The plot was simply: follows high school senior Ferris Bueller (Matthew Broderick), who skips school and spends the day in downtown Chicago along with his girlfriend Sloane Peterson (Mia Sara) and best friend Cameron Frye (Alan Ruck). He creatively avoids his school's dean of students Edward Rooney (Jeffrey Jones), his resentful sister Jeannie (Jennifer Grey), and his parents. During the film, Bueller regularly breaks the fourth wall by speaking directly to the camera to explain to the audience his thoughts and techniques, and practically this was a key element on the film.
Hughes wrote the screenplay in less than a week and shot the film, on a minimun budget of $5.8 million, over three months in 1985. Featuring many famous Chicago landmarks including the then Sears Tower and the Art Institute of Chicago, the film was Hughes' love letter to the city: "I really wanted to capture as much of Chicago as I could. Not just in the architecture and landscape, but the spirit." Released by Paramount Pictures, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off became one of the top-grossing films of the year and was enthusiastically received by critics and audiences alike.
This film is perhaps the finest entry in director John Hughes' catalog of beloved '80s teen movies, which also features "The Breakfast Club," "Sixteen Candles" and "Pretty in Pink." Yet, there was a moment when it didn't seem like Ferris Bueller, which has stood the test of time — even making it onto today — would ascend to such heights.
Hughes cleaned things up before audiences saw the finished product in 1986 and have no doubt seen many times since. The idea of it being serious, though, was not lost in the end. Comedy and drama are often two sides of the same coin and enjoy a symbiotic relationship — laughter can come from pain. Cameron, who wrestles with depression in the beginning of the movie, addresses his poor relationship with his father throughout the film, eventually deciding to confront him at the end after he destroys his dad’s prized Ferrari. As time has gone on, some people online have suggested the movie is about mental health, prompting fans to reexamine what the film means. Broderick and Ruck, though, don’t necessarily believe their view of it has transformed over time.
"No, I still think of it the same as — I don’t think it has changed, really," Broderick says. "Not for me, either, I don’t think," Ruck says. "The thing that John was really, really good at was he gave these characters dignity. Teen comedies, so often it’s just like they're sex-crazed doofuses, and he didn't do that. He was like, No, they're real people, and they've got real fears and real desires. And he honored all that, and we knew that when we were making it.
Hughes' movies are funny, but they almost always weaved comedy in with drama and earnestness, a characteristic that is vital in the genre and apparent in "Ferris Bueller’s Day Off." Like all good comedies, the underpinnings are serious," Broderick says. "You could say it's about mental health or whatever, but he (Cameron) really is depressed at the beginning and has a very tough relationship with his father." In addition to directing the movie, Hughes, who died in 2009, wrote it, which gave him an upper hand in sharing his vision.
Ferris Bueller sits in that rarefied air where everyone (except his sister and Mr. Rooney) seems to like him. A teenager full of bravado was nothing new on TV or in movies, but the brashness of the execution of his plans was. You could make the argument that he set a blueprint for other characters who came later. Zack Morris from “Saved by the Bell” certainly comes to mind — he’s another schemer with a pretty girlfriend, takes advantage of his awkward best friend, is always dueling with his principal and, perhaps most noticeably, he breaks the fourth wall. Ferris may have indeed been an inspiration. Broderick says.
"I think there were a number of things that came after that that kind of used that same format," says Ruck, who also mentions the short-lived TV series "Parker Lewis Can't Lose."
Another “Ferris Bueller” movie, though? Broderick has previously said he and Hughes shot down the idea of doing a sequel, and maybe that was for the best. The day off would be hard to replicate, but it is definitely remembered, appreciated and longed for by moviegoers who identify with Ferris’ quest to have fun.
Forty years later, as multiple generations have grown up watching it, the question isn't What kind of a lasting impact did it have? The question is What kind of lasting impact didn’t it have?
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