Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, 1986.
Directed by John Hughes.
Starring Matthew Broderick, Mia Sara, Alan Ruck, and Jeffrey Jones.
SYNOPSIS:
It’s certainly arguable whether this classic film needed a 4K Ultra HD release, considering the multiple Blu-rays floating around out there, but fans will want to scoop this one up just for the commentary track by director John Hughes that hasn’t been on a disc since 1999. You’ll find the rest of the legacy bonus features here too, along with a code for a digital copy.
Yes, I was a high school student during the 80s. No, I never played hooky from school and had a daylong adventure like the one in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. My fake illnesses usually involved having the house to myself, watching crappy daytime TV, and maybe ordering a pizza for lunch. Livin’ large!
But, yes, many of us looked up to Matthew Broderick’s titular character back then as not only a paragon of rebellion against authority but also the kind of guy who would have your back and help you through a tough time. After all, yeah, this is a movie full of funny moments and endlessly quotable lines of dialogue that live on as GIFs all over the Internet, but it’s also one with its heart on its sleeve the whole time.
In case you’re one of the few who haven’t seen it, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off tells the story of one day in the life of a kid who just seemed to have it all together back in high school. (We all knew kids like that, and I’m sure they still exist.) Ferris decides to pretend he’s sick and arranges a trip into Chicago with his girlfriend Sloane (Mia Sara) and his best buddy Cameron (Alan Ruck), who really is sick but ends up getting talked into going along for the ride.
And that ride happens to be Cameron’s father’s prized 1961 Ferrari 250 GT California Spyder, which Ferris insists they need to travel to Chicago in. Cameron impresses on Ferris what will happen if his easily-agitated father notices so much as a scratch on it, but Ferris promises nothing will happen to it, and he’ll even roll back the miles on the odometer to completely get rid of the evidence.
So off the trio goes to Chicago, where they take in a Cubs game, check out a museum, have lunch in a swanky restaurant where Ferris tricks the maitre d’ into letting them have a table. Meanwhile, their high school principal, Ed Rooney (Jeffrey Jones), is determined to prove that Ferris is up to his old tricks again and sets out to find evidence of the teen’s misdeeds. (Spoiler alert: the teens win, as they always do, especially in a John Hughes film).
But defeating Rooney isn’t the end of the adventure, as they end up back at Cameron’s house and Ferris’s trick to get rid of the miles on the odometer doesn’t work. The final act is a great example of a movie where the main character doesn’t really change much, but they inspire a break-through in another character close to them.
The film looks great on 4K Ultra HD, of course, and Paramount included a code for a digital copy too, but the real reason many fans may want to upgrade to this disc is the inclusion of a John Hughes commentary track that was on the 1999 DVD but disappeared after that.
Considering the sad reality that we’ll never get another track with the great director, the reappearance of this bonus feature is a huge win for fans. It’s a great track full of interesting insights from Hughes, and kudos to Paramount for pulling it out of the vault. (It’s not clear why it wasn’t included before, since commentaries take up very little space on a disc, but speculation I read said that Hughes asked the studio to get ride of it at one point for reasons unknown.)
The rest of the extras have been ported over from previous editions. They include:
• Getting the Class Together: The Cast of Ferris Bueller’s Day Off (27.75 minutes): This is a look at the casting process for the film, which was a key part of pre-production since Hughes needed three leads who would work together well.
• The Making of Ferris Bueller’s Day Off (15.5 minutes): This is a pretty standard old school making-of, but it has some interesting onset footage.
• Who is Ferris Bueller? (9 minutes): This is a look at what made the main character tick and how Broderick brought him to life.
• The World According to Ben Stein (11 minutes): “Bueller, Bueller?” Stein, who plays a clueless high school teacher, had his big breakthrough with this film, and he looks back on it and how it impacted his career.
• Vintage Ferris Bueller: The Lost Tapes (10.25 minutes): The main cast members look back on their experiences making the film, accompanied by some light-hearted behind-the-scenes footage.
A photo gallery rounds out the platter.
Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★ ★ ★
Brad Cook
Originally published August 2, 2023. Updated April 22, 2024.
