History Film / FerrisBuellersDayOff

* AbsurdlyPowerfulSchoolJurisdiction: Rooney scours the city looking for Ferris to punish him, despite the fact that (in this case) he does have an excused absence according to his parents, thus meaning there should be nothing Rooney can do.

* ActuallyPrettyFunny: Jeanie explains to a boy in the police station that she's "in" because she hates her brother. When the boy asks if she shot him, despite still being irate about the situation she can't help but laugh.
* AdultsAreUseless: Multiple examples:
** Both Tom and Katie Bueller are completely preoccupied with their careers to notice that Ferris is basically walking all over them and getting away with anything he wants to. The few times that it's all but obvious they should be catching him in the act of truancy they completely miss out on the clues.
** Most of the teachers at Ferris' school are dull, dry, ineffective and likely bad instructors who use outdated – especially by 1980s ... and heck, even 1960s standards – teaching methods, and whose main method of instruction is hopelessly boring, rote lectures emphasizing memorization rather than actually engaging the students in relevant material. (Ben Stein has his role nailed down perfectly.) Little wonder that truancy and apathy are major problems at this (unnamed) high school.
** Poor teachers at the high school and his absurd level of preoccupation with trying to incriminate Ferris are just one reason why Rooney has no control over his school and that truancy is (likely) a major issue. Given the students' complete lack of interest in academics and his overall asshole personality, this has likely been a recurring problem for many years.

* AmbiguouslyJewish: Ferris and Jeannie were certainly not meant to be interpreted this way (their parents are as WASP-y as they come). But the fact is that they're both played by actors who both ''are'' Jewish and "look" ''very'' Jewish (until Jennifer Grey got her nose job, of course). Matthew Broderick's accent sounds less Chicagoan than New York Jewish, and the name "Bueller" is German, which could go either way.

* AnswerCut:
--> '''Ferris:''' I'm so disappointed in Cameron. Twenty bucks says he's sitting in his car right now debating about whether or not he should go out.\\
''(cut to Cameron sitting in his car)''\\
'''Cameron:''' ''(sniffs loudly)'' He'll keep calling me. He'll keep calling me until I come over. He'll make me feel guilty...

* ApatheticTeacher: The economics teacher is one of the most well-known examples in film. The English teacher isn't as well-known but isn't far behind in terms of this trope either.

** The Ferrari's odometer is unable to turn back when put in reverse. The mechanism to prevent that was not mandated or even available until the 1970s, meaning the odometer on a 1961 model ''would'' roll back when driven in reverse (or, better yet, disconnect the odometer cable and roll it back with an electric drill, though this is probably beyond most high-schoolers' abilities). Given that Cameron's dad spent three years restoring it, he may have also modified it to add the anti-rollback mechanism.

* {{Bifauxnen}}: Mr. Rooney finds who he believes is Ferris at the pizza parlor, but turns out to be a girl (with some Pepsi), who proceeds to spit on him. See MistakenFromBehind below.

* BornLucky: Ferris Bueller (for those who view him unfavorably) undeniably accomplishes some of his achievements through his own cleverness, but he had a ''hell'' of a lot of luck with some of them.

** Rooney also gives the audience a withering look at the very end.

* BrokenRecord: Say it with me:
-->'''Economics Teacher:''' Bueller?... Bueller?... Bueller?...

* ChekhovsGun: The scene at the pizza parlor where Rooney mistakes a girl for Ferris; Ferris is actually on the TV in a baseball game, catching a baseball on camera. Much later (at the end of the movie) in order to turn off the snoring sound effects playing on his stereo while he's still in bed, he retrieves the baseball from his pocket and throws it at the stereo's "off" button.
* CheshireCatGrin: The allegedly-catatonic Cameron, just pulled up from the bottom of a pool after keeling over into it face first, broke into one of these when Ferris and Sloane realize he wasn't really drowning. Cameron's ensuing hysterical laughter led to further dunkings by Ferris.

