Ferris Bueller's Day Off

Infobox Film
name = Ferris Bueller's Day Off


caption = Theatrical release poster
director = John Hughes
writer = John Hughes
starring = Matthew Broderick Alan Ruck Mia Sara Jeffrey Jones Jennifer Grey
Edie McClurg
music = Ira Newborn Arthur Baker John Robie
producer = John Hughes Tom Jacobson
cinematography = Tak Fujimoto
editing = Paul Hirsch
distributor = Paramount Pictures
released = June 11 1986
runtime = 102 min
country = USA
language = English
budget = $6,000,000 USD
followed_by = "Ferris Bueller"
amg_id = 1:17076
imdb_id = 0091042

"Ferris Bueller's Day Off" is a 1986 comedy film written and directed by John Hughes. 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 from the North Shore, who, one spring day (after eight previous absences throughout the semester; nine total including this "day off"), decides to skip school again and spend the day in downtown Chicago with his girlfriend Sloane Peterson and his best friend Cameron Frye while creatively avoiding his school's dean of students Mr. Edward Rooney, his resentful sister Jeanie, and his parents. Bueller frequently breaks the fourth wall to explain to the audience his techniques and thoughts. In the opening scene, graphics appear onscreen illustrating his explanations.

Plot

Ferris Bueller, a high school senior from the fictional northern Chicago suburb of Shermer, Illinois, decides to skip school for a day on the town by pretending to be sick. We later learn that he has done this many times throughout the school year. He convinces his nervous hypochondriac friend Cameron to take his father's carefully restored 1961 Ferrari 250 GT California for their day off, promising to erase any miles they put on the car by driving the car home in reverse. Masquerading as her father, Ferris and Cameron spring Sloane from school on the premise that her grandmother has died.

Meanwhile, Edward Rooney, dean of students, doesn’t believe Ferris's illness, as he has been tracking Ferris's many absences from school on his computer. Ferris remotely deletes these absences from the computer while Rooney watches helplessly. Lacking proof of the truancy, Rooney sets out to catch Bueller in the act, suffering a lot of slapstick injuries and humiliations in his quest (ripping his pants, getting both his shoe and foot in the mud, and having the Bueller's dog attack him). Ferris leaks a rumor to some 9th-graders that he is near-terminally ill, and he soon becomes the town's favorite son. A campaign by the students to "Save Ferris" is a running joke throughout the film.

Ferris' sister, Jeanie, is outraged at Ferris's ability to defy authority unpunished and becomes as determined as Rooney to prove that her brother is lying. Her efforts lead to her being home when Rooney visits the house, which she misinterprets as an attempt to attack her. In response, Jeanie kicks Rooney in the face several times while screaming and running around the house. She then calls the police, who thinks that she is a prank caller, and take Jeanie to the station. She meets an attractive delinquent at the station (Charlie Sheen), who tells her that she should get on with enjoying her life and stop resenting her brother.

The three friends enjoy a baseball game at Wrigley Field (and only just avoid being caught by Rooney on TV when Ferris catches a foul ball) and dine at an upscale restaurant (with Ferris posing as Abe Froman, the sausage king of Chicago). Cameron and Sloane watch in awe as Ferris sneaks onto a float during the Von Steuben Day Parade to lip-sync "Danke Schoen" and The Beatles' version of "Twist and Shout". They also enjoy the view from the top of the Sears Tower and visit the Art Institute of Chicago and the Chicago Board of Trade. In one of several running jokes, Ferris narrowly avoids meeting his father a few times. However, while the friends enjoy their day, two parking attendants borrow the Ferrari and take it on their own adventures, running up the mileage dramatically in the process.

When the trio retrieves the car and Cameron spies the odometer reading, he enters a catatonic state. They return to Cameron's house, where Ferris and Sloane sit in the hot tub trying to figure out how to bring Cameron back to reality. Ferris muses to the audience about how little time is left in the school year and his concerns for Cameron's and Sloane's futures. Cameron does recover, but decides to scare his friends by falling into the pool. Ferris rescues him, feeling briefly angry and then relieved. Cameron laughs at him and reveals that he was faking it with the sarcastic quote "Ferris Bueller, you're my hero."

Back at Cameron's second-story garage, Ferris attempts in vain to reverse the Ferrari's milage by jacking up the car and running it in reverse. Realizing that he will be caught, Cameron's rage comes to a head when he realizes how much contempt he has for his father, and he takes his rage out on the car by kicking dents into the bumper and the front of the hood.

He finally calms down. He sees the minor damage that he has caused and accepts that he will now be forced to explain to his father what he did and why. He feels a weight lifted with the prospect of finally dealing with his father's coldness and distance.

