[…] The year of 1985 was actor Judd Nelson’s breakthrough calendar. Nelson was in the Amblin Entertainment (Steven Spielberg, Kathleen Kennedy, Frank Marshall) production Fandango alongside the rising star of Kevin Costner. But there was also a remarkable pair of coming-of-age ensembles with fellow “Brat Packers” Emilio Estevez and Ally Sheedy that would provide a blueprint for Nelson’s powerful performances: the post-college romance St. Elmo’s Fire and …read more […]

Very compelling stuff here. Hughes was a special kind of animal, one who had an almost otherworldly comprehension of the human condition and filtered it through his teenaged characters. Let me say that again. TEENAGED characters. Hollywood's treatment of teenagers either before or since has not been matched by what this grand master accomplished. I must confess, I was so full of myself as a teen in the 80's (to put it in appropriate context I was an amalgam of Anthony Michael Hall and Ally Sheedy's characters...) that I utterly missed the boat when these films initially played. Worse, I sneered at my contemporaries who were fans of them. But now...at age 43? I recognize nearly all of Hughes's work as high water marks of American cinema. Which begs the question...where this hell is THIS generation's John Hughes? God knows, they need one even more than WE did!

Jeff, good to hear from you, one of the Original GITS Gang (OGG!) I had this exact conversation with Scott Neustadter and Michael H. Weber who wrote (500) Days of Summer and The Spectacular Now. In my view, they have basically picked up that ball and run with it. They have at least one more movie coming out featuring adolescents, and I believe another in the works. But there will never be another John Hughes. One of a kind. And as time went on, proved to be an incredibly versatile writer.

OGG for life and proud of it, Scott! You are, of course, correct. I suppose it's like saying, "where's this generation's Billy Wilder or John Huston or Mel Brooks?" The giants are all products of their times. Besides, this is such a great time for movies! I'm a little shellshocked actually. All those years we OGG's bemoaned a lack of STORY in the movies...could it be that Hollywood was listening to us?! GRAVITY, HER, BLUE JASMINE, THE WOLF OF WALL STREET, AMERICAN HUSTLE....just been a great year. (great enough to inspire me to play with notecards and leave little scraps of dialogue all over the house anyway!)