John Hughes-Sixteen Candles

"Sixteen Candles" stars Molly Ringwald and Mark Schoeffling with writer/director John Hughes (center) in 1984. (COURTESY OF UNIVERSAL PICTURES)

As kids head back to school, it is a good time to revisit the teen films of John Hughes.

Hughes was in his 30s when he wrote (and often directed) his perennial series of teen films starting with 1984's “Sixteen Candles” and concluding with 1991's “Career Opportunities,” but he was perhaps more attuned than any other filmmaker to what it was like to be young. In films like "The Breakfast Club," "Ferris Bueller's Day Off" and "Pretty in Pink," he understood the confusion of adolescence and how emotionally intense everything felt.

Breakfast Club

From left: Judd Nelson, Ally Sheedy, Emilio Esteves, Molly Ringwald and Anthony Michael Hall star as kids stuck in Saturday detention in 1985's "The Breakfast Club." (COURTESY OF UNIVERSAL PICTURES)

John Hughes-The Breakfast Club

Clockwise: Anthony Michael Hall, Judd Nelson, Molly Ringwald, Emilio Esteves, Ally Sheedy and John Hughes, the stars and writer/director of “The Breakfast Club. (COURTESY OF UNIVERSAL PICTURES)

Sixteen Candles poster

In hindsight, the plot of John Hughes' "Sixteen Candles" has some problematic elements. (COURTESY OF UNIVERSAL PICTURES)

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