The death of writer/director/producer John Hughes will be the real crushing blow that a lot of pop-culture types pretended to endure with Michael Jackson’s passing. I was one young Republican who was never a fan of his ’80s work—including the fairly conservative Ferris Bueller's Day Off—but Hughes was a huge cultural marker to others. At the very least, the complete soundtrack to 1984’s Sixteen Candles (which only saw an EP as an official release) sums up much of the best music of that still-young decade. Sadly, Hughes would be capturing the worst of the ’80s on the soundtrack to 1987’s Some Kind of Wonderful.

Anyway, you’ll be hearing a lot about Ferris Bueller on conservative websites. Here’s a pitch for New Port South—which Hughes produced back in 2001. It’s not quite Massacre at Central High, but the script (written by John’s son James) is a sharp little story about adolescents indulging some ugly Socialistic tendencies. It’s a great looking film, too, and remains the only movie directed by brilliant title-credits designer Kyle Cooper. Go ahead and order it from Netflix, or pick it up at the local video store. There’s already a waiting list for The Breakfast Club and Pretty in Pink.

 

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