raked in massive box office dollars with this holiday comedy about the world’s most ingenious (or perhaps diabolical) kid. Macaulay Culkin stars as Kevin McCallister, an eight-year-old who finds himself… well, “Home Alone” when his large, extended family leave town for Christmas. It’s all fun and games before a pair of devious burglars (Joe Pesci and Daniel Stern) decide to pay him a little visit. It’s up to Kevin to take them down with a series of booby traps so elaborate and painful they’re almost like a medieval torture chamber cooked up by Wylie Coyote. The film spawned two more Hughes-scripted sequels, only one of which (“Home Alone 2: Lost in New York”), featured the original cast, plus Donald Trump.
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4. NATIONAL LAMPOON’S VACATION (1983)
Image Credit: Moviestore/REX/Shutterstock Directed by Harold Ramis. Screenplay by John Hughes, based on his short story. Starring Chevy Chase, Beverly D’Angelo, Imogene Coca, Randy Quaid, John Candy, Christie Brinkley, Anthony Michael Hall, Dana Barron.
As Clark Griswold, Chevy Chase became a hero to every father who ever made the mistake of treating his family to a road trip. In this initial outing, he tries desperately to get his wife (Beverly D’Angelo) and kids (Anthony Michael Hall and Dana Barron) across the country to an amusement park. Director Harold Ramis and Hughes mine a surprising amount of comedic gold out of a tired premise, particularly with gags involving Randy Quaid as a wacky cousin, Imogene Coco as a cranky aunt, and John Candy as a befuddled park security guard. Three sequels and a remake followed, each one proving you should spend your vacation at home.
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3. FERRIS BUELLER’S DAY OFF (1986)
Image Credit: Moviestore Collection/REX/Shutterstock Written and directed by John Hughes. Starring Matthew Broderick, Alan Ruck, Mia Sara, Jennifer Grey, Jeffrey Jones, Ben Stein.
Most movies characters are quickly forgotten about as soon as you leave the theater, yet Ferris Bueller (Matthew Broderick) has held a special place in many a film-goers hearts. As you’d probably guess from the title, the plot centers on a charming, easy going slacker who fakes an illness in order to take the day off from school, much to the consternation of his principal (Jeffrey Jones). He convinces his legitimately ill best friend (Alan Ruck) to let them ride around Chicago in his dad’s red Ferrari with Ferris’s girlfriend (Mia Sara). Along the way, they learn some valuable life lessons about materialism and the nature of existence.
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2. PLANES, TRAINS & AUTOMOBILES (1987)
Image Credit: Moviestore Collection/REX/Shutterstock Written and directed by John Hughes. Starring Steve Martin, John Candy, Laila Roberts, Michael McKean, Kevin Bacon, Dylan Baker.
It’s almost criminal that Steve Martin and John Candy made only one movie together, but at least we can thank our lucky stars it was this one. “Planes, Trains & Automobiles” casts them more-or-less as versions of themselves: Martin is a persnickety adversing executive desperately trying to make it back home to Chicago to spend Thanksgiving with his family. Along the way he encounters a rambling, shambling salesman (Candy), and the two find themselves on the road together in one hilarious situation after the other. Though you can almost guess the outcome, it’s still surprisingly touching to see the two of them spending the holidays together because of how masterfully Hughes charts their budding friendship.
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1. THE BREAKFAST CLUB (1985)
Image Credit: Universal/Kobal/REX/Shutterstock Written and directed by John Hughes. Starring Emilio Estevez, Paul Gleason, Anthony Michael Hall, Judd Nelson, Molly Ringwald, Ally Sheedy.
With its deceptively simple premise and small cast of characters, Hughes created the definitive high school comedy, equal parts funny, touching, and honest. “The Breakfast Club” takes a group of teenagers — The Princess (Molly Ringwald), The Criminal (Judd Nelson), The Athlete (Emilio Estevez), The Brain (Anthony Michael Hall), and The Basket Case (Ally Sheedy) — and assembles them for a Saturday detention session, during which they lay their souls bare and form some long-lasting alliances. Of all the director’s adolescent adventures, none quite captured that special moment when your friends are your family quite as beautifully as this one.
Probably the best list of my favorite movies ever.