Book explores the impact of the Brat Pack and John Hughes

Book explores the impact of the Brat Pack and John Hughes
Book explores the impact of the Brat Pack and John Hughes

Book explores the impact of the Brat Pack and John Hughes

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On this special encore edition of the program, “Eight Forty-Eight” revisited segments that speak to Chicago’s connection to film… and film, to Chicago. Take, for instance, the late filmmaker John Hughes. Hughes directed cult classic films, like “The Breakfast Club” and Sixteen Candles” in the very place where he grew up – Chicago’s northern suburbs. Those movies went on to become box office hits, and provide cinematic comfort to the ’80s generation and beyond.  Hughes has been a huge champion of the world’s nerds and outcasts on the silver screen at the movies and beyond. His characters run the gamut of tortured teenaged souls. Even his jocks, preps and pretty girls struggle to find their own identities while dealing with family, friends and lovers. Writer Susannah Gora takes her connection to John Hughes’s films a little more seriously than most of us. In fact she’s written an entire book about it – called “You Couldn’t Ignore Me If You Tried: The Brat Pack, John Hughes and Their Impact on a Generation.” When we spoke with Gora earlier this year, she told us that Hughes’ big break came from an unlikely opportunity.