* GretzkyHasTheBall: Rooney notices the Cubs game on TV at the pizza joint:

'''Cook:''' (''sarcastically, after a {{beat}}'') The Bears.

In 1990, a [[RecycledTheSeries TV sitcom]] based on the film began to air on NBC (which can now be viewed [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=70J1Lo6jIAg in its entirety]] on Website/YouTube), with Creator/CharlieSchlatter replacing Broderick in the title role. Due to poor ratings, it was cancelled during its first season. Meanwhile, {{dueling show|s}} ''Series/ParkerLewisCantLose'' was the film's more successful SpiritualSuccessor (and some say was the real TV adaptation).

* ThreeAmigos: Especially if you consider Cameron the protagonist, in which case it's Cameron, Ferris and, Ferris' girlfriend (also Cameron's friend) Sloane.

The film follows Ferris Bueller (Creator/MatthewBroderick), a high school senior in suburban Chicago who pretends to be sick and [[SkippingSchool skips school]] one beautiful spring day. He convinces his neurotic best friend Cameron (Creator/AlanRuck) and his carefree girlfriend Sloane (Creator/MiaSara) to come along with him. The three of them "borrow" Cameron's father's prized vintage sports car, heading into the city to share one more day of fun together before graduation. Meanwhile, the school's Dean of Students Ed Rooney (Creator/JeffreyJones) and Ferris's resentful sister Jeannie (Creator/JenniferGrey) are both hot on his trail, eager to catch him skipping school.

* HardTruthAesop: Paralleling Ferris' adventures is both his sister Jeannie and Principal Rooney trying to find evidence of his deceitful behavior and convince others that he is really a delinquent charming his way around people. Jeannie ends up learning (from a guy at the police station arrested for drugs) that her problems with Ferris was not about anything he has done to her, so her resentment was more about her. She learns to let it go and her life and demeanor immediately improves, while Rooney never lets it go and ends the movie as miserable as he could be. Even though Ferris would be in trouble once exposed, pursuing vendettas out of spite is not a healthy way to live.

* MistakenForIncest: Ferris poses as his girlfriend's father (distantly, wearing a disguise) in order to get her out of school. Then they make out in front of the principal, to his disgust.

** At the end of Ferris' day off, Principal Rooney is about to punish him with another year of high school, but Jeanie steps in and acts concerned for him as if he's sick, giving him a wink to let him know she's helping him avoid punishment.

* SnowballLie: The lie starts when Ferris fakes an illness to get out of school. Some of his friends call to check on him and he uses sound recordings to continue the deception. From there, [[GossipEvolution it spreads through the school, mutating]] into Ferris having a life-threatening condition, followed by numerous get well gifts delivered to his home, a fund raising campaign to pay for life-saving surgery, and having "Save Ferris" painted on the side of a water tower. Ferris's sister Jeannie and Principal Rooney aren't fooled, but the former thwarts the latter's attempt to PullTheThread after pulling a HeelFaceTurn at the end of the movie.

** Ferris prepares one to answer the intercom if anyone rings the doorbell at his house. The responses are keyed to the intercom, so he gets around the awkward pauses, and his responses are vague enough to work for nearly any response. The plan falls through when the principal keeps ringing the doorbell, cycling back to the first message and betraying the ruse.

* TotallyRadical: Grace, Principal Ed's secretary, attempting to explain popular perception of Ferris, says "The sportos, the motorheads, geeks, sluts, bloods, wastoids, dweebies, dickheads - they all adore him. They think he's a righteous dude."

* SubvertedRhymeEveryOccasion: Thinking Ferris is terminally ill, someone sends a SingingTelegram dressed as a [[NaughtyNurseOutfit naughty nurse]] to his house. When Jeannie answers the door, she's greeted with the rhyme:
--->I heard that you were feeling ill,\\
headache, fever, and a chill.\\
I came to help restore your pluck, \\
'cause I'm the nurse who likes to...\\
(''the door is slammed in her face'')
** This was still too vulgar for network TV, and most showings have the door slam before the nurse says anything. Other airings show only the first two lines of her speech.

