PRETTY IN PINK - Paramount Presents...Blu-ray (Paramount, 1986) Paramount Home Video
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Any movie to make us believe all a
savvy high school senior, aspiring to be the belle of the ball at her prom
needs is an understanding single father, a pink dress – hand-stitched in true
Cinderella fashion of yore – and an understanding male friend, of a certain
age, temperament and unrequited romantic longing for our tangled and teased
heroine, has my vote for the ‘feel good’ of the decade. And so it was with
Howard Deutch’s Pretty in Pink (1986) a movie long overdue for
rediscovery that, in many ways, feels very much like a John Hughes’ picture
instead -and, little wonder, since Hughes wrote it, and, it stars that
unlikeliest of pop princesses featured prominently in Hughes’ best loved
classics, Sixteen Candles (1984) and The Breakfast Club (1985) –
Molly Ringwald. Few actresses of any generation possess that ‘Judy Garland’
quality; an uncanny ability to make us care, not only about the characters they
play, but the woman lurking just beneath these fictional facades. Garland was
the template. Ringwald, a disciple, perhaps. Julia Roberts another. Whatever it
is, it remains an intangible quality – untrained and cannot be taught, observed
or honed, however finely qualified the thespian. Without it, you remain a good,
solid actress relying wholly on your craft to see you through. But with it, the
camera never lies. Moreover, it has the ability to snuff out and separate the
frauds from the intuitively meant to be famous. And thus, with Ringwald as our
star, Pretty in Pink arrives at a precipice of palpable joy, caught full
in the eyes and exasperated sighs of Ringwald’s alter ego, Andie Walsh; a girl
of so many unrefined qualities, eager to be noticed by the only boy she admires
who, presently, does not even know she is alive.
Pretty in Pink travails some
very familiar territory of the teenage angst ilk, but with incredible deftness
and sincerity for its subject matter.
Arguably, Hughes never forgot his own painfully awkward teenage years as
the put-upon Poindexter, insecure about dating, girls, and, his own
masculinity. Transposing these feelings of social inadequacy, Hughes managed to
tap a vein, highly personal to him, though hardly foreign to the rest of us.
Not only did it cross sexual boundaries and stereotypes, but in the status-conscious eighties,
it as much illustrated no walk of life was immune to these real, shared, and,
as easily dispatched insecurities, given over to a little faith in ourselves
and more than a little help from our friends.
As a teenager growing up in the 1980’s, John Hughes got to me. He seemed
uncannily to be able to look behind the façade we all put up to cope with
growing up. Moreover, he had the intuition to suggest the circumstances were
neither unique nor as devastating, and, in the final moments of every John
Hughes’ movie, to be revealed as a deeper understanding of the ‘selves’ kept
mostly hidden from view to the outside world – lest we be judged as having
slipped in others’ estimations from that largely manufactured representation. Pretty in Pink is a joyful movie, not
so much because it speaks to our wish fulfillment for a happy ending for the
underdog, but rather, because it presents our heroine with insurmountable odds
that, from a distance, become inconsequential to her personal investment in
that eternal search for happiness.
Originally, Pretty in Pink
was to have concluded with Andie and her best friend, Philip F. ‘Duckie’ Dale
(the spectacularly gifted Jon Cryer) ending up together. Alas, a test screening
proved audiences wanted the fairy-tale – Cryer’s best friend, a wan ghost
flower substitute for Andie’s true love. And thus, Ringwald’s
princess-in-the-making would end up with her ideal Prince Charming - Blane
McDonough (Andrew McCarthy). There was some genuine consternation in
Paramount’s executive offices about the original ending too, as it reinstated
the unspoken classist rule, more readily accepted in the U.K. than the U.S., to
infer poor people should never aspire to fall in love with the rich, but
rather, stick to their own kind. As the
pop band, Orchestral Maneuvers in the Dark had previously selected ‘Goddess
of Love’ – already a hit on their album, The Pacific Age, the revisions now
demanded a fresh tune to accompany the moment when Andie realizes all her
fateful desires are about to come true. Reportedly, OMD band members, Andy
McCluskey, Paul Humphreys and Martin Cooper wrote the now iconic, ‘If You
Leave’ on less than 24-hours’ notice, recording it in just under a day to
be fitted into the newly re-shot Andie/Blane finale. Whatever the truth in
this, the song became immediately identified with the movie, rising to #4 on
Billboard’s ranking, a favorite at virtually every high school prom for several
years to follow. The movie also went on to be considered as part of the ‘brat
pack’ canon, its title tune, supplied by The Psychedelic Furs.
