"Oh, John Hughes…(sigh). A producer friend of mine was recently talking about his teenage daughter and said “You know, the problem is, she’s never seen a real film because they don’t make real movies for kids anymore.” Looking back at The Breakfast Club (which I must’ve watched 40 times by the time I was in the 6th grade), Sixteen Candles, St. Elmo’s Fire, et al — these were real movies. And Jesus, could we relate to them. Many still hold up — if you can ignore the acid-wash and the hair mousse."

"No bullshit sentimentality here. One of the most courageous films ever made. Mr John: We should celebrate that a child died a child. That one escaped. We lock them in our schools, we teach them our stupid taboos, we catch them in our wars, we massacre the innocents. The world is for children. The real world. They climb trees and roll on the grass, close to the ants . . ."

"I took this title for one of my songs on my third album and dedicated it to my sister; she loves this one too. The last John Cassavetes film . . . I heard he was ill throughout a lot of the making of this and, in the final scene, he waves good-bye. It’s really touching. His real-life wife, Gena Rowlands, is one of my all-time favorite actresses."