Hughes gave teen angst a suburban twist

Filmmaker John Hughes was the poet laureate for teenagers all over the country in the 1980s, but he connected particularly strongly to teens in Chicago's suburbs.

Hughes, who died of a heart attack Thursday, grew up in Northbrook, and he used suburban locations in just about all of his films.

In honor of the man who made geeks cool and single-handedly created the Brat Pack, we take a look (with the help of the '80s Movie Rewind Web site) at some of the local spots that appeared in his films.

"The Breakfast Club" (1985)

• The outside and inside of the old Maine North High School building at 9511 Harrison St. in Des Plaines served as the school where five teens from different social groups met for weekend detention. The building now is an Illinois State Police station.

• The football field where rebel teen John Bender (played by Judd Nelson) triumphantly raises his fist at the end (while Simple Minds' "Don't You Forget About Me" plays on the soundtrack) was located at Glenbrook North High School in Northbrook. Hughes set many of his teen films in the town of "Shermer, Ill.," a reference to Shermer Road in his hometown.

"Ferris Bueller's Day Off" (1986)

• Few things made me cringe as a kid more than seeing sad-sack teenage sidekick Cameron send his dad's prized Ferrari through a plate-glass window in this classic comedy. Cameron's home was located on Beech Street in Highland Park, and it recently went up for sale for $2.3 million.

"Planes, Trains and Automobiles" (1987)

• Hughes showed he could direct comedies about adults, too, when he made this holiday gem with Steve Martin and the late John Candy. The scene in a town square where the pair's car was confiscated is in downtown Woodstock.

• The El Rancho Inn, where Candy's character backs the car into a room, was located in Gurnee.

"Reach the Rock" (1998)

• Hughes wrote but did not direct this little-seen drama, much of which was shot in West Chicago.