The Oscars presents Ferris Bueller’s Day Off screening at LACMA

“Life moves pretty fast; if you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it!” – Ferris Bueller

When I learned about the screening of the 1986 buoyant and life-affirming comedy Ferris Bueller’s Day Off at LACMA‘s Bing Theater, I jumped at the chance to attend. This was the classic film to share with my kids about growing up in the ’80s. The film was presented by Academy of Arts and Sciences on October 18th as one of their Oscar’s events. If you’re a Gen-X’er and you haven’t seen it, you have missed the boat. This was THE classic teen film of the ’80s that was directed, written and produced by a notable director John Hughes.

I was 17 when FBDO came out and it was my fave teen flick. In fact, I even wrote to the cast when it came out, and I was so stoked when I received a bunch of memorabilia from the film. I kept some of the memorabilia in my scrapbook (see pictures below). Now my boys ages 5, 9 and 12 have seen it and they loved it. It was memorable to share this movie with them and watch their reactions. They particularly liked when Ferris interacted with the audience from the big screen.

Received this memorabilia in 1986

My boys (12, 9 and 6 years old), the new generation. It was nice to see their reaction at the movie.

Reactions from the Audience

James from Simi Valley excited to show the movie FBDO to his boys.

James Isidro from Simi Valley brought his three boys and said, “I wanna show them a very funny movie that they don’t make it anymore. There’s no movies like this that come out so I think they’ll really enjoy it.” Another set of family, Martha and Cornelio from Los Angeles brought their two daughters, “We’re here on a family outing. FBDO is fun, we want to show the movie to our kids that we grew up with. It is the age of innocence.”

Memorable Quotes

The film was so influential in the ’80s that even first lady Barbara Bush mentioned the quote of Ferris Bueller in her 1990 commencement address at Wellesley College: “Find the joy in life, because as Ferris Bueller said on his day off, ‘Life moves pretty fast; if you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it!’ There were so many classic lines: “They think he’s a righteous dude,” “Oh, Ed, you sounded like Dirty Harry just then,” “The question isn’t what are we going to do. The question is what aren’t we going to do.”

What makes FBDO special to me?

The film starred Matthew Broderick, Mia Sara and Alan Ruck. FBDO was a Matthew Broderick career definer. Broderick plays Ferris Bueller who seems to have it all…charm, savvy, a gorgeous girlfriend by the name of Sloane Peterson (Mia Sara) and his best buddy Cameron (Alan Douglas Ruck) who’s friendship endured since the fifth grade. Other characters include Jeffrey Jones, the principal (Ed Rooney) and hilariously surly sister Jeanie Bueller (Jennifer Grey).

“This is one of my favorite movies from the ’80s so I was excited when I saw it playing.” -Simone

FBDO is a timeless classic movie that is great for every generation and continues to charm new fans every year. It’s about a senior in high school with the name of Ferris played hooky for a day to seek some adventure with his girlfriend and his best friend in the city of Chicago. The highlight of his adventure is during the Chicago parade where he sang Twist and Shout by The Beatles complete with dance numbers.
I caught up with some of the audience like Simone Closson, a make-up artist from Los Angeles who was there with her girl friends mentioned she was there to recapture her youth, “This is one of my favorite movies from the ’80s so I was excited when I saw it playing.”  Galen also from LA told me, “I wanted to see Ferris Bueller just because I love the movie. It’s fun. I love Matthew Broderick. I’ve seen a lot of times.”

Original photo I received in 1986