Pretty In Pink Trailer
Fresh Horses
Fresh Horses
Fresh Horses is the story of Matt Larkin, a college student that falls for a younger, married and less educated girl. He wants to get out of his engagement and she wants to get away from an abusive husband.
I didn’t really understand large parts of the film and the only thing that kept my mind from wandering was the performance of Molly Ringwald. She seems to somehow look especially beautiful and captivating here even though you want to give her character a good shake. Andrew McCarthy’s character as well as his performance in Fresh Horses aren’t up to much.
This is probably the only Brat Pack movie that left me feeling a bit confused and with the feeling that it was all a bit pointless. There is something I like about it but I can’t quite work out what, maybe it’s Ben Stiller looking like very young and very gay.
If you fancy a Ringwald and McCarthy fest, stick to Pretty In Pink.
Brat Pack Rating
Fresh Horses is by no means my favourite Brat Pack flick and deserves no more than a 5 out of 10.
Characters in Fresh Horses
Jewel – Played by Molly Ringwald
Matt Larkin – Played by Andrew McCarthy
Fresh Horses Trivia
Look out for a young Ben Stiller as well as Viggo Mortensen.
One of the few PG-13 rated movies that allowed the use of the word “fuck” more than one time and still maintain its rating. Neither use was in a sexual connotation.
Fresh Horses Links
Fresh Horses @ Rotten Tomatoes
Sixteen Candles
Sam and Jake
Written and Directed by John Hughes, Sixteen Candles is considered to be the first Brat Pack movie.
Molly Ringwald plays Sam Baker a teen girl on her sixteen birthday (hence the sixteen candles!) who is in a bad place. Her family have forgotten her birthday because her sister Ginny is getting married the following day. Sam also has to deal with her huge crush on school hunk Jake Ryan.
A school dance follows as well as a house party before an apology from her father for forgetting her big day. Along the way we meet Farmer Ted and the hilarious Long Duk Dong.
This builds up to the climax of Ginny’s wedding and a surprise visit for Sam.
Brat Pack Rating
The first of the Brat Pack movies, written and directed by John Hughes as well as being the start of his relationship with Molly Ringwald. Has to be a 9/10.
Sixteen Candles Characters
Samantha Baker – The girl whose 16th birthday isn’t going to plan. Will anything go right for our heroine?!
Jake Ryan – The hot guy of the film and the object of Sam’s affection, does he feel the same?
Farmer Ted/The Geek – The Geek is just that and is obsessed with getting San into bed to win a bet.
Starring; Molly Ringwald and Anthony Michael Hall.
Sixteen Candles Trivia
Molly and Anthony
Molly Ringwald also starred with Anthony Michael Hall in The Breakfast Club. The pair dated for a brief time.
Anthony Michael Hall is listed as ‘The Geek’ in the credits but his actual name is never revealed during the movie, although he calls himself Farmer Ted.
John Hughes has a small cameo in one of the church scenes where Sam goes to get her sister’s veil but blink and you’ll miss him!
Sixteen Candles Links
Sixteen Candles @ Rotten Tomatoes
Pretty In Pink
Another 80’s classic written by John Hughes and starring Molly Ringwald, Pretty In Pink was the definitive teenage love story of the 80’s.
Molly Ringwald plays Andie, a modern girl from a poor family who falls for Andrew McCarthy’s character Blane. Blane is from a different world to Andie due to his wealthy upbringing. Their friends struggle to accept their relationship because they are all from different social circles. Blane’s best friend Steff does all he can to scupper their bond.
Andie’s mother left her and her father years ago and Andie has since struggled to make her dad get a job. Her two best friends Duckie and Iona help her deal with all the dramas. What Andie doesn’t realise is that Duckie is madly in love with her.
Pretty In Pink is not quite as good as Hughes’ other movies of the same era such as The Breakfast Club and Some Kind Of Wonderful but it still goes down as a classic.
Brat Pack Rating
Being Hughes and Ringwald it’s hard to find too many faults with Pretty In Pink. Throw in an excellent bad guy played by James Spader and it rates a solid 8/10.
Pretty In Pink Characters
Andie – Fashion conscious, new wave girl struggling with money and relationships.
Duckie – Andie’s ever faithful friend who is also madly in love with her.
Blane – A rich guy but also a good guy, has his sights set on Andie.
Steff – Balne’s best friend who is rotten to the core! Doesn’t want Blane getting involved with the poor crowd.
