Ferris Bueller's Day Off
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Ferris Bueller's Day Off is a 1986 film written and directed by John Hughes and produced by Arnon Milchan. It stars Matthew Broderick, Alan Ruck, Mia Sara, Jeffrey Jones and Jennifer Grey. The film was released by Paramount Pictures on June 11, 1986.
The film follows high school senior Ferris Bueller, who, one spring day, decides to skip school and spend the day in downtown Chicago with his friend Cameron Frye and girlfriend Sloane Peterson. Throughout the day, Ferris manages to creatively avoid his school principal, his jealous sister, and his parents.
It is regarded as one of the best comedies of the 1980s and is often referred to as a classic - influencing many American high-school comedies of the late 80s and 90s.
This film is number 54 on Bravo's 100 Funniest Movies. It also came 26th in the British 50 Greatest Comedy Films poll.
Taglines:
- One Man's Struggle To Take It Easy
- Leisure Rules
Plot
Ferris Bueller is a wise-cracking high school student from the fictional suburb of Shermer, Illinois, (located near Chicago and filmed in Northbrook, IL), who decides to skip school for a day on the town by pretending to be sick. As Ferris says "Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it." To this end, Ferris convinces his best friend Cameron to take his father's 1961 Ferrari 250 GT California out for a spin, despite the fact that Cameron's Dad has so little trust in him that he memorized the car's mileage (Ferris makes the promise to erase any miles they put on the car by driving home backwards). Using the Ferrari as a high-class prop to give his masquerade as his girlfriend Sloane's father (Mr. Peterson) credibility, Ferris tricks the high school Dean of students, Ed Rooney, into thinking her grandmother is dead, in effect excusing her from school.Ben Stein delivers a memorable performance as a dry, droning economics teacher. He discusses the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act and how it was perceived by some at the time to be related to what was famously dubbed "Voodoo Economics" by George H.W. Bush, while semi-conscious students look on. Stein, who actually holds a degree in economics, ad-libs this scene.
Rooney sees Ferris's attempt to have a little fun as an act of rebellion against his authority. He sets out to catch Ferris and make an example of him for other students. He spends several hours doing so; in the process his car gets towed, he is assaulted by Jeanie Bueller and the Bueller's dog, suffering multiple injuries. Ferris's sister Jeanie thinks Rooney is a burglar. She is at home because she is envious of Ferris and has decided to uncover his scheme.
During Ferris's "day off," he enjoys a baseball game at Wrigley Field, dines at an elite restaurant, sneaks onto a float during the Von Steuben Day Parade to lip-sync "Danke Schoen" and The Beatles' version of "Twist and Shout,". It was located right next to First National Plaza (now Chase Tower). He also enjoys the view at the top of the Sears Tower and visits the Art Institute of Chicago. In one of several running jokes, Ferris narrowly avoids meeting his father a few times.
After the day of fun, the car must be returned in its original state. Ferris hoists the rear wheels of the Ferrari off the ground and puts it in reverse, propping a cement block on the gas pedal in an attempt to make the odometer roll backward to hide the fact that it was driven. This fails. Cameron refuses to consider Ferris's suggestion to "crack open" the odometer and roll the numbers back by hand. Due to Cameron's rage at the impending failure of their deception as well as his home situation, he kicks the Ferrari repeatedly, causing it to teeter precariously on the block. Shocked and dismayed at the damage he has done, he bravely decides to take the punishment his father will issue. He inadvertently leans on the car, unintentionally knocking it off the blocks and sending it roaring backward and through an upper story glass wall-to-wall window. They declare it "killed." Ferris offers to take the blame, but Cameron decides to stand up to his father for the first time in his life.
Having shared a kiss with Sloane, Ferris realizes he is late and dashes home, running through neighbors' back yards and hopping over fences (taking only a short break to introduce himself to two bikini-clad, sunbathing teenagers in one of the backyards). With a little bit of help from his sister, he arrives back home and manages to get into bed just in time for his parents to check on him.
Cast
- Matthew Broderick as Ferris Bueller
- Alan Ruck as Cameron Frye
- Mia Sara as Sloane Peterson
- Jeffrey Jones as Edward R. Rooney, Dean of Students
- Jennifer Grey as Jeanie Bueller
- Cindy Pickett as Katie Bueller
- Lyman Ward as Tom Bueller
- Edie McClurg as Grace
- Charlie Sheen as the Druggie
- Ben Stein as The Economics Teacher
- Del Close as the English Teacher
Reception
Critical
The film was well met by most critics, and was extremely popular with teenagers. Broderick was also nominated for a Golden Globe in 1987, for Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Comedy/Musical.The film is now seen as one of the best comedies of the 1980s. It featured in the BBC television show I Love the 80s which aired in 2001. The film has a high rating of 89% on Rotten Tomatoes, an internet site which collects critical film reviews. It also has a 7.8/10 rating on the IMDb.
