I’m going to guess most of you have seen Pretty in Pink (1986), but if you haven’t, I’m sure you have a good reason — like being totally lame.
I kid, I kid. You’re not lame. (Or are you?)
Of all the movies John Hughes wrote, produced, and/or directed, this one just might be my favorite. I had wanted to see it in the theater when it was first released, but I was only eight, so that never happened. I did, however, get to watch it many times on video and cable and could probably recite every line of dialogue by the time I was 12.
Written by Hughes and directed by Howard Deutch — who also directed Hughes’s Some Kind of Wonderful (1987) and The Great Outdoors (1988) — Pretty in Pink is the story of Andie Walsh (Molly Ringwald), a high school senior “from the wrong side of the tracks” with a new-wave fashion sense, an unemployed father, and a best friend, Duckie Dale (Jon Cryer), who’s madly in love with her.
Rich preppy Blane (Andrew McCarthy) makes a visit one day to Trax, the record store where Andie works, and the two do some serious flirting. After a few more flirtatious encounters there and at school, he finally asks her out. The two attempt to start a romance but encounter judgment and resistance from their friends, including Blane’s best friend, Steff (James Spader), who secretly likes Andie; Steff’s girlfriend, Benny (Kate Vernon); and Duckie.
Things get especially rough after Blane asks Andie to the prom, and once Steff gives him the hard sell, Blane backs out of taking her. Heartbroken, but refusing to let the “richies” get the better of her, Andie decides to go to the prom anyway — by herself. But once they’re both there, she and Blane realize they do love each other and want to be together in spite of their friends’ objections.
