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Ferris Bueller’s Day Off

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About This Episode

A fake sick day, a borrowed Ferrari, a principal on the warpath, and one unforgettable parade through downtown Chicago. In this Backtrack, we’re revisiting Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, John Hughes’ classic 1986 comedy about skipping school, seizing the moment, and somehow making it all look effortless. Forty years later, we’ll talk about why Ferris, Cameron, Sloane, and the city of Chicago still connect with Gen X fans — and why life really does move pretty fast.

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(May contain some explicit language.)

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Show Notes

Transcript

Jon Welcome back. Gen X grown up podcast listeners to this backtrack edition of the Gen X grown up podcast. I’m John joining me as always. Of course, my buddy Mo. Hey man.
Mo Hey, how’s it going?
Jon Good. You know, it would not be a show without George. Hey George.
George Hey, how’s it going everybody?
Jon Good. So a fake sick day, a borrowed Ferrari, a principal on the warpath, and one unforgettable parade through downtown Chicago? Yeah. In this backtrack, we’re revisiting Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, John Hughes’ classic 1986 comedy about skipping school, seizing the moment, and somehow making it it all look effortless.
Jon Forty years later, we’ll talk about why Ferris, Cameron Sloan, and the city of Chicago still connect with Gen X fans, and why life really does move pretty fast.
George He he he.
Jon We’re talking all about Ferris Bueller’s day off now, 40 years old in this backtrack. Before we do, I would like to, Mo, I just kind of glossed over the 40 years. You didn’t have to go, whoo. yes
George he
Mo you know Yeah, it’s been 40 years. Move on.
Jon Okay. I tried.
George yeah
Mo ah
Jon And then you went, woo, you draw attention to it. ah Let’s see. ah Before we get into the meat of the show, I want to stop here at the beginning and and read a few words.
Jon Before we get into the meat of the show, right here at the top, we’re going to talk about one of our fourth listeners. And that is anyone who listens that isn’t the three of us. And this time around, it’s Dino T. Now, this is a cool fourth listener email.
Mo Yeah. ccc
Jon This was a YouTube comment dropped on the podcast we did recently about phone fun, you know, playing with the phone. and ah There’s one of the backtracks that we couldn’t think at beginning of the show.
George Yeah.
Jon were we We talked about, like, dialing.
George I don’t remember it now. You’re describing it and i don’t remember it.
Jon Yes, real we we were talked about war dialing and the whistle, the Captain Crunch whistle and all that kind of stuff and weird things, tricky things, right?
George Oh, that was an old one, right?
Mo Yeah, yeah. Dialing in for like movie times, you know, all that stuff.
Jon Right.
George Yeah.
Jon Yeah.
George Okay.
Mo Yeah.
Jon All the things that weren’t just talking to people on the phone. At the end of that episode, we talked about legacy of what you could still have fun with the phone. And Mo, you mentioned there’s this one you can dial into and you can do a choose your own adventure.
Jon You remember that you talked about it?
Mo Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah, absolutely.
Jon Yeah. Okay. So the email or the comment from Dino T has a timestamp in the podcast episode says, that’s my answering machine.
Mo No.
Jon Yes.
Mo Bullshit.
Jon You put the number in the show notes that you could call in.
Mo Really? Yeah.
Jon That was Dean Otees. He runs it.
Mo Wow.
Jon He says, i yeah, I programmed a very expensive at the time phone system to play an adventure when my friends wanted to leave a message.
George Oh, wow.
Mo That’s awesome.
Jon I was trying to figure out why it’s getting over a thousand calls a month.
Mo Holy cow.
Jon And then I came across your video.
Mo ah
Jon Stuff like this just adds to the popularity of it. I created it in the 90s, still had the hardware when my friends started bothering me about putting it back up.
Mo holy cow
Jon So about 15 years ago, I installed it on a MagicJack line. And that’s why we can still dial it today.
George Wow.
Mo Nice.
Jon He found us. How he found us, I don’t know Maybe he saw PhoneFun and went, I wonder if they talk about me in it. And had to listen 59 minutes to hear us talk about it, but maybe so.
George Some kind of AI search like he Googled, why the hell is my phone number getting too many calls?
Mo yeah
Jon Right.
George Well, Gemini says Gen X grown up.
Jon Who’s talking about me? Right. Search. Yeah. Yep. He wraps it up by saying on a side note, I’m creating a second adventure.
George Ah,
Jon I just acquired another piece of gear to do it. This one is going to be much more complex and the only way anyone will get the phone number for the second adventure is to find me in the first one. I think that’s fair.
Mo That’s extremely fair.
George Okay. I mean, he could give it to us since we’re the reason it’s getting popular again.
Mo Challenge accepted. Yeah.
Jon I guess he could. I guess he could. When I shared this email with you, Mo, you said, wouldn’t that make a fun special edition podcast to get a phone line, hook it up to the system and walk through the adventure and see if we can figure it out.
Mo That
Jon I think that’d be awesome.
Mo would be very awesome.
George and Okay.
Jon Yep.
Mo I will look into it.
Jon So Dino, thank you for reaching out to us.
Mo Yeah.
Mo yeah
Jon That is hilarious that you found us. How cool is that? Sorry, we blew up your answering machine, but you do something cool. You deserve it.
George Sorry, not sorry.
Jon That’s what you get. Sorry, not sorry. Yep. Hey, fourth listener, if you would like, ah you don’t have to, you don’t have to be the proprietor of those that we talk about of the show to write in. If just drop us a line at podcast at genxgrownup.com, get your email featured here right right here on the show. We read every single email and message and most of them make their way to the show. Okay.
Mo sweet
Jon With that tremendously cool and interesting business in the rear view mirror, we’re going to jump into the body of this backtrack all about Ferris Bueller’s day off right after this.
Jon We’re talking all about Ferris Bueller’s day off. And you know, it’s, you said, Mo, in last week’s episode when were teasing this backtrack that it’s such, and re-watching it for this show, I thought it is so…
Jon so decidedly the Gen X experience in a way that’s almost hard to describe. we’re going to try in this episode. There’s so much to talk about, but in the off chance, either you haven’t seen it or maybe you’re a youngster who hasn’t gotten around to it yet. ah George, why don’t you kick us off with a synopsis of this amazing 40-year-old film?
George Yeah, it was released on June 11th, 1986. A brash, cocky high school senior tired of skipping school to spend a boring day at home is determined to enjoy an epic day roaring around his favorite Chicago sites, enlisting his best friend and girlfriend to join him on the adventure.
Jon Mm-mm.
Jon Mm-hmm. Mm.
George That is Ferris Bueller in a nutshell.
Jon m
George He’s just looking for a good time because life moves pretty fast and he doesn’t want to miss it.
Mo Yeah.
Jon You don’t want to miss it.
George yeah
Jon That’s the point. Speaking of not missing it, we certainly didn’t miss it. When we have a new film or a TV show or something talking about here, I like to quickly yeah do a roundtable and find out what our familiarity with it is. And and I’ll begin.
Jon i don’t know if I saw it in the theater, although I was of the right age. I would have been a junior in in in high school at the time I graduated 87. But… Shortly thereafter, certainly, I started seeing this film.
Jon And there was a little gap in my life, maybe in the 90s, and I didn’t see it for a while. But then I came right back to it, the 2010s. And I watch it pretty regularly. And it’s one of those, we talked about those ironing movies, not because it’s not good, but because I’ve seen it so many times, I can just push play and half pay attention to it because I know everything that’s going to happen.
Mo Yeah.
Jon i’m like, oh, here’s that cool part. Let me see this cool part again. So yeah, I have a good familiarity and relationship with this movie. How about you, George?
George Well, I mean, yeah, it’s it’s not one that I watch every single year, but I think it’s because anytime I consider watching it, I just remember the entire movie, and that kind of defeats the purpose of watching it sometimes.
Jon Mm hmm. Mm
George But I did, like you, watch this right before ah recording the podcast, just to just to refresh it in my mind just a little bit.
Jon hmm.
George And it’s just a smooth and… well edited, well written film all around.
Jon Damn it.
George And I first found it, I did go see it in the theater.
Jon Yes.
Mo Mm-hmm.
George I remember distinctly going to see it in theater.
Jon Do you? Oh, nice.
George And then ah again on HBO later on and recorded the HBO feed so that I could watch it over and over again and
Jon hmm. Yeah.
George you know probably became one of my regulars for the better part of five or six years, just watching it in rotation because we didn’t have streaming services. We had VHS tapes and VCRs and it was it was just a great movie to pop in when you weren’t sure what to watch because it was fun.
George It was fresh. It was funny. i mean, it’s just, it’s perfect.
Jon Mm-hmm.
Mo Mm-hmm.
Jon Yeah,
George It’s one of the, it’s one of those rare, almost perfect films for me.
Jon it’s a movie that makes me mad. Like, why can’t all movies be this good?
George Yeah.
Jon You know, sometimes. What about you, Mo? Familiarity with this?
Mo Oh, yeah, absolutely. i mean, that was it was a huge summer hit. um You know, and I remember it’s like one those movies and for people, you know, back in the day is like usually saw the movie right the beginning of summer. Right. When it first came out, like soon as they came out, you went wait online.
