Left Field Cinema

Warning: Contains Spoilers

"He's crazy about her, she's crazy about him, and he's just crazy."

Imagine William Shakespeare had got to the last stanza of Romeo and Juliet and decided to scrap the ending and have the young Juliet to hook up with Paris. That’s right, Paris. John Hughes was the darling of 1980’s teen cinema, a recognized creative force of that time. His films were phenomenally successful; popular with critics and audiences alike. Roger Ebert once said “…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”, Ebert praised both Sixteen Candles and Pretty in Pink. John Hughes made a series of landmark 1980s films, which upped the level of teen angst and took seriously the problems of the every white middle class suburban kid. The problems these kids had of course are the biggest problem of any teenage life – love and sex and not necessarily in that order.

Hughes’ first film as a director was Sixteen Candles, which unfortunately has not stood up to the ravages of time well. The jokes fall flat, the incidental racism directed at a supporting Japanese character jar in this politically improved age and the screwball nature of the script feels choppy against the shoehorned in teen angst. Though the saving grace of the film is the strong performances from future Brat Packers and Hughes regulars Molly Ringwald and Anthony Michael Hall. Hughes followed this film up with a number of Teen classics in the next few years as writer and director. The titles themselves speak for the quality of his work: The Breakfast Club, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off and Weird Science. Hughes established himself as a writer and director of reliable quality, a maker of funny and angst ridden teen films. However, his masterpiece came in 1986 when as writer/producer he helped director Howard Deutch, make Pretty In Pink.

It is often forgotten that Hughes did not direct this work because he was the marquee name behind the product, in the same way Howard Hawks ‘’produced’’ films in the 1940s/50s Hughes fingerprints pervade every inch of this film. The plot is fairly simple: poor girl likes rich guy; rich guy likes poor girl, poor girl’s poor best friend also likes poor girl and rich guy’s richer best friend does not like anyone, least of all himself. The plot has all the elements of the greatest of love stories, the right guy versus the best friend, who should she choose to go to Prom with?

The acting in Pretty in Pink is perhaps what sets this apart from John Hughes’ other work. If you compare what is often considered his most celebratory film The Breakfast Club to Pretty In Pink then you can see why it has sustained. Within The Breakfast Club you have five main characters, all of whom by design are representation of a school social class The Geek, The Princess, The Jock, The Weirdo and The Rebel, because of this the acting is at best stilted and fake and at worse painfully bad. Just look at Judd Nelson as The Rebel, he is trying to be cool and failing miserably. However, Pretty in Pink is meant to be a more realistic take on high school and as such the actors are freer to be more natural. Both the leads are excellent, Molly Ringwald never being closer to Roger Ebert’s Elizabeth Taylor comparison; she is cute and funny. Andrew McCarthy brings a certain charm to the traditional boring leading man role; he is wet as a weekend in thunderstorm but brings a certain 1980s preppy charisma to the role. However what really sets the film apart is the performance from the two main supporting actors. Jon Cryer is tremendous as Duckie, the perennial best friend. He is wickedly funny, nervously charismatic and was a geek hero before that was ever considered to be cool. James Spader seems to be in a completely different film to everyone else, he is clearly at least 10 years to old to be in High School but do not hold this against him, Spader is the coolest bad guy in any teen film. His dress sense, an array of grey and white suits is perfect and the disdain he treats both the role and the script is hilarious. The further supporting characters are also excellently portrayed with the ever wonderful Harry Dean Stanton providing the most outstanding performance from the rest of the cast.

The opening scene reveals clearly the whole nature of the film in one shot. It is a lingering focus upon railway tracks. For anyone who missed the subtly of the shot it is repeated twenty minutes into the movie: the girl is from the wrong side of the tracks to the guy. This is story of how two worlds can keep true love separated by their disdain for each other. Romeo & Juliet only had warring families keeping them apart; Pretty in Pink has the separation of the white middle class and the white upper class keeping them apart! Divides have never before or since been so impassable. It is obvious from this description that film is not directed with much panache, in fact it is completely perfunctory lacking any noticeable subtly, skill or talent. The skill of the film comes from John Hughes’ writing, which retains its comedic charm and romantic edge. There are a number of hilarious one-liners, and many more that underline the tragedy of being young, beautiful and in love. The other major strength of the movie is the soundtrack, it has a number a great alternative 1980s pop and rock tunes with the odd classic thrown in for good measure.

What keeps this film interesting after more than 20 years when so many other films from the time, especially teen movies of the time, is that the studio got the film wrong. Everyone in the audience knows that Molly Ringwald should end up with Duckie, the best friend, the original ending written by Hughes had that ending, but it was changed after studio interference. This bizarre reversal of the film that was forced upon Hughes and Deutch keeps the movie permanently interesting to the last frame, the whole design of the film was create a movie where lead girl finally falls for her adoring best friend however the re-shot ending of the movie pulls the rug from under the characters and audience. Imagine if Juliet had picked Paris rather than Romeo, it is lucky for Mr Shakespeare he did not have to deal with the Hollywood Studio System.

There are a number of great scenes contained within the film that definitely bear mentioning. Jon Cryer singing Otis Reading’s Try A Little Tenderness; the computer seduction scene with some of the finest 1980s technology, Molly Ringwald creating her own Prom dress and frankly anytime James Spader stumbles around the frame of the film with his bouffant hair and great dress sense, his fight with Jon Cryer is one of the great moments of teen cinema. However, the peak of the film comes where all peaks should come, at the end. The Prom.

Andrew McCarthy was called back after he thought he had completed the movie, in order to re-shoot the ending, he had unfortunately shaved his head and lost a lot of weight by this time in preparation for his next role. It was decided he should wear a wig for the final Prom scenes, this is very noticeable. However, it is great to think that Blaine (Andrew McCarthy) was so upset by the obligatory pre Prom break up with Andie (Molly Ringwald) that he was unable to eat and the look of illness he has at the Prom comes solely from his heartache. The level of realism one can give to this film depends solely upon the engagement with the characters. The Prom is a great summation for the characters of the film, the reunion of Duckie and Andie; Blaine finally standing up to someone and James Spader being cool and bored.

John Hughes and Howard Deutch would return to the exact storyline almost immediately in his 1987 film Some Kind of Wonderful starring Eric Stoltz in the Molly Ringwald role. The film is pretty much a complete remake of Pretty in Pink and in this masterpiece of 1980s teen cinema John Hughes even got the ending correct.

Pretty in Pink is a wonderfully romantic teen film with lots of necessary angst, a brilliant soundtrack, great dialogue, a simplistic Shakespearean style plot and some tremendous acting from the cream of 1980s American Teen Cinema. Though she should have ended up with Paris.

Wilson McLachlan