Plot wise, the story is intensely
focused on high school senior and wall flower, Andie Walsh who, not unlike
Diane Keaton and her eclectic ensembles to have graced several Woody Allen
rom/coms of the mid-seventies, is, made up herein of Molly Ringwald’s
on-the-spot raid of too many pick-n’-saves, mashed together with a
mid-fifties’1950’s garage sale; a fashion acumen that , even for its time, left
a good deal to be desired. Andie lives with her underemployed working-class
father, Jack (Harry Dean Stanton) in a Chicago suburb. Andie's best friend,
Duckie Dale – nicknamed for his haircut – is the proverbial outsider,
desperately in love with Andie, but as terrified to confide his truest
feelings, for fear of wrecking their friendship. In 1986, I could sincerely
relate, as just to be near Molly Ringwald, even from afar, was as close to
nirvana as any mere mortal might hope to get. But I digress. In school, Duckie
and Andie, along with their friends, are mercilessly intimidated by the
overconfident preppies; the shallow, Benny Hanson (Kate Vernon) and her
snobbish boyfriend, Steff McKee (James Spader). McKee’s desire to humiliate
Andie actually stems from his secret attraction to her, rebuked by Andie and
thus, to be considered his revenge. After all, who is this gutter-town waif to
think she could sidestep a stud like him and live to feel good about herself?
Andie works after school at TRAX, a new wave record store. The shop’s manager,
Iona (Annie Potts) is the understanding sort. Indeed, we would all wish for our
bosses to be as considerate, and, as off the wall. Thus, when Andie confides
her strong desire to attend the senior prom, but worries because she has
nothing to wear, Iona inspires Andie to make her own dress and attend anyway –
even though she has no date for the big event. Meanwhile, the boy Andie
secretly pines after, Blane McDonough, alas a preppy too, and, Steff's best
friend, suddenly begins to take an interest in her.
Date night comes. But Blane is late
picking Andie up from TRAX. This leads Duckie to infer to Andie she has been
stood up. Already feeling insecure, Andie is given a pep talk by Iona. Now,
Blane arrives, apologizing for his tardiness. Wounded, Duckie stirs a
confrontation to end when Andie refuses to accept Blane will only hurt her in
the end. Belligerent, Duckie storms off and Andie begrudgingly leaves on her
date with Blane. Alas, it is a bad omen for the night as Blane elects to take
Andie to Steff’s house party. Predictably, Andie finds herself the proverbial
‘fish out of water’, mistreated by virtually everybody, but especially by an
inebriated Steff and Benny, who are amused by Blane’s interest in this girl
whom they otherwise regard as a social reject. Having had quite enough of Blane’s
clique, Andie suggests a change of venue to a local club she frequents. Alas,
the pendulum of insults swings in the other direction when, upon their arrival
at the club, Andie discovers Duckie in consult with Iona. Again, Duckie is
openly hostile towards Blane. After another heated exchange, Andie and Blane
leave. Andie, at first, asks Blane to take her home, but then refuses to allow
him to see where she lives – embarrassed by her meager circumstances.
Reluctantly, she permits him to drop her off in front of the house and he,
completely smitten by now, impetuously asks her to the prom. Andie accepts and
the two share their first innocent kiss. Alas, while Andie’s euphoria causes
Iona to raise a few red flags, Blane, goaded by Steff and Benny, begins to
socially distance himself from Andie – more concerned about ‘his image’.
Desperate to make good on his
daughter’s big night, Jack surprises Andie with a pink dress he paid retail.
However, knowing her father has been lying about going to a full-time job,
Andie questions where he found the money to pay for it. A father/daughter row
ensues, quelled when Jack breaks down, revealing his lingering bitterness and
depression over Andie’s mum having walked out on them. The next day, Andie
confronts Blane for avoiding her. Unable to distance himself from his
fair-weather friends, Blane coolly lies to Andie about having another date for
the prom. But Andie is having none of it. She calls out Blane as a liar and
tells him the real reason he is being a jerk is because he is ashamed to be
seen with her in Steff and Benny’s presence.
Departing in anger, Andie does not see Blane as teary-eyed, enduring
another of Steff’s crude insults as she passes. Defending her honor, Duckie ambushes
Steff in the hallway. Shocked by the assault, the two are parted by teachers.
Now, Andie goes to Iona for advice, also, to beg her to let her have her old
prom dress. Using the fabric, and her own ingenuity, Andie creates a unique
pink confection to wear to the prom. Arriving unchaperoned, Andie begins to get
cold feet until she sees Duckie waiting for her. The two are reconciled and
walk into the ballroom proudly together.
