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Ferris Bueller's Day Off (1986)
In John Hughes' cult comedy hit about one high school
student's one last day of cutting class (after faking illness) and
enjoying life on the streets of Chicago:
- the opening scene of malingering rich-kid, trouble-making
student Ferris Bueller (Matthew Broderick) describing (with graphics)
how to fool parents and skip a day of school at Shermer High: ("The
key to faking out the parents is the clammy hands. It's a good
non-specific symptom. I'm a big believer in it. A lot of people
will tell you that a good phony fever is a dead lock, but, uh,
you get a nervous mother, you could wind up in a doctor's office.
That's worse than school. You fake a stomach cramp, and when you're
bent over, moaning and wailing, you lick your palms. It's a little
childish and stupid, but then, so is high school. Life moves pretty
fast. If you don't stop and look around once in awhile, you could
miss it"); he had cleverly set up his Emulator II+ synthesizer
to deliver convincing fart and vomit sound effects
- after showering (with his hair wrapped inside a towel
spiral on his head), Ferris continued his monologue - breaking the
4th Wall and speaking to the camera/audience: ("It's not that
I condone fascism or any 'ism' for that matter. Ism's, in my opinion,
are not good. A person should not believe in an 'ism,' he should
believe in himself. I quote John Lennon: 'I don't believe in Beatles.
I just believe in me.' A good point there. After all, he was the
walrus. I could be the walrus. I'd still have to bum rides off of
people")
- the scene of Economics teacher (Ben Stein) monotonously
calling student names alphabetically from his attendance roll, and
repeatedly asking for "Bueller? Bueller? Bueller?...";
there was a view of Ferris' empty chair, and fellow student Simone
Adamley (Kristy Swanson) gave a confused excuse about how Ferris
was sick: ("Uhm, he's sick. My best friend's sister's boyfriend's
brother's girlfriend heard from this guy who knows this kid who's
going with the girl who saw Ferris pass out at 31 Flavours last night.
I guess it's pretty serious"); she responded to his thank you
with the oft-quoted, cheerful: "No problem whatsoever"
- and shortly later, the teacher's boring lecture to
his half-asleep students on the Hawley-Smoot Tariff Act, when he
would repeatedly pause for them to fill in the blank answer: ("Anyone?
Anyone?"): "In 1930, the Republican-controlled House of
Representatives, in an effort to alleviate the effects of the ---
Anyone? Anyone? --- the Great Depression, passed the --- Anyone?
Anyone? The tariff bill? The Hawley-Smoot Tariff Act? Which, anyone?
Raised or lowered? --- raised tariffs, in an effort to collect more
revenue for the federal government. Did it work? Anyone? Anyone know
the effects? It did not work, and the United States sank deeper into
the Great Depression. Today we have a similar debate over this. Anyone
know what this is? Class? Anyone? Anyone? Anyone seen this before?
The Laffer Curve. Anyone know what this says? It says that at this
point on the revenue curve, you will get exactly the same amount
of revenue as at this point. This is very controversial. Does anyone
know what Vice President Bush called this in 1980? Anyone? Something
D-O-O economics. Voodoo economics"
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Economics Teacher: "Bueller? Bueller? Bueller?"
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Bueller's Empty Chair
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Simone:
"Uhm, he's sick..."
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- the scene in Dean of Students Ed Rooney's (Jeffrey
Jones) office, who explained how dangerous Ferris was: ("I
don't trust this kid any further than I can throw him...What is
so dangerous about a character like Ferris Bueller is he gives
good kids bad ideas...The last thing I need at this point in my
career is 1500 Ferris Bueller disciples running around these halls.
He jeopardizes my ability to effectively govern this student body")
- and then his secretary Grace (Edie McClurg) explained how popular
Ferris was: ("He makes you look like an ass is what he does,
Ed...Oh, well, he's very popular, Ed. The sportos, the motorheads,
geeks, sluts, bloods, wasteoids, dweebies, dickheads - they all
adore him. They think he's a righteous dude")
- the scene of Ed Rooney receiving what he believed
was a crank phone call from Ferris, but it was actually being made
by Ferris' friend Cameron Frye (Alan Ruck), who was impersonating
Ferris' girlfriend Sloane's (Mia Sara) 'father' Mr. Peterson - it
was a fake request to excuse Sloane from school due to her grandmother's
death, so she could join them for a day off in downtown Chicago;
Rooney was fooled into delivering a sarcastic and insulting response:
("Tell you what, dipshit, you don't like my policies you can
just come on down and smooch my big ol' white butt!...Pucker up,
buttercup!") until another phone call was received and announced
by Grace: ("Ferris Bueller's on line two...")
