St. Elmo's Fire

I blame Joel Schumacher

It really is all about the song.

It is kind of an irritating film and the way the gay character is always flirting with the Andrew McCarthy character is kind of offensive. It was like mini-eighties era yuppies on parade.

And Lowe is just at the height of his aren't a pretty preening exhibitionist phase. Shortly after this he went into his preening exhibitionist look at my naked butt phase.

I can't stand Demi Moore now, but this is one of the last movies where she was cool.

Back then I watched it just for hunky Rob Lowe.

I saw it with my mom!

Ally has always had that weird unnatural way of delivering her lines, but yeah, it was especially bad in this movie. It was like she wanted to chew her lips off.

I remember that everyone in this movie seemed fake and unnatural. It made the 20's seem really fucking depressing. Which they are, but I was too young to know that.

I don't know if anyone will remember this part, but there is this scene where Ally Sheedy hands over a check to pay for some furniture. And it's one of the most obvious, worst acted few seconds I've ever seen in a movie. It's so deliberate and overdone, that she probably was coked-up since it seems so unnatural.

Seriously though, is it Joel Schumacher's fault?

I thought Demi Moore's performance was awful. I hated the character as well. Very dated movie. I couldn't watch it today.

I wanted to comfort Andrew McCarthy and his unrequited love for Ally Sheedy (who I can't see how 2 men were so crazy about her)

Mare Winningham is distractingly unattractive. The love scenes with Rob Lowe were creepy and sad.

Judd Nelson had huge, flaring nostrils throughout. Prob too much coke.

And I hated the Emilio Estevez character and his story.

I did like the idea of men and women having close friendships in their 20s. And Rob Lowe was beautiful.

Lea Thompson would have probably given a better performance than some of these actors.

Why didn't they call us?!

I always thought the only performance which was appealing was Andrew McCarthy's. Demi Moore's raspy voice and annoying character were deeply irritating; Judd Nelson's mightily flaring nostrils were equally distracting; and Emilio Estevez's character came across as a stalker. Rob Lowe was bland (and I have never found his waxen features attractive), and although mare Winningham was by far the best actor in the cast, her part was horrible. And yes, Ally Sheedy came across as a complete amateur. I always felt she deserved more acclaim when she made her big comeback with "High Art": she not only was excellent, but it was the first time she ever revealed she could act!

This movie and the images from it defined the Brat Pack, when it wasn't necessarily accurate. Demi Moore was not considered part of the John Hughes crowd, and she had adult roles on General Hospital and in movies for years. And Mare Winningham was never considered part of the Brat Pack, before or after.

This was kind of a second chance film for Andie MacDowell after infamously having to have all her scenes in Greystoke dubbed by Glenn Close since MacDowell sounded so bad in the film.

Wow. Demi Moore is only 54. Her career ended young. It seems like she has been a has been for years now.

And where is Ally Sheedy? Does she ever work anymore? She had that brief success with High Art and was even in Oscar contention and then she faded away almost as quickly.

She supposedly made some really erratic speech when she won an Independent Spirit Award for it but I've never been able to find it online.

The one part of this movie that resonated with me is when Rob Lowe and Mare Winningham are up on the roof, and he says he misses school, and that in real life you have to be so serious, and he makes this motion as if he's going to work.. It's one of the only times in the film that seems to sum up the whole point of it.

Datalounge loves this movie

The scenes at the St Elmo's Bar were filmed on the Hill Valley streets off the Clock Tower Square of the Back to the Future set at Universal Studios.

[quote]St. Elmo's Fire is referenced all the time, and is considered to be in the same league as John Hughes comedies.

No offense intended on my part, but I don't really think either of these statements are true.

R21 it's being referenced here 32years later

St Elmo's Fire is always talked about along with the Breakfast Club

The John Parr song St. Elmos Fire (Man in Motion) is still played on adult contemporary stations on heavy rotation on a daily basis all over the world

I like the film and liked Andrew McCarthy best.

Hate Rob Lowe

It's my favorite bad movie. If it's on, I always watch until at least the next commercial. I watch for Georgetown and Adams-Morgan. And I always loved seeing the latest crowd of college graduates filter into DC.

It was hugely relatable to people who graduated college in the 80s from good schools. I suppose people in other circumstances wouldn't have gotten the same thing out of it.

As a bad movie, it's not actually that bad. Demi's character reminded me of someone I was friends with and I thought the characters were semi-believable.

Andie MacDowell was the weak link.

Uh no, The Breakfast Club is a classic. St. Elmo's Fire is nowhere near that. It is not regarded as anything but a misfire.

I graduated from Georgetown in the early 80s, and the movie totally missed the character of the time, place and people. The only characters who seemed somewhat reminiscent of my classmates were those portrayed by Andrew McCarthy and Mare Winningham.

Had no interest in seeing it. I did relate to Ferris Bueller though, go figure.

Any of John Hughes' films are better that St Elmo's Fire. It was a bad movie when it was first out, and it's dated poorly. And the song sucks too.

I hate almost every classist, white suburbanite Hughes movie, but I'd choose any of them over this irritating shitfest.

I don't think it's mentioned as often as, or as being in the same league as, The Breakfast Club at all. The characters are all annoying, self-centred twats. And that song is horrific.

R33 Even worse than Home Alone 3?

I'm Jules, I'm attempting suicide by LEAVING ALL THE WINDOWS OPEN!

It was a party movie and a star vehicle, John Hughes movies weren't quite like that; it was important for celebrity culture and magazines and stuff; John Hughes movies weren't quite like that, I guess it brought the Brat Pack more together, the song was a big hit as well and holds up well. Actors as pop and rock stars.

Smell YOU, R28! Where did you go to School, baby?

R34 Mary Stuart-Masterson should have cameo'd as Watts from SOME KIND OF WONDERFUL, showing up to smack all these smug preppy characters around all while sporting a buzz cut and riding a Harley.

R20, how did you know that? That always looked like a backlot to me but I don't think I've ever seen any info about it online. Was it destroyed in the fire Universal had a while back?

Terrible movie but watchable. People just went to see it for the cast few of which who could actually act. About Last Night was Demi's best movie. Ally Sheedy was never very good, even in Breakfast Club she seemed forced. Rob Lowe's character was ridiculous. Andrew McCarthy was probably the best characther, he should've come out as gay, not in love with Sheedy.

This thread is more fun when we post lines of dialogue from it or pretend to be it.

For R19:

For R43, I mean.

The Breakfast Club is equally pretentious and over-acted.

