EP 39 - JOHN HUGHES DEEP DIVE

The Girls dive into the 80s teen movies from John Hughes. Which characters did you relate to? Sixteen Candles resonates with Amy: Samantha's eye-rolling and disgust. The grandparents - both sets. Hughes' nod to the Twilight Zone when two grandparents appeared on screen. Robbie-Ann relates to Ally Sheedy's "The Basket Case" Breakfast Club character. How well he wrote female characters - Amy reveals Hughes grew up with three sisters. Molly Ringwald as muse. Hughes' sort of absurd sense of humor: the lady with the squeaky shoes in Sixteen Candles. His start in advertising: Amy reveals that he created the corn pop cowboy character, and the credit card "stubble check" for razors! He wrote a comedy essay called "Vacation 58" for National Lampoon, which led to his script for 1983's Mr. Mom. Robbie-Ann talks about Mr. Mom being one of the funniest movies ever made, and how the dialogue became part of her lexicon for life. Sidebar: She describes her hunt for the Cape Cod style house they used in the movie, and finally finding it during the summer of 2021. She's Having a Baby, Hughes' autobiographical story starring Kevin Bacon and Elizabeth McGovern. Robbie-Ann reveals the secret meaning behind  license plate numbers on the characters' cars used in Hughes' movies.  Ferris Bueller's Day Off: the gamble they took using a Beatles song.  Breakfast Club casting: John Cusack as Bender? Joan Cusack as The Basket Case? And Jennifer Beals in Pretty in Pink? Molly Ringwald's inspiring headshot that led to Sixteen Candles. How John Hughes got Molly Ringwald and Anthony Michael Hall to get along on the movie. Farmer Ted and Samantha Baker - dating??? More what-if casting: a different Duckie? What led to Hall and Hughes falling out. Molly Ringwald bails on Some Kind of Wonderful, possibly igniting a feud? Viggo Mortensen as Jake Ryan? What? Weird Science. Chet! Kelly LeBrock's smart, hot "together" woman, who teaches Wyatt and Gary how to stand up for themselves. Pretty in Pink: the infamous original ending and Andrew McCarthy's wig in the reshoot. Robbie-Ann's shooting location obsession leads her to the Biltmore Hotel in Los Angeles, to see the prom scene room. The soundtrack. All the soundtracks - Hughes' deliberate music choices. Tarquin Gotch, his music supervisor. Home Alone, another gigantic Hughes hit, directed by Chris Columbus. Vacation, directed by Harold Ramis - another incredible soundtrack. 2009 in New York City: Amy reports on the day of his death. Some Kind of Wonderful what-if casting: Kim Delaney? Kyle McLaughlin? Michael J. Fox? Ferris Bueller's Day Off: Amy's revelation about Ferris and where he came from. Robbie-Ann talks about The Car - a fiberglass fake? The lost subplot between Jennifer Grey and Charlie Sheen. Chicago as a character in Hughes's movies. Rest in Peace, John Hughes, GenX thanks you for giving us some hope when we were teenagers. Random shout out to our European listeners! Bonjour! Hallo! Ciao!