As was the case with many people who grew up in the ’80s, John Hughes’s films were an integral part of my childhood and coming-of-age. And on August 6, when I read the news that he’d died suddenly of a heart attack, I was deeply saddened, not only because he was the first writer and director who really inspired me, but because the chance of one last really great John Hughes film being made was gone, too.
Since I first saw Sixteen Candles (1984) at the age of seven, I’ve been a loyal consumer of Hughes’s films. Though I’ve seen almost all of the movies he wrote, directed, and/or produced, good or bad, the ones I love the most are The Breakfast Club (1985), Pretty in Pink (1986), Weird Science (1985), Ferris Bueller’s Day Off (1986), Some Kind of Wonderful (1987), She’s Having a Baby (1988), and, of course, Sixteen Candles. They’re the ones I connected with the most. They’re the ones that had female characters I wanted to emulate and male characters I hoped actually existed in the real world (well, except for Weird Science’s Chet, played by Bill Paxton). They’re the ones that featured the best music I’d never heard until I saw them.
Looking at the above list, I can’t help but think, “One of these things is not like the other.” To this day I can’t fully explain why I like She’s Having a Baby so much, since the desire for marriage and children is something I can’t identify with at all. I think it’s that it was the first Hughes movie I’d seen whose tone was noticeably more mature than the previous movies’, and I liked that I understood it, even though I was only 11. Also, I think it has one of the best, and most overlooked, soundtracks of any of his films. I don’t want to talk about She’s Having a Baby too much here since I plan to do a full post on it in the future, but I felt I needed to explain why it shows up alongside Hughes’s most beloved teen films as one of my favorites.
Now, I’m sure you’ve already read plenty of tributes since August 6, some focusing on the incredible, memorable music in Hughes’s films, and you may be reading this thinking, “Another one?” But I couldn’t not do a special Soundtrack Saturday post in his honor, since this column wouldn’t exist if it weren’t for John Hughes and his movies.
It was during a viewing of Pretty in Pink a few years ago, when I was still writing my old blog, Looking at Them, that I decided I wanted to write about out-of-print, incomplete, or forgotten soundtracks from my favorite movies — mostly because I’d always lamented that some of the best songs in Pretty in Pink never made it to the official soundtrack album. Thus, Soundtrack Saturday was born.
The Aut-O-Rama Twin Drive-In Theatre located in North Ridgeville, Ohio is like any drive-in you might imagine. One large parking lot with two giant screens and a snack bar and arcade building centrally located. There is a playground area for younger children and flea markets are held on the grounds every Sunday morning. Opened in 1965, I’m glad to say that the Aut-O-Rama is still independently owned and continues to screen double features throughout the summertime. During my formative years in the 1980s, my circle of friends had a pretty good routine: pile as many people into a car loaded with lawn chairs and a cooler, and pay for as few as people as possible, even hiding kids under blankets on the floor, in the hatchback or even the trunk. Cars parked to face the screen of the movie paid for, but that never prevented any of us from turning around and watching the other feature when bored. Once you tuned your AM radio to the special frequency that allowed you to hear the movie’s soundtrack, it was time to settle back in your semi-comfortable vinyl chair, or possibly the backseat of the car, open your beverage of choice and enjoy the show.