St. Elmo's Fire > The Breakfast Club

R47 ... Love them both. I loved the Brat Pack and I remember singing to the St. Elmo's Fire theme song a lot. I had the biggest crush on Andrew McCarthy. Oh... those were the days

I saw this film in the theater (NYC) three times with my group of girls. The reason we saw it repeatedly was because we showed up high as fuck and start drinking JD as soon as we sat down.

I still have no fucking idea what happened in this movie. All I remember is the song, and how much fun we had running around Manhattan, while becoming addicts and alcoholics.

I might have dropped acid for this movie at one point, or maybe it was The Breakfast Club, or The Big Chill. I can't remember.

I loved this movie in the 80s, especially the St. Elmo's Fire "love theme."

Judd Nelson is good throughout The Breakfast Club, but Molly Ringwald, Ally Sheedy, and Anthony Michael Hall have scenes that are poorly acted.. It's surprising there weren't better takes to use.

if this group of posers don't get on your nerves ... Well .......

Who said they don't get on our nerves, R52?

Ugh...it was bad back then, and it's not even watchable in a camp sense. Awful screenplay with lines no seasoned actor could deliver with any conviction, let alone this cast. It might have worked if the characters were even remotely likeable, but Joel Schumacher has no gift with actors.

Also, I just don't want anyone to forget about me. Even the sun highlights my glory.

[quote] Andie MacDowell was the weak link.

Andie MacDowell is *always* the weak link. Even if the rest of the cast were Javanese shadow puppets.

R55 How does LL keep his hands off those freshly budding A cups?

R56, au contraire. She was wonderful in sex, lies, and videotape.

Andie MacDowell definitely got the princess edit.

Hated everything about it when it came out. The guy playing Andie McDowell's boyfriend was hot. That is the best thing I can say about it.

The alley scene at the end of the movie when Jules is in the room with the windows open, was also filmed in the Hill Valley area of Universal Studios. That second story fire escape is still there, about 20 ft east of the Clock Tower.

Despite the whining naysayers, this film was a touchstone for anyone who was that age in the 80s. And as a poster said upthread, young audiences came back for repeated viewings whether high or not. It was that popular.

It's a TERRIBLE movie, and I loved it.

R59--what is the "princess edit"?

Awesome R61! Do they point that out on the tour?

It was not a touchstone for anyone of that age. You must lead a very sad life if you think that.

Andrew McCarthy has always come across as spineless and shifty.

Mare seems to be doing well on AHS.

McCarthy vs D'onofrio.

I tried to watch this movie as a teenager in the 90s, and even then it looked really dated and ridiculous.

This movie tried so hard to be a 20-something Big Chill / Breakfast Club combo.

Maybe a different director and different casting could have achieved that.

Mare Winningham was born looking old.

These people were supposed to be our contemporaries and everyone I knew was horrified. No one we knew who were our age were like those people, and it depressed us that we were viewed that way.

Unfortunately the Universal tram tour sucks now. All the references are within the last few years, like pointing out the stage where they shoot The Voice, and a set piece from Fast & Furious 8.

D'Onofrio has always been a few fries short of a Happy Meal.

And he ended up looking like he ate a few too many Happy Meals.

The Breakfast Club is not that much better, and gets worse with age.

The only thing it really has in common with The Breakfast Club (other than that they're both about entitled white oung people from a mostly upper middle-class background) is that the two casts basically are the entire brat pack:

Judd Nelson (in both!)

Ally Sheedy (ditto)

Emilio Estevez (ditto)

Molly Ringwald

Anthony Michael Hall

Rob Lowe

Mare Winningham

Demi Moore

Andrew McCarthy

The young movie actors of the same age from the time (the early 80s) who weren't in these two movies are never considered part of the Brat Pack: C. Thomas Howell, Ralph Macchio, Tom Cruise, Dermot Mulroney, Lea Thompson, Mary Stuart Masterson, Mary Louise Parker, Matt Dillon, Phoebe Cates, Jon Cryer, Jennifer Jason Leigh. You have to have been in one of those two movies. (The only exception is Sean penn, who is sometimes considered a Brat packer because he was spoiled and a heavy partier.)

It's always been unfair to poor Mare Winningham, who never partied much with the others and was more of a sweet homebody.

You forgot Eric Stoltz.

The Outsiders is also a movie with Brat Pack cast members. Tom Cruise hung out with all of them, and was essentially a ringleader.

Charlie Sheen and Chad Lowe were also on the periphery.

Mare Winningham's association was only this movie. She didn't hang out with them socially.

Tom Cruise was never considered a part of the Brat Pack, although of course he did know them.

love Mare's the best peanut butter & jam sandwich I ever had speech

I haven't read the entire thread so please forgive if some of my comments were already menioned:

I hated it. Bored silly. But felt it was one of Demi Moore's rare decent performance. I thought she was the only good thing in it.... Mare Winningham wasn't given all that much to do; many probably don't recall, but the reason for her "unattractive' appearance was that she was 5 months pregnant when filming began.

I didn't even like the song.

The song is stupid. I like the instrumental theme, though.

[quote] Love, love, you know what love is? Love is an illusion created by lawyer types like yourself to perpetuate another illusion called marriage to create the reality of divorce and then the illusionary need for divorce lawyers.

Joel Schumacher- you are no Woody Allen.

Sorry, I used all my best jokes on the other "Let's be 'St. Elmo's Fire'" thread.

Love the song. Hate the movie .

"Booga Booga Booga! Ah Ah Ah!" never really caught on.

Nope, never considered part of the Brat Pack

Wait. Andie McDowell was in St. Elmo's Fire?

Tom at the wheel during a night of Brat Pack mayhem

The now defunct Rob, Tom & Emilio Barber Shop Trio

Emilio's bulge was impressive in both movies.

Andie was worse than even usual in the movie, as a doctor, no less -- "He'll freeze!" -- but at least she wasn't looped.

Demi and Mare looked like Streep in comparison to Ally Sheedy who is at her most awful here. That voice and those weird ass Valley Girl on Acid inflections. "Jules, we love you!" as Demi tries to commit Suicide by Breeze (there was a lot of potential freezing in this movie and that doesn't even count the perfect frozen daquiri the gay guy carries around in one scene).

[quote]You forgot Eric Stoltz.

Yes, he was also in neither St. Elmo's Fire nor in The Breakfast Club.

There are literally thousands and thousands of actors of the requisite age who could have been in those movies but were not; I cannot possibly list them all.

Tom hung out with the Brat Pack, but was not considered a member of that group. He did the Outsiders with a few of them, before the term "Brat Pack" was coined, then went to London for a year to film Legend. In '86 he got huge with Top Gun.

