150 Broderick, Matthew The Eighties in America
James Broderick, was a popular New York stage actor
and his mother, Patricia Biow Broderick, was a
screenplay writer, actress, and painter. Acting along-
side his father in a 1981 workshop production of
Horton Foote’sValentine Dayled to a part in the Off-
Broadway production of Harvey Fierstein’s To r c h
Song Trilogy(pr. 1981). The excellent review he re-
ceived led to him being cast as the lead, Eugene Mor-
ris Jerome, in the Broadway production of Neil
Simon’s autobiographicalBrighton Beach Memoirs
(pr. 1983), for which he won the 1983 Tony Award.
Broderick reprised the role of Eugene Morris
Jerome on Broadway in Simon’s Biloxi Blues
(pr. 1985). This led to Broderick’s first movie role in
Simon’sMax Dugan Returns(1983). The same year
saw the release ofWar Games(1983), Broderick’s first
big-screen success.
InWar Games, Broderick played a teenager who
accidentally hacks into a military computer and al-
most starts World War III. The film was a response to
two actual NORAD computer malfunctions and to
the rise of computer hacking. The film contained
many key components of early 1980’s American
culture: personal computers, coin-operated video
games, hacking, fears of computer malfunctions,
and Cold War anxieties about nuclear holocaust. It
enjoyed worldwide success and made Broderick a
bankable star.
One of Broderick’s most important 1980’s film
roles was the title character inFerris Bueller’s Day Off
(1986), a comedy written and directed by John
Hughes. The film was an excellent showcase for
Broderick’s particular charisma, as his character
continually broke down the “fourth wall” to address
the audience directly. In 1988, Broderick starred in
the film versions of bothTorch Song TrilogyandBiloxi
Blues. His boyish good looks kept him typecast in
teen comedies until 1989, when he starred inGlor y—
partly written by his mother and directed bythirty-
somethingcocreator Edward Zwick—playing Civil War
hero Robert Gould Shaw. He continued his success
in film and stage as an adult.
Impact Broderick’s greatest impact on the 1980’s
came as a result of portraying Ferris Bueller.Ferris
Bueller’s Day Off, an iconic 1980’s film, follows three
teenagers as they ditch school for an adventure in
greater Chicago. The movie proved so popular that
it spawned two 1990’s television situation comedies
and the name of a 1990’s ska band. It has also earned
a place on many lists of top film comedies and be-
came one of the most widely quoted films of the
1980’s.
Further Reading
Clarke, Jaime, ed.Don’t You Forget About Me: Contem-
porar y Writers on the Films of John Hughes. New York:
Simon Spotlight Entertainment, 2007.
Strasser, Todd.Ferris Bueller’s Day Off.New York: Sig-
net, 1986.
Leslie NeilanSee also Cold War; Computers; Hughes, John;
Film in the United States; Teen films; Theater;
thirtysomething;Torch Song Trilogy; Video games and
arcades.Matthew Broderick.(Hulton Archive/Getty Images)