On F List of Movie Reviews
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Ferris Bueller's Day Off (1986)
Rate:
10
Viewed:
12/02, 1/05, 12/16
12/16:
Classic 80's filmmaking at its finest.
Adams?
Here.
Adamley?
Here.
Adamowsky?
Here.
Adamson?
Here.
Adler?
Here.
Anderson?
Anderson?
Here.
Bueller?
Bueller?
Bueller?
Bueller?
If there's a good choice for movie of the decade for the 80's, Ferris Bueller's Day Off immediately comes
to my mind. What a well-assembled cast. Matthew Broderick, Jeffrey Jones, Edie McClurg, Jennifer Grey, Alan Ruck, Mia Sara,
Charlie Sheen (who stayed awake for more than 48 hours to play the drugged-out character), and Ben Stein all turn in memorable
performances. Their lines are highly quotable.
One of the students in the economics class who had a mouthful of a line, "My best friend's sister's boyfriend's brother's
girlfriend..." is Kristy Swanson. When I saw her face after being called on, I said to myself, "She looks familiar," but
I didn't realize it until I saw the interviews. So, anyway, that's her.
Interestingly, Cindy Pickett and Lyman Ward, who play Ferris' parents, would be married during the same year, but they divorced
in 1992. Also, Matthew Broderick and Jennifer Grey were dating each other at the same time and had become engaged thereafter.
But somehow, things went sour after they were involved in a fatal accident, due to Broderick driving in the wrong lane while
on vacation in Ireland, that left a mother and daughter dead.
During the interview, Alan Ruck made a reference to Lee Harvey Oswald when asked to describe Cameron. It's what I
thought for many years due to his brown Caduceus T-shirt. What makes the film unforgettable is the moments. As many of them
as there are, the best is the parade which included over 10,000 people; it looks real and spontaneous.
The timing of every scene is dead-on, giving the film a perfect flow. Time flies by quickly, and I can never get enough.
Clever is the ending of Ed Rooney inside the yellow school bus and then Ferris' "You're still here? It's over. Go home. Go."
Why Matthew Broderick was chosen to play Ferris Bueller is his universal appeal just like James Stewart. It's
impossible to dislike him.
I think of Ferris Bueller's Day Off as a true Chicago picture. Some of the locations include the Wrigley Field, the Art
Institute of Chicago (showing off the Picassos, Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte by Georges Seurat,
and Nighthawks by Edward Hopper), the Merc, and Sears Tower which once held the record for being the tallest building
in the world, lasting for almost a quarter of a century.
All in all, Ferris Bueller's Day Off is timeless.