Jon Mm-hmm.
Mo So then after a while later in summer, you went back and we saw some movies. You know, you went back a second time. look And this is one of those movies that we went back and saw a second time. You know, it was just it was just so much fun.
Mo um He said it’s like Hughes has a way of just making the characters and some heart and fun and just making the balance of that just so good that it was, you know, and very talked about movie too, have to say.
Mo Like, you had to go see it because everyone was talking about it.
Jon yeah
George Mm-hmm.
Jon Balance. Balance is something we’ll come back to that I’ve i’ve noticed watching this film more critically today.
Mo Mm-hmm.
Jon And it’s, ah yeah, it’s it’s amazing. So we all know it well. George did a ton of great research to get ready for this episode. So don’t you walk us through, get us going on the history a little bit of of this film, its reputation.
George Yeah, well, um first of all, produced, directed, and written by John Hughes, the legend himself of all Gen X 80s films. I mean, anything in Shermer, Illinois is probably going to be good, and this is no exception to that rule.
Jon Mm-hmm.
Jon ah
George What was surprising a little bit um in doing some of the research, I mean, I didn’t have to do a lot because we probably knew most of these facts off the top our head anyway, um but he wrote that screenplay in less than a week.
Jon Right. lot lot of it’s in our head.
Mo Yeah.
Jon Sure. yeah
Jon That’s… Makes me mad!
Mo How he do that?
Jon Damn it!
George Yeah.
Jon that’s Why are you so good?
George Yeah. He’s he John Hughes. It’s that simple.
Jon Yeah.
George ah He wrote it in less than a week.
Jon yeah
George um As he was writing the film, he kept track of his progress in a spiral bound log book, which was very cool. Noted the basic storyline developed on February 25th. And then he successfully pitched it to Paramount Studios. The very, like that week, like just here’s the concept. And they were like, well, get John Hughes, make it right. I mean,
Jon ah Can you imagine? What is the pitch? So tell me about this new movie.
George I mean…
Jon So a kid plays hooky, right? Then what? Like, it sounds on paper. It wants you read through it.
Mo shouldn’t work.
Jon I mean, obviously, but just the the top level elevator pitch sounds like a kid skips class and then he goes and gets his friend out of school.
Mo Yeah.
Jon Look, this just sounds like a fever dream of the high schooler.
George What I wonder is, did he pitch the fourth wall stuff in that meeting or not?
Mo Yo, yeah, yeah, that’s true.
Jon Oh, right. Yeah, yeah. Good question.
George Because that’s something that was not well established in Hollywood at that point. I mean, now, we if we don’t see it, we’re almost like, why is there no fourth wall breaking in this?
George ah You know, when things are leaning toward that ah that’s type of comedy. But it was…
Jon Yeah.
George I mean, I’m so glad they greenlit this thing and got it. It’s John Hughes.
Mo so
George I mean, Breakfast Club, we’ve talked about, you know, 16 Candles.
Mo Yeah. Yeah.
George It’s John Hughes. How are you going to go wrong with that guy?
Jon Yeah.
George he’s He is the…
Jon That’s probably what got it greenlit was John Hughes name.
Mo yeah
George right.
Jon ah
George I mean, he’s quintessentially the man who captured our youth for us on film.
Jon our experience. Yeah, I agree.
George Did some good numbers as well. A $5 million dollars budget versus a $70.7 million dollars box office.
Jon Holy crap.
George And here’s what’s going to surprise you. It was only number 10 in the movies that year.
Mo What?
Jon That was 1986, man.
George Yeah.
Mo Oh, 86 was a big year.
Jon What a year for movies, dude.
Mo That was a big year. Mm-hmm.
George We’re talking about number one on that list being Top Gun.
Jon I mean,
Mo Right.
George Believe it or not, another school-related movie, ah Back to School, the Rodney Dangerfield movie, was like number five or six or something on that list.
Jon Yep.
Mo Right.
Jon Mm-hmm.
George I mean, it was up against some stiff competition, and it’s still…
Jon Yep.
Jon Aliens, right? is All that stuff is in there.
George Aliens in there? Yeah.
Jon Yep.
George There’s a lot of great stuff. So, I mean, surprising, not surprising, maybe, but Ferris Bueller, I just… When I heard it, I’m like, surely that’s got to be in the top three of any year it was released, but no, it was just number 10.
Mo Yeah.
Jon Mm-hmm.
George I think it might have not done as well had its first cut been released to theaters. The first cut, two hours and 45 minutes.
Mo Oh, man.
George That is certainly not what we got in the theater.
Mo No, it was less is an hour and change.
George I don’t know if I could have sat through two hours.
Mo It was hour 40.
George We got like an hour 40, I think.
Mo Yeah, so they cut an hour out of that thing.
George Yeah. Hour 35. Yeah.
Mo Wow.
Jon Dang. get What else was there? What else did they not show us? Yeah.
George I mean, it’s crazy, right? A little bit about like how the character came developed. So Edward McNally was rumored as the inspiration for Ferris Bueller.
Jon Mm-hmm.
George He grew up on the same street as Hughes, and he had a best friend who was named Bueller. That’s where the name came from, but it was based on the other guy.
Jon Okay. All right.
Mo Nice.
George um And he was relentlessly pursued by the school dean because he was always out of school. And that’s where the idea came from.
Jon There’s a started.
George He ended up with more days than Ferris. Ferris Bueller had how many days? You guys remember? You just watched the movie.
Mo well ah Well, two on on the computer. Yeah.
George On the computer at the end. But how many did he start out with?
Jon but Was it nine?
George He started out with nine. Nine times.
Jon Yeah. Yeah.
George But this guy had been absent 27 times from his school.
Mo yeah
Mo Wow.
George So Hughes pared it down a little bit for him.
Mo it’s way We were talking before about how much they cut out of this movie, which I didn’t realize that he had two younger siblings that they totally cut out of the movie.
George Yes.
Jon Really?
George Mm-hmm.
Mo Yeah.
George Yeah.
Mo So apparently.
Jon So his younger sister and there were two more? Well,
Mo There were two more kids ah older.
George the No, older sister.
Mo She’s older than him.
George She’s older by a few months.
Jon she’s older than Bueller. That’s right. She’s older than Ferris.
Mo Right.
Jon Gotcha. But there were two younger than them.
George Yeah.
Mo two younger siblings that they managed to completely wipe off the face of the movie.
Jon I gotcha. Yep.
Mo Like there’s no reference to him.
George Mm-mm.
Jon I can’t believe like none of them were in car rides or none of them were at the police station.
George Mm-mm.
Mo No.
Jon Like, how did you make those people evaporate? That’s amazing.
George Nuts. I mean, and then just talk about John, you mentioned right at the beginning of this, it was a huge breakout for Broderick. This was the role.
Mo Yeah. Yeah.
George And even to this day, he talks in interviews and stuff.
Jon Yep.
George I saw there was an interview just um like a few months ago with him and Alan Ruck, how they were talking about people still walks up to him and Bueller, Bueller on the sidewalk and whatnot.
Jon Yeah.
Jon hmm.
George But here is a list of the other people that were considered for Ferris Bueller. Now, remember, keep this in mind.
Jon Oh, here we go.
George This is 1986, not the old people versions of these actors that you think of today.
Jon Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
Mo Right.
George Think about in 86, that’s 40 years ago.
Jon The 40 years younger.
George These people were a lot younger.
Jon Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
George Jim Carrey, John Cusack.
Mo Wow.
Jon Maybe.
George We could see John Cusack, right?
Jon yeah I could see.
Mo I can see John Cusack in it.
Jon Yeah.
George John Cryer. I mean, he was pretty essential.
Mo Maybe.
Jon Maybe.
Mo Yeah, bear yeah.
George Johnny Depp in the eighties though, 21 jump street, Johnny Depp, not pirates of the Caribbean, Johnny Depp.
Jon No, I don’t see that one.
Mo 80s Johnny Depp.
Jon Still. Yeah. I don’t see it.
Mo What’s eating Gilbert Grape Johnny Depp? He could have been.
George Yeah.
Mo Yeah, maybe.
Jon Yeah. Yeah.
George George Clooney,
Jon I don’t know.
Mo No.
Jon a No.
Mo No.
George Tom Cruise, right?
Mo Okay, that would been weird between this and Risky Business.
Jon Yeah. But, but it’s it’s kind of, it’s kind of a similar vein, right?
Mo Yeah.
Jon It’s a doing something.
George It’s a, you know,
Jon Parents don’t know about sneaky, whatever.
George Right?
Jon So maybe, maybe. Yeah.
George And then, of course, the iconic 80s actor, Michael J. Fox.
Jon Oh, yeah.
Mo See, I don’t think you’ve been good.
Jon I’m sorry. He already had four projects going on. He couldn’t do it.
Mo Yeah. And I don’t think he would have been good at this one, though, because he’s because Ferris Bueller was very smooth.
George Now, they were…
Mo Like everything sort of worked for him.
George He was very smooth, right?
Mo And and that’s Michael Fox’s. That’s not his character, right? His character always a little awkward.
Jon He’s more awkward, more fumbling a little bit.
George No.
Jon Yeah.
George Now, those were the guys who were considered for the role.