However, the car has remained in reverse throughout the beating and when Cameron rests his foot on the front bumper one last time, the car falls off the jack and bursts through the plate glass window in the back of the garage, landing with a crash at the bottom of a ravine. Ferris offers to take the blame since Cameron's father hates him anyway, but Cameron decides it is time to stand up to his father.

Ferris sees Sloane home and realizes that he is late and begins dashing home. As Ferris disappears out of her view Sloane thinks out loud that she will marry him someday.

Ferris hurriedly arrives back home and narrowly escapes Rooney, thanks to Jeanie, who thanks Rooney for "driving Ferris home from the hospital." Ferris manages to get into bed in time for his parents to check on him. The movie ends with Ferris repeating a quote from the beginning of the movie: "Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it."

The closing credits play beside scenes of a torn-clothed Rooney receiving jeers and odd looks while riding the school bus.

After the credits scroll, we see Ferris expressing his astonishment that the audience hasn't left the theater. Ferris then tells everyone to accept that the movie has ended and to go home.

Production

The majority of the movie was filmed in and around New Trier High School's Freshman campus in Northfield, IL. Scenes were also filmed at several locations in downtown Chicago and in Winnetka, IL (Ferris's home, his mother's real estate office, etc.). Many of the other scenes, were filmed in Northbrook, Illinois at Glenbrook North High School, and Sherman Drive: the famous long curvy street between Maple Middle School and Glenbrook North High School.

Cast

*Matthew Broderick as Ferris J. Bueller
*Alan Ruck as Cameron Frye
*Mia Sara as Sloane Peterson
*Jeffrey Jones as Mr. Edward R. Rooney, Dean of Students
*Jennifer Grey as Jeanie "Jean/Shauna" Bueller
*Cindy Pickett as Katie Bueller
*Lyman Ward as Tom Bueller
*Edie McClurg as Grace
*Charlie Sheen as the Druggie
*Ben Stein as the Economics Teacher
*Richard Edson as one of the parking attendants
*Del Close as the English teacher
*Virginia Capers as Florence Sparrow, school nurse
*Kristy Swanson as Simone Adamley, a student in Ferris's Economics class
*Larry Flash Jenkins as the parking attendant's co-pilot
*Johnathan Schmock as the Chez Quis Maître d'
*Louie Anderson as the flower delivery man

Reception

Critique

The film was received well by most critics. Famed movie critic Roger Ebert gave it 3 out of 4 stars. [ Ebert, Roger. [http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/19860611/REVIEWS/606110301/1023 Ferris Bueller's Day Off] . June 11, 1986. ] It has a "Certified Fresh" rating on Rotten Tomatoes, having an aggregated critical film review score of 82%. [ [http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/ferris_buellers_day_off/ Ferris Bueller's Day Off] . Rotten Tomatoes. ] This movie ranked number 10 on Entertainment Weekly's list of the "50 Best High School Movies". [ [http://www.ew.com/ew/gallery/0,6115,1532588_1_0_,00.html 50 Best High School Movies] . Entertainment Weekly. ] The film was featured in the VH1 television show "I Love the 80s" which aired in 2002.

Broderick was nominated for a Golden Globe in 1987 for Best Actor - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy.

Rankings

As an influential and popular film, "Ferris Bueller's Day Off" has been included in many film rating lists. This film is number 54 on Bravo's "100 Funniest Movies", and came 26th in the British "50 Greatest Comedy Films" poll.

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, and in 2005 an "Empire" magazine article declared "Ferris Bueller's Day Off" the number one teen film of all time.

Box office

The film opened in 1,330 theaters in the United States and had a total weekend gross of $6,275,647, opening in second position to another teen comedy, Rodney Dangerfield's "Back to School".

"Ferris Bueller's Day Off"'s total gross in the United States was approximately $70 million. [ [http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=ferrisbuellersdayoff.htm Box Office Mojo] ] It subsequently became the 10th highest grossing film of 1986. Compared to the lean budget of $6 million, it was viewed as a big success. [http://www.dvdfanatic.com/review.php?id=bueller "Ferris Bueller's Day Off - Bueller Bueller Edition"] ]

Music

Paramount initially wanted to commission up-and-coming rock bands to write tracks for the film. Studio execs consulted with Welsh post-punk band The Alarm in April 1986, and the band subsequently cut the track "World on Fire" for the soundtrack. Paramount eventually dropped the project in favor of commercially-available songs.

