It all began back in 1983 when Hall starred as the faithful son of Clark Griswold in National Lampoon's Vacation. This role marked the beginning of Hall's brilliant depictions of slightly geeky, yet hilarious teen characters. This movie in itself in fantastic. Chevy Chase was in his prime, Beverley D'Angelo changed the way kids looked at moms, and Christie Brinkley's cameo all made this a movie for the ages. Randy Quaid's character is worth the price of admission all by itself. Hall, who was slightly underused, still managed to steal scenes from Chase, which is not an easy task.
His signature role, and the one that endeared him into the hearts of teenagers across the land, came the next year, in 1984's Sixteen Candles. Starring opposite Molly Ringwald in this classic film, Hall steals the movie with his brilliant portrayal of Farmer Ted, the self proclaimed "King of the Dipshits". This movie is gold from top to bottom. The plot revolves around one day in the life of Molly Ringwald's character Samantha. It's her birthday, a fact her family has forgotten in light of the marraige of her older sister. She also has an unrequited crush on Jake, the school dreamboat, and these two facts give the movie its central plot. Ted, however, has his beady little eyes set on Samantha. The interplay between Hall and Ringwald onscreen is brilliant, with Ringwald playing the role of the 'straight man' to perfection. Look for bit roles from the likes of Jon Cusack and his sister Joan. Oh, and who could forget everyone's favorite foreign exchange student, Long Duk Dong. From beginning to end, a comedic classic.
In 1985, Hall starred in two more teen films for John Hughes, who was his mentor. The Breakfast Club starred almost all of the members of the infamous 'Brat Pack'. As you are surely aware, this movie revolves around five completely different people sequestered together in the school library on a Saturday for detention. They were a jock, a princess, a geek, a rebel and a basket case. Pure gold. There is little to be said about this movie that hasn't been said already. In the unlikely event you haven't seen it, well, you are most certainly over the age of fifty and wouldn't enjoy it at this point anyway. The movie is based on the premise that the stereotypes we have of people are inherently silly and the only way to truly know somebody is to talk to them. Our heroes in this movie do just that, with hilarious results. Hall once again plays the geek, a fact that begins to bother him by this point. However, he performs brilliantly as the troubled Brian Johnson, a dork no one pays any attention to.
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