Jon Yeah.
George But somebody was offered the role before Broderick and couldn’t do it because he was too busy.
Jon Okay.
George Take a guess. You’re talking about John Hughes, somebody that worked with him a lot in the 80s. Young man.
Jon So it’s like a Brat Pack somebody?
George na Brat Pack adjacent.
Jon Okay.
George But he worked with John Hughes a lot on all of those films from like 84 to 87.
Mo Breakfast club person.
George He was in Breakfast Club.
Mo Then. Well, Mule Estevez would be one, right?
George e he No, not him, though.
Mo He’s only the guy.
Jon That wouldn’t be a good That’s not a good fit.
George Multiple John Hughes films.
Mo and then.
Jon Yeah.
Mo Oh, I think Michael Hall.
George Anthony Michael Hall.
Jon He was offered.
George Hughes offered it to him personally, but he couldn’t do it because he had other commitments.
Jon I could see that. i could fit. Maybe. Yeah.
Mo I don’t see it again.
Jon You don’t see it, Mo.
Mo he’s He’s like the awkward kid. He always was the awkward kid, you know?
Jon Yeah, I guess.
George he’s It’s true, because Ferris’ character, to Mo’s point, he’s very smooth, right?
Mo Yeah.
George like he He glides through the scenes. Even when he’s walking like up and down that hallway at the beginning of the movie, he’s just gliding.
Jon Yeah.
Mo Yeah.
George He’s almost like a ballet dancer.
Mo Mm hmm.
Jon Yeah. you I could have seen Anthony Michael Hall for Cameron.
Mo Yes, that would be more sense.
Jon I could have seen that.
George Well, here’s an interesting point.
Mo That made more sense.
George Mo just mentioned Emilio Estevez.
Mo Yeah.
George He was offered the role of Cameron.
Jon No. No, bad fit.
George Yep.
Jon Bad fit. No.
Mo Yeah.
Jon Yeah.
George That I don’t think would have been very good. i i I don’t know anybody who could do Cameron better than Alan Ruck, honestly. i mean…
Mo He did.
Jon No.
Mo He knocked out of the park. I mean, he was perfect
George he He did.
Jon I’ll go, I’ll go, I’ll go, I’ll go.
George Absolutely. And he was 10 years older than those guys at that point. So crazy. um Ruck and Broderick, they previously acted together in a Broadway production of Biloxi Blues.
Jon Yep, I know that.
George And I only mention that because that’s where they got the voice of Mr.
Mo Okay.
George Peterson that Cameron uses on the phone.
Jon Mr. Peterson.
George It was their former director from the Biloxi Blues play. They were mimicking and making fun of him.
Jon You listen to me.
Mo Yeah.
Jon I’ll come there down there and give you a piece of my mind.
Mo I should say so. Huh. Yeah.
George um One other John Hughes-adjacent actor, Molly Ringwall, she lobbied to play Sloane in this movie, and Hughes told her no because the role wouldn’t be big enough for
Jon Gotcha. Nice.
Jon Wouldn’t be big enough for
Mo hu
Jon Well, before they knew how big it would be, they may be.
George I think it was more due to their fallout at the time, because remember, they were kind of beefing a little bit after The Breakfast Club.
Jon Yeah. Yeah. Okay.
Mo yeah
Jon Hmm.
George So, ah it’s been said that the film was Hughes’ love letter to Chicago, where he grew up, obviously.
Jon Hmm.
George i mean,
Jon Isn’t every Hughes film a love letter to Chicago?
Mo Yeah, really.
Jon But this one particularly, this one particularly.
George Well, but it’s the only one. Yeah, because we get to see all the landmarks, right?
Jon Yes. Yeah. The city, the town, the museum.
George We get to go to Wrigley Field and we get to see the museum and the the restaurant.
Jon Yeah, of course. Yeah.
George to We ate pancreas.
Jon ah
Mo Yeah.
Jon ah
George Oh, man. but If you guys had to pick an iconic device or tool or thing from the movie, what would it be, though?
Jon so Other than his gadgets that he, like, he makes all these, like, gadgets to make the mannequin move and everything.
Mo These are too…
Mo In his bedroom and yeah, he had the synthesizer.
George Right.
Jon But, I mean, yeah, yeah.
George But they were like a non-human star of the film.
Jon Yeah, it it was probably the car, right? The car that he talks him he talks him into Taken, and he’s like, I wouldn’t let you talk me into Taken if i didn’t want to deal with it.
George Right?
Mo oh that’s beautiful car.
Jon Yeah. Okay.
George So the car, it’s supposed to be 1961 Ferrari California
Mo Yeah.
Jon Okay.
George right?
Mo Which.
George But it’s not. I’m sure you guys probably already know this. We’re not you know like breaking news here.
Jon I’d heard that.
George This is a 40-year-old film. There were only 100 of those cars ever made in existence. So the cars were incredibly expensive.
Jon Right. Camera talks about that.
Mo Yeah.
George Yeah.
Jon Yeah.
George So he found a company in California and got them to make reproductions of that on another Ferrari frame.
Mo Okay, makes sense.
Jon Cool. Yeah.
George And that’s what they got to use in the film.
Mo Yeah.
George So…
Jon So they didn’t have to smash a real one of a hundred car.
Mo Yeah.
Jon Yeah.
George Yeah, no, they actually had like, I think I read like nine or ten cars, film cars for the movie.
Jon Yeah. Well, I know one got demolished when the guys on the joy ride, when they’re playing the Star Wars theme and they come over the the hill and that thing bottoms out, it frames out.
George So…
Mo yeah
George Mm-hmm.
Mo yeah
Jon Like, oh, there’s one car down.
George Yep.
Mo Yeah. i don’t know if you guys ever saw that the show top gear way back in the day, but they got, but when the guys actually got to drive one of those cars, you got to drive one of one one of the, one of the hundred actual cars.
Jon little bit.
George Oh, yeah, remember that show.
Jon Yeah. Yeah.
George One of the film cars.
Jon Oh, one of the real Ferraris.
George Oh, the the originals.
Mo Yes.
George Oh, the Spider-Man.
Mo And, um but basically, you know that is like one of the most expensive cars ever. Like if an auction today, I think it went for like $25 million dollars or something ridiculous like that.
George Mm-hmm.
George Yeah.
Jon Jeez.
George Yeah.
Mo I mean, it’s like the,
Jon It’s like a go-kart. It can’t weigh a ton because It’s a little bitty car.
Mo No, I mean, it’s, i you know, I think Jay Leno may have one, you know, and that’s about it.
Jon Right.
George Right.
Mo You know, I mean, they are so extremely sought after, which is, I mean, it’s funny how he picked the most extreme expensive car, you know, for that.
Jon Yeah.
Mo Like he didn’t pick like a Rolls Royce or whatever.
Jon Of course.
Mo I’m going to pick like the most expensive car that you can find out there.
George Well, but think about the perfectness of that car for that role. It’s a midlife crisis type of car for a dad.
Jon Yeah.
George It’s the sports car for every high schooler wants to steal from his dad.
Jon yeah
George It was perfectly designed for it’s almost as good.
Mo Yeah.
Jon e
Mo Oh, yeah, yeah.
George I think it’s even better than the Tom Cruise drove the Porsche in Risky Business, right?
Mo The Porsche. Yeah.
Jon Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. I’d say so.
Mo Oh, yeah.
Jon Yeah.
George Yeah.
Jon Yeah. It has so much baggage and it fits so well with the story that they’re telling.
Mo hmm.
Jon Again, why is he so damn good?
George Mm-hmm.
Jon It’s just they’re everything. Like, I know i know Hughes is is a genius, but… Even this movie surprises me when I go back and watch it Like, damn, it’s so well-balanced. so
Mo yeah
Jon Okay. Well, speaking of Hughes, we get back from this quick break. We’re going to talk about Hughes a little more and all the other amazing, talented folks that brought this to the screen. Stick around.
Jon So in this segment, we’re going to talk about the people, the actors and the the the director and the folks that brought this movie. We’ve already poured praise upon John Hughes because he’s just such a damn genius. and it made he just He had his pulse. He had his finger on the pulse of whatever it was that made us the generation that we were, I think. And part of it, he kind of formed what we were. And part of it, he recognized what we were and reflected it back. So kind of a symbiotic thing he had there. We talked a lot about him, but he actually…
Jon if you blink and miss it, he actually appeared in the film.
Mo Yeah, it’s weird. like I would not have known to look for this unless I knew to look for it. yeah like otherwise you know But apparently this is his final on-screen appearance.
George Right.
Jon Right.
Mo He did a little cameo where he was like running between the cabs like at one of the street scenes. Yeah,
Jon Oh, like when they came out of the restaurant, probably, and his dad was there getting in a cab.
George Yeah.
Mo yeah his dad was there.
Jon I bet it was there.
Mo Yeah.
Jon Yeah.
Mo you know So I was like, i mean, again, you would miss it.
Jon Yeah.
Mo you If you blinked, you missed it. I mean, it was it was a moment, but it’s just, I think it’s a weird thing that as a director, it’s like, we need someone running through the cab.
Jon Oh, sure. Yeah.
Mo He’s like, fine, I’ll do it.
Jon I’ll do it.