This was filmed when Molly Ringwald was still capable of delivering a good performance.

I would have rather seen Phoebe Cates, Jennifer Connelly or Mia Sara instead of Ally Sheedy in that role.

Connelly was 15 or 16 when St. Elmo's came out.

This movie is almost pure camp so Ally's goofy performance fits right in. There's so much to love/hate about this film.

Ally Sheedy was surprisingly good in Wargames, and as Sean Penn's girlfriend in Bad Boys . She had lost that appeal by the time St.Elmo's Fire was filmed.

Molly Ringwald and Anthony Michael Hall are terrible when they attempt at playing stoned in The Breakfast Club. I can't believe they couldn't get a better performance out of them for that scene Ally Sheedy's character was a cartoon, like Emily the strange. The Breakfast Club is overrated.

I saw it Fourth of July weekend.

I remember one critic saying that Georgetown University ought to see the film makers for defamation; that GU would admit these characters (except for Mare Winniningham) was libelous

GU must've lowered their standards because Bradley Cooper went there a decade later.

The St. Elmo's Fire instrumental Love Theme is also played in American grocery stores and Lite FM stations all the time.

It wasn't a good movie at all, but people went to it because the actors were popular at the time

I like the movie. Always have. But it's objectively not good at all. A poor man's take on having a "cooler" The Big Chill.

The St. Elmo's Fire theme is a grocery store anthem.

"Grocery store anthems" would be a good idea for a thread.

Those snot rag hip kids making fun of Howie for running a card shop franchise. I hope he ended up owning all of them.

If this were nade today, it would be filled with drunken and drug-addicted sexually explicit scenes. And it would star Zac Efron, Selena Gomez and Bella Hadid.

Demi Moore was absolutely awful in this film. Well, she really is awful in just about anything. An unknown actress would have done a better job.

I loved Naomi.

Aside from the scenes with Rob Lowe and Mare Winningham on the roof and the peanut butter sandwich scene, Demi Moore is the only one worth watching. The rest of the actors and scenes are flat and try way too hard.

Now About Last Night - that is a shitty Demi Moore performance.

If this were made today, it would be written and directed by Judd Apatow and be two hours of toilet humor.

I saw it when it first came out. It was a genuinely awful film, one of the worst I'd ever seen. I doubt I could bear seeing it again.

[quote] Joel Schumacher has no gift with actors.

Oh, harsh, Dude. He caught our best performances in 'Lost Boys'!

You get the sense while watching this movie that the actors all thought they were on the verge of a major hit. But other than Demi Moore, this was one of the last high-profile movies some of these actors were in.

I have a soft spot for this movie even though I'm fully aware of all of its flaws. There's something so quintessentially 80's about it, it captures that mix of wide eyed self absorbed exuberant arrogance of that decade and the feeling that 10 years later, in the mid-90's, pretty much all of those characters will have gone through a rude awakening. On a lighter note, those 80s movies geared towards teens and those in their early to mid twenties had great soundtracks - they were the integral part of their appeal.

I prefer About Last Night. Rob Lowe and Demi Moore are very good in it. The script is well written (based on a play) and Jim Belushi and especially Elizabeth Perkins shine in supporting roles.

And Lowe's ass is delicious.

R66, you obviously weren't part of the cool crowd if you can't appreciate what a seminal touchstone this movie, good or bad, was for twenty-somethings back then. I feel sorry for you.

[quote]I don't know if anyone will remember this part, but there is this scene where Ally Sheedy hands over a check to pay for some furniture. And it's one of the most obvious, worst acted few seconds I've ever seen in a movie. It's so deliberate and overdone, that she probably was coked-up since it seems so unnatural.

Yes, I remember that scene. Sheedy's performance was very fake.

Ally Sheedy is an awful, awful actress and was not that attractive either. I never understood why her and the equally awful Andrew McCarthy had careers.

Lol. "It was a touchstone."

Lol. Oh hunny.

The movie should be in a time capsule for the 80s. A shallow, stupid movie with shallow, stupid characters. Perfect for a shallow, stupid decade.

Mindy Cohn was up for Mare Winningham's role.

It's fascinating to me that you all can remember a movie you saw 32 years ago in such detail.

I'm thinking since most of you hated it, you didn't watch it again recently.

Or did you?

[quote] Lol. "It was a touchstone."

Nope, it was Columbia. Leave us out of this.

"I don't know if anyone will remember this part, but there is this scene where Ally Sheedy hands over a check to pay for some furniture. And it's one of the most obvious, worst acted few seconds I've ever seen in a movie. It's so deliberate and overdone, that she probably was coked-up since it seems so unnatural."

So funny, I have my own similar Sheedy moment in the same film but not the great one you point out: there's a brief moment as Sheedy is entering the party Kirby is throwing and she "sees" a friend O.S. and gives a wave and it looks like the phoniest bit of business ever on film. You can tell she doesn't connect to anybody. Hadn't considered coke but you may be right because it is hard to mess up a bit of silent business like that. Either that or she was just that awful an actress.

Was Jules brain damaged from all the drugs she took? I mean, the poor girl tried to kill herself by cold breeze. Did she think she would freeze to death by doing THAT? Or did she think she'd catch pneumonia by getting chilled and die of that? And Wendy seems to be suffering some type of mental incapacity, too, hence her rhapsodizing over a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Hell, ALL the characters were halfwits. They go around shouting "booga booga booga booga ah ah ah!" I'd say that's proof enough of mental impairment.

She really was just that awful an actress. Have you seen The Breakfast Club?

Yeah, she had built up some good will from "War Games" (and had looked pretty in that one too) and the Sean Penn one too. i liked her in "Breakfast Club" -- as long as she didn't speak. That Valley Girl voice was already terrible by then. I think she was nuts the whole time and the world didn't know it until later around the time she won her Spirit Award and ruined her comeback with that nutty speech.

I can always watch St Elmo's fire. It's fantastically bad, but I love it. We've had other threads about this movie, and I always enjoy discussing it -

"Uh no, The Breakfast Club is a classic. St. Elmo's Fire is nowhere near that. It is not regarded as anything but a misfire."

I'd agree about Breakfast Club's classic status. But, it's actually nearly as bad of a film.

The David Bowie quote up front in "Breakfast Club" lets you know exactly what you are in for. But loved it then (and I was old enough to know better). Even our "bad movies" were better than what's out there now.

