Life moves pretty fast.
Ferris Bueller's day off was 40 years ago today. (Pause for gawping disbelief.)
Happy Thursday, everyone! We don’t normally publish on Thursdays, but this momentous anniversary deserves an exception. Because it was 40 years ago today—as deduced by ardent Cubs fans with gimlet eyes and a lot of free time—when Ferris, Cameron, and Sloane ditched Shermer High School to joyride around Chicago and eat pancreas.
In typical fashion, Doug found this fascinating. He delved further behind the scenes and learned that 1) John Hughes wrote the script in about a week; 2a) Mia Sara is acting again, and 2b) her two fathers-in-law have been James Bond and Kermit; and 3) Sam and Victor’s Day Off is a sequel in development about the two parking attendants who took the Ferrari for a joyride.
Magda, also typically, spent most of this conversation waiting for it to be over.
Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, she believes, is one of those few movies from that time period and genre that still holds up. High schoolers still want to skip school, parents are still a drag, school administrators are still adversaries, parades are still fun, and heading to the ballpark is still a great thing to do with an afternoon. It probably helps that we can all enjoy Matthew Broderick, Mia Sara, and Alan Ruck as they were, since none of them has turned into a huge you-know-what.
The timing of this movie is also relevant, because we were born more than seven years apart. Magda saw this movie in eighth grade and admires Jeannie for kicking the shit out of the only cast member who later was arrested for possession of child pornography. Doug, on the other hand, saw it near the end of college, and it was a little jarring to realize his young-adult memories are middle-aged.
Do you know what else happened in 1986? Weird Al Yankovic came out with Polka Party! And this is also relevant, because yesterday Magda invited Doug to a Weird Al concert next month with our son and her new husband. Which is something 21-year-old Doug and 13-year-old Magda would never, ever, ever, never, ever have seen coming.
But that’s the ride, right? We don’t know when it’s going to end, but it’s good to have lived long enough to recognize this as the best part so far.
And I was nearly middle aged when I saw it! But I too loved it and have rewatched it numerous times over these last 40 years. It made me a Matthew Broderick fan forever and I looked up Mia Sera and Alan Ruck to see what they are doing. I find Mia in Beef with Ali Wong, the only actor I personally know and much to my surprise Alan is the infamous Conner Roy in Succession. Thanks for leading me to these fun facts.