- Ferris' impersonation of Sloane's father, when he
picked girlfriend Sloane up from the front of the school, driving
Cameron's father's 'borrowed' 1961 red Ferrari 250 GT convertible
- while he was suspiciously watched from afar by Rooney standing
on the school steps; Ferris asked Sloane: "Do you have a kiss
for Daddy?" - and engaged in a long, deep and passionate kiss
- to Rooney's consternation
- the scene of Rooney trying to catch Ferris at home
and being confronted by the slobbering family Rotweiler - and then
Ferris' sister Jeanie (Jennifer Grey) who was also skipping class
and had returned home - when she came face-to-face with him in the
kitchen, thinking he was a prowler, she karate-kicked him in the
face three times, and then hid in her bedroom and called police
Police Station Conversation
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Ferris' Sister Jeanie
(Jennifer Grey)
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Boy in Police Station
(Charlie Sheen)
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- after being brought to the police station, Jeanie's
reluctant conversation with drugged-up juvenile delinquent stranger
(Charlie Sheen), about her frustrations with Ferris always getting
away with things: ("All right, you want to know what's wrong?...In
a nutshell, I hate my brother. How's that?...See, I went home to
confirm that the s--thead was ditching school and when I was there,
a guy broke into the house. I called the cops, and they picked
me up for making a phony phone call...Why should he get to ditch
when everybody else has to go?"); when he offered advice:
("Your problem is you...You ought to spend a little more time
dealing with yourself, a little less time worrying about what your
brother does - that's just an opinion"), she snapped back:
("What are you, a psychiatrist?... Why don't you keep your
opinions to yourself?"); his suggestion to speak to someone
(possibly Ferris!) brought a threat: ("If you say Ferris Bueller,
you lose a testicle"), and he replied: "Oh, you know
him?" - she clenched her fist
- the brief sequence of Ferris' cute, sun-glasses wearing
girlfriend Sloane Peterson (with Ferris and Cameron ducking down
to hide), sending a mouthed Hi and Kiss to Ferris' father Mr. Bueller
(Lyman Ward) who had done a double-take - he was seated in the back
seat of a nearby taxi-cab also caught in traffic; when Ferris asked
what his father was doing, Sloane exaggerated: "He's licking
the glass and making obscene gestures with his hands" - before
she broke into hysterics
- Ferris' day off from high school in downtown Chicago
with his friends Cameron Frye and girlfriend Sloane, including Ferris'
unexpected announcement from the top of a Von Steuben Day parade
float ("Ladies and gentlemen, you're such a wonderful crowd,
we'd like to play a little tune for you. It's one of my personal
favorites and I'd like to dedicate it to a young man who doesn't
think he's seen anything good today - Cameron Frye, this one's for
you"); after the lip-synching of Wayne Newton's Danke Shein,
Ferris segued into the playing and lip-synching of The Beatles' Twist
and Shout, inspiring the large crowd to join in dancing
- during the rolling credits, prefaced by Ferris' repeat
statement ("Yep, I said it before and I'll say it again. Life
moves pretty fast. You don't stop and look around once in awhile,
you could miss it"), the sequence of a humiliated Rooney - completely
defeated, dirtied, battered and disheveled - he was picked up and
riding in the back of a school bus full of students; his bespectacled
blonde seat-mate asked: "I bet you never smelled a real school-bus
before," and then reached into her pocket and offered him a
warm, melting red gummy bear:
"A gummy bear? They've been in my pocket. They're real warm and
soft"; he looked up and saw graffiti that read: "ROONEY EATS
IT!!", and a notebook cover with a scrawled: "SAVE FERRIS"
- and the curtain-closing post-credits appearance of
Ferris from his bathroom telling the audience (fourth wall) to leave: "You're
still here? It's over! Go home. Go!"
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Ferris Bueller's Malingering Lesson
Opening Monologue
Dean of Students Ed Rooney with Secretary Grace
Crank Phone Call to Rooney From Ferris' Friend Cameron
"Do you have a kiss for Daddy?"
Jeanie Karate-Kicking Intruder Rooney in the Face
Sloane's Flirtatious Hi and Lip-Kiss Toward Ferris' Father
in a Nearby Taxi Cab
Skipping School in Downtown Chicago (Street Parade Sequence:
Twist and Shout)
Rolling Credits: Rooney on School Bus Offered
Red Gummy Bear
Post Credits: "You're still here? It's over!
Go home. Go!"
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