I graduated from college in the 80's. This movie, at that time, resonated with me and all the post college angst of "Where the fuck do I fit into the world?" But I never knew people as supposedly cool and hip and edgy as those characters. So glamorous and so tragic and so "angsty" and such...bullshit. I DID know a few people like Demi Moore's character who had massive entitlement issues and just thought life would be handed to them on a platter. And when things went wrong, they had zero coping skills. People who lived like they had trust funds...but did not. I tend to be sentimental and have a thread of melancholy that has run through my entire life so I have a real soft spot for this film. I was young and beautiful then, too. And wore those dopey dated clothes and had some of those naive expectations from life. Then again, when the movie is deconstructed, its really pretty stupid and by-the-numbers. But, oh, Demi and her stepmonster and the curtains blowing in that total 80's apartment? Iconic. To me, anyway. A real time capsule.

I didn't notice any bad acting, therecwas a story that was being told...I always get into the story. A story told by pretty people and I don't have a problem with that.

What are Georgetown students like now? Are they all goody twoshoe, republicans? I think yes.

R77 Emilio Estevez is half hispanic

[quote]I was young and beautiful then, too. And wore those dopey dated clothes and had some of those naive expectations from life.

Oh honey, me too.

Ally Sheedy seemed to get worse throughout the '80s. Maybe it was more coke or she just wanted to be as shrill as possible. "Short Circuit" and "Maid to Order" are two examples of how she would overact and act hyper in almost every scene.

Lisa Eilbacher (remember her?) from "An Officer an a Gentlemen" and "Beverly Hills Cop," possibly coked up, telling David Letterman how she lost out on "the biggest film in life - 'Short Circuit" to Ally Sheedy.

R106 "It wasn't a good movie at all, but people went to it because the actors were popular at the time "

Just like Crash. Except Academy members voted Crash best picture.

I have a funny story I told elsewhere about Lisa Eilbacher at the hotel party after the Oscars, the year "Officer and a Gentleman" was up for a couple. Most stars ran past the fans standing behind the velvet rope but she kept hanging out there, hoping someone would recognize her. Finally someone did and she beamed as she signed the one autograph. And then STILL wouldn't go away. Maybe it was coke indeed because she did "go away" (from movies) soonafter.

St. Elmos may have been grouped in with the John Hughes's flicks, but even during its theatrical run, the vast majority of public opinion didn't hold it in the same esteem, quality-wise. And I say that now, having looked back on the John Hughes's films and realizing just how sexist, racist, and simplistic they were.

Is Lisa Eilbacher still among the living?

It's strange how Molly Ringwald, Ally Sheedy and Anthony Michael Hall we're so on point in their youth. But as adults, they've all become awkward, humorless with no charisma.

The instrumental love theme is the best thing about the movie

R140, thank you for a great clip. Weird to see Letterman having such great chemistry with a guest because for many years toward the end he seemed to detest everyone.

One of the grossest parts is Rob Lowe playing his sax and everyone jamming out to it...

This is such a white movie.

Always wondered how the routinely awful Sheedy was able to deliver such a great performance in High Art. God, in St. Elmos's Fire, each time she said "Alekkkkk" I wanted to punch her in the face.

The illumination provided by Billy Idol's earring though.

The movie should've been called Noami & Ron, with the other 7 as supporting characters.

I hated Ally Sheedy's character in this. Reminds me of too many bossy, self-centered women I knew in Washington.

There's a lot of women today who are entitled, self-absorbed, slutty and lacking self-awareness, just like Demi Moore's character.

Miare Winningham's line,, "You miss school don't you? " was part of the promo commercials during its original release.

I would have loved to experience that decade or even the 90s as a teen or twenty something.

They (most of the actors from that film) are awfully famous now by the looks of it, you are still talking about them many many years later.

R92 glad to see that Tom used to enjoy himself at some point unlike now when I'm sure he's fed up with the drudgery of fame.

[quote]Mare Winningham is distractingly unattractive. The love scenes with Rob Lowe were creepy and sad.

Weirdly, she was my favorite actress of all of them. And she continues to do good work as a character actress (she was amazing a few years ago in that Hatfields and McCoys miniseries, and deserved all the noms and raves) But yes, she wasn't as gorgeous as all the others.

She played Joshua Jackson and colin Donnell's mom on The Affair

"The love scenes with Rob Lowe were creepy and sad."

Didn't he take poor Wendy's virginity? Wasn't it supposed to be so beautiful and wonderful because her first lover actually "cares" for her? Gag. Anyway, their love scenes are creepy and sad.

There's a commentary on this movie in "Consequence of Sound" by Justin Gerber. It's called "St. Elmo's Fire Might Be The Worst Movie Ever." It's pretty funny and spot on. Here's his take on Rob Lowe's character Billy:

We’re introduced to Billy (Rob Lowe) as he plays his saxophone in the back of an ambulance. An officer comes over to him to tell him he’s under arrest. He turns to the ambulance nurse and asks, “Do you believe in premarital sex?” She giggles, because it’s the movies in 1985. Oh, and his offense? Drinking and driving Wendy’s car, totaling the car and injuring Wendy (Mare Winningham) in the process. Despite all this, the gang manages to end up at St. Elmo’s Fire for beers, bros, babes, pizza, and giggles. Billy’s the best!

How great is he? He’s also a deadbeat dad, floundering through life and jobs his friends get for him. At one point, he tries to get his other friend Jules (Demi Moore) to go down on him by putting her car keys down his pants (“Come and get ‘em.”). She kicks him out of her car and tells him she really needed a friend. His response? “Get back in the jeep, and assume the missionary position.” She drives away … and we discover he’s on his estranged wife’s front lawn when she comes out holding their baby.

Fortunately, Billy gets his comeuppance by miraculously kicking his drug habit in a span of two seconds, makes the wise decision to move to L.A. (where there are no drugs or drinking of any kind), which his friends support, and sleeps with Wendy, who he almost killed in the beginning of the movie, as a sympathy screw. It’s like Entourage before Entourage with this dude. Cool sax, though.

His worst moment? Billy turns to his aforementioned estranged wife (played by Near Dark’s Jenny Wright) and begs, “Don’t you give up on me!” Rob Lowe can be great when given good material, but he’s not one to elevate the bad.

Worse, Billy asks the nurse if she believes in "premarital SAX". So many cringe-worthy lines in that movie. "Let's rock!" is even worse.

Booga-booga-booga! Ah-ah-ahhh!

Whoever thought of that should be dumped in a meat grinder

R157 by the looks of it, you also are still talking about them many many years later.

I totally disagree that Mare Winningham is unattractive.

