St. Elmo's Fire

3,041 Views | 38 Replies | Last: 6 yr ago by Agmaker
Raptor
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AG
What is the point of this movie? I watched it last night and I cannot for the life of me figure out what is going on with any of the characters. The acting was bad, the scenes felt choppy, and Kirby (Emilio Estevez) chasing/stalking/obsessing after Andie McDowell's character is the biggest WTF for me.

Did these seven friends not just all graduate from Georgetown?

The love connections?

The timeline...


What the hell did I just watch?

(should I have been high to enjoy it?)
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oragator
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Brat pack...plot irrelevant.

Great sound track too.
FtBendTxAg
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AG
No point, just brat pack exploit.

Rewatched a few years ago. Pure ****.
Liquid Wrench
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It was a long set up for a music video, and a couple scenes that would have made for good music videos if they had music instead of dialogue. Think of the Andrew McCarthy stalking scene as a fan video for The Police song "Every Breath You Take."

Historically, the film reminds us of a time when Americans mythologized the saxophone player, a fleeting fascination that would culminate with the election of the 42nd president of the United States.

If you feel like reading a good long rant on the movie:
https://goo.gl/yUFLao

edit: fixed link; ugh, Texags absurd censor-bot strikes again.
dreyOO
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Other than a nice song, it's a pointless movie.
oragator
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One other side note from the movie, since I mentioned the soundtrack,
Most don't know that the love theme, recorded as an instrumental had lyrics, might have been the best lyrics Foster wrote, but it's hard it mesh them with the music, Can see why it went out as instrumental, beautiful though.



On a critique of the movie generally, if you look at it through the lens of the Reagan years from Hollywood's POVit makes more sense. Yuppie ideas clashing with a more liberal ones, personal responsibility and growing up vs the now fading ideas of the time. All against the back drop of the brat pack growing up too.
WestAustinAg
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AG


wesag
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AG
This movie more than any of those movies did NOT stand up over time. So bad.
Cancelled
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AG
I would imagine it resonates more with people that went to small east coast schools during the 80s. That said, it's got a haunting feel to it...at least for me (despite graduating from Tamu in the late 90s.) I watch it still.
MooreTrucker
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AG
It's not bad, except for Andrew McCarthy. I hate Andrew McCarthy.

The Breakfast Club and Sixteen Candles are the best brat pack movies by far.
elfurioso92
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AG
I just remember the one that was going to freeze to death because she left the window open. Horrible movie.
Liquid Wrench
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elfurioso92 said:

I just remember the one that was going to freeze to death because she left the window open. Horrible movie.
That's a scene I was thinking would have made a good 80's video if they skipped the dialogue and story. Just have a Tears For Fears song playing or something like that, with hot Demi's hair blowing in the wind.
GiveEmHellBill
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AG
ChiliBeans said:

Historically, the film reminds us of a time when Americans mythologized the saxophone player, a fleeting fascination that would culminate with the election of the 42nd president of the United States.
WestAustinAg
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AG
Copperpot
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AG
Love all things Brat Pack. I watch 80s movies for their music. Therefore, I appreciate St. Elmo's Fire. Love the bar scenes.
WestAustinAg
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AG
When Demi Moore didn't scare me...

Gomer95
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AG
I like that movie a lot because it's a poor man's brat pack John Hughes movie just without John Hughes and it has great music. It is definitely more cheesy than the others like it and I always just like to think it is what happened to most of the Breakfast Club after High School. I also relate more to it now than when I first saw it when I was in junior high because I'm grown up now and it shows the transition between leaving college into the real world and the struggles they all faced that I have seen in some form either from myself or my friends. You have Demi Moore not giving up her party ways and still not being responsible, Rob Lowe wanting to be back in college, Mare Winningham's character realizing that her job as a welfare worker doesn't help the greater good and it beats her down daily, and then Judd Nelson trying to get his political career going. Also the Emilio Estevez Kirby character stalking Andie McDowell is a little odd to me but I still really like the movie. I do prefer all the actual John Hughes movies to this one though. It's a decent nostalgic movie with some good moments but if it wasn't the brat pack being the stars, I think I'd be out on it.
Liquid Wrench
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austinaggie2003 said:

I watch 80s movies for their music.
Have you seen "The Business?" It's about drugs or something, but great 80's soundtrack.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0429715/
$240 Worth of Pudding
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AG
Once in a blue moon I'll stop down on it for nostalgia reasons and nothing more. Yeah, it's a pretty terrible movie.
From Rob Lowe's "it's so outta hand" tag line to the ridiculous "ahboogahdaboogahdaboo ha ha ha!" huddle cheer that the group does.... so bad.