Mo It just seemed like there was nobody around.
Jon We don’t have time to find somebody.
Mo He’s like, I’ll just do it.
Jon i know what I want.
Mo Oh,
Jon Yeah.
George Yeah, I mean, I think if we’re going to talk start talking about the actors and everything else after the director, we’re going to have to start with Matthew Broderick, right?
Jon Yeah.
Mo of course.
Jon Bang. Yeah.
George I mean, it’s not a movie without that.
Jon God.
George we We talked about it in the previous segment, just all the different actors who were considered for the role.
Mo Yeah.
Jon Mm-hmm.
George But every time we were mentioned, like, I can maybe see. Oh, no, no, no. Because Matthew Broderick was a perfect fit. That’s why the movie works so well.
Jon Yep.
George I think more than almost anything other than John Hughes being the writer, the director and producer of the film, if it weren’t for that and Matthew Broderick, we would not be talking about this film today.
Jon That’s right.
Jon Yeah. I feel like Matthew Broderick was a lot of this film, frankly, but Broderick particular, one of those lightning in a bottle things, right?
Mo Yeah.
Jon It’s like just the perfect thing at the perfect moment and you caught it. And I’ve seen a lot of Matthew Broderick performances and he’s fine. But in this, that tells me how much must have been on the page.
Jon Now, he I’m sure he brought his own whatever to it. But what did you say, George, about how floated down the hallway and he’s so suave and smooth and he has an answer for everything and he’s fearless.
Mo yeah
George Yeah.
Jon He’s just nothing phases him or everybody else. is Like, maybe we should back off what it’s like. No, it’s never too much. You keep going. Right.
George That’s right.
Jon Right. Like I couldn’t have done that in my youth at his age or even at the age he was supposed to be in the high school. You know, at some point you go, I’m afraid of adults. Things are going, but the way he portrayed it and what was I guessing on the page or what they brought to it in directorial moments.
Jon It he’s like a superhero and his superhero, his power is self-confidence.
Mo Yeah.
Jon Like he’s just, I’m always going to win. And he knows it somehow.
Mo Yeah. yeah Yeah. I just thought that he was like in his early twenties. He was like 23 or 24 when he did this.
Jon Yeah.
George e He was 24, I think.
Jon Yeah.
Mo Yeah. I mean, but he is one of those faces that he looks like he looked like a kid for a really long time.
Jon Yeah. Baby face.
George Yeah.
Mo So, but so it worked out well here.
George Right.
Jon Yep. Yep.
George Yeah. Now there’s also another part of the trio, right? Alan Ruck as Cameron Fry. I mean, as much as the film was made by Matthew Broderick, it was carried in its heart, I think, by the Alan Ruck character because
Jon Mm. Mm.
Jon Mm. Mm
Mo Yeah.
Jon yeah
George all of the angst that you were talking about, John, about the fear and everything that was in that character, like our confidence, our brashness was in Matthew Broderick’s Ferris Bueller character, but our fear was in Cameron Frye.
Jon yeah Right. Yeah.
George What’s really interesting is Alan Ruck had originally auditioned for the role of Bender in the breakfast club.
Jon Oh, no.
George but ah obviously that went to Nelson, but Hughes remembered him and then cast him as the 17-year-old Cameron Frye, and he almost turned it down because he’s 10 years older than Broderick or ah the other actors, um Mia Sarah, because he thought there was going to be too much of a gap, and he didn’t think he was going to be able to keep up with their youth in this role.
Jon Yeah.
Jon ah
Jon e
Mo Oh. Yeah.
Jon Yeah. He’s kind of the audience’s avatar. He’s the everyman.
George Mm-hmm.
Jon He’s hanging on to Ferris for dear life. He’s riding a buck and bronco. like He’s not prepared for the adventure that Ferris is going to take him on. And many times he tries to slow it down. right and he he he Ferris will not be deterred, of course, but I feel like we’re supposed to see the movie through his eyes. like almost He’s…
Jon If we were there, that’d be us. Like, well, we’re not that kind of fearless.
George Right.
Jon And and ah I think maybe I relate to him more than anyone because he has, like you said, all the things that we had that Ferris didn’t. The self-doubt, the concerns, the relationship, anxiety, and all that.
Mo Mm-hmm.
Jon He was the manifestation. poured all that into him. And you got to kind of experience the world of Ferris Bueller through him. And I i loved his performance in that.
Mo Yeah, it’s funny because it’s very easy for both Ferris Bueller and Alan Ruck’s character to be like caricatures almost, you know, but they weren’t like, but have been so easy for them like to just take it.
Jon Yeah.
George Sure.
Jon But they’re not.
George It was a fine line, yeah.
Jon Yeah. Right on the edge.
Mo Yeah, to take it right over and just something.
Jon That balance.
Mo They’re like not a real person anymore, you know, so they did a great job.
Jon Yep.
Mo The also can fit, you know, his girlfriend, Mia Sarah Sloan Sloan. You know,
George Mm. he
Mo um you
George Joan Peterson.
Mo know if you guys remember that movie Legend with Tom Cruise.
George Yeah.
Mo She was that was one of the movies she was in.
Jon Yeah.
Mo you know, she did she did a whole bunch of stuff after she was in Time Cop. She was in a couple other movies.
George Time Cop.
Mo She did a lot of TV, a lot of TV afterwards.
Jon Yeah.
Mo But it’s also she was like kind like the middle ground, I think, between the two. Also, like she was not like she took she had no problems doing some adventure stuff, but she was also kind of, you know, cautious as well. So it’s almost like she was like the pivot point, I guess.
Jon Mm-hmm.
Jon Yep. and So let’s let’s talk about the the buffoon of this whole thing. And that’s the principal. That’s Rooney, the dean of students at the high school there, played by Jeffrey Jones.
George a
Jon He is absolutely the, nothing goes right for this guy. And everything, the dog, his shoes in the mud, getting kicked multiple times in the face, get get just the car getting towed, everything.
Mo Yeah.
Mo Mud.
Mo Car getting towed.
Jon And He’s not doing anything wrong. He’s just too over enthusiastic about trying to do. He wants to win. He wants to beat Ferris because he’s right. Ferris is game in the system and he just wants to catch him so bad.
George Sure.
Jon He is the authority figure. He is supposed to enforce it.
George He’s the hero of his own story.
Jon He is. He is. And he’s not really a villain. He’s kind of he’s the foil against Ferris Bueller, but he’s just trying to do his job. But he gets too personal with it, too overenthusiastic, trying to finally one up Ferris Bueller, which, of course, he doesn’t do.
George Yeah.
Jon Spoiler alert.
Mo yeah dick
Jon I mean, and I know Jeffrey Jones later had a a troubled past. he He got canceled for horrible things and charges.
Mo yeah
Jon That’s why the second Beetlejuice, you didn’t see his face. He was like, his face had been torn off by a shark. So they just animated him.
George Oh, right.
Jon And that’s why he didn’t show up in the in the film because they’re like, well, he has to exist.
George Yeah.
Jon But ah but look, but And I’m not I don’t gloss that over, but in his time before those things happened or came to light, he was a great comedic actor. And in this, he is the he’s the clown of this. And he he could have been ridiculous. But again, that weird balance where he you can feel he’s trying to do the right thing. He is that hero in his his story.
Mo Well, it was like Ferris was like the what do you want to call it? He was like the enemy. He embodies all the stuff he doesn’t want to have happen with kids, right? Because he said, all I need is five more Ferris’s running around, you know?
Jon Right. The Rooney doesn’t want. Right. Of course.
George Yeah.
Mo And so it was like said, it almost like the white whale kind of thing. Like, you know, I have to get him. I’m almost assessed with getting him regardless of the cost, you know?
Jon Yeah.
George Well, because to him, Ferris Bueller represents anarchy, right?
Mo You’re
Jon Yeah.
George I mean, now…
Jon And to Ferris Bueller, Ferris Bueller represents anarchy, which is fine.
Mo right.
George Well…
Mo Mm-hmm.
Jon That’s his life.
George But Rooney to Ferris, he represents that oppressive authority, right?
Jon The administration.
George That we all hated when we were that age, that we were all rebelling against.
Jon That’s right. That’s right.
George That’s why we latched on so quickly to Ferris’s character in this movie. And we are so ready to just root every time the dog bites Rooney or his shoe gets stuck in the mud or he gets on that humiliating bus ride through the credits.
Mo ah
George Every time something bad happens to that guy, we’re like, yeah, stick it to it.
Mo Yes.
George I’m, I remember being happy that he was getting his ass kicked in the theater.
Jon ah
Mo yes
Jon The things that happened to him.
George Yeah.
Jon Yeah. Yeah. Let’s see who else. Oh, Ferris’s big sister. She’s very cute.
George Right.
Jon She’s very protective of her body and doesn’t want anybody touching and doing anything untoward. Nobody puts baby in a corner.
George Right.
Jon Jennifer Gray as Jeannie Bueller. She has her own little really interesting arc in this. And it it took a delinquent in the police station to make her realize that she was making everything.
Jon She was giving away her life being frustrated with Ferris. And I love that she could easily have been, again, the balance of this movie. She could have been the oppressive big sister, but she had her own story to tell. You almost could have done a side movie.