She's a terrific actress. She's been nominated for an Emmy every decade (and won twice) and she's also a Tony and Oscar nominee. Can the others say the same?

She has never had the massive success of say Lowe or Moore, but she's highly respected in the business and she's had staying power.

And she's a great singer. Get either one of her first two CDs.

Mate Winningham delivered what is probably one of the finest performances ever in a tv film playing the hearing child of deaf parents in Love Is Never Silent. Her monologue to her mother at the end delivered also in sign language is truly devastating.

i watched it as a kid and i was very confuse by Moore's attempted suicide by "freezing". Like the movie is set in Siberia. Demi's pink apartment with gold accents is the perfect 80s nightmare. Jesus Christ.

Mare was amazing in Georgia. She should have won the Oscar over Sorvino.

I know that Mare plays the virginal shy good girl, but was it really necessary to make her look like a 70 yo grandma? While Demi wears fucking FOXES draped over her shoulders. LOL.

Mare really was brilliant in Georgia and played off of Jennifer Jason Leigh very well. That's an awesome movie that never gets much love, but I thought the performances were phenomenal. Mare's "it felt like 100 lbs of dead weight" scene in the car after her sister fucks up her act gives me chills. Such a great, quiet performance next to JJL's manic Sally Bowles on crack performance.

I always thought Mare would be an excellent Sally in the musical Follies. She has the right voice for it and could be really heartbreaking.

Demi seemed like she would be cool to hang out with at this time of her life.

She started dating Bruce Willis not long after, and became ultra-serious and career-driven.

R172 I agree. This is one of the few and last times I liked her in a movie and saw her appeal. But in general I think she's one of the worst major actresses of all time.

You break my heart, r173. But then again, you break everyone's heart.

What's your point R164? So you are my echo?

Weird....

So nice to hear people saying nice things about Mare Winningham such an underrated and underused actress. I though she was miscast as Wendy. Wendy was supposed to be a nice Jewish girl and Mare is very shiksa looking.

R176 Mare is very irish looking

I think Mare is going to be one of those actresses who will finally get her due in her '60s. She's ALWAYS great and has worked steadily. But I've always felt she has been underrated.

I forgot that she is also a singer as r166 pointed out.

Maybe one day she will be an EGOT winner. I would love that for her. She truly deserves it.

Mare may look Irish but, ironically to this conversation, her third CD (the one you don't have to get) is all Jewish/Yiddish folk music. So maybe she converted along the way. She definitely had the hippie girl thing going for most of her life.

At the very least, all she needs is that Grammy nomination, which could happen with her wonderful voice, and she'll be an EGOT nominee.

I always forget that Mare was once married to A Martinez.

Mare Winningham has always been what is known as "plain."

Someone at The Film Experience is a Datalounger?

My favorite part was when Wendy's mom was like "I'm fat, I'm thin, I'm blonde, I'm brunette" And Wendy says "well, ma, you always wanted to look like Elizabeth Taylor and now you do!"

The Estevez/McDowell plot is mind blowing to a contemporary viewer. She and her BF are super understading and nice to her stalker.

So nice that the cute doctor decides he'll "get a camera" to immortalize the great night where some kid drove in the snow to get to his girlfriend. Moment #431 that doesn't make sense in this movie. Like shooting fish in a barrel to list them all.

It's amazing that behavior in St. Elmo's Fire, such as that of "Kirbo", is considered romantic and passionate by some when that same behavior in real life would be considered psychotic and creepy.

Why did Kirby graduate from Georgetown just to become a waiter??

For such a large cast, Joel Shumacher did an adequate job at reeling in even more supporting characters without seeming like a clown car was emptying the entire movie.

Rob Lowe's ex-girlfriend, Demi Moore's gay friend, Andie MacDowell's roommate Gina Hecht, Andie MacDowell's husband, Mare Winningham's relatives, and street-walking Anna Maria Horsford are all introduced without killing momentum.

I think this movie was popular for the same reason the tv show "Friends" was popular. Twenty-somethings (and people who wished they were twenty-somethings) liked to imagine themselves as the characters, who were well off, well dressed, fucked each other and lived lives of constant fun and good times. Of course it was all ridiculous movie make believe, but its fans bought into it. Such a bad movie, but it did "resonate" with a particular type of audience. An eighties audience.

Does somewhere exist an explanation of the infamous attempted suicide by open windows? Did anyone ask Joel Schumacher or Demi WTF they were thinking? I find that scene particularly absurd, it should be commented on more.

I don't remember it being treated as an instant classic at the time, though the theme song got a lot of airplay.

The only explanation I can come up with for the open window suicide attempt is that the poor fucked up girl thought by opening her windows on a cold day she would catch pneumonia and die. Or that she thought if she left the windows open she'd freeze to death. Either way, it's stupidity beyond belief. And of course that's not the only crazy stupid thing that happens in this movie. The script writers must have been coked out of their minds when they wrote this shit.

yes, i know, r192. the idea is to die frozen by the cold. Obviously a dumb idea that only a cokehead could have. The crazy part is that all her friends are desperate to get in and save her, like she's pointing a gun at herself. They were ALL retarded in that scene.

^^^They need to recreate that scene on Drag Race!

Demi and Joel Schumacher give their thoughts on that scene. I think he's full of shit by saying the absurdity was intentional.

thanks, r194. he's full of shit: Moore's character was indeed an histrionic cokehead, but the problem is everyone in that scene acted crazy.

As a college senior at a preppy Catholic university in the fall of 85, i found this movie to be a let down. John Parr did hit No.1 though and the song is played regularly on 80s on 8.

Wasn't Demi Moore herself a big cokehead at this time?

How about a little Demi Less?

OP = Autistic Pop Culture Poll Troll

It's so deep.

WHET Judd Nelson? did he die?

Don't forget when Andrew McCarthy finally gets published and the headline is, yes, "The Meaning of Life". This movie was nuts, even in the prop department.

Here's is the EW Oral History, which includes some commentary on the "suicide" scene, and you can read Lowe getting on his high horse about the legacy of Georgetown, which didn't let the spoiled Hollywood know-it-alls film there.

It's difficult to explain now, but at the time it fit into the culture zeitgeist. It's like the tv show "Thirtysomething." At the time, it was *the* show to watch. But now you watch it and think, "What did I ever see in this show."

[quote]The one part of this movie that resonated with me is when Rob Lowe and Mare Winningham are up on the roof, and he says he misses school, and that in real life you have to be so serious,

Then a few years later, Ben Stiller stole that scene for Reality Bites.

