Sixteen Candles (1984) – John Hughes Revisited

Flashback to the year 1984. John Hughes was coming off the one-two punch of National Lampoon’s Vacation and Mr. Mom. His scripts for both made him a hot property, and he was able to parlay that success into a three movie directing deal at Universal. He kicked it off with a wacky coming of age comedy called Sixteen Candles, which, despite middling box office, became a sensation once it hit VHS, making stars out of Molly Ringwald, Anthony Michael Hall and Michael Schoeffling. In this episode we take a look into the making of one of Hughes’ most beloved hits, and the one that set the stage for even bigger things to come, including the coming of The Brat Pack, and a whole slew of eighties teen movies that remain the gold standard the genre is judged by to this day. We dig into the casting, the iconic soundtrack, potential sequels that never happened, and more!

John Hughes Revisited is written, edited, and narrated by Matthew Hacunda. Chris Bumbray produces, and Berge Garabedian is the executive producer. Check out more episodes below! Do you think Sixteen Candles holds up? Let us know in the comments!