Uncle Buck (1989)

Directed by John Hughes

Released August 18, 1989

Written by John Hughes

Movie Synopsis Courtesy of IMDB

"Bachelor and all round slob, Buck, babysits his brother's rebellious teenage daughter and her cute younger brother and sister."

What is there is say about this movie? I guess the best thing to say is it is clearly a character based movie. It is not the story, the sets, the action, or anything like that. This movie was clearly made based on a character and his life. 

Uncle Buck is the uncle that we all wish we had and that we wish we didn't have. Played by the genius John Candy (I already praised him in my Spaceballs blog), he is a special kind of person. He is clearly a mess, both as a person and his life in general. He doesn't have a real job, his relationship is well awkward, and his own brother doesn't really trust him. Buck seems like the slacker kid in school who some how found a way to con his way through life without being broke or getting himself killed in the process. Which is probably why this movie is entertaining, because you constantly want to see what Buck is going to do next and how he is going to make a fool of himself.

The one thing I will say about Buck that is slightly negative but mostly positive, is that he is so unapologetically honest. What I mean by this is that he is not afraid to say what he means and to let someone know when he disagrees with them. While this can be seen as negative because at times when you are too honest, you can get yourself in trouble. In Buck's case, I think it makes him more likable because it shows how he is willing to stick up for what he believes in.

As seen in this scene, he clearly was digging himself in a hole with making fun of the Assistant Principal, but he is sticking up for his niece in the best way possible. Buck isn't afraid to be himself, even when he should be acting more professional and like an adult. This isn't the only time he stuck up for what he believed in either. All of his fighting with Tia (his niece) and Bug (her boyfriend), he is trying to mess with Bug, but a lot of the threats he gives you have a feeling that Buck isn't just bluffing. That comes back to the fact that his personality is so honest. Take a look at my favorite time that Buck is his brutal honest self.

Now, I haven't been talking about the 80s as much in my last few posts, but I want to try and bring that back. Something else I want to talk about from this previous scene is the idea of the Clown. I guess a better way of putting that is the "home entertainer" idea. I wonder if you can even really find "home entertainers" anymore? I feel like they were very big in the 80s and parts of the 90s, but I never hear about them much anymore. I know when I was growing up people would bring animal entertainers and magicians to birthday parties, but I feel like this is not what people do anymore. Maybe it is because there are so many more places to go for birthday parties, maybe it is because our culture now is a lot less welcoming of strangers in our homes, or maybe people just finally realized that birthday clowns are creepy! Whatever the reason, I feel like "home entertainers" and having birthday parties at home are childhood memories that a lot of kids don't have anymore. Kids now-a-days will rarely have that experience, which is a little sad. 

While talking about the 80s, this is something I have wanted to bring up many times but always forget to put it in. Have you ever watched a movie trailer from the 80s? Oh my gosh they are horrible! They are so formulaic too. You have an announcer who narrates the whole thing. The narrator introduces the main character by giving descriptions of their personality or things they have done in their life. The footage is poor quality, for some reason it is worse quality than the actual movie. They have it in 4X3 aspect ratio as opposed to the regular movie aspect ratio that doesn't have the black pillars on the side. Dramatic music is playing to make the movie seem more intense than it actually is. And finally the graphics and title are so bad they look like they could have been ripped out of a coloring book.

It is not just this film. Go and look at all the trailers from all the 80s movies I have talked about on this blog. They all are horrible and follow this same formula. 

Okay, back from that commercial break. 

My favorite scene from this movie is the scene were Macaulay Culkin interrogates John Candy when they first meet.

 

The deadpan looks and the amount of concentration from both actors is incredible. It is also very realistic to how kids act, they always ask a lot of questions. Seeing this scene just makes you laugh because I bet you can remember a time when a kid was asking you a million questions and you just wanted them to be quiet. Or, in my case, you were that kids that asked a ton of questions. A fun fact about this scene, apparently John Candy had to write the questions down and put a piece of paper on his head in order for Macaulay Culkin to read them quickly. Obviously, this piece of paper was put on his head during the close up shots of Culkin where you can't see Candy. Hey, but anything you have to do in order to make this scene as great as it is, do what you have to do. The magic of movies.

This isn't the only time Culkin interrogates someone, which shows that Culkin is also greatly characterized in this movie along with Candy. Culkin also interrogates Chanice who is Buck's girlfriend. This time though he interrogates her through the mail slot in his door. In fact, it was this exchange that gave John Hughes the idea for Home Alone. When he went to make that movie he auditioned some other kids, but he knew he had to have Culkin who was the original inspiration for the movie. The funny thing is that when Home Alone was made, John Candy was also given a small part in the movie. I guess Uncle Buck really inspired John Hughes.

The last thing that I think needs to be addressed from this movie is that horrible car! It is so bad, I am not sure if the laws for cars were as harsh in the 80s, but I know there is no way that car would pass an emissions test now-a-days. It also really needs a car wash, I know it is suppose to be winter time during this movie, but go get it washed. And of course we can't forget about that noise. Turns out, to make that sound the production team used the sounds of a gun shot and a firecracker. Not surprising because that is what it sounds like.

Buck: "Did you brush your teeth?"

Miles: "Yeah. You can even feel my toothbrush."

Buck: "You know, I have a friend who works at the crime lab at the police station. I could give him your toothbrush and he could run a test on it. To see if you actually brushed your teeth or just ran your toothbrush under the faucet."

Maisy: "If that's true, we're gonna really have to start brushing our teeth."

This is my last blog for a few weeks. I am going to take a few weeks break and then I will be back with another list of 80s movies! Leave me a comment of any movies you think I should talk about. I am always looking for new movies!