Just to add to the Mare Winningham love:

I know a lovely, smart woman, now probably close to 70 years old, who escaped West Virginia rural poverty at about age 17. Her accent was always a bit unplaceable to me, until I saw Mare W playing a "hillbilly" mother in the cable miniseries "Hatfields and McCoys" a few years ago. The accent, and even some mannerisms, were instantly recognizable. Great acting (and nominated for another Emmy, I believe).

[quote] It's difficult to explain now, but at the time it fit into the culture zeitgeist. It's like the tv show "Thirtysomething." At the time, it was *the* show to watch. But now you watch it and think, "What did I ever see in this show."

Told you so.

It wasn't even as good as the Sesame Street movie released the same year (which has almost no Elmo in it).

R192, one of the characters (I think Leslie or Alex) explicitly says that she'll freeze to death when they see her in the bedroom. That's the only way we could know it's a suicide attempt because I would not have guessed otherwise.

This was not critically acclaimed at all but young people just liked the actors so they went to it. I was a teenager and went to see Rob Lowe.

Rob Lowe was very popular at the time, lots of girls and young women would go see any piece of shit he was in.

In the pic at R194, Demi looks mid thirties. They all looked like they were right out of grad school, not undergrad - though Billy would not have gone to grad school.

it's amazing the progress Rob Lowe made during his career: he was awful in St Elmo's Fire. To think he's the same actor who played Sam in the West Wing is crazy.

I was about ten when this came out and have never seen it. I do remember the song as an overplayed pop hit I to wait through before other and better songs came on afterwards. I recall seeing Demi and Emilio on the covers of young adult mags with blurbs about St. Elmo's Fire, so I was aware of some movie. I never even knew what the movie was about until seeing this thread and finding a trailor on YouTube. Wow, CRINGEY!

Grammatical errors even in the trailer. Georgetown should be ashamed!

What's sad is how true to life it is. I mean, young people were really like that in that era.

" I mean, young people were really like that in that era."

Which is one reason why the eighties sucked more than probably any other decade on record. It was the WORST.

Oh please we were not

Why does everyone want to piss all over the '80s? There were some good times.

Damn straight!

R212, people looked their ages or older in the 80s. Twentysomething college grads weren't obsessed with make-up, plastic surgery and looking young/trashy. In that respect, I miss the 80s and 90s.

[quote] Demi and Joel Schumacher give their thoughts on that scene. I think he's full of shit by saying the absurdity was intentional.

Absurdity is Schumacher's calling card. Demi & her fatal breeze is a METAPHOR.

Oh, FFS, R213, it was the script that sucked, not Rob Lowe. You know actors don't come up with their own lines, right?

It's really hard to root for a group of people who think they're terrific without providing any evidence to support that belief. This is also why many don't particularly care for milennials.

Oh please boomers own this

a total, out-n-out CRINGEFEST !

[quote]Oh please boomers own this

Aren't they Xers?

R225 I thought they were classic Gen X?

yes, R223: the script sucked. it doesn't mean that Rob Lowe wasn't TERRIBLE in playing it.

Rob Lowe was fine.

I was referring to R224's contention about young people

I remember Demi in particular being shocked -- SHOCKED, I tell you -- that the critics were so mean. "We were doing something important," she said (or something like that). What a howler.

I remember when we came back for our senior year of high school in Sept '85, Julie C. was now going by "Jules". Puke.

I hate my friend Jules.

That 'suicide' scene is so uncomfortable to watch for no other reason than you can palpably feel the strain of all of them 'acting' their hearts out. Watching actors work really hard at acting is so exhausting to watch.

The music video with scenes from the movie is cheesy as hell.

"We were doing something important," she said (or something like that). What a howler."

She thought "St. Elmo's Fire" was "important?" God, her brain must have been fried to pieces by all that coke.

OP has the correct take. So much hype around this film at the time too.

"Jules, y'know, honey... this isn't real. You know what it is? It's St. Elmo's Fire. Electric flashes of light that appear in dark skies out of nowhere. Sailors would guide entire journeys by it, but the joke was on them... there was no fire. There wasn't even a St. Elmo. They made it up. They made it up because they thought they needed it to keep them going when times got tough, just like you're making up all of this. We're all going through this. It's our time at the edge."

That speech must be read as if it is written on a card posted just out of camera range so Rob can get it all down. To be accurate to the original.

I never understood the point of Rob Lowe looking into the camera when he says, "We're all going through this."

[quote] it was the script that sucked, not Rob Lowe. You know actors don't come up with their own lines, right?

There was plenty of suckage to go around.

They all looked so meticulously costumed as their "type" that it was funny. They looked so fake and theatrical.

DL fave Mindy Cohn read for mare w.'s part and was close to getting the part.

Cohn would've worked better since the character was Jewish, Mare read as a WASP

Molly Ringwald turned down the Ally Sheedy part - she did not want to be part of an ensemble.

Rob Lowe jumping onto stage yelling, "Let's rock!" is probably the most awkward thing on film ever.

I had no interest in Emilio estevez' storyline. Mare winningham is a great actress but was so out of place in this! I think the movie should have focused on the Demi Moore character's decline into coke whoredom - she played the part well.

Ally sheedy & Judd Nelson -snooze fest. Andrew McCarthy was pathetic I think he looks much better now than he did then.

Let's face it this movie BLEW and i went to see it because we thought it was going to be a John Hughes type of movie like pretty in pink, but st Elmo's and breakfast club both SUCKED.

Interesting that Ringwald turned down Sheedy's role, since the character was supposed to be a college grad and Ringwald would have been 17 at the time it filmed...not that a younger actress hasn't played older before, but Molly was pretty much THE American teenager of the '80s.

The Estevez storyline was like an afterthought (besides being creepy AF). He barely interacted with the other leads. Was he bitter about this? The only interesting character was Demi's, but it was so poorly fleshed. Beside the legendary suicide scene, what the fuck was all the "stepmonster is dying and i don't wanna pay for the funeral" stuff? It was so strange.

And the classic Gay Best Friend next door who emerges from his apartment with a perfect frozen margarita complete with umbrella -- and later, when the suicide crisis happens, runs around flitting about how he just had a nosejob. And then is put in his place after gay-suspected Andrew Mc fucks Ally and gives "Ron" (no less) a smug send-off. Hard to believe a gay man was anywhere NEAR this movie.

(Actually the "nosejob" line comes when Billy and stud Hubley get in a fight at the bar and Ron is afraid of getting hurt. He's even more useless during the suicide, just looking around and saying, "What's happening?")

nag, nag, nag

r250 Oh goody

Brooke Shields should have played the virgin, since she famously lost it to Dean Cain while she was at Princeton.