Finally realizing how much he cares
for Andie, and also, Steff’s condemnation of her is wholly based on her
rejection of him, Blane approaches the couple on the dance floor, extending his
hand in friendship to Duckie before humbling himself to Andie. He tells Andie
he always believed in her and always will love her. Gingerly kissing her cheek
as a gesture of farewell, Blane retreats from the party. Alas, Duckie has had a
change of heart too. Knowing Andie will never feel for him the way she does for
Blane, Duckie sheepishly admits Blane is not like the other preppies. He is,
instead, just the sort of upstanding good guy he would wish for his best
friend. Andie can trust him. Armed with Duckie’s blessing and advice, Andie
leaves the prom to pursue her intended. From across the crowded ballroom,
Duckie spies a very hot girl (Kristy Swanson) sweetly beckoning him to the dance
floor. So, all is not lost for the lovelorn. Meanwhile, Andie catches up to
Blane in the parking lot. The two are reconciled and share another, more
heartfelt kiss.
Pretty in Pink is justly
remembered as a charming 'coming of age' fantasy rom/com for the pubescent sect
– just the sort of feather-weight programmer to assuage adolescent fears about
ever finding Ms. or Mr. Right. Despite its more adult-themed backstory, critics
were not immediately enamored with the results, believing the picture had tried
to copy and bottle the magic of Sixteen Candles, but to lesser effect.
Arguably, the best moments in Pretty in Pink are a slight regurgitation
from that John Hughes’ classic, relying on nothing more than pang glances
between the stock characters of a boy and a girl – each, desperately longing
for the other’s touch – and yet, somehow, unable to bring themselves to the
threshold of a true confession based on their otherwise transparent mutual
attraction. It is in these awkward moments, for which Hughes’ screenwriting
authorship and Deutch’s direction conspire to unearth a common ground dilemma
afflicting all adolescence, that Pretty in Pink arguably excels above
and beyond those aforementioned offerings. Even so, one senses Hughes’ stamina
scraping the barrel from Sixteen Candles to reinvent the tale ever so
slightly here. What is different is Molly Ringwald’s interpretation of the
heroine.
Whereas, her character in Sixteen
Candles, Samantha, was supremely contented, merely to get the senior of her
dreams, Jake (Michael Schoeffling) to take an interest in her, Ringwald’s Andie
in Pretty in Pink is more circumspect about men in general, and one in
particular; also, mature enough to handle the sway of her own desires,
particularly if the dream gets rejected.
The West Side Story-ish plot to Pretty in Pink –
girl from the wrong side of the tracks meets WASP with a Beamer – with a bit of
John Alden thrown in for good measure, is also a bit overwrought in spots. But
it nevertheless clicks as it should, and undeniably did with audiences back in
’86. Arguably, the one ill-fated bit of casting here is James Spader who, at
age 26, looks it, and, lends an unintentionally pedophiliac vibe to his
skulking about high school hallways. Creepy! That said, the picture is mostly
direct about that pubertal dread of rejection, and, has some great one-liners
to recommend it. If nothing else, Pretty in Pink remains the exemplar
for a certain archetype in picture-making, likely never to grow old because,
thematically, the premise is endlessly revive-able. Boy meets girl. Boy acts
like a jerk and loses girl. Boy steps up to the plate, reforms and becomes the
sort of man the girl always knew he could be. Ah me, chivalry is not dead. Nor,
arguably, is it ever likely to fall out of fashion. Neither has Pretty in
Pink. It still makes me blush with rose-colored longing for the 1980’s.
Paramount has announced it will
release a bare-bones edition of Pretty in Pink on Blu-ray, which is to
say, a disc shorn of the ‘Filmmaker’s Focus’ with Howard Deutch and ‘original
lost dance’ finale included on its Paramount Presents…edition
from 2020. As this edition was sourced from a 4K remaster, looked immaculate,
and, is still readily available for purchase, there is no good reason to snatch
up this bare-bones reissue. Paramount will not be offering a new re-re-master.
There’s no point. So, what is the point here? Dumb marketing. Really dumb, in
fact. Pretty in Pink in 2020 sported sumptuous colors, densities and
saturation, with excellent contrast and grain, perfectly preserved. The 5.1 DTS
of the original Dolby stereo sounded terrific too. The eighties’ time warp for
this great film happened 2 years ago. Precisely where the need now arises for a
re-issue without the anemic extras is, frankly, beyond me. Especially since the
Paramount Presents…Blu is retailing on Amazon.com for $22 and the
barebone’s reissue is advertised as a June 4th preorder for $19!!! Wonderful
stuff on this disc. Orchestral Maneuvers in the Dark…anyone?
FILM RATING (out
of 5 – 5 being the best)
3.5
VIDEO/AUDIO
5
EXTRAS
2
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