Synopsis of Movie

Pretty in Pink is a romance for the ages. Okay, okay, the 80’s, it’s a romance for the 80’s. But let’s forgo this movie’s place in the teen movie genre, its patriarch John Hughes and its plot for a second, shall we? Let’s talk about that first date kiss between Andie and Blane. Here’s a handy recap (and don't pretend you don't want to be a part of this valuable kiss symposium): Boy picks Girl up at record shop where she works, Boy and Girl endure foray into rich kid party and then a non-rich kid club… and soon it’s time for the drop-off at Girl’s wrong-side-of-the-tracks home. This is it, the end game. And a bad date means a bad (or non-existent) goodbye kiss, right? Wrong. Standing outside the car, backlit by the headlights, Boy and Girl embrace, and the adoring gaggle of reared-in-the-80’s female viewers collectively swoons.

Now back to the business at hand. Class differences, peer pressure, and vintage New Wave clothes… that’s what we had on the plate here. Combining the heartache of Sixteen Candles and the vicious teenage social hierarchy of The Breakfast Club, John Hughes, our favorite 80’s Teen Flick guru, crafted a winning love story inside his patented “here are the horrors of high school” setting.

Duckie loves Andie and shows it by adorably lip-syncing Otis Redding's “Try a Little Tenderness” at the record shop where she works. Slouchy, linen-wearing Steff loves Andie too, though he doesn’t lip sync—he just sneers and flicks his cigarettes. Unfortunately for both, Andie loves Blane, a fact that both Duckie and Steff thumb their noses at. Andie, after all, is a working class, make-her-own-dresses type of girl, and Blane is your regular “richie”—and at this high school, probably like your high school, inter-clique romances are taboo. But a silly old taboo has nothing on love—that brave emotion that's so rarely aquiver in the face of high school adversity. So, brave love blossoms.

It's too bad that post-blossoming, Blane lets Steff’s warnings to not date a low class “mutant” get to him and calls off the Prom plans with Andie. Depression, hearty counsel from friend and boss Iona and a cathartic father/daughter cry-fest ensue. Ultimately, Andie decides to Prom it anyway…to prove that the richies didn’t break her. Now if that isn’t high school heroism, what is?

Excellent soundtrack, excellent clothes, excellent slang, and excellent first kisses…all the usual John Hughes ingredients. We all dreamed of a first date smooch like that, and some of us even went so far as to use the one in Pink as a paradigm. The only difference is, when we asked our escorts to turn on the headlights so that we could stand in their warm, romantic glow, our pragmatic escorts responded with something about the weak battery in Mom’s Cadillac. Real life and movie life…sometimes those two paths just don’t cross enough.

Movie Release History

1986 - Pretty in Pink

Movie Sub Categories

live-action
drama

Movie Studio

Paramount

Cast

Andie Walsh Molly Ringwald
Jack Walsh Harry Dean Stanton Duckie Dale Jon Cryer
Iona Annie Potts Steff James Spader
Blane McDonough Andrew McCarthy Donnelly Jim Haynie
Jena Alexa Kenin Benny Kate Vernon
Bouncer Andrew Dice Clay Kate Emily Longstreth
History Teacher Margaret Colin Terrence Jamie Anders
Girl Friend/Gym Class Gina Gershon Sales Girl Bader Howar
Boy in Record Store Christian Jacobs Girl at Party Melanie Manos
Mrs. Dietz, gym teacher Maggie Roswell Simon Dweezil Zappa
The Rave-Ups Tommy Blatnick The Rave-Ups Timothy J.
The Rave-Ups Terry Wilson Talk Back Jeffrey Hollie
Talk Back Kevin Ricard Talk Back David Sutton
Talk Back Kevin Williams Talk Back Rock Deadrick
Girl at Prom Karen Laine Duckette Kristy Swanson
Kevin Kevin D. Lindsay

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