A few days ago, someone brought up Ferris Bueller’s Day Off and mentioned that they believed it was all made up in Cameron’s head. We even wrote about that theory a few years ago. Then I remembered a discussion I had a long time ago about whether Ferris (Matthew Broderick) planned the whole day in advance to get Cameron (Alan Ruck) out of his routine and to loosen up a little.
I rewatched the movie with my Paramount+ subscription, and I definitely like this theory more than Cameron’s hallucinations theory. Here’s why I think Ferris knew exactly what he was doing.
I Don’t Think Ferris Just Got Lucky
The only way to watch Ferris Bueller’s Day Off without believing that the whole day was planned is to believe Ferris gets incredibly lucky. No one is that lucky, not even in great John Hughes movies set in Chicago from the ‘80s. Take, for example, Ferris jumping on the float in the middle of Chicago. Have you ever been to Chicago? Those cops don’t mess around. He would’ve been tackled and hauled off to jail before he could say “thank you,” in German or any other language.
Not only does he sing/lip sync “Danke Schoen,” but he follows it up with a second song, “Twist & Shout.” Two songs, no cops? I’m not buying it. Ferris arranged the performance with the parade organizers. He knew what he was going to do and what songs it was going to be. He’s even seen practicing “Danke Schoen” earlier in the movie as he showers. There is no way this was random. That goes for the baseball game, too. I think he definitely already had the tickets.
Ferris Picked A Day He Knew His Parents Would Be Busy
Most importantly, Ferris had to pick a day that he knew he would get no interference from his parents. His dad (Lyman Ward) is always in the city for work, so that’s easy; no need to worry about him unless he sees him randomly in a cab or accidentally runs into him at a fancy restaurant (more on the restaurant later. That’s just bad luck. His mom (Cindy Pickett) is a bigger problem. He needs a day he knows she’ll be tied up with work, too.
His mom is a real estate agent, and that means her days could be busy, or they could be slow. What if he picked a day when his mom happened to have no showings? What if she decided she could just stay home and nurse her baby boy back to health? His whole fake sick day would be ruined, and he’d be stuck at home watching The Price Is Right and drinking Sprite like the rest of us ‘80s kids did back then when we were sick.
But his mom has the damn Vermont deal! He picks the day because he knows his mom has a busy day at work. He doesn’t have to worry about his mom checking in on him, because she’s got a big deal to close. Sure, he probably didn’t anticipate that Genie (Jennifer Grey) would ruin the deal by getting arrested, but he knew she’d be gone all day. She does check on him, but only briefly, because he counted on her being distracted by the Vermont deal.
Sloan Was In On It
Ferris’ girlfriend, Sloan (Mia Sara), was in on the planning. When the nurse shows up in her classroom, she is getting ready to leave before the nurse asks her to walk out into the hall with her. How does she know what is coming if she didn’t plan at least some of it with Ferris? She clearly knew that at some point, the nurse was going to show up and tell her that her grandmother had passed away.
Sloan doesn’t get freaked out, thinking it’s real. She knows it’s Ferris getting her out of school. She’s also not surprised to see Cameron hiding in the car when Ferris picks her up. So she likely knew the plan was to get Cameron out of his house and out of his head, because she knew that he was wound up so tight that if you stuck a lump of coal…well, you know. She didn’t know all the details, but she knew something.
There Is One Possible Flaw In The Theory
Finally, there is one minor kink in this conspiracy theory that was brought up to me by a colleague here at CinemaBlend. What about the lunch reservation? Well, the theory is that Ferris knew the whole time about the reservation, having made it himself. Why else would he be confident that Abe Froman wouldn’t show up and claim the table for himself? Again, I don’t think anyone gets that lucky.
Instead, I believe that Ferris made the reservation, then made it look like he was just picking a random name and a random party of three from the reservation book. If his goal was to make Cameron uncomfortable, this would be perfect. Cameron freaks out, but Ferris is confident (and Sloan goes right along with him) that everything will work out. That is indeed what happens: the three enjoy lunch, the Sausage King of Chicago never shows, and the meal goes off without a hitch. Is this good luck or planning? I chose to believe the latter.
Does It Really Matter, Though?
Okay, so am I serious? Well, yes and no. Like all quotable John Hughes movies, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off is not meant to be taken seriously or literally (but certainly quoted). I know that, I seen them all dozens of times. However, I think this theory fits perfectly with how things play out in the movie. A little too perfectly for it not to be planned down right down to every minute. A few things happen along the way that threaten to screw things up. I don’t think Ferris anticipated Cameron’s dad’s Ferrari would end up at the bottom of a ravine, for example, or that the parking attendants would go for a joyride in it.
Everything else, though–the baseball game, the museum, lunch, the commodities exchange, and the parade–was all part of Ferris’ plan. He even acknowledges to Sloan at the end that he knew exactly what he was going to do that day. That’s my hill, and well, sure, no one is taking any of this seriously, so sure, I’ll die on it.