Jon Maybe that was the other hour that got edited out whats was was was Jeannie’s story because it’s a great story.
George ah
Mo yeah Yeah, that’s true.
Jon And she has some self-realization that the other characters don’t get to the very end of the movie. and And of course, she went on to do other tremendous things, you dirty dancing and everything. So she was I liked her in this a lot.
George You know, you mentioned that the the character in the at the police station allows her to realize that. I think he just unlocked the door, but I think what allowed her to step through the door and become Ferris’s friend and sister was finding the wallet in the kitchen.
Jon Mm hmm.
Mo Yeah.
George Because remember when they’re driving home and she just got back from police station, they see Ferris and Ferris stopped.
Mo ah She’s trying to beat him. Yeah.
George She’s still trying to catch him.
Jon Oh, yeah. Try to catch him.
Mo Yeah.
George She’s still against Ferris.
Jon Yep.
George It’s not until the wallet and you see that look in her eye and it’s clicks in for her that. Like, wait, it doesn’t have to be me against him. It can be us against them.
Mo Yeah.
Jon Yeah.
Mo And I’m just trying to imagine having that as a sibling. I could see why i would be frustrated as hell. Like, yeah, as a sibling.
Jon Well, having Ferris Bueller as a sibling. He always gets away with it.
George Oh, I was going to say, isn’t that kind of what siblings have?
Mo I’m saying Ferris Bueller as a sibling.
Jon Yeah. Yeah.
Mo Oh, no, no. I’m say i’m saying like but having Ferris Bueller as a sibling who never gets caught, gets away with everything.
George I didn’t have brothers, sisters, but…
Mo You know?
Jon but right I just want him to get his comeuppance.
Mo even Yeah, the only thing he she got was a car, but he was about to get a car.
Jon right
Mo Right?
Jon Yeah.
Mo You know?
George Especially, I love the part where, like, he’s in bed faking sick and she comes in and she’s like, I can’t believe you guys let it… And he winks at her from the bed.
Mo Yeah. just just Just like gives her the middle finger.
George That’s such a younger brother thing.
Jon Just rubbing it in.
Mo Yeah.
Jon Rubbing it in.
Mo ah
Jon Yep.
Mo So um also, I mean, that whole bed scene was his parents, right? The mom was played by Cindy Pickett and the dad was played by Lyman Ward.
George o
Jon Yeah. Yep.
Mo Big TV actors. They were in everything back then. Every soap opera, every TV show.
George yeah
Mo They both one did movies. um nut Neither one became like huge actors, actors, but they had a very long and very you know good career.
Jon I’ll tell you, the parents, the the two parents you just mentioned on this walkthrough, this viewing of the movie, it was their performance that made me realize and kind of crystallize what I would keep saying, the balance of this movie. It never goes over the line. Those parents could easily have been ignorant, buffoon parents and told the same story.
Jon they were They were a little bit oblivious, right? They were maybe too trusting, but they were loving parents.
George Mm-hmm.
Mo Mm-hmm.
Jon They were careful parents.
Mo Mm-hmm.
Jon They were they actually did dole out discipline, right? They’re like, when the the sister gets in trouble, they’re going to deal with that. they’re not They’re not the Simpsons. They’re not buffoon, i don’t care about my kids’ parents.
Jon They could easily have been played as super oblivious, ignorant buffoons. But like, I liked his parents. I think they would be good parents to have.
Jon not just because you could fool them and get out sick, but I mean, because they were actually loving and caring and still able to perform the role of being slightly oblivious to make the story work. And I’m like, at every point, you’ve talked about it a couple of times, George, and so have you, Moe. At every point, they could have gone too far and made it ridiculous, but it keeps being tangible. It keeps being something like, oh, I could see this happening. These are people aren’t totally off the deep end. They’re semi-real.
Mo Yeah. I mean, his parents definitely had a blind spot when it came to him.
Jon Sure, of course.
Mo I’m thinking in the police station when as the you know the mom’s leaving with her daughter, the cop’s like, hey, let Ferris know that we’re all rooting for him.
Jon He’s the baby.
Jon We’re all rooting for him down at the precinct.
George ah
Mo Yeah.
Jon What?
Mo And she just sort of like, huh? And this sort of blow blows it off. It’s just like, keeps going. Right.
Jon Is a blind spot, certainly.
Mo Just, just, just, you know, so you definitely you have a blind spot, but again, that’s not, I mean, there are, that’s not ah like unrealistic, you know, like said, there were, know, I, you know, certain things that my brother would get away with, or just my parents would never believe that he would do such a thing.
Jon Not my baby.
Jon Sure.
Mo Kind of, you know, it’s, it’s, and that’s just normal.
Jon Right. Yeah.
George Mm-hmm.
Mo I think that’s in every family.
Jon think you’re right. yeah
George You know, I want us to touch on who is arguably my favorite school employee of the entire movie. Edie McClurg as Grace. This was the first time I had ever seen her in anything.
Mo Oh my god.
Jon Charming.
George And I started looking for her after this role.
Jon Yeah.
Jon Mm-hmm.
George And I would find her in TV shows or movies or things like that. And she would always play the same character. I mean, she was not a dynamic, you know, put on a whole new skin type of actress for the rest it.
Mo No.
Jon Yes.
George She was that character I think for me though, the epitome of her character, the whole time she’s, she’s saying stuff to Rudy and she’s being stupid at the same time.
George She’s like, well, makes you look like a horse’s ass is what he does. And you know little comments like that.
Jon Yep.
George But then there’s the scene between her and Jennifer gray. When Jennifer gray is like, where’s Ed Rooney?
Jon yes
Mo Oh, yes.
George And,
Jon yep
George as Jennifer gray exits and everything, and she’s told her, she’s like, well, I suppose it’s personal and it’s none of your business, young lady.
Mo Yes, I know what you’re saying.
George And Jennifer gray walks out and everything. She says just that one little line. And I sure Hughes wrote it, but if it had been an ad lib, it would have meant just as much to me where she goes, well,
Mo Yeah.
George what a little asshole that just that little part just made that character just that much more deep for me.
Mo Yeah.
George It wasn’t just the surface.
Jon She had a little edge.
George Yeah.
Jon A little bit.
George Just, just a little bit of rounding of the edges, so to speak.
Jon Yeah.
Jon Right.
George And I really, du i mean, she’s pulling pencils out of her hair and different see, and she’s sniffing white out, you know, she’s,
Jon Right.
Mo I know, that part was just weird.
Jon Yeah. Yeah.
Mo that was just a weird thing.
Jon ah
George she was perfect. Like I would have loved to have had her as the secretary to the principal or whatever her role officially wasn’t at school in my school. I would have been friends with that person in the front office.
Jon You had to loved her.
George Cause I was in the front office a hell of a lot more than I should have been.
Jon Yep.
George And she would have been my friend. Absolutely.
Jon She didn’t know your name. Yep. Uh, is it while you’re on the topic of school employees, maybe, maybe the most quotable line from this movie, more so than anything Ferris Bueller, anybody else says,
Jon Bueller, Bueller, Ben Stein as, uh, his economic, as I can’t say economics, his economics teacher who is, because first he’s like Bueller, Bueller, of course, Bueller’s not here.
George Right.
Mo Yeah.
Mo and we got
Jon And the girl is like, well, my boyfriend’s cousin’s third boyfriend knew somebody blah, blah, blah.
Mo yeah
Jon She’s all, cause she’s sick. And then the next name alphabetically fry fry also actually genuinely out sick. And he’s just the way he does anyone, anyone, the Magna Carta who, and it said, what, what anyone the word like he’s already, so he’s tuned out of teaching.
George D O O economics, voodoo economics.
Mo Yeah.
Jon Boo. Yeah. What is it? Something do something do voodoo, right?
Mo Yeah.
Jon He doesn’t wait for them to answer. Cause he knows they don’t know shit. They’re sitting there slack jawed.
George He knows they don’t care, right?
Mo Yeah.
Jon I know.
George He’s just going through the motions.
Jon Yeah. got to do it.
Mo Apparently he was supposed to be just a voice. They just went, he was supposed to be a like a voice that the kids, they just show the kids and you hear the voice talking, but they said when they saw him, they’re like, oh, he’s just too perfect.
Jon Oh, really?
George Yeah.
Jon Yeah.
Jon disembodied voice. Yeah.
Mo Like he, he looks the part we need to do it.
Jon He’s great. Yeah. Kind of had that buzz cut. Like he came out of the military.
Mo Yep.
Jon Maybe.
Mo Yeah.
Jon Yeah.
George So it’s funny, when I was doing the research for this, there were so many things that I didn’t get to put in here. The way that he got cast in that role was a friend of a friend of a friend kind of a situation, but it was because he was a Republican economist, And somebody introduced him to the head of the studio and the head of the studio and there’s some John Hughes and so on and so forth.
George And that’s how he ended up in the role. And he made a a comment in one interview that I was reading where he said, me and this other guy were the only two Republicans in Hollywood at the time.
Jon Funny.
Mo ah
Jon Okay. got You got to look out for your own, right?
George Right? Yeah.
