The 1980s: when the hair was crimped, the pants were parachute and the movie stars were as fresh-faced as could be. The decade produced a surprising volume of hit coming-of-age movies, featuring actors often in their late teens and early twenties. Some of these charismatic stars would come to be known as the Brat Pack, a term coined by the writer David Blum in a 1985 New York magazine article about the youth movie phenomenon.
At the time, the stars who were considered a part of the Brat Pack were offended by the term, one that seemed dismissive of their work and painted them as careless and unprofessional. The actor Andrew McCarthy had been grappling for decades with how the term changed the trajectory of his career, and he decided to make a documentary about it. In “Brats,” which is screening at the Tribeca Festival and streaming on Hulu beginning June 13, McCarthy reconnects with some of his ’80s co-stars (including Rob Lowe, Emilio Estevez, Ally Sheedy and Demi Moore) to discuss how being in the Brat Pack affected them, for better or worse.
Despite the negative connotations of the term, the Brat Pack movies truly did come to define a generation, and the documentary shines a light on what these movies meant, and still do mean, to young people (even as the culture has changed). While a dozen or so movies qualify as Brat Pack selections, below is a look at five of the most defining films for the moniker, and why they had such an impact.
Detention has never been as fascinating as it is in this John Hughes classic, about five archetypal students forced to endure a Saturday together in the school library: the brain (Anthony Michael Hall), the athlete (Estevez), the basket case (Sheedy), the princess (Molly Ringwald) and the criminal (Judd Nelson). They trade jabs, laugh, cry and share personal stories that allow them to see one another as individuals rather than as the convenient labels placed on them.
It was, and continues to be, a kind of guidebook on how to endure as a teenager, especially when under pressure to act or present oneself a certain way. The performances are top-notch, especially from Ringwald, who turns her popular-girl character into one with whom we can all relate.
Francis Ford Coppola’s film adaptation of the 1967 S.E. Hinton novel is in many ways the godfather of the Brat Pack movies. Its ensemble cast includes actors who would become some of the biggest stars of the decade: Rob Lowe, Matt Dillon, Patrick Swayze, Estevez and a little-known performer named Tom Cruise. The Tulsa-set film features C. Thomas Howell and Ralph Macchio as two “greasers” with tough backgrounds who find themselves in hot water after a tussle with wealthy “socs,” short for “socials.”
It’s a joy to watch all of these up-and-coming stars at the beginnings of their careers, navigating a story that Coppola punctuates with Hollywood flourishes that imbue some John Ford western energy into the mix. Even though many of these characters have never left Oklahoma, they seem to be carrying the weight of the world on their shoulders. The film gives teen alienation a bold canvas on which to be explored.
This film, directed by Joel Schumacher, is another Brat Packer that sparks, if you will, because of its eager ensemble cast. What makes it so interesting is that its young characters are trying hard for a level of responsibility. But they keep tripping over their flaws of immaturity in the process.
Lowe, McCarthy, Nelson, Estevez and Sheedy are all in the mix (and Lowe’s character plays a mean saxophone), but one of the standouts is Moore. While her breakout was in the year prior with sex comedies like “Blame It on Rio” and “No Small Affair,” she really glows here as the character Jules, whose outgoing personality and garishness mask some deep psychological wounds. This is definitely not another sex comedy.
Are you Team Blane or Team Duckie? This is a perennial question for those infatuated with this teen romance written by John Hughes and directed by Howard Deutch. Ringwald stars as Andie Walsh, a girl from a low-income upbringing who lives with her single father. She has a lifelong friendship with the quirky outsider Duckie (Jon Cryer) and a very new crush on Blane (McCarthy), a rich kid whom Andie is ashamed to tell where she lives. James Spader also plays a memorable role as Steff, a rich friend of Blane’s who treats Andie with disrespect.
And while Cryer is more Brat Pack-adjacent than an actual member, his character pretty much steals this movie with his outfits and his antics, including a lip sync and dance he performs in a record shop to Otis Redding’s “Try a Little Tenderness.” How can you not be Team Duckie after seeing that?
This comedic drama was significant for being McCarthy’s debut feature, where he also delivers one of his most heartfelt performances. His character, Jonathan, is met with obstacles from the moment he arrives at his new prep school. He is immediately talked into putting on a bra and panties by his roommate, Skip (Lowe), as part of what he thinks is a school tradition, and then is sent outside and locked out of the dorm while wearing them.
Things change for the unlucky-in-love boy when Skip gives him money to head to Chicago to try to meet and bed a girl in the big city. At a bar, Jonathan encounters an older woman (Jacqueline Bisset) and they hook up. Only later does he find out that the woman is Skip’s mother. The revelation is played more awkwardly and dramatically than comically. While Bisset delivers a tempered, yet passionate performance, the movie’s real chemistry is between McCarthy and Lowe, who seem to have a natural ease with each other onscreen.
