Ferris Bueller’s Day Off ***** (1986, Matthew Broderick, Alan Ruck, Mia Sara) – Classic Movie Review 1969

A delightful Matthew Broderick stars as Ferris Bueller, an American high school wise guy who is determined to have a day off from school, in writer-director John Hughes’s quintessential eighties teen comedy. Funny, charming and full of youthful vitality, this much-loved Brat Pack outing is among the best of its kind.

The 25-year-old Broderick exudes complete confident charisma and easily gets away with playing 16 as the smart-assed teenager Ferris who skips school for a day of audacious fun in Chicago with his father’s prized red Ferrari, his girlfriend Sloane (Mia Sara) and his best buddy Cameron (Alan Ruck). Written in just six days, this is one of Hughes’s most consistently entertaining screenplays, proving a really fresh and funny take on all aspects of the tried and tested premise, plotlines and characters. As the title implies, it plays out entirely on just the one day, with no flashbacks and the characters wearing the same clothes throughout.

The film belongs to the irrepressible, high-energy charmer Broderick as the troublesome truant, but Sara and Ruck are very effective too, while Jeffrey Jones and Edie McClurg are hilarious as the school principal Ed Rooney and Grace the Secretary in their daft pursuit of the recalcitrant pupils, with Principal Rooney convinced that Ferris is once again swinging the lead and determined on catching him out. Ferris, of course, is equally determined to outwit him.

Young Charlie Sheen shines in a cameo as a drunken, drug addict biker boy in the police station. To produce the desired effect, Sheen stayed awake for more than 48 hours before shooting the scene.

Cindy Pickett and Lyman Ward play Ferris’s parents, and celebrated by marrying in real life after filming. Jennifer Grey who plays Ferris’s sister, became engaged to Broderick after this movie. Also in the cast are Ben Stein, Del Close, Virginia Capers, Richard Edson, Larry Flash Jenkins, Kristy Swanson, Lisa Bellard and Max Perlich.

Ruck was even older than Broderick at 29 when he played Cameron (12 years older than his character), though Sara was a teenager. The movie is part-named after John Hughes’s life-long friend Bert Bueller and Cameron is based on someone Hughes knew in high school. Hughes can be seen in one of the Chicago montage sequences, climbing across traffic, wearing a light blue jacket and big eighties hair. The Ferrari is a 250GT California Spyder, only 104 of which were produced.

On 17 December 2014, the National Film Registry of the Library of Congress included The Big Lebowski, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, Rosemary’s Baby, Saving Private Ryan and Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory among the 25 films in its annual selection of notable works.

© Derek Winnert 2014 Classic Movie Review 1969

Check out more reviews on http://derekwinnert.com/