Siskel & Ebert Review The Films of...John Hughes 

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Yes, Anthony Michael Hall did get type cast as the nerd. But he showed some convincing range in later roles. He played a high school jock in “Johnny Be Good” and was even menacing in “Edward Scissorhands”.

0:13 National Lampoon's Vacation 2:05 Sixteen Candles 5:21 The Breakfast Club 6:52 Weird Science 10:25 Pretty in Pink 14:11 Ferris Bueller's Day Off 17:51 Some Kind of Wonderful 20:46 Planes, Trains, & Automobiles 23:51 She's Having a Baby 27:22 The Great Outdoors 30:37 Uncle Buck 33:31 National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation 36:17 Home Alone 43:21 Career Opportunities 46:46 Only the Lonely 49:21 Dutch 52:32 Curly Sue 55:16 Beethoven 57:47 Home Alone 2: Lost in New York 1:00:43 Dennis the Menace 1:03:22 Baby's Day Out 1:05:14 Miracle on 34th Street 1:07:51 101 Dalmations 1:10:23 Flubber 1:12:32 Home Alone 3

"By the rude and annoying off-screen noises you're emitting I take it you disagree" God, I miss these two!

This series is so great

Hughes had a brief golden age and thankfully, he made every minute count.

I love this series of videos, thank you so much.👏

I don't know anyone my age can think of their teenage years without the films of John Hughes. He really was the voice of an entire generation. Back then, we looked at his movies and said "that's me, that's my school, these are the people I know". So it's a little surprising to hear so many negative reviews from these two, especially Gene Siskel, who couldn't have been more out of touch about what it was like to be a teenager in the 80s.

loving these videos, keep em coming!

The stick hitting the bear was only seen here because the movie clip had the matte opened to make it fit the TV screen. Same reason why in Pee-wee's Big Adventure's 1980s-1990s TV version, you saw the chain being fed into the bottom of the bicycle box. Siskel wouldn't have seen that "mistake" in the theaters, because the top and bottom of the frame were "matted" over to make it a widescreen film.

The way Siskel called Ferris Bueller "unrealistic!?!" Yes it IS! FOR THE ENTIRE MOVIE! It's one of THE MOST PERFECTLY executed comedies of all time! Talk about MISSING THE POINT!?!

I remember these reviews in real time, especially that Ebert was one of the very few critics who gave a positive review for Weird Science, as well as Siskel being one of the few who liked Dutch and Career Opportunities.

I love The Great Outdoors!

They were too caught up in the argument for Roger to call Gene on "I liked The Howling when it came to vampire films."

Oh god that twist ending where Ebert likes Home Alone 3 😂😂😂

Siskel's fixation on the Sheen-Grey scene is typical of a big flaw he had. He would get caught up in some small aspect of a film and blame the rest of the film for not being more of that. He was upset that Taxi Driver abandoned the Travis-Betsy courtship for "all that urban violence stuff"

Ebert softened his stance as years went on about the Hughes films he didn't like

Gene Pupkiss really exposes himself with the characters who he identifies with.

In the original ending, they didn’t make it into Wally World. The whole ending was re-shot months after they originally wrapped. The studio felt the movie HAD to have a happy ending where they make it into Wally World lol

Nice work! They got pretty heated in those earlier ones! Did Siskel & Ebert ever review Paul Verhoven?

Uncle Buck is so much fun!!

John Hughes movies represent the pure, funniest, most innocent essence of the 80s

"Well, your credentials are terrific, but you missed the boat on this one."

Micheal Mann would also be a good one

I see you put the second look at Home Alone here as well. I agreed with them I didn't think it was that good.

For someone who put "Back to the Future" on his ten best in 1985, I think Gene's really unfair to Lea Thompson in his review of "Some Kind of Wonderful." As much as I love Roger invoking Rob Reiner's perennially overlooked "The Sure Thing," also from 1985, this still feels like a betrayal.

Hard to believe how many of these movies they DIDN'T like!?! I can't imagine my childhood in the 80's without John Hughes! My brother was a teenager; and to THIS DAY when we're together, we're still quoting The Breakfast Club, Ferris Bueller, AND YES!, Roger and Gene, Weird Science. "Did you spit in this?!?"

