I didn't like a lot of his films when they came out, but as I got older, films like Pretty in Pink, Sixteen Candles and Breakfast Club became sort of like historical documents for my high school and college years.

We were just saying no while at the same time being told that greed was good, that greed worked. I always thought Planes, Trains and Automobiles was something of a comedy classic. It could be argued that it was more due to the brilliant comedians -- Steve Martin and John Candy -- at the top of their games who carried the film, but that wouldn't be entirely fair.

He wrote some brilliant stuff that he didn't direct (Vacation, Mr. Mom). No, his films weren't challenging. They were fluff, sure, but there's always a place for that, and he filled that niche exceedingly well. But he wasn't just trying to sneak some pop bubble-gum film under the radar to score a hit. His films were sweet, but not sappy (again, see Planes, Trains and Automobiles). That's what he did, and in his corner of the American film machine, he was the best.