The original shooting script is worth a read if you want a better sense of what Ferris was supposed to be. [1] There were a lot of cut scenes that just paint Ferris as a complete d-bag.
There's a scene where he's rifling through his parents closet trying to find the savings bonds they've been saving for him for college, so he can fund his adventure for the day. He calls his dad and manipulates his concern for his health into into revealing where the bonds are being kept.
Then followed by a scene with the three of them at the bank trying to cash the bonds, and a little old lady teller - Ferris introduces Sloan as Madonna and Cameron as ZZ top. Just struck me as them making fun of an old lady for no good reason. At least the maitre'd deserved the humiliation.
I remember a scene in a strip club as well. I'm sure many of these scenes were shot.
If these scenes had been included I would have been a lot harder to like Ferris as a character. Knowing what to cut is just as important as knowing what to keep. I think they did a decent job in the final film of taking Ferris right up to that "disrespectful" line, but never letting him cross it.
I liked Ferris because his winning at life was due to him always being on the right side of things, not because he was a dick. He put Cameron first as a person above the material damage to the car, etc. It just felt like he had life priorities in order... like that was the point of it. Break rules when doing so puts you on the right side of things. Wasn't that the lesson he was trying to teach Cameron?
There's a scene where he's rifling through his parents closet trying to find the savings bonds they've been saving for him for college, so he can fund his adventure for the day. He calls his dad and manipulates his concern for his health into into revealing where the bonds are being kept.
Then followed by a scene with the three of them at the bank trying to cash the bonds, and a little old lady teller - Ferris introduces Sloan as Madonna and Cameron as ZZ top. Just struck me as them making fun of an old lady for no good reason. At least the maitre'd deserved the humiliation.
I remember a scene in a strip club as well. I'm sure many of these scenes were shot.
If these scenes had been included I would have been a lot harder to like Ferris as a character. Knowing what to cut is just as important as knowing what to keep. I think they did a decent job in the final film of taking Ferris right up to that "disrespectful" line, but never letting him cross it.
I liked Ferris because his winning at life was due to him always being on the right side of things, not because he was a dick. He put Cameron first as a person above the material damage to the car, etc. It just felt like he had life priorities in order... like that was the point of it. Break rules when doing so puts you on the right side of things. Wasn't that the lesson he was trying to teach Cameron?
[1] https://www.dailyscript.com/scripts/ferris_bueller_shooting....