Remembering John Hughes - UPDATED!

Everyone has a favorite John Hughes movie - or several, as the case may be. I'd have to pick Weird Science as the one that reached out and touched me most directly, although Ferris Beuller's Day Off is a close second.

But forgetting about his golden years as a director, John Hughes was a gifted writer. He wrote each of the screenplays for the films he directed, in addition to screenplays for several classic films, including Some Kind of Wonderful and National Lampoon's Vacation.

We lost John today at the all too young age of 59. It's oddly appropriate that we had scheduled our 'Vacation Smack-Down' for our August movie party, pitting the original Vacation against Christmas Vacation in a battle royale to pick the best of the two excellent comedies. We'll get to some of his directorial efforts in the future, but for now, you'll get your chance to appreciate some of his body of work on August 22.

I only found out today that John's screenplay for Vacation was adapted from his short story, "Vacation '58" that appeared in National Lampoon. I'm pleased to be able to offer a link to that story for your enjoyment. Also, here is a link to the Foreword Hughes wrote to a 2008 reprinting of said story.

As survivors of the eighties, we'll forever be in his debt.