Tag Archives: John Hughes

SIXTEEN CANDLES tonight at Movies in the Park

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The 2018 season of Movies in the Park continues with SIXTEEN CANDLES.  The 1984 film starts tonight at sundown at the First Security Amphitheatre in Riverfront Park.

In this seminal movie from John Hughes, a girl’s “sweet” sixteenth birthday becomes anything but special, as she suffers from every embarrassment possible. The film stars Molly Ringwald, Anthony Michael Hall, Michael Schoeffling, Haviland Morris, Gedde Watanabe, Paul Dooley, Carlin Glynn, Edward Andrews, Billie Bird, Carole Cook, Max Showalter, and John Cusack.

Little Rock’s Movies in the Park is sponsored by the Little Rock Convention and Visitors Bureau and the City of Little Rock.  Movies are shown every Wednesday during the season and begin at sundown.

Families, picnics and pets are invited to the park to enjoy movies under the stars, no glass containers please. A parent or adult guardian must accompany all children and youth under the age of 18 and an ID is required. The amphitheater will open an hour before film showings and movies will start at sundown each week. For more information please visit http://moviesintheparklr.net.

Breakfast with Henry Moore

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HenryMooreThe John Hughes classic The Breakfast Club takes place on March 24, 1984, a Saturday.  Inside the library of the fictional school is a replica of Henry Moore’s Large Standing Figure: Knife Edge.

Earlier this week, the Little Rock City Board of Directors voted to accept the sculpture from the Metrocentre Improvement District in exchange for land.  The sculpture (which arrived in Little Rock in 1978) will be moved eventually to MacArthur Park to be placed at the entrance of the Arkansas Arts Center once renovations are complete in 2022.

MacArthur Park will mark the third location for the sculpture in Little Rock.  From 1978 to 1999, it stood at the intersection of Main and Capitol Streets as part of the Metrocentre Mall, a pedestrian development.  In anticipation of the last remaining portions of that project were reopened to vehicular traffic, it was moved to Capitol and Louisiana.

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It was not, contrary to what some on the internet may claim, loaned out for the filming of the movie.  The one in The Breakfast Club is either another striking of the sculpture or, more likely, a Papier–mâché (or some other material) reproduction.

Back to School Cinema: THE BREAKFAST CLUB

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breakfast-club-movie-poster1The Back to School Cinema week ends with what may be the only school film to be set on a Saturday, 1985’s The Breakfast Club.  Written and directed by John Hughes, this Chicago-area high school film both exploits and explodes high school stereotypes.

As the nerd, the jock, the stoner, the loner and the princess, five tackle teen issues during detention in an upscale high school library.  It has to be upscale – it has a Henry Moore sculpture in it.  (It is a copy of Standing Figure Knife Edge which sits in downtown Little Rock.)

It seems like pretty much every Hollywood actor under the age of 25 was considered for one of the five roles in this movie. The lucky five – Judd Nelson, Emilio Estevez, Molly Ringwald, Anthony Michael Hall and Ally Sheedy – helped define their generation of actors. Their work together in this movie and others helped create the brand of the Brat Pack.

Borrowing a concept nearly as old as time, Hughes pits five unlikely strangers against each other in a confined space. While united against Paul Gleason’s sadistic principal, they also grapple with ever-shifting alliances and antagonists.  It is no surprise that each student discovers the others are equally unhappy and uncertain, but that doesn’t lessen the charm and emotional tug of the movie.

 

Bueller? Bueller? Bueller? tonight at Ron Robinson Theater

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ferrisbFerris Bueller may have taken the day off, but his shenanigans are on the screen tonight at the Ron Robinson Theater.

Matthew Broderick, Alan Ruck and Mia Sara star in this ultimate movie about skipping school.  Jeffery Jones plays Broderick’s nemesis Dean Edward Rooney with Jennifer Grey playing his other nemesis, Jeanie Bueller. Cindy Pickett and Lyman Ward (who fell in love while filming the movie and are now married) play the Bueller parents while Edie McClurg, Charlie Sheen, Virginia Capers and Kristie Swanson make cameos.  Former Nixon speechwriter Ben Stein steals his scenes as the droning social studies teacher discussing the Laffer Curve and Voodoo Economics.

The sights and sounds of Chicago are showcased in this John Hughes masterpiece from 1986.

The movie starts at 7pm tonight. Admission is $5. Concessions are available for purchase as well.