The Date Debate


Several years ago, an article was published by Baseball Prospectus writer Larry Granillo which declared that Ferris Bueller’s Day Off took place on June 5, 1985. In the film, as Mr. Rooney gathers himself after having a drink spit in his face, the man behind the counter at the pizza joint is watching the Chicago Cubs game on television. Using this brief scene from the film where we see the game on TV and hear commentary from Cubs television broadcast announcer Harry Caray, Granillo was able to determine the precise game from which the baseball footage was taken. 

Image: Paramount Pictures

Honestly, he did some pretty amazing detective work to pin down the scenario taking place when Ferris nabs the foul ball in the left field seats. I have no doubt in Granillo’s findings that the footage seen on the pizza joint television came from the June 5, 1985 game between the Chicago Cubs and the Atlanta Braves.

Image: Paramount Pictures

But when it comes to taking this discovery as far as to say that Ferris Bueller unequivocally took his famous day off on that same day … I have a different opinion. Here’s why…

The Baseball Game Logic

There are a lot of holes in the June 5th theory starting with a second Baseball Prospectus article published a few days later also written by Larry Granillo. In this follow-up, Granillo clarifies that the baseball footage seen on the television screen at the pizza joint comes from a different game entirely than the one taking place when the scene cuts to Wrigley Field. 

While the game on the television is clearly the Cubs versus the Braves, the footage shot on location at Wrigley Field shows a tiny (and virtually unnoticeable) difference. While the team on the field is wearing uniforms nearly identical to the ones worn by the Braves on the television footage – light blue uniforms with dark blue shirts underneath – a very small amount of red can be seen on the left side of the caps worn by the opposing team. 

Image: Paramount Pictures

The Cubs were playing the Montreal Expos when this footage was shot. Not the Braves.


Knowing that single fact alone, how can it be said definitively that June 5th is the right day? If we’re going to apply this logic to the film using the baseball game, how can we ignore the many other aspects of Ferris Bueller’s Day Off that would place the day in vastly different places on the calendar?

The Parade

It’s been well-documented that the parade scene in the film was shot during Chicago’s annual Von Steuben Day Parade – a September celebration of German-American culture which marked its 20th anniversary in 1985. Both the parade and the 20-year milestone can be verified in the film during the few shots of the event before the taxi cab scene.

Image: Paramount Pictures

So if it can be said that the baseball game (one of them, at least) took place on June 5, 1985 so, therefore, that must be the date … could the same not be said for the parade using the same logic? Who says Ferris Bueller didn’t take his day off in September of 1985?

Since it’s not possible for both to be correct, I think that should negate the use of the “baseball game logic.” But let’s go even further down this rabbit hole.

At the Movies

Also during the parade scene, we catch a glimpse of two different movie theaters – one on the left side of the parade route (from the viewer’s perspective) and another on the right. The theater on the left is currently showing three films: Creature (Release date: 5/8/85), The Devil Within Her (Release date undetermined) and The Ninja Mission (Release date: 9/84).

Image: Paramount Pictures

Across the street, movie-goers could take in Teen Wolf or Godzilla ‘85, both initially released on August 23, 1985.

Image: Paramount Pictures

Using the same logic of what you see is what you get, this puts Ferris Bueller’s Day Off very close to the August 1985 release dates of Teen Wolf and Gozilla. It wouldn’t be too much later than that because with a look at this scene in full-screen, we see that both films are “ALL NEW.”

Image: Paramount Pictures

Newspapers

Further muddying the waters are the few times we see a newspaper during Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. The first such instance comes as Ferris, Sloane and Cameron exit the parking garage after dropping off the Ferrari (00:36:28). Stepping onto the sidewalk, they are offered a copy of the Chicago Sun-Times as they pass by two gentlemen just outside the garage entrance.

The man seated on the ledge is holding the Sun-Times from August 23, 1985. This can be confirmed by the front page headline as well as the sports headline on the back page when he turns the paper as the Day Off trio passes by.

Image: Paramount Pictures / Chicago Sun-Times


Image: Paramount Pictures / Chicago Sun-Times


For what it’s worth, I have been unable to determine dates of the newspapers offered by the other gentlemen. In the image below, Newspaper 1 features a sports headline “Cubs Fall To Giants” while Newspaper 2 spotlights a story titled “The Gift of Freedom.” 

Image: Paramount Pictures

The dates in 1985 when the Cubs lost to the Giants included May 9, July 4, July 5, July 6, July 18, and July 21. Nothing in June and nothing after July.

Either way, the “baseball game” logic now puts Ferris Bueller’s Day Off in late August.