Starring; Molly Ringwald and Andrew McCarthy.
Pretty In Pink Trivia
Blane, Andie and Duckie
Duckie and Andie originally ended up together but Hughes was put under pressure to change the ending by the studio. Ringwald also felt the ending with Duckie wasn’t right and said she felt he was more like a brother but did have chemistry with McCartney’s character Blane.
Michael J Fox was originally offered the part of Duckie.
Andrew McCarthy had to wear a wig when the ending of the film was re-shot because he had shaved his head for another role.
Pretty In Pink Links
Pretty In Pink @ Rotten Tomatoes
Molly Ringwald
Molly Ringwald was the 80′s icon. Girls wanted to be her and boys wanted to be with her! Sixteen Candles, Pretty In Pink and The Breakfast Club were the 80′s movies that matter and Molly stole the show in all of them. Her career since may not have been as successful but she will remain a screen legend for all time.
Molly Ringwald Bio
Molly Ringwald was born on 18th February 1968 in Roseville California and is the daughter of Robert and Adele Ringwald. Her father Robert is a renowned blind jazz pianist. Molly began getting involved in the entertaainment business at a very early age, performing with her dad’s Dixieland Band, The Fulton Street Jazz Band. She even released an album at six years old titled ‘I Wanna Be Loved By You, Molly Sings’.
A stage role in Alice in Wonderland followed by a stint in the tv show ‘The New Mickey Mouse Club’ were the next stages in Molly’s career. She followed that by joining a West Coast Production of “Annie” when she was ten years old. ‘The Facts of Life’ show on NBC then established her and even though she was axed from the show, it gave her a platform to do other things.
Molly’s first major role was in the 1982 film, Tempest. Although it wasn’t a smash hit, it was enough to get her more attention and more film offers. She went on to appear in the small budget movies, P.K. and the Kid and Packin It In.
The John Hughes Connection
Next for Molly was the film that launched her to super stardom, ‘Sixteen Candles’. Her film work had gained the attention of one John Hughes who cast her in the lead role of Samantha. It’s Samantha’s sixteenth birthday and this event slips her parent’s minds. The film was an instant classic and started a long and fruitful relationship between Ringwald and Hughes.
The Breakfast Club was the second collaboration between Molly Ringwald and John Hughes and proved to be an even bigger hit than Sixteen Candles. Molly plays Claire Standish, and stars alongside fellow Brat Packers Judd Nelson, Emilio Estevez, Anthony Michael Hall, and Ally Sheedy.
The two finally worked together on Molly’s biggest hit, Pretty In Pink. This was to be her last film with director John Hughes after she turned down his offer of the lead role in Some Kind of Wonderful.
Fall From Grace
After Pretty In Pink, Molly never managed to recapture the same level of success and after a string of flops, she turned down or missed out on roles in such box office hits as Ghost and Pretty Woman.
Face the Music was filmed in Paris, where Molly stayed for four years and married Valery Lameignere. After returning to the US, she starred in Malicious, which featured her first and only topless scene.
Townies was a short lived sitcom which was cancelled after one series despite being well received. Molly did various film work following this but without much success.
Molly has since focused her attention on the stage and has appaeared in a variety of plays including Tick, Tick, Boom, Enchanted April and Cabaret. She also starred in When Harry Met Sally on London’s West End.
Since divorcing Valery Lameignere in 2002, Molly met her boyfriend, writer Panio Gianopoulos and the two now have a baby girl together, Mathilda Ereni, born 22 October 2003.
Molly Ringwald Quotes
“I think I was blessed to be given the opportunity to be in those [Brat Pack] movies. I think they’re great movies, and I’m proud of my work in them. But on the other hand, to talk about something I did so long ago when I have continued to work and do other things is a little tiring. I just get bored. I keep going back to those movies when I don’t have anything new to say about them.”
“I have to accept the fact that these films have had a fantastic effect on people, and to deny that doesn’t make any sense until I do something that has the same cultural and social impact of those movies. That’s just the way it is.”
“You can’t be 16 forever.”
Molly Ringwald Links
The Essential Guide To Molly Ringwald - The definitive guide to Molly and her career, from Lindsay Holmes.
Molly on Wiki - A detailed bio for Molly Ringwald on Wikipedia.
Molly Ringwald Interviews John Hughes – From Seventeen Magazine, Spring 1986