The recent death of John Hughes stirred thoughts in my head about his best movies. Ferris Beuller's Day Off stands out, but not just based on the quality of the movie. To say that this cast of actors has led a curious life would be a bit of an understatement.
Ferris was released in 1986, but Matthew Broderick received notoriety from an incident that took place the following year. While vacationing in Northern Ireland Broderick was involved in a head-on collision in which two women in the other car were killed. Speculation was that Broderick was driving on the wrong side of the road, though Broderick claims to remember nothing due to the serious injuries that he himself sustained.
Jennifer Grey, who happened to be a passenger in Broderick's car, escaped serious injury. She didn't escape Hollywood. With Ferris, Dirty Dancing, and Wind on her resume, Grey had a very good run for someone who was not a classic beauty. Despite relatively steady work, Grey evidently felt that her career needed a boost in the 1990s. That attempted boost backfired when the initial surgery was botched and a second procedure resulted in a face that barely resembled the Jennifer Grey that was so familiar to Generation X audiences. Whether or not Grey's career would have been any different (I doubt it), we'll never know.
Charlie Sheen. Really, do I need to go into any detail here?
Jeffrey Jones was "arrested for possession of child pornography and employing a 14-year-old boy to pose for pornographic photographs." All of a sudden Charlie Sheen's transgressions don't look so bad.
Ben Stein is one of the more famous intelligent design advocates, and has even invoked the Holocaust as a byproduct of the theory of evolution.
Kristy Swanson was barely in the movie, but is still worth a mention for her appearance in Skating with Celebrities, which allegedly resulted in an affair with her skating partner while his wife was eight months pregnant. It was denied, but the inevitable divorce took place, followed by his marriage to Swanson.
