John Hughes Movies, Ranked

Every one of them is set near Chicago, and most of them are set in detention.

Entries
10
Category
Film
Updated
  1. A drum kit in a garage with a pair of diamond earrings resting on the snare, sticks crossed on the floor.

    10. Some Kind of Wonderful

    Howard Deutch · 1987

    Hughes's do-over of Pretty in Pink with the genders flipped, and this time the best friend wins. Mary Stuart Masterson's drummer Watts runs away with it. The names Keith, Watts and Amanda Jones are a Rolling Stones tribute. Hughes settled the Duckie argument himself.

  2. A homemade pink prom dress on a dress form in a cramped bedroom, sewing scraps and a record player on the floor.

    09. Pretty in Pink

    Howard Deutch · 1986

    Hughes wrote it after Ringwald played him the Psychedelic Furs song. The original ending had Andie with Duckie, test audiences booed, and Andrew McCarthy came back in a wig to reshoot the prom. Duckie fans are still in the lobby, booing back.

  3. A birthday cake with sixteen candles left untouched on a cluttered kitchen counter beside wedding invitations.

    08. Sixteen Candles

    John Hughes · 1984

    Hughes's directing debut: Molly Ringwald's family forgets her sixteenth birthday because of her sister's wedding. It made $23.6 million on $6.5 million and invented his whole genre. Long Duk Dong and a party scene have aged badly, and Ringwald herself wrote about it in 2018.

  4. A suburban house buried in thousands of blazing Christmas lights, a sagging RV in the snowy driveway.

    07. National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation

    Jeremiah Chechik · 1989

    Clark Griswold hangs 25,000 lights and briefly takes out the city's power, then Cousin Eddie parks an RV in the driveway. The original trained squirrel died before its scene, so the crew spent three days with an amateur. The amateur nailed it.

  5. An enormous pancake the size of a trash can lid on a kitchen counter, a snow shovel used as a spatula.

    06. Uncle Buck

    John Hughes · 1989

    John Candy babysits his brother's kids, including a very young Macaulay Culkin and a furious teenager. Number one at the box office for four straight weeks. Ebert gave it a star and a half. Hughes saw Culkin here and remembered him for the next one.

  6. A wood-paneled pea-green station wagon in a desert parking lot, a rocking chair strapped to its roof.

    05. National Lampoon's Vacation

    Harold Ramis · 1983

    Hughes adapted his own National Lampoon story into the Griswolds' drive to Walley World in a metallic-pea Family Truckster. Aunt Edna dies along the way and rides the rest of the trip on the roof. It opened at No. 1. Every family road trip has a little of this in it.

  7. A paint can swinging on a rope at the top of a suburban staircase, a tarantula on a step and toy soldiers scattered below.

    04. Home Alone

    Chris Columbus · 1990

    Hughes wrote it after packing for vacation and thinking he'd better not forget his kids. It cost $18 million and made $476.7 million, and Guinness called it the top-grossing live-action comedy for two decades. Two burglars have never been less insured.

  8. Five mismatched brown-bag lunches on a high school library table on a Saturday morning, a wall clock reading 7:06.

    03. The Breakfast Club

    John Hughes · 1985

    Five kids, one Saturday detention, a thousand-word essay nobody writes. Made for $1 million in a set built in a closed high school's gym, it made over $52 million and put Simple Minds at No. 1. Every teen movie since has been sitting in this library.

  9. A red vintage convertible sports car on a Chicago garage lift, a pointillist painting reflected in its windshield.

    02. Ferris Bueller's Day Off

    John Hughes · 1986

    Hughes wrote it in under a week. A kid skips school, borrows a Ferrari, crashes a parade, and visits the Art Institute, which Hughes called his self-indulgent scene. The Ferraris were replicas, which is the only reason any of them are left. National Film Registry, 2014.

  10. A burned-out rental car shell on a snowy highway shoulder, a pair of motel room keys and a shower curtain ring on the hood.

    01. Planes, Trains and Automobiles

    John Hughes · 1987

    Steve Martin and John Candy try to get from New York to Chicago for Thanksgiving and every mode of transport turns on them, including a rental car that catches fire. Inspired by a real Hughes business trip. The first cut ran 3 hours 45 minutes. Still too short.

Honorable mentions

  • A suburban lawn with a row of push lawnmowers lined up in formation, a baby rattle on the doorstep.

    She's Having a Baby

    John Hughes · 1988

    Kevin Bacon and Elizabeth McGovern go from wedding to delivery room, and Hughes scores the birth with Kate Bush's This Woman's Work. It lost money and Ebert called it gimmicky. Kevin Smith says it's his favorite Hughes film. Someone had to.

Dishonorable mentions

  • A child's red wig and a battered suitcase on the leather couch of a fancy high-rise apartment.

    Curly Sue

    John Hughes · 1991

    Hughes's last film as director: Jim Belushi and a seven-year-old con their way into a rich lawyer's home. It sits at 13% on Rotten Tomatoes. Ebert liked it; Siskel called it unctuous. Steve Carell made his film debut here. He recovered.

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