Pretty in Pink

Possible spoilers: To hell with the Duckie vs. Blane question. Steff's the only interesting one.

1. He's fearless: Duckie's afraid to tell Andie he loves her, Blane's afraid of his friends, but Steff walks up and hits on her right in front of his friends without caring what they'll think. He exploits Blane's shame about Andie but clearly feels no shame himself.

2. Duckie's suffering puppy love, Blane's just curious, but Steff has been after Andie for years. When he says it's "not *only* for sex," he's probably telling the truth, in his own sarcastic way. Key scene, when Blane and Andie walk in on Steff and Benny Bimbo, and Steff clearly wishes he were with the hot geeky girl, instead of the vapid blonde, even if Benny is better-looking, sexually available, and approved by his friends. And it's not only the challenge attracts him to Andie: despite his arrogance, he's probably been turned down before. He just suspects that with Andie, he'd have something real, and with Benny, whether her ecstasy is real or faked, it will be conducted according to "Cosmo."

3. He's willing to fight for what he wants, i.e., sabotaging Andie's relationship with Blane. OK, he's fighting dirty--but he's fighting at all. The others are about as decisive as Hamlet.

Right, enough deep thought devoted to what should probably be regarded as another teen movie. I give full credit to Spader, who fleshed out what could have been a one-dimensional baddie by making him really interested in Andie in his own sociopathic way, instead giving lip-service to a script that could have been played with the character being vicious solely out of hurt pride and snobbery.

Writer John Hughes has the 80's pegged. But this story could have been set in the 50's or 60's and still worked well. That is why I think this movie is so relevant. Devotion, friendship, and self worth are quizzed. The young actors were better than expected. I have watched this over a dozen times and I don't care if some people refer to this as a "chick flick".

A young girl falls in love with a boy from the other side of the tracks. Problems occur when his peers think the object of his desires is socially beneath him.

Molly Ringwald was very good. Andrew McCarthy and Jon Cryer seemed to feel their part more than the rest of the cast. But James Spader was such a realistic jerk, you want to get up and punch his face in. Harry Dean Stanton and Annie Potts play the adult roles of substance. Have you ever seen Stanton so sympathetic?

A very upbeat soundtrack keeps the movie flowing and helps you feel the atmosphere. Don't write this off as just another teen movie. Highly recommended.

... not even in the 80s, not even in a teen movie in the 80s.

This is a cult favorite starring Molly Ringwald as Andie, a high school senior of limited means. She gets persistently bullied by the rich crowd at school. Her mom ran out on her and her dad, and as a result dad is chronically unemployed and likes to drink, but he's not a mean drunk. Molly also has to deal with Duckie (Jon Cryer), an amiable goofball who is madly in love with her.

Andie is surprised when wealthy Blaine (Andrew McCarthy) casts an eye in her direction. However, their dating is causing tensions among his elite circle. Or should I say elitist circle? They have all the charm of the French aristocracy before they were guillotined. Blaine asks Andie to the prom, but when he comes up against brick wall opposition from all of his friends he wilts and pulls away from Andie, making lame excuses about having already asked somebody else to the prom. She sees right through him. Meanwhile Andie's dad has managed to buy a pink dress at a thrift shop, and she decides to fix it up as a prom dress and go to the prom anyways.

How will this all turn out? Watch and find out. Let me single out James Spader as doing a great turn as Blaine's snobby friend Steff. He is the one who convinces Blaine that Andie is nothing special. Plus there is a scene I will never forget. At the high school, as Andie passes Steff at a distance, he gives her a look like she is something he scraped off of his shoe. It is creepy and it is real. Kudos to Mr. Spader for such a great early performance.

The excellent supporting cast includes Harry Dean Stanton as Molly's dad, James Spader perfecting his rich jerk persona, Annie Potts as Andie's kooky co-worker at a record store who thinks she is a relic because she is mid 30s, Kate Vernon, Gina Gershon, Kristy Swanson, Margaret Colin, Dweezil Zappa, and Andrew "Dice" Clay. The script by John Hughes mostly works, and the good New Wave songs on the soundtrack add to the film's charm. I'm not exactly the target audience for teen romance films, even thirty years ago when it was released, but even I enjoyed it, so if it's your kind of thing, you should love it.

Just one more thing...Jon Cryer grew up and filled out nicely. Who would have thought in 1986 that 25 years later Cryer would be the hunk and Charlie Sheen would have the appearance of a death mask. Go for depth girls, you don't know what the geeky guy in high school will look like when he matures.

I have seen all John Hughes movies from the 80s starring Molly Ringwald and you can't really watch them without comparing them. "Sixteen candles" is more of a "pure" teen-comedy with a big house party followed by a "hangover"-morning, and "Breakfast Club" is the most serious one and, as far as I'm concerned, the most distinctive of the "Brat-pack" movies.

Breakfast Club is the one I like the most, but "Pretty in pink" is also a very good movie. Molly plays (as always) a very unusual girl who lives with her lazy but very caring father (Harry Dean Stanton). She has only two real friends and one of them is a guy called "Duckie". Duckie is kind of a geek and Jon Cryer does this part so good you don't even miss Anthony Michael Hall a bit. Molly also works in a record store owned by her other friend played by Annie Potts.

Molly falls in love with a rich and popular guy (McCarthey) who has mutual feelings. The story is very cliché with a rich guy and a poor girl from two opposite sides of society who falls in love, causing disappointments among their old friends. Duckie is really hurt and McCarthey's best friend tells him to drop Molly, mostly caused by jealousy in this case. This jealous friend is played by James Spader and he is very good at playing bad. The cliché's are told with charm and intelligence though (like "Mischief") and some scenes almost brings tears to the eyes. (I wonder if the movie would have been even better if Hughes had directed it himself!?)

Anyway, it's a sweet story with many wonderful actors typical of the 80s. Remember to look for a very young and very gorgeous Gina Gershon as a High School girl.

The only thing I miss is a great song or two, like the ones in Sixteen candles and Breakfast club. Otherwise if you're crazy like me about the movies from the 80s I see no reason to skip this one.

This movie also has one of the most clever titles ever.

One last collaboration for John Hughes and Molly Ringwald, whose creative partnership dissolved after this film. Somewhat softer and more self-serious than the preceding teen epics Sixteen Candles and The Breakfast Club, it tackles social cliques and classism from various perspectives. Ringwald and leading man Andrew McCarthy, akin to Romeo and Juliet, find their young relationship stressed by the negative influence of friends who insist they find someone closer to their own status. There really isn't much sparkle to the pairing, though, apart from a few awkward make-out scenes, and they both come off as especially wet noodles in comparison to the vibrant, brash supporting cast. Jon Cryer is most memorable of these as Duckie, a flamboyant mod who's been carrying a torch for Ringwald all his life, and nearly steals the film with an abrupt dance/lip-sync number just before everything gets overly angsty. Most of the third act is wasted on hand-wringing and moping, though, and the ending (changed at the last minute, much to Hughes's chagrin) feels disingenuous even if it does make a better fit for the movie's theme. The window dressings are drowned in '80s flavor, too, from the appropriately synthy soundtrack to the Halloween-grade costume choices. Looks like everyone at this school was either Don Johnson, Sid Vicious or Morrissey.