* TakeThat: The TV series opens with a jab at its own predecessor; Ferris, now played by Charlie Schlatter, verbally trashes Matthew Broderick before decapitating a cardboard cutout of him [[ChainsawGood with a chainsaw]].

* BreastAttack: In an unfilmed scene from an early draft, Jeannie Bueller is talking with one of her friends; her friend pisses her off, and Jeannie responds, "I'll sock your tits."

* BriefAccentImitation: Cameron puts on a ridiculous "prep" accent when posing as Sloane's father on the phone. Since Sloane's family is quite rich, it's probably not too far-fetched that Rooney bought it (at least ''after'' he realized that Ferris was on Line 2). Hilariously, Australian viewers have often found Cameron's accent to be oddly familiar.

* DatingWhatDaddyHates: In the script, during the scene where Ferris cites reasons why he and Sloane can't get married, he claims that her father hates his guts.
** While they aren't dating, Cameron's father hates Ferris as well.

* TheGenerationGap: In the shooting script, Ferris sees himself as part of the second wave of this, and regrets that his parents' generation could not maintain their (supposedly) revolutionary ideals.

* LightFeminineAndDarkFeminine: Kind, innocent Sloane (light) and angry, sassy Jeanie (dark). Kind of played with, as Sloane has dark hair and wears a strongly blue shirt, though with a white jacket, while Jeanie has lighter hair than sloane, and wears light-colored clothes other than her black pants.

* ManicPixieDreamGirl:
** A male version. Ferris does get Cameron to finally stand up for himself.
** There are even some who think that Ferris is just a figment of Cameron's imagination.

* NonGivingUpSchoolGuy: Rooney. It's a bit of a DeconstructedTrope though, since his single-minded mission to bring back Ferris led him to commit things like breaking and entering.

* RecursiveCanon: In the sitcom, the movie is considered a fictionalized version of Ferris' "real" life.

* RepeatCut: A rare Western feature film example is a moment in which we see Rooney getting kicked in the face from three different angles.

* ScreenToStageAdaptation: Believe it or not, a few have been created, mainly by high-school drama departments. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yFSh-ZiGrqo Here's a clip from one.]]

* SesameStreetCred: Happened with both Matthew Broderick and Mia Sara. Broderick later went on to voice Hubble in ''Film/GoodBoy'', while Sara went on to play Ondine in ''Series/JackAndTheBeanstalkTheRealStory'' as well as go on to marry Jim Henson's son, Brian Henson.

* AfraidOfDoctors: Ferris - who goes through a lot of trouble to play sick - claims being in a doctor's office is worse than being in school.

In 1990, a [[RecycledTheSeries TV sitcom]] based on the film began to air on NBC (which can now be viewed [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=70J1Lo6jIAg in its entirety]] on Website/YouTube), with Creator/CharlieSchlatter replacing Matthew in the title role. Due to poor ratings, it was cancelled during its first season. Meanwhile, {{dueling show|s}} ''Series/ParkerLewisCantLose'' was the film's more successful SpiritualSuccessor (and some say was the real TV adaptation).

Also happens to be movie critic Richard Roeper's favorite film. Creator/LaLaLandRecords ''finally'' released a Creator/{{Paramount}}-sanctioned soundtrack album in 2016; see the Trivia tab for why it took so long.

-->"...You're still here? [[ThatsAllFolks It's over!]] Go home.....go." [[note]](Chiggachiggaaa!)[[/note]]

* AntiPoopSocking: After the end credits, Ferris says directly to the audience: "You're still here? It's over! Go home!"

* JerkassHasAPoint: Jeannie gets arrested by the police for making a legitimate call about an actual intruder in her house.