On June 11, 1986, a teen in a sweater vest with an amazing wit encouraged kids to rebel against authority and seize the perfect sunny school day. Ferris Bueller’s influence on pop culture is nearly as grand as the influence on the youth of the mid-80′s.

Imagine if Ferris had a cell phone, iPad or GPS device.

John Hughes knew that life moves pretty fast. And as with his films, his devotion to his family and his death served as poignant reminders of that. For both teens and their parents, he helped crack the code on the exuberance and desperation of teen angst.

Matthew Broderick is forever remembered as Ferris Bueller. Despite all of the awards, other works, the actor confessed at the John Hughes tribute in 2010 he was referred to as Ferris Bueller nearly every day and asked if ‘this is your day off.’ (See clip here)

So when reflecting on this great film, one of the lines seemed like a perfect inspiration: “The question isn’t “what are we going to do,” the question is “what aren’t we going to do?”

I shared a lot of qualities with Ferris in high school. Some would say I was a troublemaker, but like Ferris I preferred the concept of innovation and pushing the boundary. How far? Again, let’s ask Ferris:

“A: You can never go too far. B: If I’m gonna get busted, it is *not* gonna be by a guy like *that*.”

Possibly the next most memorable character from Ferris was the teacher, played by Ben Stein.

Simone: Um, he’s sick. My best friend’s sister’s boyfriend’s brother’s girlfriend heard from this guy who knows this kid who’s going with the girl who saw Ferris pass out at 31 Flavors last night. I guess it’s pretty serious.

Economics Teacher: Thank you, Simone.

Oh Yeah…

The 80′s were full of so many simple yet influential songs – most earned the label of “One Hit Wonders”.

Yello’s “Oh Yeah” has a whopping 10 different words (including the “good time” at the end) was heard and known by everyone at the time. Today, I can hear jusst the “bomp, bomp” and the song plays in my head like a 45 dropped on a jukebox.

Grace’s Rant

Edie McClurg stole every scene as Grace, Ed Rooney’s secretary. Her naive demeanor, secret storage of pencils and passive defense of Ferris reminded us all of the administrator we all loved, but was in no real position of power.

This moment (which I proudly could quote at one time) was one of my favorite moments as Grace calls out all of the “cliques” of the 80′s:

“Oh, he’s very popular Ed. The sportos, the motorheads, geeks, sluts, bloods, wastoids, dweebies, dickheads – they all adore him. They think he’s a righteous dude.”

---

Let’s pause for a moment with some Ferris trivia

A ska punk band formed in the mid-90′s taking their name from the film: Save Ferris.

The onscreen parents of Ferris, actors Cindy Pickett and Lyman Ward married after making the movie. They later divorced, but they have two children together. Presumably neither is named Jeannie or Ferris.

Ferris wears a different outfit in each scene before he and Cameron go to pick up Sloane.

When Ferris picks up Sloan from school, they are standing in front of the entrance to the theater of Glenbrook North High School in Northbrook IL, Hughes’ Alma Matter. They then drive the car past the high school’s soccer and baseball fields.

Checkout the license plates on the cars, they are abbreviations for other John Hughes films.

• Katie-VCTN: National Lampoon’s Vacation
• Jeannie-TBC: The Breakfast Club
• Tom-MMOM: Mr. Mom
• Rooney-4FBDO: you guessed, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off

---

Hey batta batta batta hey batta batta batta SWING batta!

Cameron’s chant changed the way fans teased batters.

In fact, the ballgame sequence has instigated a debate in sports circles:

A. Is this a real game?

B. What game was it?

Check out the analysis for yourself here.

Probably not a real game…yes, I think the article gets that straight, but remember the parade in which Bueller jumped onto a float and sang took place during a real parade on September 28, 1985.

Yes, real parade.

Life Moves Pretty Fast

The former first lady Barbara Bush once quoted Ferris: “Life moves pretty fast. If ya don’t stop and look around once in a while, ya gonna miss it!”

The crowd roared. And Mrs. Bush ad-libbed, perfectly: “I’m not gonna tell [the president] you clapped more for Ferris than you did for George.”

---

Ferris isn’t remembered for tributes or the horrible television spin-off, but they shouldn’t ignored either.

There was a horrible, less impressionable TV series starring Jennifer Aniston as Jeanie

Bueller – the Horror Movie?

Ferris’ sister Jeannie influenced this fan-made recut with Jeannie as a serial killer. Of course, John Hughes’ name is spelled incorrectly, (maybe that was intentional) but you may still enjoy.

Ferris Bueller – The Indie film?

Charlie Sheen

“Why are you here?” “Drugs.”

Charlie Sheen stayed awake for 48 hours, two full days, to get the desired look of the drug addict. Now the look seems to come naturally.

“Ferris Bueller” was one of the first mainstream movies to pull off the after credit easter egg clip so effectively that almost everyone knew not to leave the theater until after the scrolling of all those names.

One of my favorite comedies just turned 25 years old. Ferris does prove that funny can still be funny two-and-half decades later.

Thanks John Hughes, you gave us all a great escape, not from school, but from life, each and every time we watch Ferris.

---

About the author – Brandon Jones

My first effort at “blogging” before it was called “blogging” was a Pop Culture, Comic Book column at CrazedFanboy.com.

A lot sure has changed since these days.

Due to the support/pressure from my DOB comrades, Splash Page was resurrected to publish Pop Culture topics and the “State of the Nation” will continue to deal with politics and heavy issues.

Brandon has two comic book columns on Examiner:

http://www.examiner.com/comic-book-movies-in-national/brandon-jones

http://www.examiner.com/comic-books-in-tampa-bay/brandon-jones