Ferris Bueller Day Off Essay

Bueller? Bueller?

In the idealistic world of many teenagers, the perfect day includes not having to go to school and hanging out with their friends. They’d go for a drive, and do anything they could, because why not? This dream is brought to life in the film Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, a product of John Hughes, mastermind behind all of our favorite 1980s teen movies. It captivates the viewer and makes us all feel like calling in sick to school or work, just to have a day like Ferris’. Ferris Bueller’s Day Off is the best movie ever because of its screenplay, casting, cinematography, audience reception, and sound.

An original script is the mark of a truly great movie. Ferris’s day starts out with him faking sick and his parents believing him. He sets up “traps” in his room to make any visitors believe that he is in fact ill. Once the news of his illness spreads around the school,

the entire city seems to pick up the slogan “Save Ferris.” Since Ferris does not have a car, he calls his best friend to come pick him up. Cameron, who believes he is very ill, eventually comes to Ferris’ aid.
The next step in Ferris’ plan is to pick up his girlfriend, Sloane Peterson, by posing as her father picking her up to grieve her “grandmother’s death”. However, they will need a car that isn’t as junky as Cameron’s, leaving Ferris to convince Cameron to take out his father’s prized Ferrari. Ferris, right under the nose of the suspecting Principal Ed Rooney, picks up his girlfriend in the Ferrari and the kids set out on Chicago. They visit the Sears Tower, Art Institute of Chicago, and a Cubs game, with hijinks along the way to evade getting caught. They are almost spotted by Ferris’ father when they are on their way out of a fancy French restaurant, Chez Quis. Ferris even performs in the German-American Parade, right under the nose of his father’s office building.
Other films have featured what all teens dream of- not going to school- however few have portrayed it like Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. Its originality comes from the fact that the movie showed that a day off didn’t have to be spent hotboxing or drunk- it instead projected a day taking in the cultural surroundings of the kids’ home city (Banks). A big appeal that makes Ferris so applicable to all ages is that “Ferris Bueller's Day Off represents what every teenager wants to do, and what every adult wishes they could do - take a day off and go and do things they have never dreamed of before; or, at least, never dreamed about out loud...” (Ulmer).
Just as important to a movie’s success as the screenplay are the actors who carry on the plot.

Matthew Broderick stars in Ferris, and has starred in movies such as The Lion King, Tower Heist, Godzilla, and Glory (IMDb, and “Broderick was nominated for a Golden Globe for Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Comedy/Musical in 1987 for Ferris” (IMDb). Jeffrey Jones, who plays Principal Ed Rooney, “was nominated for a Screen Actors Guild award and a Golden Globe award for” Deadwood and Amadeus, respectively (IMDb). For the entirety of the film, you can tell that Matthew Broderick, Alan Ruck, who plays Cameron Frye, and Mia Sara, better known as Sloane Peterson, are not just faking a friendship- the group were actually friends off set too. Broderick and Ruck had previously worked together on Broadway in the musical “Biloxi Blues” (Bio.com). The on-screen chemistry between Ferris’ parents wasn’t just acting either- they were engaged at the time of the movie and later married. Ferris and his on-screen sister were also engaged at the time, but separated before getting married

(Shah).
While Ferris doesn’t utilize many special effects or camera angles, it does feature a As Ferris runs around his hometown, we assume that the film was all filmed right there. This is not the case- while most of Ferris was filmed in Chicago, the Bueller family home is actually located in Long Beach, California. The cast stayed in the home with its owners while they filmed there, and film crews had to alter the house’s surroundings to make it look more like Chicago (Murphy). The Frye’s home in Chicago where the iconic car-through-a-window scene happened recently sold for $1.02 million dollars, and was built by an apprentice of Mies van der Rohe (Breeze). With the film being shot all over a city, it makes the plot seem more believable. The modernist Frye home with a showroom for a car accurately portrays how Cameron feels. He wasn’t able to run around as a kid and he is often seen as a downer in the movie; this is symbolically shown by how “perfect” his house is, when the people inside really aren’t.
Ferris Bueller’s Day Off has not yet fallen off of the radar- people still watch and love it today (especially since it is available instantly on Netflix). It is highly ranked by viewers today:
• 5/5 by Common Sense Media (Common Sense Media).
• 7.9/10 by IMDb (IMDb).
• 60% by Metacritic (Metacritic).
• 80% by Rotten Tomatoes (Rotten Tomatoes).
Ferris grossed $65,008,271 over 103 days when it premiered in 1986 (The Numbers), and over the film’s lifetime, it has grossed $70,136,369 (Box Office Mojo). The film is still wildly popular today. An auction on eBay is live selling tickets to 18 different games in the seats that Ferris and his friends sat in in the movie (Miniel). Also, a show titled “Dear John Hughes” took inspiration from Ferris and other films from the same mastermind to make a musical show (Hamedy). TV shows like The Goldbergs have parodied it, and even included Charlie Sheen in Jeanie’s police office scene (Morabito). A 2012 Super Bowl commercial featuring Matthew Broderick himself parodied the movie, this time with him evading work and touring LA in a Honda CR-V (Roberts).
Admit it- you can’t hear “chick-chickachicaaa” without thinking of Ferris barely escaping being caught. The easily recognizable songs from the movie include: “Bad, Beat City, The Edge of Forever, I’m Afraid, Jeannie, Love Missle f1-11, March of the Swivelheads, Oh Yeah, Please Please Please Let Me Get What I Want, Radio People, Star Wars (Main Title), Taking the Day Off, WLS Jingle, Go Down Moses, Man on the Moon, and Minuet from String Quartet in E Major” (IMDb).
The greatness of a movie is derived from its screenplay, cast, cinematography, audience reception, and sound. With the combination of an exciting and original plot, all-star cast that connects on and off screen, excellent settings, and a memorable soundtrack, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off is indeed the greatest movie ever.