In light of the unfortunate death of filmmaker John Hughes, Encore has updated their Sunday night lineup to pay tribute to the man who left a huge mark on the film industry. Sunday, August 9th, Encore will air two of Hughes’ classic teen-centered films.
8:00 p.m. – Sixteen Candles (1984) - Fifteen-year-old Samantha (Molly Ringwald) has a crush on the most popular boy in school (Michael Schoeffling), but the geekiest boy in school (Anthony Michael Hall) has a crush on her. Her sister's getting married, and with all the excitement the rest of her family forgets her birthday. Costarring John Cusack, Joan Cusack and Jami Gertz.9:35 p.m. – Weird Science (1985) – Two nerds (Anthony Michael Hall and Ilan Mitchell-Smith) create a beautiful woman (Kelly LeBrock) from a powerful computer and they go on a brief, “wild” ride with her. Costarring Bill Paxton and Robert Downey Jr.
It still amazes me to look at Hughes’ work and try to count not only the number of films of his that I’ve seen but how many times I’ve seen them. TV has definitely helped bring films like Sixteen Candles, Weird Science, The Breakfast Club and Ferris Bueller’s Day Off to the attention of younger generations. As there will always be teenagers who feel ignored (Sixteen Candles), wish they had the perfect woman (Weird Science), feel misunderstood (The Breakfast Club), or daydream about taking a day off from school, stealing their best friend’s dad’s car and cruising around the city, posing as a sausage king and singing in parades (Ferris Bueller), Hughes’ movies will surely always be relevant. It’s nice to see Encore making some scheduling changes to squeeze a couple of Hughes’ movies onto their Sunday night lineup.
