re: Most Influential: John Hughes or Harold Ramis?

for me it was Ramis.

I didn't get into the Hughes films much growing up, but Stripes, Ghost Busters and so many other films Ramis was involved in were such a huge portion of my cinematic childhood, I could only go with him.

Influential? I think it's Hughes. His style of film, aimed at suburban teens, is style practically its own subgenre to this day, and even if the newer versions aren't nearly as good, they are still copping from his script. Hughes wrote the template for teen angst films, while still respecting the intelligence of teens (the irony being that his best film is Planes Trains and Autombiles - a film about the role of fathers/husbands in suburbia).

Harold Ramis films are funny as hell, and f'n brilliant, but who has picked up his mantle other than Apatow?

Ramis made films about freaks, oddballs, and losers. And by the end of the film, they did not conquer the rich kids - they were often still losers by the movie's end (Ghostbusters being a notable exception). His films are not triumphant, they revel in smart people aiming low, and not even hitting that mark. In a world that now worships beauty, money, and success, Ramis made heroes of characters who were simple wise asses who just wanted to do drugs and kill time.

And we rooted like hell for them. Animal House perfectly sums up Ramis' films, "I think that this situation absolutely requires a really futile and stupid gesture be done on somebody's part"

He was just the guy to do it.

I'm going with Hughes b/c they made a bigger impact on me than Ramis. Of course I was the prime target of Hughes' movies when they were released but overall he's a better director and writer and pretty much created a genre.

The only knock I have on Ramis, well it's probably not a knock, is Ghostbusters. I never understood the fascination with that movie at the time. It was everywhere and saturated pop culture, but to me it isn't funny or good.

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Their significant interaction was National Lampoon's Vacation - a classic Hughes script, based on his real life experience going to Disneyland as a kid in the late 1950s, and was directed by Harold Ramis. One of the best comedies of all time.

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I think you said it best. Hughes quite literally put the zeitgeist of a generation to film. One can absolutely base an anthropological study of the 80s on his films.

Ramis and the SCTV/NL crew literally redefined modern American comedy and are as important to it as Monty Python is to modern British comedy.

Put together, the output was, as you accurately said it, one of the best comedies of all time.

Hughes found a great 80's niche but Ramis has affected American culture more profoundly. You can't get through a round of golf without quoting him, and people do it without even knowing.

Animal House, Stripes, Vacation and Caddyshack are 4 of the greatest comedies of all time, and they hold up without being "80's Movies."

Stripes is one of the best army movies out there.. No it was not really a in deep army movie but it was one you could watch more then once and get a lol out of they don't make movies like that anymore. Ramis imho better then Hughes just base of type of movies he made.

Dam, I am in my late 30s and this is getting to me...

Both made templates for many to follow, but I'd go Ramis.

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Hughes - Ferris Bueller still rocking

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Garbage movie. Can't stand it.

Although I do enjoy most of Hughes other works.

Think on this: we love ranking things. The best 5 comedies of all time instance. The vast majority of people out there will include one or more of the following on that list. Some people fill the whole list with them.

Caddyshack
Animal house
Vacation

Not many people would be able to remove any one of those from the top 5. And that doesn't even include:

Ghostbusters
Stripes
Groundhog Day

I've never heard someone list. Hughes film in their top 5 comedies ever.

The thing to me about all those Hughes teen movies is none of them were even better than the movie that perfectly parodied them, Heathers.