Ferris Bueller’s Day Off
June 7, 2024
The 1980s included many excellent films. Perhaps above all, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. The 1986 John Hughes film has become an iconic memorialization of the styles and attitudes of the 1980s. The picture centers around Ferris, played by Matthew Broderick, a free bird type teenager who skips school and enjoys a day in Chicago with his best friend Cameron and girlfriend Sloane.
Even off the numbers, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off is impressive. IMDbPro’s Box Office Mojo lists the gross box office at $70,136,369, which puts it at the 10th spot for a competitive year that included other huge hits like Top Gun. The film is considered so significant that it has made its way onto the National Film Registry’s list of films for preservation.
While there are many notable scenes, one element of the plot involves Cameron’s father’s prized possession, a classic Ferrari, that Ferris convinces his friend must be their ride into the city. Upon return from their day trip, however, after Cameron begins to worry about the car’s mileage being noticeably greater, the teens put the car in reverse to try and decrease the mileage; instead, the car ends up crashing into a nearby ravine. Another, earlier, one, is a major singing and dancing number to “Twist and Shout” by The Beatles and “Danke Schoen.” The free spirit personality of the character Bueller, beyond scenes like this one, is captured with iconic lines derived from the movie.
One of the most famous lines, one that is repeated even in the modern day, is from Ferris when he breaks the fourth wall and warns his audience, “Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.”
After the film’s success, some of the cast went on to other major works, but at least one was the subject of scandal in the early 2000s. Jeffrey Jones, who plays Ferris’ principal, a bitter man who seeks to bust Ferris for skipping school, ended up forced to register as a sex offender after a no-contest plea to a charge relating to child pornography. Unlike Jones, other cast members have had more positive lives after the film. Broderick went on to star in the successful Broadway show The Producers, and Alan Ruck, who plays Cameron, was on the cast of the recently concluded HBO drama Succession.
In an ABC News article about the film’s continued success, Ben Stein, who plays an economics teacher in an early scene that became iconic for his conundrum repetition of “Bueller” at roll call, is quoted explaining why he feels it is still a significant work. Stein describes, “It is about something very basic in human life, a wish to get away, escape responsibility, and have a day where your day is every fantasy you’ve ever had.” Ultimately, the film has continued to remain relevant today, with its place in a collection for the preservation of films and its lines retorted even nearly 40 years after its release; thus, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off should not be overlooked for its cultural impact on the United States in the 1980s, and even today.