The other time we see a newspaper is when Ferris comes face-to-face with his father in their adjacent taxi cabs. Oblivious to his nearby son, Mr. Bueller is invested in his somewhat modified Sun-Times from September 10, 1985. 

Image: Paramount Pictures


The front page of this newspaper is much easier to catch in the full-screen version of the film.

Image: Paramount Pictures / Chicago Sun-Times


Now we’re back to FBDO taking place in September.

Also of note here is the fact that we’re all very familiar with the bottom half of Mr. Bueller’s newspaper as we remember it featuring an article with the headline “Community rallies around sick youth.”

Image: Paramount Pictures


Obviously, this is a modification made for the movie but if you look closely as the camera zooms in on the article, the content of the text is that of the original article in that location: “Cop terrorizes suburb office, then kills self.” The textbox at the very bottom still directs readers to the article “Baseball, shame, cocaine.”

Image: Paramount Pictures


Also, I’d be remiss if I didn’t recognize the photo of actress Shelley Long in the bottom right corner that has been replaced with an overhead photo of downtown Chicago.

Other articles seen in Mr. Bueller’s newspaper match their original printings but oddly come from a different print date than the front page. All four articles noted below were printed in the September 12, 1985 issue of the Chicago Sun-Times.

Image: Paramount Pictures / Chicago Sun-Times


Image: Paramount Pictures / Chicago Sun-Times

Arbitrary Events

To me, the dates from the baseball game and the parade to the movies and the newspapers should be considered arbitrary in terms of pinpointing Ferris Bueller’s actual day off. Nowhere in any of these scenes do we see anything that suggests a specific date to the casual viewer. Since there is no correlation between any of the dates associated with the events mentioned above and the actual dates have no direct impact on the film itself, it’s not possible to suggest that any one of these events can determine the Day Off date.

Just because Ferris Bueller was filmed at a particular baseball game or on a specific parade route doesn’t necessarily mean the movie takes place on one of those dates.

The original Karate Kid movie was filmed from October 31, 1983 until December 16, 1983, but according to the All-Valley Tournament poster, the competition takes place on December 19th.

Image: Columbia Pictures

Filming of The Breakfast Club began on March 28, 1984, but Anthony Michael Hall’s character, Brian, clearly states the date of the Saturday detention in the opening of the film: March 24, 1984.

So When DID Ferris Take the Day Off?

First and foremost, I think it’s completely reasonable to assume that Ferris Bueller takes place in the late spring. Baseball season is underway and there are multiple references throughout the film to the end of the school semester and Ferris’s pending graduation. I feel comfortable starting with a range of late April through late June.

When he calls Mrs. Bueller at work (00:09:17), Mr. Rooney suggests that Ferris is “sorely mistaken” if he thinks he can “coast through this month and still graduate.” With Midwestern high school graduations typically taking place during the month of May or early in June, that narrows our window.

During the final scene of the film, with Ferris back in bed and his parents home from work, he tells them that he wants to go to school and that he has to “graduate in June.” If the film were set in early June (based on the baseball game, for example), Ferris would surely not choose these particular words but rather something like “I have to graduate this month.” If today is Tuesday and you have an appointment in the afternoon, you don’t tell someone that day that you have an appointment on Tuesday.

At this point, I’m now leaning towards sometime in the month of May, but I’m not completely satisfied with my supporting evidence. Not until we take a walk down the halls of Shermer High School with Jeanie as she is told Ferris will donate his eyes to Stevie Wonder if he doesn’t survive his illness. While there are many posters hanging in the hallway, two specific posters stand out.

On one poster, Shermer students are invited to band try-outs to be held on May 6th and 7th.

Image: Paramount Pictures


On another poster, students are reminded to turn in their submission for the school art magazine before the deadline of May 15th (possibly a different date – it’s blurry – but a date in May, for certain).

Image: Paramount Pictures


With the school year wrapping up, it’s entirely possible that these posters are outdated and just haven’t been removed from the walls in a timely manner. So I need something concrete to visibly confirm that Ferris Bueller’s Day Off takes place in May.

Something like a calendar.

Maybe a calendar owned by someone who shows signs of obsessive tendencies. 

Someone who feels like they are in charge and in full control of every aspect of their life. 

Someone who would never sink so low as to have a calendar in their professional work space that did not display the accurate date.

Someone like Edward R. Rooney, Dean of Students.

Image: Paramount Pictures


And there you have it.

I admire the work of Baseball Prospectus in pinpointing the specific baseball game(s) attended by Ferris, Sloane and Cameron. But to accept one writer’s article as “official Ferris Bueller canon” without digging deeper into the details of the film leaves so much territory uncharted. Only by navigating the full course of the film can one truly understand when Ferris Bueller took his day off.

In May.

Not June.

Image: Paramount Pictures

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