Songs featured in the film include:
#"Love Missile F1-11" (Extended Version) by Sigue Sigue Sputnik
#"Jeannie" (Theme from "I Dream of Jeannie")
#"Beat City" by The Flowerpot Men
#"Main Title / Rebel Blockade Runner ( From, 'Star Wars' )" by John Williams
#"Please, Please, Please Let Me Get What I Want" (instrumental) by The Dream Academy (a cover of a song by The Smiths)
#"Danke Schoen" by Wayne Newton
#"Twist and Shout" by The Beatles - which charted again, 16 years after the Beatles broke up, as a result of its prominent appearance in both this movie and "Back To School" (where Rodney Dangerfield performs a cover version) which was released the same weekend as "FBDO". The re-released single reached #23 in the U.S; its parent album, "The Early Beatles", would also re-chart at #197. The version heard in the film includes brass overdubbed onto the original backing track, which (according to Hughes on the DVD commentary) did not go down well with Paul McCartney.
#"Radio People" by Zapp
#"I'm Afraid" by Blue Room
#"Taking the Day Off" by General Public
#"The Edge of Forever" by The Dream Academy
#"March of the Swivelheads" (a remix of "Rotating Head") by The (English) Beat
#"Oh Yeah" by Yello
#"BAD" by Big Audio Dynamite

No soundtrack was ever released for the film, as director John Hughes felt the songs would not work well together as a continuous album.Some of the music was heard out of a radio, supposedly tuned to 89WLS, Chicago in its "MusicRadio" Top40 days. Dick Biondi, one of the original WLS DJs from the start of its Top40 format in the early 1960s, was a featured voice in the movie (heard coming out of a clock radio); though he had not been on WLS since the early 1970s! WLS had pretty much started a downward spiral in the ratings by the time the movie came out and was looking at a flip to talk radio shortly thereafter (now Newstalk 890, WLS); however, on Memorial Day in both 2007 and 2008, WLS brought back its MusicRadio format for one day with a lot of former famous DJs (for the BIG89 Rewind)...and in 2007, made a lot of mention about the movie FBDO on the air.

The Series

In 1990 a series called "Ferris Bueller" started. Starring Charlie Schlatter as Ferris Bueller, Jennifer Aniston as Jeanie Bueller and Ami Dolenz as Sloane Peterson. The series served as a prequel to the film, even though, in the pilot episode, we see Schlatter cutting up a carton board of Matthew Broderick, saying that he hated Broderick's performance as him. Apparently, John Hughes, who directed "Ferris Bueller's Day Off", disapproved of the series [ [http://www.80s.com/saveferris/faq.html Apparently, John Hughes disapproved of it and tried to fight its production. He failed, and it was produced by Maysh, Ltd. Productions in association with Paramount Television.] ] and tried to fight its production. But he failed and it was produced by Maysh, Ltd. Productions in association with Paramount Television. The series was cancelled after the first thirteen episodes aired. Both Schlatter and Aniston later had success on other TV shows, Schlatter on "Diagnosis Murder" and Aniston on "Friends".

DVD releases

The film has been released on DVD twice - the original DVD release, and the newer "Bueller... Bueller... Edition". The original DVD, like most Paramount films released on DVD for the first time, had very few bonus features. It did, however, feature a commentary by Hughes. The later release has several more bonus featurettes, but does not contain the commentary track the earlier DVD release had.

The "Bueller... Bueller... Edition", however, has multiple special features such as interviews with the cast and crew, along with a clip of Ben Stein's commentaries on the film's philosophy and impact.

Filming locations

*Chicago, River Forest, Oak Park, Northbrook, Highland Park, Glencoe and Winnetka, Lake Forest and Long Beach, California, USA

The Bueller house is located at 4160 Country Club Drive, Long Beach, California 90807 at coordinates coord|33.831765|-118.198991|type:landmark.

The baseball game that is playing on the television while Mr. Rooney is searching for Ferris was played on Wednesday, June 5, 1985 at Wrigley Field. The Cubs were hosting the Atlanta Braves, and the score was tied 2-2 in the top of the 11th inning with the Braves batting. Claudell Washington is batting against Lee Smith as Leon Durham holds Paul Zuvella on first base. (In the movie, the fry cook tells Mr. Rooney that the score at that point was 0-0.) [http://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/1985/B06050CHN1985.htm]

=Legacy and ho

Since the movie's release, numerous references and spin-offs have occurred.
*"Parker Lewis Can't Lose", a television sitcom program about a similarly charming and rebellious teenager, lasted for three seasons on the Fox network from 1990 to 1993.
* is essentially a remake of the movie performed by an all African-American cast, with the exception of the Rooney character which is played by a white female.
*Rooney, a power pop band from California, got its name partly from the character Edward Rooney featured in the movie.

