I’m well aware that this doesn’t matter, but …
The sports talk-show hosts on my car radio and the masses on Twitter today are merrily waxing poetic about “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off” on this the 25th anniversary of the release of the classic high school comedy.
One problem: Today is June 9. And, “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off” was released on June 11, 1986, according to IMDb, Rotten Tomatoes, Wikipedia and Roger Ebert.
(2011’s 25 Geekiest 25th Anniversaries)
Why all the premature adulation? It appears the Bueller fans are taking their cue from this brief item on MSN – yes, I’m blaming Microsoft.
Like I said, it doesn’t really matter, because Ferris and the film deserve all the accolades, so much so that they were included in my annual collection of the year’s geekiest anniversaries. Here’s why:
Ferris Bueller doesn’t get his day off from school in “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off” without knowing his way around a computer. We pick up the scene where his mother is being told over the phone by Principal Ed Rooney that her darling son has been absent nine times this semester.
Katie Bueller: I don’t remember him being sick nine times.
Ed Rooney: That’s probably because he wasn’t sick. He was skipping school. Wake up and smell the coffee, Mrs.Bueller. It’s a fool’s paradise. He is just leading you down the primrose path.
Katie Bueller: I can’t believe it.
Ed Rooney: I’ve got it right here in front of me. He has missed nine days…
[His computer screen begins counting down from nine to two. Ferris is at home looking at the same screen.]
Ferris: I asked for a car, I got a computer. How’s that for being born under a bad sign?
You can hear Rooney’s reaction to the hack in this three-second video:
Meanwhile, over at The Atlantic, freelance writer Alan Siegel explains why all of us sharing a fond memory or two of Bueller really need to get over it. Siegal will play Principal Rooney in any remake.
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