9 Comedy Filmmakers Who Deserve More Awards Recognition

7. John Hughes

While John Hughes is best known for his teen comedies (Sixteen Candles, The Breakfast Club, Ferris Bueller's Day Off), his strengths in comedy were much broader. Perhaps his funniest movie is Planes, Trains and Automobiles, which features the best performances by beloved actors Steve Martin and Hughes' favorite actor, John Candy. In particular, humor about family relationships gave birth to some of his best comedy. In addition to the movies he directed himself, Hughes also wrote the comedy classics National Lampoon's Vacation, European Vacation, Mr. Mom, The Great Outdoors, Christmas Vacation, and Home Alone. He would follow the massive success of Home Alone by writing successful PG family comedies like Beethoven, Dennis the Menace, 101 Dalmatians, and Flubber. Though none of these are of the quality of his earlier work, they remain childhood favorites of many. So if his movies are so popular why is John Hughes on this list? Consider this: despite writing, directing, or producing more than a dozen classic movies, Hughes was never even nominated for a major filmmaking award. He received a poignant tribute at the Oscars six months after his death, but that's as close as he ever came to receiving awards recognition.