Watching Uncle Buck for the countless time recently on Sky Movies John Hughes was a master of teen comedies in the 80s; the ending when Buck says “We going home we’re not dying!” to Chanice is now a very poignant moment with John Candy dying a few years later.

From many articles I have read John Hughes never got over the death of his friend John Candy in 2004 (who died during the filming of Wagons East in March 1994 aged 44). Hughes blamed Hollywood on his death for overworking his friend. John Candy made several films with John Hughes Planes, Trains & Automobiles (1987), The Great Outdoors (1988), Uncle Buck (1989) and cameos in Home Alone (1990) Career Opportunities (1991).

John Hughes was shaken up by the death of his friend leaving Hollywood and moving his family back home to Chicago. His friend Vince Vaughn said John Hughes talked about how much he loved his friend John Candy and had he lived longer he would have likely made more films as a director. (But after his Candy’s death he never directed another film producing a few including Reach the Rock in 1998 and New Port South in 2001 neither were successful at the box office. He also wrote scripts including Maid in Manhattan and Drillbit Taylor under pseudonym Edmond Dantes he also wrote the original script to Dumb and Dumber but sold it to Bobby and Peter Farrelly. Six years on from his death Peanuts is being released later this year as an animated film was originally conceived as a live-action film written and produced by John Hughes for Warner Bros in 1992.

John Hughes died in August 2009 aged 59 of a heart attack while taking a walk in Manhattan he left scripts to many unmade films including Bartholomew Vs. Neff was one that had been planned to be made in the early 90s with Sylvester Stallone and John Candy as feuding neighbors he also left script ideas for many sequels to his films.

Judd Apatow described his films as John Hughes films with four letter words. In a statement after his death Judd said “I feel like a part of my childhood has died. Nobody made me laugh harder or more often than John Hughes”.

Whereas John Hughes was inspired by his own experiences which are timeless experiences in our lives.

Ferris Bueller’s Day Off

Uncle Buck

Home Alone

Planes Trains and Automobiles

The Breakfast Club

The technology and fashions might be dated in his films but the life experiences are still the same. He did it without gross-out humour modern day teen comedies feel they need not needing to dumb down or play down to its audience. Also what made his films was the great soundtracks he created to go with the films similar to what Cameron Crowe has done with his films like Singles, Say Anything, Jerry Maguire, Elizabethtown, Vanilla Sky and even Aloha featured soundtracks similar to John Hughes films that you could enjoy long after you had seen the films. Cameron Crowe’s  Fast Times At Ridgemont High opened a year before John Hughes first film script but its success helped him direct his first film Sixteen Candles in 1984 having written scripts for Mr Mom and Vacation the year earlier.

I can and have watched his films countless times when the credits roll the end you do wish you could see what happened next many of these films had sequel scripts written but only Home Alone had sequels that were made. In November it will be 25 years since Home Alone was released and its still as enjoyable 25 years later whenever it is shown at Christmas.

In the years since we don’t really have anyone similar to him today nearest to him his Judd Apatow but he does it more by self reference and pop culture humour similar to Phil Lord and Christopher Miller who made the excellent 21 Jump Street, the sequel 22 Jump Street and The Lego Movie.

The closest we have come to a John Hughes film recently was Clueless but that was 20 years ago or John Tucker Must Die in 2006 and Mean Girls in 2004.

The American Pie series of films had the sentiment of a John Hughes film but the gross out humour which become grosser in each movie that followed.

These days teen films are based on Young Adult novels like Nicholas Sparks and John Green these get huge social media attention but don’t get the big audiences seeing them in cinemas.