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<\/figure>\n\n\n\nI\u2019ve just watched Ferris Bueller\u2019s Day Off<\/em> (1986) for the first time. It\u2019s brilliant. <\/p>\n\n\n\n I ignored it at the time of release. I thought I was too old for a teenage rebellion film (as were most of the cast) and besides, I\u2019d seen The 400 Blows<\/em> (1959). What a snob. What\u2019s more, I\u2019d heard it was a comic celebration of capitalist excess, and my friends were angry journalists and alternative comedians. To us, Thatcher\/Reagan neo-liberalism was no laughing matter, though that didn\u2019t stop us trying. As Ben Elton used to say, \u2018Not very funny, but I thought it needed saying.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n Probably the first thing the average British teenager of the day would have noticed was the extraordinary selection of consumer durables 17-year-old Ferris (played by Matthew Broderick, then 24) has in the bedroom where he fakes illness to avoid school. But he wants more. He doesn\u2019t want his computer, and his baseball gear, and his surround sound stereo with graphic equaliser, and his sampling keyboard, and his guitar and all the rest of it: he wants a car. Of his own. He just has to get Mom, a slightly oedipal real estate agent, to buy him one. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Weirdly, Ferris is depicted as underprivileged. He measures himself against his depressed, hypochondriac schoolmate Cameron (Alan Ruck, then 29), who lives in an architect-designed house with a Dad who has a priceless Ferrari and a wife (Cameron\u2019s Mom) whom he hates. Ferris, meanwhile, has a gorgeous 17-year-old girlfriend, named Sloane (Mia Sara, then only 18, model daughter of a Brooklyn Italian photographer). She is up for mischief, like Ferris, but unlike Cameron. <\/p>\n\n\n\n John Hughes, who wrote the film in a week to beat an impending strike by the Screenwriters\u2019 Guild, of which he was a member, had been a gag-machine on National Lampoon magazine. He was also a Reagan Republican and a proud Chicagoan. The film is largely shot outside (just like Truffaut\u2019s film) and celebrates the city\u2019s relentless commercial energy. Chicago was built on meat, and the adulteration of food. See Upton Sinclair for details. The teenagers take themselves to a snooty \u2018French\u2019 restaurant, with Ferris posing as the City\u2019s \u2018Sausage King\u2019, where they eat pancreas. Hughes, who directed and shot a film lasting 165 rambling minutes, taking funny ideas from everybody, eventually deleted the scene in the edit. But he left in a one-line reference to it in Ferris\u2019s closing round-up. That\u2019s screenwriting. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The Hollywood establishment and the right-wing press loved the film, because it celebrated consumption (the economic practice, not the disease, although Ferris helpfully explains how he fakes clammy hands and palour). Liberals hated it, for the same reason (\u2018A nauseating distillation of the slack, greedy side of Reaganism,\u2019 wrote David Denby of New York<\/em> magazine\u2019). <\/p>\n\n\n\n It\u2019s tremendous, and more intelligent than it knows. I don\u2019t care what Hughes and his buddies, people like P.J. O\u2019Rourke, professed to think about political economy. They knew their business: making people laugh. Ferris Bueller\u2019s Day Off<\/em> is all about the pleasure principle. The adults in the picture (or menacingly off-screen, like Cameron\u2019s Dad) know the price of everything: work, duty, school, obedience and nominal adherence to a grisly authoritarian parody of Christianity. The teenage trio (plus Jennifer Grey, as Ferris\u2019s sister, who paired up with Broderick during the filming) know the value of everything: at least to them, on this one, unexpected jour de f\u00eate<\/em>. (There\u2019s a parade, celebrating Chicago\u2019s German sausage-eating roots, which Ferris takes over with a wild rendition of \u2018Twist and Shout\u2019: accompanied by a brass band, to Paul McCartney\u2019s horror. Hughes apologised, sort of. He was a fan: all the music is tremendous.) <\/p>\n\n\n\n The boys \u2013 and girls \u2013 just wanna have fun. Even a trip to the art gallery (Hopper! Picasso! Seurat! Matisse! The horror!) is fun: Chagall\u2019s America Windows<\/em> \u2013 made for the Bicentennial, to celebrate religious freedom, is the setting for the big love scene between Ferris and Sloane. He wants to marry her, but they are \u2018So Young\u2019, in the words of the quintessential teen lament. (The Students, 1961.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n As a director, Hughes is as inventive as any European auteur<\/em>: the fourth wall is gleefully smashed. But he was also steeped in movie economics (more a matter of Eastern European superstition than MBA calculation). So he made a happy film in which everybody learns something: even Ferris\u2019s Dean of Students, the controlling, obsessive Ed Rooney (Jeffrey Jones, then 40, now more prominent on the US\u2019s sex offender database than he is on IMDB) seems to benefit from being humilated. <\/p>\n\n\n\n It\u2019s an outrageous wish-fulfilment fantasy, and absolutely irresistible. To me \u2013 and you don\u2019t have to believe me \u2013 Ferris is a kind of Christ figure. Not ‘the only Christ corporate American deserves’ (to adapt Albert Camus) but perhaps the Christ it needs. As St Paul wrote to his friend Timothy: \u201cThe love of money is the root of all evil.\u201d The love, not the money: money is useful. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Ferris Bueller\u2019s Day Off<\/em> is showing on Sunday (1\/8) at 14:50 and also on Friday at 18:50, on Great Movies, which used to be the UK television distribution channel for Sony Pictures but now seems to belong to an investment vehicle called Narrative Capital Partners, fronted by a sometime novelist and screenwriter, which \u2018provides financing solutions across the entire life cycle and global distribution of intellectual property within the entertainment, media, and information sectors. Our specialized \u201cdelayed gratification\u201d investment thesis combines a long-term horizon for our industry partners with an owner\u2019s mentality for our investors.