John Hughes: 20 Key Movies

The writer-director, who died on August 6, leaves behind a long filmography -- including ''Vacation,'' ''Sixteen Candles,'' and ''The Breakfast Club'' -- one that meaningfully documented what it was like to be both a kid and a parent

By EW Staff Updated August 06, 2009 at 10:00 PM EDT

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Mr. Mom (1983)

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After getting laid off, being a stay-at-home dad while macho advertising exec Martin Mull sniffs around working mom wife Teri Garr may have been emasculating for poor Michael Keaton -- but don't fret. This was still the '80s, so in the end mom decides she misses the kids too much to keep working, dad goes back to work, and Martin Mull goes on to play a gay dude on Roseanne.

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National Lampoon's Vacation (1983)

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The cramped-car road trip vacations of our childhood always kinda sucked, but you and dad will remember them as a week on a Hawaiian beach compared to Sparky and his brood's cross-country trip in the Family Truckster.

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Miracle on 34th Street (NBC)

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Nov. 25 (2 p.m.)
Edmund Gwenn earned his Oscar with this portrayal of the saintly Kris Kringle who gets institutionalized for being ''insane'' when he claims to be Santa Claus. In the end, he made us all believers.

Click for a printable, expanded version of this list!

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John Hughes: 20 Key Movies

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Mr. Mom (1983)

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National Lampoon's Vacation (1983)

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Miracle on 34th Street (NBC)

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