Ferris Bueller's Day Off

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Template:Infobox Film

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, as well as his parents.

It is regarded as one of the best comedies of the 1980s and is often referred to as a classic - it arguably set the blueprint for the many American high-school comedies of the late 80s and 90s.

Taglines:

  • One Man's Struggle To Take It Easy
  • Leisure Rules

Contents

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Plot

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

Ferris Bueller is a wise-cracking high school student from the fictional suburb of Shermer, Illinois, (located near Chicago), 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 has recorded the car's mileage on his wrist (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. For many, the familiar feeling of extreme tedium experienced by students during a particularly dull lecture is captured in this scene. (It is interesting to note that Stein, who actually holds a real degree in economics, is giving a non-scripted lecture in this scene.) Image:Shakeitupferris.jpg 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. Meanwhile, Ferris's resentful sister Jeanie, envious of Ferris, decides to leave school and uncover his scheme on her own.

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 "Twist and Shout," enjoys the view at the top of the Sears Tower and visits the Art Institute of Chicago.

Later, 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 hid 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 off the blocks sending it roaring backward and out an upper story glass wall-to-wall window. They declare it "killed" and Cameron is forced to stand up to his father for the first time in his life.

After sharing a kiss with his girlfriend, Ferris realizes he is late and dashes home, running through neighbors' back yards, hopping over fences, and arriving just in time for his parents to check on him.

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Cast

Actor Role
Matthew Broderick Ferris Bueller
Alan Ruck Cameron Frye
Mia Sara Sloane Peterson
Jeffrey Jones Edward R. Rooney
Jennifer Grey Jeanie Bueller
Cindy Pickett Katie Bueller
Lyman Ward Tom Bueller
Edie McClurg Grace
Charlie Sheen the Druggie
Ben Stein The Economics Teacher
Del Close The English Teacher
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Reception

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Critical

The film was well met by most critics, and was obviously 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, the film 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.

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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 by 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. [1]

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Trivia

  • At the time of filming, Matthew Broderick was 23, Jennifer Grey was 25, Alan Ruck was 29 and Mia Sara was only 17.
  • 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.
  • 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.
  • Ben Stein, who plays the economics teacher, holds a degree in economics. When he is giving his lecture in class, it wasn't scripted; Stein is giving a real lecture. The only part of his scenes that was scripted was when he calls attendance.
  • 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 Froman 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:
  • The "Ferrari" was actually four custom fiberglass replicas from Modena Design and Development of El Cajon, California. No real Ferraris were harmed during the making of this motion picture.
  • 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.
  • 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."
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References in popular culture

  • In the 2005 animated Family Guy film Stewie Griffin: The Untold Story, there is a section in which Stewie is racing his family to a swimming pool, and is a direct parody of the section of Ferris Bueller's Day Off where Ferris is trying to get home before his family.
  • In the opening credits of Season 3 and 4's Everybody Loves Raymond, Raymond turns off a stereo from across the room by throwing a teddy bear at it, a spoof of the scene where Ferris turns his stereo off by throwing a baseball at the "off" button.
  • Comic book writer Brian Michael Bendis has often referred to Ferris Bueller's Day Off as well as several other John Hughes movies in the Marvel comic book series Ultimate Spider-Man, which he writes along with artist Mark Bagley. Such references include Ben Stein's lecture, a complaint about Peter Parker's being absent 9 times, and an entire issue was an homage to another Hughes film, The Breakfast Club, by setting it in a detention room.
  • In an episode of The Simpsons, after a security guard at the local Try 'n' Save catches Bart shoplifting, he is riding his bike home before his parents get there so he can change the answering-machine tape with the message that he has shoplifted on it.
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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:

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Filming locations

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See also

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References

  1. DVD Fanatic review of the film
  2. Internet Movie Database page on Ferris Bueller's Day Off
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External links

Template:Wikiquote

es:Todo en un día fr:La Folle Journée de Ferris Bueller nl:Ferris Bueller's Day Off ru:Феррис Бьюллер берёт выходной (фильм) sv:Fira med Ferris

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