80sfilms

While I’m on a John Hughes roll, I may as well give a shout out to 1985’s Weird Science, which had some great young stars in it (Bill Paxton, Anthony Michael Hall, Robert Downey Jr.!).

Yet another tale about outcasts striving to fit in, Weird Science was for boys what Pretty In Pink was for girls.

While Ilan Mitchell-Smith (who played Wyatt) faded into obscurity in the early 90s, Anthony Michael Hall, Bill Paxton and Robert Downey Jr. have all enjoyed strong revivals to their careers in the past few years.

And as for 1985’s ideal woman, Kelly LeBrock, she’s still acting here and there. Her character, Lisa, however, is still clad in spandex and out there somewhere teaching young boys how to become men. Even Oingo Boingo (who performed the theme song “Weird Science” for the soundtrack) is still playing.

I don’t feel so old now, I guess.

What happens when a jock, geek, wastoid, prom queen
and psycho spend a Saturday in detention? You get 1985’s The Breakfast Club, courtesy of John Hughes.

Back when I first saw this film, I most readily identified with (and still identify with) the geek, with maybe a dash of the psycho thrown in for good measure. I never was good at sports, nor will I ever be mistaken for a prom queen, and drugs never were my thing.

The beauty of The Breakfast Club was that the film acknowledged that the high school hierarchy was stronger than any friendships forged ramdomly, however deep those friendships might be.

I knew this all to well.

I was a fringe player in high school. Yes, I had a few “popular” friends, but I was not readily accepted into their group.

Pick your reason–I didn’t have money, I wasn’t pretty enough, and boys didn’t know I existed. (Not that I’m complaining, because it was during those four years of high school that I developed by wicked sense of humor–can anyone say defense mechanism?)

That’s why films like The Breakfast Club, Pretty In Pink and Sixteen Candles resonated so deeply with me–all three featured characters on the fringes just trying to survive high school and move on to bigger and better things.

I like to think that Brian (the geek in The Breakfast Club) became a doctor or lawyer or something like that, married a model and had lots of cute kids; Samantha (Sixteen Candles) married Jake Ryan and together they moved to New York City and lived lives full of promise, excitement and love; and Andie (Pretty in Pink) started her own line of clothing and went on to become a designer to the stars.

Of course, we now know that the geek grew up to be a hunk, the prom queen went on to Broadway, and Jake Ryan fell off the grid.

John Hughes created magic in 1986 with yet another film about misfits and fitting in.

Forget Blane–when it comes to Pretty In Pink, I was, and always will be, a Duckie girl.

After all, Duckie had the good taste in music, the cool shoes, and the rad hair. All Blane had was a bunch of jerky friends and a “sheep” mentality.

I know, I know, Hughes tried to salvage Blane at the end of the movie, but really, Andie may not have believed in Blane, but what was she supposed to do when he invited her to the dance then dodged her phone calls?

Oh, he “forgot” he had already invited someone else? Give me a break!

And what about that soundtrack? OMD, Suzanne Vega, INXS, The Psychadelic Furs, New Order, The Smiths…pure 80s music heaven.

Familiar faces like Gina Gershon and Andrew Dice Clay have minor parts in the film, and bad boy James Spader does what he does best–acts sleazy and sexy.

All in all, Pretty In Pink still looks good over 20 years later.

Sixteen Candles came out in 1984, when I was in eigth grade and dreading high school and all that it entailed (cliques, drugs, sex, etc.).

I wasn’t quite ready for what the next few years had in store, and then I saw Sixteen Candles, written and directed by John Hughes, and I had hope.

Hope that I might be accepted, hope that boys might find me attractive (braces and all), and, most of all, hope that Jake Ryan would sweep me off my feet.

While none of those things ever quite panned out, I did, years later, find out that, much like my Sixteen Candles‘ heroine Samantha Baker, I was on the radar of one of the popular boys in school. Nothing ever came of it, but still.

I have now seen Sixteen Candles more times than I can count (at least 100…) and can recite practically every line.

And I even ended up marrying my very own “Jake Ryan”–no black Trans Am, though, but he is a pink guy.

Want to own Sixteen Candles? Get it here.

I was born in the early 70s, so much of my youth was spent in the 80s, where I developed not only my taste in music, but also my love for films. Particularly those of John Hughes, who seemed to be the only person in the world who understood the pain of adolescence, especially the pain felt by dorks, geeks and unpopular girls (I fell into all three categories).

Enter three of the best 80s films: Pretty in Pink, Sixteen Candles and The Breakfast Club. Yes, all starred Molly Ringwald, who, incidentally, grew up in my hometown, but more importantly, all three films gave me hope that maybe one day I would find my place in the world.

I eventually did, and now I get to reminisce right here about the good, the bad…and the 80s.