Another reason I love the '80s
For a moment, Oscar got real as the Brat Pack paid tribute to John Hughes
The Academy Awards can easily become a grueling round of epic speeches and a tragic train of evening gowns, but things got real for a few moments Sunday night during a Brat Pack tribute to director John Hughes, who passed away last August.
It featured a 10-minute montage of clips from the Hughes canon, including such iconic flicks as The Breakfast Club, Sixteen Candles, and Home Alone. The cinematic collage was complemented with speeches by Matthew “Ferris Bueller” Broderick and Molly Ringwald, in line with the night’s theme of movie co-star testimonials. (Since when did the Oscars become a celebrity-studded live version of Yelp?)
Also onstage were Anthony Michael Hall, Maccaulay Culkin, Jon Cryer, Ally Sheedy and Judd Nelson – each offering their own anecdotes.
No matter how cynical, socially apathetic or angst-ridden, Hughes’ characters were the poignant voice of ‘80s adolescence. “His gift was creating stories, characters and truths about being a teen, and fulfilled them in a way that nobody had ever done before,” Ringwald said.
The lasting careers of some of the Pack’s members attest to the teen movie maverick’s penchant for scouting young talent — arguably a lost art. The vanishing careers of '90s stars like Alicia Silverstone, Melissa Joan Hart and Freddie Prinze Jr. are yet another reason that we mourn the golden era of John Hughes.
See a classic scene from Ferris Bueller:
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