*The band Save Ferris was named after the same running gag in the movie.

*An homage to the show in an episode of the WB TV cartoon "Johnny Test"

*Various homages to "Ferris Bueller's Day Off" appear in "Family Guy":
**In the "Family Guy" episode "The Tan Aquatic with Steve Zissou", one of Stewie's dying wishes is to go to the Art Institute of Chicago, at which point a sequence similar to that in "Ferris Bueller's Day Off" is played out.
**In the "Family Guy" movie "", the end sequence is a direct reference to the end chase scene of "Ferris Bueller's Day Off", ending with the slow motion landing which, contrary to how it appears, is actually in real time. Realizing how much time he has wasted, Stewie says, "Hmm, probably shouldn't have milked that landing."
**In the "Family Guy" episode "Movin' Out (Brian's Song)", Peter and Jillian say that it shouldn't be Ferris Bueller's day off, but it should be Ferris Bueller's day on, because "he did all the things he wanted to do".
**In the "Family Guy" episode "Peter's Got Woods", when Brian meets Shawna Parks, the same song from the scene when Jeannie tells the convict in the police station that most people call her Shawna plays.

*The Danish sit-com "Langt fra Las Vegas" (Far from Las Vegas) features an episode called "DVD-Aftener" (DVD-Evenings) in which, Casper, the main character, and his best friend, Frank, do everything they can to convince Casper's girlfriend that "Ferris Bueller's Day Off" is the best movie ever.

*In "Veronica Mars" episode "Nobody Puts Baby in a Corner", Veronica is speaking to her boyfriend who is off sick on the phone and asks, "Are you sick, or am I gonna see you singing 'Twist & Shout' on a parade float?"

*The first part of the "Simpsons" episode "The Boy Who Knew Too Much" is a spoof of the movie. The Simpsons episode "He loves to fly but he D'oh" reference Ferris Bueller with a Ferris Bueller clothing shop

*Three tracks from the New Found Glory album "It's All About the Girls" begin with a line from "Ferris Bueller".
**Shadow - Recorder music followed by "Never had one lesson."
**Scraped Knees - Principal Rooney "Grace ...GRACE!!"
**JB - Ferris "Do you have a kiss for daddy?"

*If you listen carefully you can hear "Danke Schoen" by Wayne Newton many times by three of the main characters

:* Ferris when he sings it in the shower

:* Rooney hums the song when he waits outside the door to Ferris's house

:* Jeanie sings the song while she walks down the stairs after she meets Charlie Sheen's character

* The South Park episode "Super Fun Time" pays homage to the movie and features a parody of Ferris Bueller's "Life goes by pretty fast" speech delivered by Cartman to Butters.

* Another South Park episode, Hell on Earth 2006, has a scene in which a group of bakers make a cake in the shape of Ferrari while Oh Yeah plays in the background, similar to the first Ferrari scene in the movie.

* In the Canadian TV Show, Being Ian, there is an episode called Ian Kelly's Day-Off. It is a direct spoof of the movie.

* In the "Robot Chicken" episode "Kiddie Pool" two parking valets take KITT out for a joy-ride similar to the Ferrari scene.

* The cover to the Marvel Comics mini-series The Loners #2 is an homage to the movie's poster.

* The 33 episode of Psych is called "Murder... Anyone?... Anyone?... Bueller?" in reference to the famous Ben Stein scene in the movie. Also in that episode, Spencer introduces himself as "Abe Froman, Sausage King of Chicago".

* In the film "21", Kevin Spacey is addressing a class at a university. When putting a question to them, he utters the phrase "Anyone, Anyone, Bueller...Anyone".

*In episode 626 (Seth Rogen/Spoon) of Saturday Night Live in the "2007 National Douchebag Championships" skit, Andy Samberg pulls a ferret out of nowhere and refers to it as "Ferret Bueller"

*A VHS copy of the movie can be seen in the video store in the film Clerks.

Gallery

References

* [http://www.dvdfanatic.com/review.php?id=bueller DVD Fanatic review of the film]
*imdb title|0091042|title=Ferris Bueller's Day Off

External links

*imdb title|id=0091042|title=Ferris Bueller's Day Off
* [http://www.fast-rewind.com/ferris.htm Ferris Bueller's Day off at the 80s Movie Gateway]
* [http://www.mutantreviewers.com/rsferris.html Ferris Vs Parker?]
* [http://blogs.amctv.com/dvd_tv/2007/04/ferris_bueller_.html Read about Ben Stein's debut as an actor at AMC's DVD_TV blog]