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The greatest Thanksgiving movie of all time

Sbbruin

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Sbbruin

Sbbruin 21830

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3 hours ago, Bateshorn said:

My wife and I are planning a watch night around this movie. John Candy was a National Treasure. 

His Russ Lasky role in Vacation May be his best.  And they paid him a fortune to shoot that.  The original ending was totally different but they tested it and it was a flop.  They had to pony up to get him.  And he delivered.  “That’s not a real gun, is it Clark?”

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Sbbruin

Sbbruin 21830

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The scene at the diner where Neal tells Del that they’d get to where they are going faster if they were alone was a tough one too.  Neal is kind of a dick.  But he does remind me of me, so maybe I’m a dick too.

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Michael Knight

Michael Knight 12977

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11 hours ago, Lobo said:

He is still wildly underrated.  Criminally underrated, you ask me.  

Think about this writing run:

Mr. Mom, Vacation, Sixteen Candles, The Breakfast Club, Weird Science, Ferris Bueller's Day Off, Planes Trains & Automobiles, the Great Outdoors, Uncle Buck, Christmas Vacation, Home Alone, Career Opportunities, and Dutch.  All in the span of about 10 years, or basically the 1980's+.  That's the comedic writing equivalent of what Led Zeppelin did in the 1970's.  

We were indoctrinated with his brilliance in Chicago growing up and I was a little too young to appreciate most of his movies as they came out in theaters in real time.  But there's not a movie on that list that I don't consistently crack up to each time I watch it, and almost all of them have a teary moment as well.  

I had a halfway decent post in last year's thread about this movie where I talk about what I think Hughes was really trying to say with this movie.  But I can't find it.  It sums up the movie, and Hughes, for me pretty well.  He obviously find a muse in John Candy given they worked on like 6 movies together. 

Nobody understood the pathos of upper middle class white people better than John Hughes

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Guest Lobo

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Which explains how he got his start in writing, He was on staff for Delta HOuse, the frat comedy.    The tv spinoff from animal house movie.  
 

Though my favorite movies of his came out when I was an adolescent Hispanic kid in a working class neighborhood, they still struck a chord.  
 

planes trains and automobiles is on CC on Thursday at 1pm.  Won’t be as fun without the swearing but worth a look before holiday dinner is served.  

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South Austin

South Austin 52459

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7 hours ago, Sbbruin said:

The scene at the diner where Neal tells Del that they’d get to where they are going faster if they were alone was a tough one too.  Neal is kind of a dick.  But he does remind me of me, so maybe I’m a dick too.

I confess that I’m way more Neal Page than Del Griffith. Which means I can be a dick, but as my friends and family would attest, I’m also the guy who goes back to the train station to get Del.

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henrygandorf

henrygandorf 29189

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On 11/26/2019 at 12:41 AM, ztejas said:

That being said, this thread should just be titled PTA (*I'm dumb. Missed the gist of the title). John Hughes was a fucking genius screenwriter (although I could be wrong, deferring to @henrygandorf).

sorry took me a long time to see this.

though not on my personal "mount rushmore", john hughes is as close to screenwriting royalty as there is.  he found something he did well, and he stretched it over ~15+ absolute classics.  the shame of it (if you want to call it that) is that later in his career, he got kinda pigeonholed into writing "kids" movies.  he was a dirty fucking pervert in the most hilarious way back in his national lampoon days, and could've made a career just from that.

he was also a criminally underrated director, in my opinion.  in a stretch unmatched by almost anyone in his generation (maybe rob reiner), there wasn't a clunker in the bunch.

shame to lose him so young.  rip.

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henrygandorf

henrygandorf 29189

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3 minutes ago, futureman said:

why didn’t he direct more

honestly i have no idea, but i can guess...

directors are involved - both physically and emotionally - with a movie for the whole smash from the moment they're hired and start story-boarding, until after the movie is edited and screened.  only the owner of the material (typically the producer) has a longer commitment to a project, but is typically nowhere near as "hands-on" as a director.  it's a completely draining and exhaustive process, which is why you can only direct one movie at a time (but can write, produce, or act in several).

as a writer, you're likely not even involved in the actual filming of the movie, depending on your contract, whether there are on-site rewrites, etc.  you can write something, sell it, and move onto the next project.  my guess is that he had so much fucking money, and had multi-project deals in place with studios and prod companies, to where it made much more sense to write (and produce) and move on.  if you're gonna have any type of home/family life, you can't direct a movie every year.

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Beau Vine

Beau Vine 54209

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23 hours ago, futureman said:

why didn’t he direct more

Seriously?  I thought everyone knew this -- Because he hated directing.  He was completely uncomfortable giving direction to older, established actors, which is why he started directing by writing high school movies.

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futureman

futureman 22444

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5 minutes ago, Beau Vine said:

Seriously?  I thought everyone knew this -- Because he hated directing.  He was completely uncomfortable giving direction to older, established actors, which is why he started directing by writing high school movies.

oh yeah everyone knows that!

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Brisketexan

Brisketexan 105083

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1 hour ago, Pato del Muerto said:

Steve Martin’s twitter handle is so Steve Martin. 

 

it breaks my heart to read that candy was anything other than the happiest guy in the world, especially so that he seemed to feel like Del at times. 

Yeah, this.

My adoration for Candy is complete and total.  Even in his mediocre roles, he was....John Candy.  And we all loved John Candy.  I wish that he'd really known and understood that every last one of his days on earth.  That his role as Del was simply him playing himself makes perfect sense, and breaks my damned heart.

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