\u2019 Caveat emptor<\/em>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n On Tuesday (3\/8) at 01:25, Film4 has A Bigger Splash<\/em> (2015). At 22:00, BBC4 has Naples ’44: A Wartime Diary<\/em> (2016). <\/p>\n\n\n\n On Wednesday (4\/8) at 02:10, Film4 has Ida<\/em> (2013). At 15:00, Film4 has Mary and the Witch’s Flower<\/em> (2017).<\/p>\n\n\n\n On Thursday (5\/8) at 01:15, Film4 has Rams<\/em> (2015).<\/p>\n\n\n\n On Sunday (1\/8), at 19:10, Talking Pictures has Genevieve<\/em> (1953). At 22:00, Talking Pictures has Jigsaw<\/em> (1961).<\/p>\n\n\n\n On Monday (2\/8) at 02:55, Sky Arts has Lambert & Stamp<\/em> (2014). <\/p>\n\n\n\n Tomorrow (31\/7) at 22:50, BBC4 has The Eagle Huntress<\/em> (2016). At 22:55, 5 Star has About a Boy<\/em> (2002) (Also Wednesday 22:55). <\/p>\n\n\n\n On Monday (2\/8) at 21:00, Paramount has We Were Soldiers<\/em> (2002).<\/p>\n\n\n\n On Tuesday (3\/8) at 22:00, Sky Arts has Studio 54: The Documentary<\/em> (2018).<\/p>\n\n\n\n On Saturday (31\/7) at 14:35, ITV4 has Dirty Rotten Scoundrels<\/em> (1988). At 21:00, Sky Arts has The Rolling Stones Rock and Roll Circus<\/em> (1968). (Also on Friday at 23:30.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n On Sunday (1\/8) at 12:10, Talking Pictures has Lease of Life<\/em> (1954). At 16:50, Paramount has Broken Arrow<\/em> (1950). At 18:50, Paramount has Rooster Cogburn<\/em> (1975).<\/p>\n\n\n\n On Monday (2\/8) at 01:25, Film4 has Red Monarch<\/em> (1983).<\/p>\n\n\n\n On Wednesday (4\/8) at 16:25, Talking Pictures has The Yellow Balloon<\/em> (1953).<\/p>\n\n\n\n Tomorrow (31\/7) at 16:00, Towed in a Hole<\/em> (1932). At 16:25, Block-Heads<\/em> (1938). At 17:35, The Finishing Touch<\/em> (1929). <\/p>\n\n\n\n On Sunday (1\/8) at 16:00, A Chump at Oxford<\/em> (1940). At 17:15, The Laurel-Hardy Murder Case<\/em> (1930) .<\/p>\n\n\n\n On Tuesday (3\/8) at 18:40, Pack Up Your Troubles<\/em> (1932).<\/p>\n\n\n\n On Thursday (5\/8) at 18:30, Sons of the Desert<\/em> (1933).<\/p>\n\n\n\n No Laurel and Hardy in the Saturday Morning Pictures slot, but not to worry as otherwise this is the best selection of their films that Talking Pictures have come up with for their celebration of 100 years of the team. In Towed in the Hole<\/em> (1932) they play fish salesmen. It is one of their best shorts and showing at 16:00 on Saturday. It is followed by Block-Heads<\/em> (1938) at 16:25. Soldier Stan is discovered loyally still guarding his trench 20 years after The Great War. Reunited with Ollie, he says \u2018You remember how dumb I used to be? … Well, I’m better now\u2019. Not very likely. This is one of their best features. Then The Finishing Touch<\/em> (1929) at 17:35. They are house builders in this, one of their best silent shorts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n On Sunday, Teatime with Laurel and Hardy starts with A Chump at Oxford<\/em> (1940) at 16:00. While not one of their top classics, there is still plenty to enjoy, and this was the last of their really good films. Despite the title, this was filmed in Hollywood. A young Peter Cushing plays a fellow student. The Laurel-Hardy Murder Case<\/em> (1930) follows at 17:15. Again, not one of their top classics, but they are superb in it, and there is plenty to enjoy. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Pack Up Your Troubles<\/em> (1932) is repeated on Tuesday at 18:40. Sons of the Desert<\/em> (1933) is repeated on Thursday at 18:30. This is one of their best features and Laurel and Hardy fan organisations throughout the world have adopted its name. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Thanks for joining our filmcheltenham.online newsletter. It\u2019s like the old CFS newsletter but better. Not yet, perhaps, because I haven\u2019t had time to do it properly, but it will be. FILM OF THE WEEK I\u2019ve just watched Ferris Bueller\u2019s Day Off (1986) for the first time. It\u2019s brilliant. I ignored it at the time of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6934,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6932","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-freeview-highlights"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmcheltenham.online\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6932","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmcheltenham.online\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmcheltenham.online\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmcheltenham.online\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmcheltenham.online\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6932"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/filmcheltenham.online\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6932\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6951,"href":"https:\/\/filmcheltenham.online\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6932\/revisions\/6951"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmcheltenham.online\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6934"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmcheltenham.online\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6932"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmcheltenham.online\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6932"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmcheltenham.online\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6932"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}World Cinema<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n
Stephen Ilott\u2019s picks<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n
Other<\/strong> modern films of interest<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
Oldies<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n
Laurel and Hardy on Talking Pictures by Stephen Ilott<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n