Ferris Bueller's Day Off/Trivia

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


  • Actor Allusion: Ferris hacks into the school's system from his computer to change the amount of absences he's had. That's not the first time Broderick hacked into his school's system.
  • All There in the Manual: According to a 1986 Inside Story documentary, the name of Charlie Sheen's character is Garth Volbeck.
  • Beam Me Up, Scotty: Ben Stein as the economics professor never says, "Anyone? Anyone? Bueller? Bueller?" He does say these lines but separately. He first says, "Bueller? Bueller?" while taking attendance and then later during his lecture asks, "Anyone? Anyone?"
  • Cast Incest: On-screen siblings Matthew Broderick and Jennifer Grey dated and were even engaged for a while after appearing in this film together.
  • Classic Movie, Commercial Sequel:
  • Dawson Casting: Averted with Mia Sara (Sloane), who was 18 (playing a high school junior). Played straight with Matthew Broderick (Ferris) who was 23, Jennifer Grey (Jeannie) who was 25, and Alan Ruck (Cameron) who was 29 when the film was shot during the fall of 1985.
  • Dyeing for Your Art: Charlie Sheen stayed awake for 48 hours before filming his scene so that he would appear tired and strung-out. Now he prefers the quicker method of good, all-natural cocaine.
  • Enforced Method Acting: In the cab, when Ferris tickles Sloan. Actress Mia Sara's laughter was real, because Matthew Broderick and Alan Ruck actually took off her shoe and tickled her foot.
  • Flip-Flop of God: The DVD commentary pegs Ferris as a spoiled jerk. However, Hughes intentionally cut a scene that explicitly makes Ferris a thief, and cast Matthew Broderick in the role because he felt Broderick was the only one who could make Ferris likable. So do we empathize with Ferris or not? Either interpretation of the character is equally valid. And it doesn't help that both interpretations can work concurrently with each other (i.e. Ferris is a jerk and trickster, but he's OUR jerk and trickster).
  • Hey, It's That Guy!: Ben Stein plays the dull, drab teacher whose class Ferris escapes from at the beginning of the film. He would later rehash this role on The Wonder Years, among many other places.
    • Also Actor Allusion for Ben Stein, as he was a political commentator and speech writer, who wrote and spoke at length about economics, just as he taught in this film. In fact, he wasn't even given lines for his lecture scenes; he was just told to deliver a lecture on something "economics-related and really boring-sounding".
    • Aside from his work in Broadway theater (for example, his award-winning performance in the revival of How to Succeed In Business Without Really Trying and the musical adaptation of The Producers) this is pretty much the movie that everyone will associate Matthew Broderick with.
    • And don't forget Alan Ruck. (Spin City fans, take note.)
    • The flower delivery guy was played by Louie Anderson.
    • Jennifer Aniston played Ferris' sister in the short-lived TV show. Charlie Schlatter was Ferris.
    • Simone Adamley was played by a young Kristy Swanson.
    • Grace the secretary was played by Edie McClurg.
    • And, last but not least, Charlie Sheen as the drugged out kid in the police station.
  • Hey, It's That Voice!: Ferris is adult Simba in The Lion King.
  • I Am Not Spock: For a long time, Matthew Broderick never liked talking about this movie, though it seems he's eased up about it, since he appeared in a 2012 Super Bowl commercial that parodied the film.
  • Old Shame: Sheen said a few years later that watching his one scene in the movie made him want to punch himself in the mouth.
  • Real Life Relative: The actors who played Ferris's parents (Cindy Pickett and Lyman Ward) later got married in real life. Unfortunately, however, they divorced in 1992.
    • Alan Ruck and Matthew Broderick were already friends before this movie, having worked on a Broadway production of Biloxi Blues together. Ferris and Cameron's chemistry is entirely real.
    • Charlie Sheen and Jennifer Grey worked together on Red Dawn, and she recommended him for the role of Guy In The Police Station.
  • Star-Making Role: Three years before Ferris Bueller, WarGames is what got Broderick noticed. But this movie clearly is what made Broderick a star, and it is arguably is most famous role.
  • Technology Marches On: Ferris' line, "I asked for a car, I got a computer. How's that for being born under a bad sign?" seems odd now, because getting your own computer is almost as much a status symbol for teens as getting your own car.
    • If mobile phones were as widespread then as they are today, it'd be harder for Ferris to bluff his parents if he could be contacted anytime, anywhere.
    • It would have been a lot harder for Ferris to pretend to be Abe Frohman, the Sausage King of Chicago, since the real Abe Frohman would most likely have a webpage either for himself or for his company today complete with at least one photograph of himself.
    • A video of Ferris dancing on the parade float would have most likely made its way to YouTube today, and the jig would be up.
      • It's actually on the front page of the paper, which his father is reading, but apparently misses entirely.
      • Only the "Town rallies around sick kid" article. It doesn't cover the parade.
  • Throw It In: "They think he's a righteous dude" was improvised by Edie McClurg, the actress who played Grace.
    • Ben Stein improvised the entire lecture about the Hawley-Smoot Tariff.
    • Matthew Broderick improvised the shower scene with his hair in a shampoo mohawk and singing "Danke Shoen" while waiting for the shot to begin. The director saw it and told him to do keep doing it when the film was rolling.
  • What Could Have Been: John Hughes' first choice to play Ferris was Michael J. Fox, which is ironic because Broderick was Gary David Goldberg's first choice to play Fox's role of Alex P. Keaton in Family Ties. However, Broderick declined, partially because his father, James Broderick, had become terminally ill, and partially because he did not actually want to commit to a weekly TV series. Even more ironically, James Broderick had co-starred with Fox's Family Ties co-star, Meredith Baxter-Birney, on the ABC drama, Family.
  • Word of Dante: A researcher discovered the titular day off was June 5, 1985, based on the Cubs game that Ferris goes to in the movie.
    • The Cubs game was actually played on Sept. 24, 1985.
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