Review for Ferris Bueller`s Day Off

Introduction

It’s time for another quickie double-dip review, as next on my list of films that I absolutely, must have in high definition is Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. This is also one of those releases where you’ll have to hold onto the DVD, as the John Hughes audio commentary doesn’t for some daft reason make it to the Blu-ray, although there are plenty of extras (mostly from the 20th anniversary DVD release). More daftness ensued when I realised that it was cheaper to get the US release from 5000 miles away, than it was from my local Amazon distribution centre. The extra carbon that was burnt flying the thing here is probably offset by the whopping great holes that get cut into US packaging to save on plastic.


It’s his final year of High School and with graduation, college beckons as does the probability of losing touch with his friends, so Ferris Bueller decides one shiny spring Chicago day to ditch school, and with his best friend Cameron Frye and girlfriend Sloane Peterson go wild in the big city. Naturally Ferris doesn’t want his school record affected, so it’s time to fake a little illness, and use his technical know-how to bamboozle the Dean of Students Ed Rooney. But when his sister Jeanie sees their parents twisted around her brother’s finger yet again, she vows to expose her brother once and for all. Meanwhile Rooney is also tired of being played for a fool by Ferris, and decides to personally catch the miscreant in the act and take him down a peg or two. Ferris is determined to show Sloane and the hypochondriac Cameron a good time, and to do that he needs a decent set of wheels, a 1961 Ferrari 250 GT California, Cameron’s dad’s 1961 Ferrari 250 GT California to be precise.

Picture

Ferris Bueller’s Day Off gets a 2.35:1 widescreen 1080p transfer. It looks pretty good for an eighties movie, clear, sharp and stable, with a fine layer of grain, and with great detail and colour. For the first time I realised that Rooney’s suit had pinstripes. The film could have used a little clean up and restoration through, as the occasional blip indicative of minor print damage or dirt was apparent. Also, on occasion there was the momentary uniformity of skin tone that suggested a little post-processing occurred on the way to Blu-ray. But having said that, this is the best I have seen Ferris Bueller’s Day Off look.

Sound

You have the choice between Dolby TrueHD 5.1 Surround English, DD 2.0 Surround French, and DD 2.0 mono Spanish. I was very happy with the lossless audio, the all important dialogue was clear throughout (although I have to admit to using the subtitles to clear up some very 80s US colloquialisms), and the film got a nice degree of surround effectiveness for ambience, and more importantly, music. It isn’t that far removed from its stereo roots, but offers just the right degree of immersion to sound natural.

Extras

The disc boots up to an animated menu.

Getting the Class Together – The Cast of Ferris Bueller’s Day Off lasts 27:45, is presented in 480i, and was created back in 2005. The cast and crew comment on the film and add their reminiscences in a series of interviews both contemporary with the film, and shot in 2005.

The Making of Ferris Bueller’s Day Off lasts 15:29 and is presented in 480i. There’s behind the scenes footage, and again, contemporary interviews and 2005 interviews.


Who is Ferris Bueller? lasts 9:12 and as you might guess, takes a closer look at the character.

The World According to Ben Stein lasts 10:51, and the man behind the most tedious economics teacher on the planet is interviewed.

Vintage Ferris Bueller: The Lost Tapes lasts 10:16, and there are some goofy interviews among the cast, before the studios got a handle on all this EPK stuff.

Class Album offers around 20 promotional images, and this is the only extra feature that is in HD.

Conclusion

I’m going to sound like a broken record, but yet again, a Blu-ray’s audio and visual quality is more than enough to warrant a double dip. Although there still might be nits to pick with minor aspects of the transfer, the level of cleaning and restoration, the film looks so much better on Blu-ray that those minor flaws are forgivable. The most important thing for me is that Ferris Bueller’s Day off is a film that is backed up with a serious eighties soundtrack, and going from PAL speedup to native frame rate will always be an improvement.


Also unlike Weird Science, another John Hughes movie that I watched recently on Blu-ray, Ferris Bueller hasn’t dated in the slightest. Its eighties trappings and soundtrack have so become part of the cultural language of the era, that many people who didn’t even live through the eighties can still appreciate them. Ferris Bueller has become that ever elusive, timeless classic. The themes that it explores, that of freedom and self expression over conformity and drudgery, the characters that inhabit it and the things they go through are all recognisable and relatable.


It’s also a delightfully nice film. Yes, Ferris is up for some trickery to ensure his day of bliss, and yes, sister Jeanie would like to see her little brother brought down a peg, and yes, Rooney is insistent on getting the due respect for his authority, but there’s never any malice in the way the characters relate to each other. Even the antagonist of the film Ed Rooney is more often than not hoist on his own petard, his downfall is never the result of Ferris’ actions.


The film works because of sublime casting. Ferris Bueller could so easily have been a know-it-all, smug jerk, but Matthew Broderick gives the role heart and vulnerability, essential in endearing him to the audience. Ferris Bueller is also an unusual film in that it’s not really about the title character at all. Two characters have dramatic arcs in the film, and in any other movie, they’d just be supporting cast. With Ferris’ perfection and inimitable luck, and also with his perfect girlfriend, there’s not a lot that you can do to develop the character. Instead he’s the catalyst to his best friend Cameron’s self-realisation, and arc of growth, as he learns to take responsibility for his actions and his choices. Then there is Jeanie, whose life Ferris affects in absentia. Initially she’s determined to reveal him for the truant he is, but she also goes through a journey of self-realisation, and learning not to take herself too seriously.


Ferris Bueller is a funny and entertaining timeless classic with a whole lot of heart. It seems that John Hughes has become the Frank Capra of his generation. This Blu-ray is more than good enough to watch. The one mark against it is the omission of the director’s commentary, but no doubt there will be a better version released eventually.