Mo So now we’ve touched touched on this character, you know, the, don’t know what you call it, the the person, the voice who kind of gets Jennifer Grey’s character to kind of realize stuff, which was Charlie Sheen, right?
George e
Mo He’s like, you know, yeah we’re you in for drugs.
Jon I love his scene.
Mo You know, no. What do you in for? Drugs. You know, and apparently he stayed up 48 hours before doing this. So he would look that tired in that role, which I’m like, he probably was going to be up anyway.
Jon He looks it.
George Right.
Jon Oh.
Mo You know, I mean, let’s be real.
George He got that tiger blood in him, right?
Jon Yeah. ah Right.
Mo Yeah, exactly. But he, but he, yeah, was just him, but he played it really well.
Jon That wasn’t method acting. That was just him. yeah Yeah. Oh, I’ll tell you, I’m going to do a little advanced cheating.
Jon That was almost my favorite scene of the movie. um but We’re going to talk about our favorite scenes in a second, but there’s something about that moment.
Mo Yeah. I can see why.
George Yeah.
Mo Yeah.
Jon And Jennifer Gray, when she’s leaving, she’s so smitten with him and stumbling over herself and giggling.
George Right. Laughing.
Jon and yeah And it’s like the the reaction she has to him and the impact of the twist from I can’t stand this hooligan to they’re making out by the end of it.
George Yep.
Mo Yeah.
Jon You know, again, it was kind of this little story that wasn’t the main story that I enjoyed watching. And he was smack dab in the middle of it I think he just looked like the perfect kind of swarthy semi.
Jon He’s a handsome guy with crazy dark hair. And, you know, thought it was great.
Mo Well, just liked him because he seemed like he he didn’t let her get away with the bullshit. Right?
Jon Of course.
Mo Like, he just called it exactly what it was.
Jon Yeah.
George No, yeah.
Jon Yeah.
Mo Not in a mean way, but he’s just like, you why do you care if he skips school?
Jon Call like you saw it.
Jon Blunt. Blunt. Yeah.
Mo You Well, why do you care?
Jon Yep.
Mo You know? So, it was great.
Jon ah Before we get out of this segment, I’m just proud that I recognized this guy when he was so young. When the the stripper Graham shows up at the toward the end of the movie and Jennifer Grey’s character opens up the door and there’s this girl doing a little dance and they slam the door before she can do the punchline.
Mo Right. Right.
Mo ah Lots of pluck.
Jon Right. The guy on the right is Louie Henderson. Right.
Mo Really?
George Yeah.
Jon And i I had to verify watching the credits.
George Yep.
Jon He’s actually in the credits and ah and he’s only there for what do you see him on screen? 15 seconds or something.
Mo if that.
Jon I’m like, that guy looks like Louis Anderson and I’ll be damned if it wasn’t.
George You know, funny thing is, that’s not the first time he’s in the movie.
Mo What?
Jon Really? He’s in there again?
George He was in the movie a few scenes before. Remember when Rooney is on the front porch ringing the doorbell and flowers first get delivered?
Mo Yeah.
Jon Yeah. yeah Okay. Oh, okay.
George That’s Louis Anderson.
Jon Okay.
George If you picked up the through joke of that, of the flower delivery, that’s the first flowers that get delivered that end up making the dog go to sleep.
Jon Yep.
George Then he comes back with more flowers when the stripper Graham is there.
Jon Mm-hmm.
Mo Right.
George And then at the end, when they’re all coming back home and they open up the front door, there’s flowers everywhere because he’s been delivering to that house all day.
Jon Yeah.
Mo Oh, yeah. yeah
Jon There’s flowers everywhere. Yes. Yeah.
Jon Because all the people who are wishing him well because, you know, save Ferris.
George Exactly. All the the water tower save Ferris stuff and everything, people are just sending flowers.
Jon Okay. Mm-hmm. Yep.
George It’s like this national figure is going to die.
Jon Yeah. Yeah.
George and i did Right.
Jon We’re all pulling for him down the precinct. Yeah.
Mo Yeah.
George it’s It’s just such a nice little cameo of his. And, you know, he goes on to do bigger things later, but it was so fun.
Jon Of course. Oh, yeah. ah Yeah. Yeah.
George Yeah, you’re right.
Jon It was a cool little role. And I hadn’t picked up on the fact he was there again. He’s the flower delivery guy every time. Yeah. But i did catch the the hallway full in the ah of the stairs.
George Mm-hmm.
Jon Yeah.
Mo Yeah. Oh, did you guys catch some of the other little things like the license plate on the mom’s car said vacation? Because it was the same station wagon for like National Lampoon Vacation.
George from ah From National Loon’s vacation, yeah.
Jon Oh, was it? I didn’t see that.
Mo Yeah.
Jon No.
Mo And then like the car for the ah was for the Ferrari was nervous.
Jon Yeah.
Jon Nervous, right.
Mo you know i mean, he said there was like these little…
George Yeah.
Jon Yep.
Mo I mean, he did a lot of little cameos, ah little like sides in this movie, which was really cute.
Jon ah Such a cast. so many yeah Again, lightning in a bottle kind of situation.
Mo Mm-hmm.
Jon Okay. Stick around. We get back after this very quick break. We’re going to each champion a scene. I know already did kind of championed one. A real one. We’re gonna champion one favorite scene.
Jon You know, last two weeks ago, we did A Big Trouble in Little China, and we all had trouble picking a favorite scene because this movie is just back-to-back favorite scenes. Hell, I might love some of the stuff in the hour that was edited out. I would like to see.
Jon Who knows? But for this segment, we each chose one particular scene that most resonated with us or it was our favorite. So I can’t wait to see where you guys landed. Mo, which p scene would you like to champion from this film?
Jon Okay.
Mo Oh, when Cameron killed the car. ah
Jon Okay.
Mo um Because, I mean, out of the whole movie, only two people really change, right? It’s it’s Cameron and his sister, right? And his sister, not as much, just at the very end.
Mo But Cameron obviously has, like, the biggest growth, whatever want call it in the movie.
Jon Ferris’s sister, right, yeah.
Jon Mm-hmm, mm-hmm, right.
Mo And, you know this movie is just light and it’s funny throughout the whole thing. until you get to that scene where he’s denting the car and he’s kicking the car.
Jon Mm-hmm.
George Yeah. Yeah.
Mo And,
Jon Yeah, he’s fed up.
Mo And you just, he, one, again, picking that actor was perfect because I just felt for him. like I just, like, you could feel the stress and the tent all that stuff. And, you know, and he’s just had it.
Mo you know, he’s had it with the way he lives his life.
Jon Yeah. It’s been welling up in him. It’s fed up.
Mo He’s had it with everything.
Jon Yeah.
Mo And when the, and then when the car, remember the first time I saw it, the car’s like about to tip over.
Jon Mm-hmm.
Mo And he’s about to this one big kick and he stops.
George Yeah, right.
Jon And it doesn’t.
Mo Yeah.
George Right.
Mo So I was thinking like, OK, I was like, oh, I said that could have been wild.
Jon And you’re whoo!
George Slides to a stop, yep.
Jon Ha ha.
Mo But at the end, he like just like touches the hood or something like that. And it just falls forward and, you know the car goes off the edge. But just the fact that he just the way you can see how much he changed by how he reacted to that disaster.
Jon Yeah. He wasn’t afraid anymore.
Mo No, he wasn’t afraid.
Jon He’s like, I’ll take it.
Mo He’s like, I got it, know.
Jon I’ll take it. You don’t have to take it. Yeah, I got it.
George Well, you know, there’s a mirror scene to that one. So at the very beginning of the film, when ah Ferris is trying to get him to come over and pick him up, he’s sitting in the car and he’s going, he’ll keep calling, he’ll keep calling, he’ll keep calling.
Jon Mm-hmm.
Mo Right.
Jon Yeah.
George And the mirror to it in this scene is he keeps going, I got to take a stand. I got to take a stand. I got to take a stand. So he he repeats words and phrases to help himself, and
Jon Yeah.
George get through the thinking and emotional part of the process.
Mo Right.
George And I thought that was a very smart choice that the actor did. Again, it could have been written exactly like that on the page.
Mo Yeah, maybe.
George John Hughes is a genius.
Jon Yeah.
George He could have written it that way. But if it wasn’t, this would have been something that Alan Ruck would have brought to the role.
Jon Yeah.
George And those two scenes, they they really touch on who Cameron was.
Jon Emotional.
George it The scared young person who was afraid of the world and then fuck the world.
Mo Yeah.
George I’m going to do what I need to do.
Jon It’s really cool.
George I love that. It’s a great scene.
Mo Yeah.
George There’s not a bad scene in the movie, but that’s a great scene.
Jon Yeah. Yeah, I agree.
Mo Yeah. So, so, so John, which one of the many, many scenes did you pick?
Jon Yeah, yeah, it’s fair. You know, it’s ah it’s the museum scene where they go to the Art Institute of Chicago.
Mo Oh yeah, that was great.
George Oh, musical.
Mo It’s a quiet scene too.
Jon And it’s not super funny.
George Yeah.
Mo No.
Jon It’s not super poignant. Here’s why I love it. it It’s that damn balance I keep coming back to. Kids on their own in Chicago could do anything.