Is it fair to say it was a Gen X movie made by, and starring, mostly younger Boomers?

These generational lines are always fuzzy.

The movie is currently on Sundance On Demand, for what it's worth

One time seeing this movie was plenty, but does anyone remember... did Kevin fuck Leslie in the coffin? Since this thread popped up, I can't be sure if I imagined it or if it really was in the movie.

I came of age in the 90s and i 'm gonna rewatch Reality Bites and Singles right now: i wanna check whether they went the St. Elmo's Fire route too. I liked both when they came out, i'm afraid they must be awful today.

My memory is that Singles was much better than St. Elmo's Fire or Reality Bites, but maybe I'm dreaming

Singles was much worse than reality bites but it was better than St Elmo's fire.

What was Kirbo's type? He was the only one who didn't seem to have a clear costume.

[quote] I came of age in the 90s and i 'm gonna rewatch Reality Bites and Singles right now: i wanna check whether they went the St. Elmo's Fire route too. I liked both when they came out, i'm afraid they must be awful today.

Singles holds up best. Reality Bites holds up surprisingly well. St. Elmo's Fire needs Bea Arthur's bra.

R255, they fuck on he coffin, not in it.

"Singles" marked the end of Campbell Scott's short ride -- and, by all accounts, he and Cameron Crowe hated each other, to boot.

Re: the coffin: AND laugh way too hard when they tip it over mid-coitus, one more badly acted Ally Sheedy moment. Followed soonafter by the always brilliant, "It's not the fat chick" line.

Campbell Scott was so cute in Singles!

Let's be honest- Campbell Scott never really had "it." Yes, he was handsome in his youth, but he had zero charisma and presence.

Reality Bites was contrived and annoying right from the start.

r264 shut your mouth!

I said he was Handsome, and really, that's all you gays care about. That and big cock!

Campbell was a good example of someone who improved on the looks of both parents. No offense, Colleen.

Is Patty Clarkson still the one who is getting Campbell's big fatty every night?

I've seen Mare onstage several times and she's always been excellent. A friend of a friend worked with her on Casa Valentina and only had the nicest things to say about her.

Reality Bites is contrived drivel, but I love the line, "You look like a doily."

Molly Ringwald might have brought some real life mean girl bitchiness to the set, which may have upped everybody's game.

Weird to have 3 that played HS students in Breakfast Club play college grads a few months later

"Fabulous Life of the Brat Pack"

My cousin had one line of dialogue and a close up for his line in that movie. I remember him telling me that the actor in the scene, Rob Lowe, was very encouraging.

I enjoy all of these actors so I want to love this movie but it is worse than predictable —it’s boring as hell.

How do you all have such strong memories of a movie that came out the year I was born?

Have you watched it multiple times on HBO or Netflix?

Terrible movie. But it was popular with its intended audience: teens and twenty-somethings. And it is a very dated, antiquated time capsule of the trivial, shallow 80s.

[quote] St. Elmo's Fire is referenced all the time, and is considered to be in the same league as John Hughes comedies. But it really is a shitty movie.

Which is because john Hughes comedies are really shitty movies.

the truth is they were all awful people except Mare Winningham's fat character

Frau here. I was a college freshman when this came out. A group from my co-ed dorm went. Afterwards, one of the guys offered to "help me out" by taking my virginity. I declined.

They never point out the St. Elmo's Fire set on the Universal Studios tour

[quote] [R66], you obviously weren't part of the cool crowd if you can't appreciate what a seminal touchstone this movie, good or bad, was for twenty-somethings back then. I feel sorry for you.

Well, THERE'S a withering riposte!

It still blows my mind that in high school Mare Winningham played Fraulein Maria opposite Kevin Spacey's Georg von Trapp.

I was 20 when it came out and saw it in the theater. I was all about Rob Lowe after Youngblood and About Last Night.

Godawful film. So was The Breakfast Club. The difference is this movie was obviously bad from its first viewing, while TBC can trick you into thinking it’s way more profound than stupid at first.

I liked it more than The Breakfast Club, which had no reason for living.

35 years ago this week since the movie was released

How did white trash Billy even get into Georgetown?

R289 I always wondered about that. What did that beautiful boy have to do for that admission? It would make a great porn series.

Madonna and Laura Branigan were up for the Demi Moore role, and Mindy Cohn told Joel Schumacher she would leave "Facts of Life" and abandon Over Our Heads for the Mare Winningham role, according to the article at R288

Watched a thrift store VHS cassette of this with multiple generations during a family summer vacation a few years ago. We all laughed so hard. Rob Lowe's saxophone riffing was especially hilarious.

I hated the song so much I refused to see the movie...

I have a Blu-ray with a double feature of this film and About Last Night.

ALN is far superior. Demi Moore is actually excellent in it. I just can't bring myself to watch St. Elmo's Fire again although I love the music.

Do you think Molly Ringwald could of made a sexier version of Mare Winningham's role or was she considered too young @ the time, even though the majority of her fellow bratpacker's were in the film.

If it were made today, who would you cast for each part? How would you update the story? Would you make Andrew McCarthy's character gay and in love with Rob Lowe's character? Would Emilio's character be shunned by the group for being a stalker or would you give him a better storyline?

The actress who played Rob Lowe's ex-girlfriend, Jenny Wright, was on hand to play the Demi Moore role in case Demi wasn't able to quit cocaine for the duration of the filming.

Mindy Cohn campaigned hard for the Mare Winningham role and to transition into a member of the Brat Pack telling Joel Schumacher she was willing to leave Facts of Life following her scandalous deflowering by Snake.

She wanted to capitalize on her newfound ingenue reputation as the wanton nymphette of Peekskill and grip her beef curtains around Rob Lowe's swollen member.

Nice try, r298.

Natalie lost her virginity to Snake in 1988.

I'm sure Molly Ringwald would of been pissed if Mindy Cohn snagged the role in SEF . Since the bratpack was her territory, even though she wasn't in the movie and Molly was still bitter about being letgo from FOL,even though it was the best thing that happened to her.

Kirby is obsessed with Dr. Dale Bieberman. In the opening sequence, Alex scolds Billy, "four months after graduation you're acting like very night is a frat party." Okay, so they've just graduated. Same sequence in the hospital and Kirby tells Dale, "You were a senior when I was starting Georgetown" - so he was a freshman.

So, how is Dale Bieberman a full fledged doctor already if they're only three years apart. Later on she says she wanted to be a doctor for altruistic reasons but now is starting to think it's all about money, suggesting that she's been a doctor for a while.

