Two Classics Reach Anniversary Milestones.

Can you believe it? "Raiders of the Lost Ark" is turning 30 this week, and "Ferris Bueller's Day Off" is turning 25! I have a few things to say about that.

Y'all know by now that I'm a big Pirates of the Caribbean nerdwicket. Though there's no photographic proof, I did dress piratey at the midnight premiere. A Captain Jack action figure rides in my purse wherever I go. People ask me why I love Pirates so much, and my stock answer is: Because it's the most fun I've had at the movies since "Raiders of the Lost Ark."

Yes, it's true. Indiana Jones paved the way for my Captain Jack obsession, decades earlier. When those of my generation saw "Raiders," we didn't know what hit us. Is it action? Is it adventure? Is it romance? Is it mystery? The thing was unclassifiable, because it included every genre that could hope to capture a pre-teen's imagination. Who knows, maybe that's why fedoras turned cool in the early 80's. I'm sure the surge in bullwhip sales was less talked about.

I would wager that there's no more quotable movie on earth than "Raiders of the Lost Ark." Its theme song is iconic (heck, my husband and I exited our wedding back down the aisle to it!), and "Raiders" still has cultural significance, 30 years later. Ask Blizzard, the makers of World of Warcraft. They have a whole storyline in the game humorously based on "Raiders," and if you're over 35 and can play that through without your face hurting from smiling, there's something wrong with you.

Ferris Bueller, on the other hand, is pretty quotable, but cool for other reasons. Inspector Gadget? Producers, schmoducers. I still can't look at Matthew Broderick and think of him as anyone but Ferris Bueller. And let's face it...Ben Stein built an entire career on one word: "Bueller?" We also get a prophetic glance of Charlie Sheen in a police station, awaiting disposition.

I didn't know anyone at my high school who was as cool as they made Ferris Bueller out to be, but it was legendary cool the day Damon Fitzgerald told Mr. Kimes to go pee on an electric fence.

What we liked about Ferris is that he didn't break the rules because of angst, or even because he could. He did it because he was smarter than the adults around him, and had the guts to question things like, "Why should I care about European Socialism?" Ferris Bueller was the quintessential trickster archetype, aligned "chaotic good." My Dad didn't understand Ferris Bueller; he thought it was "a movie about some punk who defies authority." I guess that disconnect is the whole point.

"Abe Frohman, the Sausage King of Chicago" was dedicated to enjoying his life, and helping those around him enjoy it, too. He somehow understood that all too soon, adulthood would kick the crap out of him. I like to think Ferris Bueller married his girl and became an advertising executive, and that he lets his kids get away with things once in a while.

In any case, both movies are still classics, and both are still as fun as they day they were released.