"Life moves pretty fast. You don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it."

Film director and writer John Hughes has died at the young age of 59. He wrote and/or directed a slew of quintessentially American films in the 1980s and 90s, including The Breakfast Club, Pretty In Pink, Some Kind Of Wonderful, Planes, Trains and Automobiles, Home Alone, Weird Science, Uncle Buck, and a whole lot more besides.

For me, the film that tops the lot is, of course, Ferris Bueller's Day Off, from which this post's title is a quote. Is there a better film about teen friendship? Is there a better film about about getting out of somewhere you don't want to be and doing something less boring instead? Is there a better film depiction of an inept headmaster than Mr Rooney? (And, brilliant though Election is, if Matthew Broderick lives to be 150, will he ever top Bueller?)

More than twenty years later, Bueller et al would still feature in any list of favourite film comedies I might ever compile. In recognition of that, and the mightily impressive body of work Hughes leaves behind, let me point you to a little musical tribute: The Dream Academy's take on "Please, Please, Please, Let Me Get What I Want". Originally by The Smiths, the Academy's instrumental version was used to great effect in Ferris Bueller's Day Off. Go and have a listen, and remember some great films.