Ferris Bueller's Day Off is a 1986 film written and directed by John Hughes. Released on June 11th that year, the movie was a fair success and is today seen as a classic. Some of the taglines associated with the film were "One Man's Struggle To Take It Easy" and "Leisure Rules".
Box Office
Ferris Bueller's Day Off's total gross in the United States was approximately 70 million dollars. Compared to the lean budget of 6 million dollars, this was viewed as a success. [1]
Cast
Plot
It is Friday, May 17, 1985.
Ferris Bueller is a wise-cracking high school student from the fictional suburb of Shermer, Illinois (located near Chicago), who decides to skip out of school for a day on the town, by pretending to be sick. As Ferris says "Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop to 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 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 around 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 an actual non-scripted lecture in this scene.)
Ferris Bueller (Matthew Broderick) shakes things up on a
parade float.
Rooney sees Ferris's attempt to get 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 away, 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 on, Ferris hoists the rear wheels of the Ferrari off the ground and puts it in reverse courtesy of a cement block on the gas pedal in order to take off the miles to cover up the fact that it was driven. However, this fails as the odometer does not roll back. Cameron refuses to consider Ferris' 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 reeling backwards 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 back home, running through neighbors' backyards, hopping over fences, and arriving just in time so his parents can check on him.
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 Jeannie 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' parents, married in real life after filming this movie (although they subsequently divorced).
- Sloane is based on a high school version of Nancy Hughes, John's wife. Cameron and Garth Volbeck (Charlie Sheen's druggie character) are based on acquaintances of Hughes from high school.
- Cameron's fake "Mr. Peterson" voice was based on an old drama coach Ruck and Broderick used to study under. Hughes never met the man and didn't understand the little in-joke at all, but it cracked up the two actors so much they used it for the voice.
- The 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:
- There's a long sequence, starting with Ferris, Cameron & Sloane holding hands with a lot of kids walking past Gustave Caillebotte's large Paris Street; Rainy Day (1877)
- Then a still shot of Edward Hopper's Nighthawks (1942)
- Still of two Kandinskys, (Improvisation 30 (Cannons) (1913) and Painting with Green Center),
- Five Picassos (Nude under Pine tree, The Old Guitarist, The Red Armchair, Portrait of Sylvette David, Seated Woman),
- La Toilette by Mary Cassatt
- Also shows Jacques and Bethe Lipchitz by Modigliani
- Day of the Gods (Mahana No Atua) by Gauguin
- Greyed Rainbow by Jackson Pollock
- Bathers by a River by Matisse
- In the shot of the three of them lined up In the Circus Fernando: The Ringmaster by Toulouse-Lautrec in the background
- Also shots with Rodin and Moore sculptures
- Ferris & Sloane kiss in front of the blue America Windows by Chagall
- It finally ends with the sequence of Cameron entranced by the little girl in the large Seurat painting Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte, as the camera takes closer and closer shots of the girl interspersed with shots of Cameron.
- For a pictorial tour see Ferris at the Art Institute
- The "Ferrari" was actually four custom fiberglass replicas from Modena Design and Development of El Cajon, California. 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" he says.
- In 2000, readers of Total Film magazine voted Ferris Bueller's Day Off the 23rd greatest comedy film of all time.
- In 2005, an Empire magazine article declared Ferris Bueller's Day Off the number one teen film of all time.
- The license plate on the back of the Ferrari says NRVOUS.
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 being absent 9 times, and an entire issue was an homage to another John 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 tape with the message that he has shoplifted on it.
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:
Filming locations
- Chicago, Illinois, USA
- Glencoe, Illinois, USA (Stone bench outside beach)
- Highland Park, Illinois, USA (Cameron's House and Ferrari Garage)
- Long Beach, California, USA (Bueller home, exterior)
- Northbrook, Illinois, USA (exterior, some interior of high school)
- Winnetka , Illinois, USA
See also
References
- DVD Fanatic review of the film
- Internet Movie Database page on Ferris Bueller's Day Off
External links
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