Ferries Bueller’s Day Off

Here is one of the most innocent movies in a long time. A nice, warm-hearted comedy about a teenager who skips school so he can help his best friend earn some self-respect. The therapy he has in mind includes a day’s visit to Chicago. After we’ve seen the Sears Tower, the Art Institute, the Board of Trade, a parade down Dearborn Street, architectural landmarks, a Gold Coast, and a game at Wrigley Field, we have to allow the city and state film offices have done their jobs: If “Ferries Bueller’s Day Off,” released in 1986, fails on every other level, at least it works as a travelogue.

However, it does work on at least a few other levels. The movie stars Matthew Broderick as Ferris, a smart high school senior from the North Shore who feigns illness to spend a day in town with his girlfriend, Sloane (Mia Sara), and his best friend, Cameron (Alan Ruck).

Initially, it looks like skipping school is all he has thought of – especially after he talks Cameron into borrowing his dad’s repaired red Ferrari, a car the father loves more than Cameron himself.

Roger Ebert said in his review, “The body of the movie is a lighthearted excursion through the Loop, including a German-American Day parade in which Ferris leaps aboard a float, grabs a microphone and starts singing "Twist and Shout" while the marching band backs him up. The teens fake their way into a fancy restaurant for lunch, spend some time gawking at the masterpieces in the Art Institute, and then go out to Wrigley Field, where, of course, they are late and have to take box seats far back in the left-field corner.” (The movie gets that detail right. It would be too much to hope that they could arrive in the third inning and find seats in the bleachers.) There is one great moment when the teens visit the top of the Sears Tower, lean forward, press themselves against the glass, look straight down at the small cars and little parts of life down below, and begin to talk about their lives. Subtly, that introduces the buried theme of the movie, which is that Ferris wants to help Cameron get self-respect in the face of his father’s materialism.

Ferris is a little like a preacher. He says the famous line of the movie, “Life goes by so fast that if you don’t stop and look around, you might miss it.” Ebert said, “He's sensitive to the hurt inside his friend's heart, as Cameron explains how his dad has cherished and restored the red Ferrari and given it a place of honor in his life - a place denied to Cameron.”

Ebert credited, “Ferris Bueller" was directed by John Hughes, the philosopher of adolescence, whose credits include "Sixteen Candles," "The Breakfast Club" and "Pretty In Pink." In every one of his films, adults are strange, distant beings who love their teenagers, but fail to completely understand them. That’s the obvious issue: All of the adults, including an awkward high-school principal, played by Jeffrey Jones, are dim-witted and one-dimensional. The movie’s solutions to Cameron’s problems are very simplistic. However, the film’s heart is in the right place, and “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off” is small, quirky, and sweet.

I know people love this movie and consider it one of the great classics, but I just thought of this as good. I like the movie; I just don’t love it like everyone else does. I still say you should check this out because you might like this movie a lot, maybe more than I did. You have Ben Stein in here constantly saying, “Bueller,” and a cameo appearance by Charlie Sheen in a police station. See this one if you would like.

Stay tuned next week when we end “John Hughes Month” with another classic film. Once again, I would like to apologize for the late posting as I completely forgot what day of the week it was.