Jon but these guys are right on the cusp of being adults. They’re not babies, they’re not kids, they’re they’re late teens. They’re starting to appreciate the world beyond just what shenanigans gotta get into.
Jon They choose to go on their cheat day off to the museum. One of the many things they do is go to this museum And they’re having a little fun.
George Right, yeah.
Jon They’re all mimicking the pose of this one statue. And Cameron is absorbed by this one painting and the faces on this the painting.
Mo One, yeah.
George The little boy, he’s absorbed by the little boy, yeah.
Jon And it it’s meaningful to him.
Mo Yeah.
Jon Like you can see it’s that, oh, look, these are… nearly adult humans that while they’re out having a good time, they also are finding their way in the world and appreciating the things outside of themselves.
Jon And I thought it just, it was at the end of the film when, when Bueller is talking about how, you know, we’ll go to different colleges and I’ll probably see him blah, blah, blah.
George Mm-hmm.
Mo Yeah. Yeah.
Jon And then ah the most heartbreaking goes, and that’ll probably be it. Oh, all my heart at that moment.
Mo yeah
Jon Right. But it’s not till then that Bueller is kind of talking about growing up, but it’s in that scene at the at the museum where it’s like, oh, look, they are nearly adults. They’re doing adult things, even on their crazy day off, but having fun with it.
Jon It’s that balance again. And i I like, it’s kind of a pause in the movie. It’s not super abrupt.
Mo yeah
Jon It’s nice and calm, but I i keep coming back to it. I like it a lot.
Mo It’s funny because that scene, like, because at first, like, they’re walking with the little kids. I remember that, you know, and being silly and doing stuff like I can’t say how what that added to the movie, but it wouldn’t be as good a movie without it.
Jon Right.
George Yeah, right.
Jon Being silly. Right.
Mo Does that make sense?
Jon Yeah.
Mo Like, I don’t know what it added to the story necessarily, but.
Jon Mm-hmm. Yeah. It’s a little intangible, but you can feel it.
Mo But it definitely added to this movie and made it better movie.
Jon Yeah.
George Well, I think it it symbolizes the bridge between childhood and adulthood. That was a bridge of kids with their hands all being held.
Jon It does.
Mo Mm hmm.
George And they were going from being the little children to being the adults, like John mentioned, in the art museum and looking things.
Jon Mm-hmm.
Jon Actually appreciating the art, yeah.
George Because, yeah, I mean, it’s not just Cameron focusing on the the watercolor with the boy specifically, but you also see Ferris Bueller in ah and Sloan Peterson in the little like chapel rectory kind of area.
Mo Right.
Mo Oh, with the stained glass.
Jon Mm-hmm.
Mo Yeah.
Jon Being reflective.
George And they’re making they’re making out, but not in a teenage way.
Jon Yeah.
Mo Right. Very mature way, actually.
George They’re showing real love and affection in a more adult fashion in that scene.
Jon Right.
Mo Yeah.
Mo Yeah.
Jon Yeah. Yeah.
George I think that that scene is the bridge between their childhood and adulthood.
Jon Mm-hmm. Yep. They don’t realize it yet, but we we do.
George Yeah.
Jon We do. Yeah. All right, George, how about you? Champion of seeing for us. Which one of the many?
George I mean, it was probably no surprise anybody’s heard me talk about stuff in past podcast episodes. I love the credit scene. It was the first time i ever seen anything like that done.
Jon instance
George We all got drawn to the scene because of the Ed Rudy getting on the bus while yellows.
Jon Yeah.
George Oh yeah.
Jon Mm-hmm.
George Is playing over the credits.
Mo Yeah.
Jon Yeah.
George Yeah. Nobody left the theater because of that. It was such a smart thing to do on the part of the director and the editor.
Mo Right.
George Keep dragging us along. At that point, what were credit scenes? They were outtake scenes and smoking in Smokey and the Bandit. That was kind of what we would have.
Jon Mm-hmm.
Mo Yeah.
Jon the
Mo Which is fine.
Jon You didn’t shoot anything new for it usually.
Mo ah
George They were fun, but they didn’t add anything to the story.
Jon Right.
Mo Yeah.
George This was the first time that the credit scenes, and there were two of them because there’s the Rooney on the bus and then Ferris at the end.
Mo Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
Jon Mm-hmm.
George You’re here, still go home.
Jon he
George they added to the story. They added to the characters, even at the very end of the movie in a way that no movie had done that before. I think it’s the thing that first clued me in, even as a young person, because I was in a freshman in high school when this came out,
George I think it was the first thing that clued me in to what Ferris’s true awareness was in the movie, because yes, he was aware of us that he would break the fourth wall, but he was more aware than any other child his age in the movie of what life really was.
Mo Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
Jon Mm-hmm.
Jon Yeah, yeah.
George And that’s what made me, even as a young person, start to think about things a little bit differently. Instead of just thinking of my immediate what’s in front of the two feet in front of my face kind of scenarios, I started thinking a little bit more long-term, truthfully, from watching this movie and that scene.
Jon Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
Mo Yeah, I can definitely stand that and talk about breaking that fourth wall.
Jon Mm-hmm.
Mo I can’t think of a movie that did it better than this one.
George Mm-mm.
Jon Mm-hmm.
Mo You know.
Jon Yeah.
George Well, Deadpool.
Mo OK, but but.
Jon Well, and then they copied Ferris Bueller at the end.
George but that was much later. they They copied Varys Bueller, exactly.
Jon Remember?
Mo Yeah.
George yeah
Mo You know, because it was like it it never interrupted the movie. Like it was never like ah awkward.
George Right.
Mo It just flowed like it just like when he would talk to the movie and the only other time someone breaks the fourth wall is Rooney at the end and the bus when he she offers him the and he looks at the camera.
George Right.
Mo Yeah.
Jon Mm-hmm.
Mo Yeah.
George Yeah.
Mo That’s the only other time you see that.
Jon Yeah. And you know, it would have, I wouldn’t have liked it so much if that had been, Oh, you know, here’s Matthew Broderick goofing around and talking to the camera, but it wasn’t the first time he had done that.
Jon Mostly we knew already that he was aware of our existence. And so that was like this payoff at the end of like, and now here’s the end of it where he still knows we’re here.
George From the first scene.
Mo Yeah, yeah, exactly.
George Yeah. Yeah.
Jon Not only does he know we’re here, he knows we’re watching a movie about him, which is kind of funny.
Mo Yeah.
George Well, yeah, because he’s back in his robe in the hallway, right?
Jon Yeah.
Jon Yep.
Mo yeah
Jon Yep.
George Which is the scene where he most interacts with us throughout the whole film.
Jon Where we began.
George We talk about the fourth wall stuff.
Jon Nothing
George Just to me, the best fourth wall break of the entire film is when they’re in the cab and Cameron is complaining that they didn’t see anything good that day.
Mo Oh, right. you hu
Jon good.
Mo the
George And Ferris is like, what?
Jon Yeah. Mm-hmm.
George And he’s just, he’s flabbergasted. And for just a split second, he looks at the camera like, can you believe this fucker?
Mo Yeah.
Jon nothing good that
George Never says a word to us, but it’s just that pause in his, that was the best part of the fourth wall breaks.
Jon yeah
Jon m
Jon Are you seeing what I’m seeing?
George But,
Mo Yeah, exactly.
Jon Yeah.
George Yeah, exactly. I mean, it’s still though, the credit scene, there’s so many great scenes.
Jon Okay.
George We didn’t even mention the garage guys.
Jon Yeah, of course.
George We didn’t talk about Wrigley Field and the Hey Batter, Hey Batter.
Mo Oh my God. Yeah.
George We didn’t talk about the pizza shop and the game is 0-0, who’s winning.
Jon Oh, that’s good.
George We didn’t talk about any of this stuff.
Jon Who’s…
Mo Yeah. The restaurant, the whole restaurant scene.
George Yeah, we didn’t talk about the whole restaurant and in Abe Froman, the sausage king of Chicago.
Jon The whole rest, there’s, yeah, pick it.
Mo Yeah. Yeah. I gotta go.
Jon We just let it out there. That’s, that’s great. We couldn’t, you know, what did we say in them big trouble?
Jon We’re like, and every other scene also our favorite.
Mo Yes.
George you’re right yeah
Mo I mean, guys, this was a great movie, right? And we talked about before about how this was really as Gen X, like up there with the breakfast club.
Jon Yeah. All right.
George Okay. Hmm.
Mo And, you know, it was just part of that movie experience that everyone remembers.
Jon And still is.
Mo Yeah, and so much that in 2014, its movie is now preserved in the United States National Film Registry of like you know by the Library of Congress, you know which and where they actually you know they pick movies.
Jon About time.
Mo Well, I think movies actually should be a certain age where they even go in there too.
Jon Oh, do they? That makes sense.
Mo yeah
Jon Yeah.
Mo But you know where they pick movies that they say are culturally significant, and that’s the ones that get ah preserved, and this obviously was one.
Jon Yeah.
George You know, and before i didn’t think about preservation as being a big deal because the movie’s around.
Jon Love it.
George It’s been shot. Who cares? But now that we’re in the streaming era where studios are more and more often locking films away or destroying the original prints, this preservation effort is really, really important.
Jon he
Jon Yeah.
