Pretty in Pink

Roger Ebert started his review of the 1986 film, “Pretty in Pink,” by saying, “Although "Pretty in Pink" contains several scenes that are a great deal more dramatic, my favorite moments were the quietest ones, in which nothing was being said because a boy was trying to get up the courage to ask a girl out on a date, and she knew it, and he knew it, and still nothing was happening.”

To be able to listen to this silence is to understand the main problem of adolescence, which is that their dreams are much larger than their confidence. “Pretty in Pink” is a movie that pays attention to these matters. Even though this is not a great movie, it has some moments when the audience is likely to think, yes, being 16 was exactly like that.

The movie stars Molly Ringwald as Andie Walsh, a poor girl from the bad side of town. Her mother abandoned her when she was a child, and she lives with her unemployed father, played by Harry Dean Stanton, whose first words after she wakes him one morning are, “Where am I?” Ebert noted, “Andie works in a record store in a downtown mall and wears fashions that seem thrown together by a collision between a Goodwill store and a 1950s revival.”

Andie goes to high school where most of the kids are from wealthy parents, and she has a crush on a rich kid named Blane, played by Andrew McCarthy.

Ebert mentioned, “Her best friends are Duckie (Jon Cryer), who is a case study of the kind of teenage boy who thinks he can clown his way into a girl's heart, and Iona (Annie Potts), a 30ish sprite who affects one radical hairstyle after another.”

The movie’s plot is very old. It’s about how the rich boy and the poor girl love each other, but the rich kid’s friends are snobs, and the poor girl doesn’t want anyone to know what an untidy home she lives in, and about how they find true love after all. Ebert said, “Since the basic truths in the movie apply to all teenagers, rich and poor, I wish the filmmakers would have found a new plot to go along with them.”

Ebert continued, “Perhaps they could have made the lovers come from different ethnic groups, which wouldn't have been all that original, either, but at least would have avoided one more recycling of ancient Horatio Alger stories.”

Ebert went on, “There is one other major problem with the movie, and that involves the character of Steff McKee (James Spader), the effete, chain-smoking rich snob who is Blane's best friend. He has been turned down several times by Andie and now pretends to be appalled that Blane would want to go out with such a "mutant."” His snobbery almost ruins the romance.

Steff does have one great line of dialogue: “Money really means nothing to me. Do you think I’d treat my parents’ house this way if it did?” But, as played by Spader, he looks much too old to be a teenager, and his scenes play restlessly for that reason. Ebert said, “He seems more like a sinister 25-year-old still lurking in the high school corridors, the Ghost of Proms Past.”

Those problems mentioned, “Pretty in Pink” is a heartwarming and most truthful movie, with some nice moments of humor. Ebert noted, “The movie was written by John Hughes, who repeats the basic situation of his "Sixteen Candles," which starred Ringwald as a girl who had a crush on a senior boy, and learned to communicate with the class geek. But Ringwald is becoming an actress who can project poignancy and vulnerability without seeming corny or coy, and her scenes here with Cryer and Potts have one moment of small truth after another.”

The nicest surprise in the movie is the character created by Potts. Ebert mentioned, “The first time we see her, she's dressed in leather and chains, but the next time, she wears one of those beehive hairdos from the early 1960s.” She is always testing her “look,” and when she finally settles on conservative good taste, the choice seems like her most radical so far.

Ebert said, “"Pretty in Pink" is evidence, I suppose, that there must be a reason why certain old stories never seem to die.” We know all the cliches, we can predict half of the moments. However, in the end, when this boy and this girl, who are so obviously meant for one another, finally get together, there is great satisfaction. Ebert ended his review by saying, “There also is the sense that Ringwald just might have that subtle magic that will allow her, like the young Elizabeth Taylor, to grow into an actress who will keep on breaking and mending boys' hearts for a long time.”

This is another movie that I have been thinking about seeing for some time. Recently, I found this film on Paramount+ and decided to watch it. This is a classic that I cannot believe I have never seen. Check it out if you haven’t. You will love it, I promise.

Next week I will be looking at another classic that I just found to be good in “John Hughes Month.” Sorry for the late posting. I had completely forgotten about the day because I had family over and I was tired from work.