He also gave us "Ferris Bueller's Day Off" which I remember seeing at a theater in Sheridan, WY while I was at geology field camp. It certainly transformed Ben Stein from a presidential speech writer into a comedian/actor. It also cured a bit of home sickness I had for Chicago at the time.
And it certainly put a lot of stars on the map including the "Brat Pack" of Anthony Michael Hall, Ally Sheedy, Molly Ringwold, Amilio Estevez, and others. Later he would take a kid named Macaulay Culkin and put him in a couple of movies including one where he was left home alone. I forgot the name of that one. ;oP
As I said, his movies were fluff in my book, but he certainly knew how to milk a cash cow by hitting the right chords with audiences.