Mo Yeah.
Jon int You know, ah the abyss was not available on streaming for decades. It just now hit streaming after being unavailable for decades. The freaking abyss.
Mo What?
George Wow. Wow.
Jon Yeah, you had to have a DVD to watch it, but yeah. Yeah, it’s I’m so glad it was was inducted.
George crazy
Jon That’s great.
George Well, oddly enough, this wasn’t the only Ferris Bueller we got in the world. There was actually a television series that came out in 1990 on NBC.
Mo Really? i don’t remember this at all.
Jon No.
George Yeah. Oh, well, it only lasted one season. The only thing that I think is funny from this is that um ah Jennifer Aniston actually played the Jennifer Grey role in the TV series.
Jon Okay.
Mo ah
George So it was like one of her early things before Friends and everything.
Jon ah Okay, i can I can see that as a character. Sure.
George So, you I’m…
Jon Yep.
George ah Good thing it didn’t last because then we might not have gotten friends with her in it, I guess.
Jon ah Right?
George But it’s interesting that they tried to do it. I think it was a bad idea from the jump because the whole point of Ferris Bueller was a single day in the life story.
Mo Yes.
Jon Yeah.
Jon Yeah.
George I didn’t need to see him graduating.
Mo I agree.
George I didn’t need to see his daily antics or anything like that. I’m sure I probably would have watched it back in the day, but why?
Jon Huh. I wonder how I never heard of it.
George i had a perfect movie. I didn’t need any more.
Jon That’s weird.
Mo Yeah, money.
Jon Yeah.
George Yeah. Yeah.
Jon It’s a friend, you know, it’s a, it’s an IP they have so they could try it, I guess.
Mo Yeah.
George yeah
Jon Yeah. Let’s see. Cultural significance. Speaking of in 1990, first lady, Barbara Bush paraphrased Ferris Bueller in her commencement address at Wellesley college.
Jon She said, Hmm. and I wasn’t prepping to do my Barbara Bush impression.
Mo was going say, it gives you depression here.
Jon i was just clearing my throat.
George ah
Jon No, no.
Mo Oh, sorry.
Jon Find the joy. No, no. She said, find the joy in life because as Ferris Bueller said on his day off, life moves pretty fast. You don’t stop and look around once in a while. You could miss it. So first lady, Barbara Bush already look in 90. She knew, she knew she’s like, Hey, a new TV show coming out. These kids will get this right. So.
Mo um sorry So um something else I didn’t know until researching facts is that apparently Matthew Broderick reprises his role as Bueller in the end credits of She’s Having a Baby.
Mo I never saw that.
George Oh, wow.
Mo I didn’t see that.
Jon Huh.
Mo Did you guys see this one?
Jon I don’t remember. Yeah.
Mo going have to look this up on YouTube.
Jon I feel like I saw it, but yeah.
George She’s having a baby. Kevin Bacon and…
Mo That’s Kevin Bacon’s one. Yeah.
George I forget the the girl, the the actress’s name. I’ve seen her in several things, but I i’ve watched the movie once. I don’t remember seeing it through the credit, but if it’s in the end credit scene, did he do the robe in the hall?
Mo That’s what wondering.
George Is that what he did?
Mo It’s like, it’s a…
Jon I don’t know. i say I probably didn’t watch the credits. I probably saw the movie once and then didn’t stick around because yeah.
George Right.
Jon Huh. I didn’t know that.
George e
Jon A reason to go check it out, I guess.
George I guess.
Mo Yeah.
George Well, if you want to check out Ferris Bueller, there’s plenty of ways to do it. Now, you mentioned, John, that The the Abyss had only come to streaming recently. Ferris Bueller didn’t need streaming.
Jon Wow.
George It’s been released on DVD three different times.
Jon Yeah.
George ah First in 1999, then in 2006, and then again in 2008. So we get the regular edition, then we get the Bueller edition, and we also get the I Love the 80s edition.
Jon wow
George i don’t I didn’t know that they released that. I’m going to go on eBay and buy all of these DVDs now at this point.
Jon yeah
George So this podcast is costing me money at this point because I really, i want to know why.
Jon I know. yeah i What’s different? What extra? Maybe the extra hours on one of them.
George um Maybe an extra hour might be in there.
Jon I don’t i want to see. i want to i want to see it. Moe is muted. I wonder what he was saying.
Mo Sorry, my dog was barking. they But yeah, I mean, yeah, I’m to figure what was different between these d different versions other than it was a way to make somebody buy three copies. That’s what I’m guessing.
George Well, that too, but yeah.
Jon Yeah, want to see the extra stuff. I want the extra stuff. Yeah. Well, hey, when you get those, let’s rip them. You can share them with everyone once you buy them. Thank you, George.
George Sure.
Jon Now, I’ve talked about this on the show before because we’ve talked about Ferris Bueller before in other lists and things like that. In August of 2022, a spinoff film about the garage guys, the valets, Sam and Victor’s Day Off was going to be because they take the car and they take off.
George Oh, right. Yes.
George Mm-hmm.
Mo Oh.
Jon And we see them one time doing a jump and then we see them pulling back in. That movie was going to be their adventure. What they did putting 150 miles or whatever on the car, 200 miles, whatever it was.
Mo What they did that day.
Jon And I wanted to see that so badly because it wasn’t a sequel. It wasn’t a prequel. It was a midquel is a parallel cool, whatever.
George Right.
Jon It was like, you know what?
Mo Yeah.
Jon While our heroes were doing something on their day off, here’s what the valets did with the car that day. And you know, it’s like, it’s like, a but it’s like Apollo 13.
Mo They were gone the entire time.
Jon It’s like, well, you know, they, you know, they’re get back safe, but what crazy adventures do they have and barely escape without scratching the car the whole way through?
Mo Right.
Jon Sadly, it was, it was in development for Paramount plus, but it was canceled because the sky dance Paramount merger, that’s mucking with star Trek and everything.
Mo Uh…
Jon They’re like, yeah, we’re not going invest in that right now. And I’m like that. That’s the movie I want to see.
Mo Yeah.
Jon Maybe as much as the as the missing hour. I want to see what those guys did. And remember at the end, they’re high five. And like, we got to do this again.
Mo Yeah. Like, woo!
George Right.
Jon This is fantastic.
Mo we we do Yeah.
Jon What did they do? I want to see that movie. Yeah.
Mo So just while we were talking, I looked up the ending of the movie of She’s Having a Baby to see what the credits were. And basically at the end of the movie, which I guess I never saw, they they they’re oh, what are we going to name the kid?
Mo And they have all these different actors saying, oh, here’s names. They have John Candy, Christy Alley, like just one after the other. One of them is Matthew Broderick peeking his head into the hallway.
Jon Oh, neat.
Mo And then coming out and saying one the names.
George Ah. And he says, Bueller, that’s funny.
Mo So that’s where he is. Yeah. So that’s that’s it.
Jon There we go.
Mo So I have a link.
Jon m
Mo I’ll throw link in the show notes for that.
George he
Jon Awesome. m it’s It’s a lot. And it’s… know know We said last time, Big Trouble Little China. Would we make it through? you know we could we And in the break, we were talking about…
Jon We didn’t talk about the parade. We didn’t talk about the restaurant.
Mo Yeah.
Jon We didn’t talk… Oh, my God. We left…
George Oh, yeah.
Jon There’s just…
George I forgot to mention how much Paul McCartney hates the parade song.
Jon but really
George completely forgot yeah he hates it he hates that song because they included the band the brass instruments and he said that’s that should never be in my song he hated that
Mo Yeah.
Jon Yeah. He doesn’t like that arrangement. Whatever. We loved it. And it was you know as much as Blues Brothers.
Jon It was you you said before, it was like a love letter to Chicago. Chicago is a character in this movie, you know, and and its people and its citizens.
George yeah
Jon And they had all the extras and the. Oh, Jesus. All right, before we enter into phase two of this podcast, let’s ahead and wrap this one up, guys.
Mo Thank you.
Jon and This has been a fun one to put together. Look, before I let you go, i want to thank another brand new supporter over on Patreon, Alex M. Thank you, Alex.
Jon Alex popped over to patreon.com slash Gen X Grown Up, set up a small recurring pledge to help keep us in business and allow us to keep putting out this show, videos on YouTube, the newsletter every week, the podcast, articles on the web, everything that we do takes time and energy and money and effort and tools.
Jon And Alex is helping us get that stuff done. So he and all those amazing, amazing supporters over at Patreon, thank you so much for what you do. That then is going to wrap it up for this backtrack edition of the Gen X Grown Up podcast. Don’t worry, we’ll be back in two weeks with another backtrack. Next week is the standard edition of our show.
Jon Until then, I’m John George. Thank you so much for being here, brother.
George Yes, sir.
Jon Mo, you know, i appreciate you.
Mo Always fun, man.
Jon Fourth listener, it’s you. We all three appreciate. Most of all, we can’t wait to talk to you again next time. Bye-bye.
George See you guys.
Mo Take care, everybody.
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About The Author

Mo As someone who barely manages to squeeze in as a GenXer my memories include more of the 70's than those younger GenXers. Reading and movies are my passions with some video gaming thrown in there for good measure!

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