The film was short-listed by the American Film Institute as part of the AFI 100 Years... series celebration in the category of AFI's 100 Years... 100 Laughs.
In 2000, readers of Total Film magazine voted Ferris Bueller's Day Off the 23rd greatest comedy film of all time. However, in 2005, an Empire magazine article declared Ferris Bueller's Day Off as the number one teen film of all time.
Box office
The film opened in 1,330 theatres in the United States and had a total weekend gross of $6,275,647, opening in second position to Rodney Dangerfield's Back to School.Ferris Bueller's Day Off's total gross in the United States was approximately 70 million dollars. It subsequently became the 10th highest grossing film of 1986. Compared to the lean budget of 6 million dollars, this was viewed as a big success. [link]
Negative
A small percentage of American educators declared the film to provide a very negative role model for students, as the film's protagonist openly advocates skipping school, lying and tricking parents, and hacking into a school mainframe to alter records. It was also noted that the American high school tradition of "Senior Skip Day" drastically increased in the late 1980s and early 1990s, some say as a direct result of so many teenagers viewing the film. The United States Department of Education, however, never made any official statements, one way or the other, regarding the impact of the film on teenagers' views towards education.
Trivia
- At the time of filming, Matthew Broderick was 23, Jennifer Grey was 25, Alan Ruck was 29 and Mia Sara was only 18.
- In an early draft of the script Ferris had two additional younger siblings.
- Charlie Sheen, who played the drug addict at the police station to which Jeanie is taken, stayed awake for more than 48 hours before the scene was shot to produce the desired drugged-out effect.
- Cindy Pickett and Lyman Ward, who played Ferris's parents, married in real life after filming this movie (although they subsequently divorced).
- Sloane is based on a high school version of Nancy Hughes, John's wife. Cameron and Garth Volbeck (Charlie Sheen's druggie character) are based on acquaintances of Hughes from high school.
- Cameron's fake "Mr. Peterson" voice was based on an old drama coach Ruck and Broderick used to study under. Hughes never met the man and didn't understand the little in-joke at all, but it cracked up the two actors so much they used it for the voice.
- The red hockey sweater that Cameron wears in the film is that of Detroit Red Wings ice hockey legend Gordie Howe.
- In a deleted scene, Ferris calls a local Chicago radio station saying that he would like to ride in the space shuttle at some point in his life before he dies, but it was cut from the film and the trailers (which had to be retrieved from the theaters they were already sent to) due to the Challenger explosion in January 1986. (This entire subplot is explained on the FBDO DVD commentary.)
- The Synthesizer/sampler used to create Ferris's cough and vomit sounds was an E-mu Emulator II made in the early 1980s by E-mu.
- Ferris wears a different outfit in each scene before he and Cameron go to pick up Sloane.
- Mia Sara would later admit she was actually tickled by Matthew Broderick in the taxicab scene
- The game that Ferris, Cameron and Sloane are attending at Wrigley Field is between the Chicago Cubs and Montreal Expos who wore powder blue road uniforms at the time.
- The detective at the police station is named Steven Lim, the same name as the First Assistant Director.
- In the film, Ferris frequently "breaks the fourth wall" - i.e., he addresses the audience directly.
- The fancy restaurant Ferris visits in the Abe Frohman scene is the fictional Chez Quis, a pun which when said aloud would be "Shakey's".
- Ferris Bueller with Cameron and Sloane walk through the Art Institute of Chicago where many paintings are shown:
- *There's a long sequence, starting with Ferris, Cameron and Sloane holding hands with a lot of kids walking past Gustave Caillebotte's large Paris Street; Rainy Day (1877)
- *Then a still shot of Edward Hopper's Nighthawks (1942)
- *Still of two Kandinskys, (Improvisation 30 (Cannons) (1913) and Painting with Green Center),
- *Five Picassos (Nude under Pine tree, The Old Guitarist, The Red Armchair, Portrait of Sylvette David, Seated Woman)
- *La Toilette by Mary Cassatt
- *Also shows Jacques and Bethe Lipchitz by Modigliani
- *Day of the Gods (Mahana No Atua) by Gauguin
- *Greyed Rainbow by Jackson Pollock
- *Bathers by a River by Henri Matisse
- *In the shot of the three of them lined up In the Circus Fernando: The Ringmaster, by Toulouse-Lautrec in the background
- *Also shots with Auguste Rodin and Henry Moore sculptures
- *Ferris and Sloane kiss in front of the blue America Windows by Chagall
- *It finally ends with the sequence of Cameron entranced by the little girl in the large Seurat painting Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte, as the camera takes closer and closer shots of the girl interspersed with shots of Cameron.
- *For a pictorial tour see [Ferris at the Art Institute]
- The "Ferrari" was actually four custom fiberglass replicas from Modena Design and Development of El Cajon, California.