Granted, none of this matters at all to the movie.

I lusted after Rob Lowe and Demi was cool. The worst was Ally Sheedy and the chubby blonde who looked 39

[quote]Madonna and Laura Branigan were up for the Demi Moore role,

They were both too old to convincingly play recent college graduates.

The best reason to remake this movie is that the acting is bad overall.

Mare Winningham looked like a middle-aged matron and she was only in her early 20s!

My favorite part was a jealous Andrew McCarthy flipping his cigarette ash into Ally Sheedy/Judd Nelson’s stir fry.

Mare Winnigham aged into her looks. Fit her much better in her 50s.

[Quote] Mare Winnigham aged into her looks. Fit her much better in her 50s.

She's great on AHS.

Mare Winnigham's rooftop elegy to making a midnight peanut butter sandwich is one of the only scenes I remember.

That wasn't on the rooftop. The rooftop was a different stage. The PBJ elegy was in her new apartment, where she fucks Billy as a going away present before he leaves for NYC.

I meant rooftop was a different scene

Thanks Universal Studios tram tour guide for NOT pointing out the St. Elmo's Bar exterior and Demi's death-by-open window apartment near the Back to the Future Clock Tower, and jizzing in your pants explaining every minor insignificant detail about the stage used for season three of The Voice!"

[quote]it's being referenced here 32years later

And Valley of the Dolls is referenced here far more frequently 54 years later. Your point being?

R313 speaking of pointless posts...

Treacly, horrible shitfest of a film. The only thing worse than a John Hughes movie is a pretend John Hughes movie for adults.

Hot actor Todd Allen (probably best known as the male lead in the '80s horror flick Witchboard) also had a role, but left before filming commenced to appear in Silverado instead.

OK, been reading through this thread and will add my bits of knowledge that I don’t think I saw here.

Kirbo talks to Kevin about the fountain that he first saw Andie’s character Dale at in Georgetown that supposedly has four sides that read Art, Religion, Music and Life. In reality that fourth side of the fountain did not read Life, but Recreation and is not on the Georgetown campus. It is in a park, Bestor Plaza, in Chautauqua, NY (the first and most famous of the Chatauquas) and pictured below. I had gone for a visit and it was referenced and pointed out to me and I was told the writer of the movie summered there and used it in the script for St. Elmo’s Fire.

I saw, earlier this summer, a video of the Universal tram tour where they pointed out the St. Elmo’s Bar set facade and the Jules fire escape alley. I don’t know when it was recorded, but I’ll look to see if I can find it.

Mare Winningham and Kevin Spacey were not only leads in the Sound of Music, but they were also in the same class and graduated as co-valedictorians.

I don’t think it was pointed out that John Parr’s song Man in Motion was written about a friend, Rick Hansen, who was a Canadian athlete who had a spinal cord injury named and used a wheelchair. His Man in Motion tour was about bringing awareness to people with disabilities by making a trip in his wheelchair around the world.

I also found the full script online that I will post as well.

As mentioned, here the script that I found online. I’ve never really known how this works since there’s the movie script and then what gets shot and edited into the movie. From the first glance and reading to find the part about the fountain, it looks like what was in the movie. So maybe after the movie is done they publish the the script of what was actually put on screen?

St. Elmo's Fire Instrumental Love Theme has been on adult contemporary regular rotation ever since the movie was released.

I was in high school when this came out and I remember the vibe at the time was this group of young adults were so cool, witty, and edgy. It was a very entertaining movie at the time but of course I cringe when i see it now.

I was in HS when it came out - likely Junior year - and it was THE movie at the time. My friends and I aspired to be that group of friends. We hoped we were that cool.

I love David Foster's soundtrack. One of my fave of the original songs is "If I Turned You Away."

Emilio's thighs deserve an honorable mention.

this movie is the epitome of white privilege

True.

Andi McDowall is such a dull actor.

Andie MacDowell was probably so relieved that her actual voice was not overdubbed by Glenn Close.

I never understood why Dale (Andi) even entertains Kirbo in the first place. She never seems interested at all.

I don't know why I always found the white welfare mom with the biracial and white kids so hilarious; it's just the line reading. "You know, you get yourself some hot clothes and get yourself a man and you won't be worrying about all this shit."

Leslie (Ally Sheedy) is a real shit. When Kevin was trying to hurry Alec out of his apartment after Leslie and Alec broke up at the party and after Kevin and Leslie slept together, there was no reason for her to come out from the bedroom and reveal their tryst. It would have been so much easier if they just kept it hidden.

I just watched it on iTunes for the first time since i was a toddler when it came out and so there's no way in Hell my parents would have taken me to it.

Is it me or was every one of the main character's life choices motivated by cocaine, alcohol, tobacco, or some combination thereof?

characters'

R25 I've always wanted to be inside this Andrew McCarthy quite deeply.

R85 I've also always preferred the David Foster theme to the Parr pop song. In fact, it's one of my favorites.

This movie is a gay man’s argument against heterosexuality. Even Kevin‘s rantings seem like dimestore nihilism once he finally has sex with a woman as if that’s anything to brag about.

More than one person was paid a full-time salary for months to give Ally Sheedy the most unflattering and basic hairstyle possible.

R297 some respect on Jenny Wright's name, if you please.

She is resplendent as the enigmatic vampire cowgirl Mae in Bigelow's cult classic NEAR DARK. She also co-starred with Brat Packer Anthony Michael Hall in OUT OF BOUNDS.

^It's a coincidence that you said that, because Jenny had her own battle with coke in the '80s.

Jennifer Grey could of done wonders with the Mare Winningham role, she could of turned wendy the virginal jewish girl into a swan toward the climax of the film. Something Winningham couldn't bring to the part.

"The Little Chill."

[quote]Emilio's thighs deserve an honorable mention.

My main memory from Emilio is how he filled out his Levis in general. He did not look to bad going either if I remember correctly.

I was a senior in high school and my friends thought it was a good movie. My older siblings were just getting out of college - and not too shockingly, thought it was pretty bad. I do remember it getting not the greatest reviews. The suicide attempt by freezing confused me a bit as well.

I saw it on TV a few years ago, and it was clear my siblings were more accurate in their assessment of the movie than I was.

Honestly, I would actually like to see the [italic]Sesame Street[/italic] Muppets parody this.

I'm another one who viewed this in high school and thought they were cool. I was all about Rob Lowe back then, too bad he and this movie turned out to be cringey.

Heterosexuality is cringey in real-life. This movie is a gay man’s indictment of heterosexuality.