8:41 Another one of 1,000 examples of why I always loved Ebert way more than Siskel. Because he was so much better at enjoying a movie for what it WAS. Siskel was always ultra nitpicky. Essentially, if the movie wasn't Oscar worthy, Siskel would have SOMETHING negative to say about it. And he was always kind of snobby (like, calling a movie a "picture"). Ebert just seemed to have an unquenchable thirst for cinema. He was never too good for any movie. No movie was "beneath" him. If you go to rotten tomatoes and search ANY movie at random (Before 2013), there's a good chance that Ebert had a review about it. I RARELY see reviews on there from Gene. Even the cheapest, cheesiest, low-budget movies---Ebert would at least be willing to give them a chance. Did that mean he LIKED every movie? Of course not. But he was always objective and fair. He KNOWS that Weird Science is not a masterpiece of modern filmmaking. So he doesn't hold it to those standards. He sees it for what it IS (A fun summer guilty pleasure), and evaluates it accordingly. Hell, the dude even gave UHF two hours of his time. He panned it of course, but just the fact that he was willing to sit through it...speaks volumes. I just wish he would've liked Fletch Lives lol.

Goddamn… I don’t think I’ve ever seen someone swing and miss as hard as Siskel repeatedly does here.

Gene also liked The Breakfast Club.

Too bad they didn’t review Class Reunion

Pretty in pink is the best brat pack movie. Besides James Spader wearing a leisure suit to high school I would say it's perfect

16 Candles is the greatest film ever made

Siskel criticizes the ending of Pretty In Pink because Andie doesn’t choose Duckie, but then doesn’t appreciate the ending of Some Kind Of Wonderful? That is SO inconsistent. Plus nothing concerning the character development of Keith in that movie? Ugh - come on.

Shouldn't they make a beeping sound when they reverse their opinions as with Home Alone?

she should not have ended up with that tool in the end. but its not as bad siskel said. he really had it out for Hughes after weird science.

I love how Siskel goes from trashing The Breakfast Club in one review to calling it "funny and sensitive" 10 seconds later in the one immediately following.

The Vacation films weren't John Hughes movies were they?

Some of Stickler's reviews here were off base, but his review of Ferris Bueller is criminal!

Career Opportunities bored me. Looking back at Home Alone I totally agree that a kid would be able to do all of that in order to stop burglars. I did like Sixteen Candles, Pretty in Pink, Some Kind of Wonderful and I loved and I mean loved Planes, Trains and Automobiles, Uncle Buck and The Great Outdoors.

Weird Science is classic, Ferris is an Icon, Vacation rocks, some of the others are "meh"...

“The portrayal of rich WASPs in this movie is racist” is at the top of my list of Siskel & Ebert takes that did not age well.

i always hated the great outdoors. i usually differ from siskel too.

Talk about missing the boat on Christmas Vacation 😂

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The great outdoors is great. Lol they absolutely shit on it

Man did Siskel miss the boat on Hughes. Ebert "maybe you should get your own Word Processor". So clever.

How in the actual f*** can you not like Ferris Buehler's Day Off? 🙄

It's kinda sad how often Siskel made the wrong call. I mean, over and over and over he's on the wrong side of history with these clips.

Has John Hughes ever cast anybody black or asian? Can't see any examples in all of his movies. Incredible.

I'll have to give their Home Alone reviews a thumbs down

I'm shocked that Ebert was so positive about Some Kind Of Wonderful. It's a dreadful, tedious retread of the far superior Pretty In Pink.

The irony of Gene Siskel, of all people, saying that James Spader's character in Pretty in Pink is "racist" against WASPs (white fragility, it seems, is eternal) when I think we've all heard him ranting about WASPs by now lol

christmas vacation is horrible. never liked one minute. why so many people like it is beyond me

The queer coding in John Hughes film is brilliant in so many ways! Alison in Breakfast Club is the absolute outcast who no one understands, I knew so many Duckie's in high school and they were gay, gay, gay and Watts in Some Kind of Wonderful....hello!! This is what 80s queer kids did in that time period, we hid behind "crushes" on our best friends because it was safe and allowed us to seem hetro but not to actually have to be hetro! Thanks JH, you saw us and we thank you!

Sickel is an aweful film critic he has no basic sense let alone any academic knowledge of film making, intstead he wings it and does it very bady!