- The filmmakers joined the real Von Steuben Day Parade in Chicago, which just happened to take place during shooting. In fact, the band which played with them was the Lockport Township High School Marching Band. However, in real life, Von Steuben Day is September 17, while the movie clearly takes place in the spring.
- After the closing credits are over, Ferris appears from his bedroom in a bathrobe and asks the audience "You're still here? It's over...go home...go."
- Shermer, Illnois, the fictional town in which Ferris lives, shares a name with Shermer High School, the highschool in which the movie The Breakfast Club takes place.
- The car Ferris' sister drives is a Pontiac Fiero.
References in popular culture
- In the episode of Scrubs, My American Girl,Dr. Cox uses the exact same line used by Ferris when he described Cameron
- In an episode of the 2006 Channel 4 sitcom The IT Crowd entitled "Fifty-Fifty," the character Moss' online dating profile lists one of his turn-ons as "Ferris Bueller's Day Off".
- In a 2006 television commercial for DirecTV, Ben Stein reprises his role as Ferris' economics teacher, mimicking the "roll call" scene from the movie. After calling out Ferris' name several times as he did in the movie, he then breaks the fourth wall to pitch DirecTV to the audience, after which he goes on to call out "Frye...Frye..."
- In an episode of the adultswim show Robot Chicken, there is a parody of the scene where the Ferrari is stolen by two parking attendants -- here the car stolen is KITT from Knight Rider.
- Comic book writer Brian Michael Bendis has often referred to Ferris Bueller's Day Off as well as several other John Hughes films in the Marvel comic book series Ultimate Spider-Man, which he writes along with artist Mark Bagley. In one issue there is a complaint about Peter Parker's being absent 9 times -- perhaps a reference to the scene in Ferris Bueller's Day Off where Ben Stein is calling Ferris' name repeatedly when doing a roll call. Also, an entire issue of the comic book was set in a detention room -- a homage to another Hughes film The Breakfast Club.
- In an episode of Veronica Mars, Veronica calls her boyfriend who is absent from school and asks if he is really absent or if he is going to show up on a float singing "Twist and Shout" -- a direct reference to the film.
- The character Ferris the Rat in the webcomic Newshounds is named after Ferris Bueller.
- The Family Guy direct-to-DVD animated film climaxes in a sequence where Stewie Griffin races through his suburban neighborhood in a manner that clearly parodies Ferris' dash to get home before his parents at the end of the film.
- On ESPN's Sportscenter, NBA basketball player Mo Peterson is sometimes referred to as "The Sausage King of Chicago." Although it should be noted that the sausage king's name was actually Abe Frohman, however it is usually said with an impersonated Peterson voice.
Soundtrack
Director John Hughes refused to release a soundtrack album for FBDO because he thought the eclectic collection of songs in the movie would not work together.Songs featured in the film include:
- "Love Missile F1-11" (Extended Version) by Sigue Sigue Sputnik
- "Jeannie" (theme from I Dream of Jeannie)
- "Beat City" by The Flowerpot Men
- "Star Wars (Main Title)" by John Williams
- "Please Please Please Let Me Get What I Want" (instrumental) by The Dream Academy (a cover of a song by The Smiths)
- "Danke Schoen" by Wayne Newton
- "Twist and Shout" by The Beatles (which charted again, 16 years after the Beatles broke up, as a result of its appearance in this movie. It reached #23 in the U.S. Its parent album, The Early Beatles, would also rechart at #197). The version heard in the film includes brass overdubbed onto the original backing track, which did not go down well with Paul McCartney. (This is explained by Hughes on the DVD commentary).
- "Radio People" by Zapp
- "I'm Afraid" by Blue Room
- "Taking the Day Off" by General Public
- "The Edge of Forever" by The Dream Academy
- "March of the Swivelheads" (a remix of "Rotating Head") by The (English) Beat
- "Oh, Yeah" by Yello
- "BAD" by Big Audio Dynamite
Filming locations
- Chicago, Illinois, USA
- Glencoe, Illinois, USA (Stone bench outside beach)
- Highland Park, Illinois, USA (Cameron's House and Ferrari Garage)
- Long Beach, California, USA (Bueller home, exterior)
- Northbrook, Illinois, USA (exterior, some interior of high school and running scene at end of film)
- Winnetka, Illinois, USA
See also
- Ferris Bueller (TV series)
- Save Ferris (a ska punk band)
- Rooney (a music group named after Principal Rooney)
- Parker Lewis Can't Lose - TV show loosely based on the idea of Ferris Bueller
- Direct TV commercial featuring Ben Stein.
References
External links
- [Save Ferris! Unofficial Ferris Bueller Website]
- [Geoff Miller's Ferris Bueller Website]
- [Shooting Location Photos]
- [Additional Shooting Location Photos]
- [Pictures of what the location where they filmed Ferris's high school looks like now.]
- [Ferris Vs Parker?]
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