The third week in #Johnuary, looking at the work of John Hughes, continues with his first directorial piece, Sixteen Candles. I knew nothing about this film before seeing it apart from that it was John Hughes’ first film and that it starred Molly Ringwald.

Here are my real time thoughts as I was watching the movie…

• You’ve got to love those 80s movies that have kids cursing in them. Molly Ringwald says F*** and S*** in the first 5 minutes into the film
• I love how they introduce Anthony Michael Hall as “The Geek” in the credits. Plus John Cusack’s name appeared in small font so I’ll have to look out for him
• For John Hughes’ first film I felt it was very well made. It didn’t feel like a directorial debut
• I was not expecting the full on naked breasts and shower scene. I was soon to learn that this was a topic that Hughes revisited in a lot of his films. I guess a lot of films in the 80s did!
• What an entrance for Anthony Michael Hall, on the bus
• There’s quite a few bizarre trumpet and cymbal noises at comedy moments. And every time they mention the chinese guy. I quite liked it. I find it interesting that Hughes skirts the line between teenage light-hearted drama and screwball comedy. Much more on the drama side but the comedy interjections sometimes work well and sometimes not so much
• The kid brother had a great digital calculator watch
• Anthony Michael Hall is so good. It’s hard to believe he is only 15
• I spotted John Cusack. Hardly recognised him! He’s so young and he’s one of the geeks
• Pretty cool school party with what I’m sure was Madness ‘Our House’ followed by another ska tune
• The guy who played the caretaker in The Breakfast Club, John Kapelos, is the fiancee!
• That house party looks pretty great. John Hughes does know how to direct a good house party
• The scene that she has with her Dad is really cool. Nicely done. I like how this film worked on a couple of different levels, from the childrens’ perspectives and also from an adult’s perspective. That’s clever. Not a lot of writers would bother with that
• I love the bond that Anthony Michael Hall has with Jake
• It was a nice touch when the Wham ‘Young Guns’ kicks in
• The Anthony Michael Hall moment in the car is the perfect way to break the fourth wall
• Very funny how the Polaroid only got AMH’s head
• Nice chunk of David Bowie, Young American too. Cool soundtrack in this film!
• I really liked how they made you feel sorry for Anthony Michael Hall after he tries it on with Molly but then just becomes the guy who hitches her up with her dream guy, but later on you get to cheer for Anthony Michael Hall when he hooks up with the ‘hottest girl in school’
• So did AMH and Jake’s girlfriend actually have sex? Or did they both just think the might have? I’m not sure that was explained fully. Nice to keep you guessing though
• As a father of a girl I just thought the bit where she excitedly tells her dad that Jake is the boy was very cool indeed. Nice to have that relationship
• Interestingly Viggo Mortensen was nearly chosen in the male lead role. That would have been interesting to see. I haven’t seen much of Viggo’s work in the 80s
• I was very impressed with Molly Ringwald’s acting, given that I think she was actually only fifteen when they filmed this
• This film was a big success for Hughes as it raised $23,686,027 with a budget of only $6.5 million.

From my limited knowledge of the film before I saw it, I wasn’t really expecting to enjoy it too much, although I was sure it would be watchable and fun. But in actual fact I really loved this film. Very impressed indeed. I’ll certainly be watching it again at some point.

Images from Blu-Ray.com

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