I do have to give Judd Nelson's character props for demanding that "no Springsteen leaves this house!" though.
VanZandt92
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Gota De Limon said:

Once in a blue moon I'll stop down on it for nostalgia reasons and nothing more. Yeah, it's a pretty terrible movie.
From Rob Lowe's "it's so outta hand" tag line to the ridiculous "ahboogahdaboogahdaboo ha ha ha!" huddle cheer that the group does.... so bad.

I do have to give Judd Nelson's character props for demanding that "no Springsteen leaves this house!" though.


What doesh this mean?
Liquid Wrench
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Quote:

to the ridiculous "ahboogahdaboogahdaboo ha ha ha!" huddle cheer that the group does.... so bad.
The movie should end with a voiceover saying, "I never had any friends later on like the ones I had when I was in my twenties. Jesus, does anyone?"
$240 Worth of Pudding
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AG
VanZandt92 said:

Gota De Limon said:

Once in a blue moon I'll stop down on it for nostalgia reasons and nothing more. Yeah, it's a pretty terrible movie.
From Rob Lowe's "it's so outta hand" tag line to the ridiculous "ahboogahdaboogahdaboo ha ha ha!" huddle cheer that the group does.... so bad.

I do have to give Judd Nelson's character props for demanding that "no Springsteen leaves this house!" though.


What doesh this mean?


What part's giving you trouble?
policywonk98
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AG
Coming of age story.

Ambitious elite college type A people have their demons as well.

Life is tough. Making bad choices makes it even worse.


How was that not clear?
The Kraken
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AG
I don't remember ever watching the movie. Great song by John Parr, hit #1 on the Billboard charts, takes me back to my HS days when I hear it. Do any popular songs these days have brass instruments in them or all they all the same electronic stuff?
Brian Earl Spilner
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AG
This thread got me curious so I'm watching it on Cackle.

I had to pause the movie 20 minutes just to come post. I cannot decipher wtf is going on or what the plot is. It's just vignettes so far, random scenes thrown together...
Bruce Almighty
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AG
Of all the brat pack movies I've seen, this is the only one I don't like.
Brian Earl Spilner
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AG
I didn't realize this wasn't a John Hughes movie, until I actually started watching it. Definitely doesn't have that Hughes vibe.

I actually like Andrew McCarthy though. Don't get the hate. I always enjoy his characters.
Liquid Wrench
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Quote:

It's just vignettes
Probably a fair description. There's no central logic to it that I can recall.
YouBet
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AG
I remember almost nothing about this movie other than a bar and that Demi's character was pretty pathetic
MookieBlaylock
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AG
The brat pack was created by one of the top 3 movie makers of all time Sir John Hughes

This movie was made by Joel Schumacher who basically wanted to bang rob Lowe
Old Main
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AG
The bar scenes were filmed at a bar on San Vicente in Brentwood. I think it was called Mom's or something like that. I hung out at that bar when I lived in LA from 1989-1991.

I remember my friends and I actually liking SEF when we saw it in the cinema our junior year at A&M.

The movie definitely hasn't aged well... it is damn near unwatchable now. I like the idea of the movie more than the actual movie itself.

The subject matter of friends getting on with careers and their life after college is a good one in my opinion. As we know, usually a large group of college friends don't all end up in the same city - especially in a town like B-CS. Obviously the college gang staying together in the DC Metro area after attending Georgetown is not that unlikely (compared to college friends working in B-CS after graduating from A&M).

I love the songs (Man in Motion and the instrumental) and some of the images from the movie... as previously mentioned SEF is better edited down as a music video than anything else.

Even though it is a horrible movie, the music and movie poster are both very nostalgic for me. The songs remind me of college friends and life in the mid-1980s. What a great time to be at A&M.
Aust Ag
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AG
That part where Lowe came back to visit after he graduated, I thought was pretty realistic. It's all about the "now" with friends still attending. I remember that scene hitting close to home. I felt like a relect. "Why are you here ", basically.
Brian Earl Spilner
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AG
MookieBlaylock said:

The brat pack was created by one of the top 3 movie makers of all time Sir John Hughes

This movie was made by Joel Schumacher who basically wanted to bang rob Lowe


I mean, can you blame him?

No homo.
Tom Hagen
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AG
Philo B 93
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I love the movie, rewatch it at least once per decade, and I still don't know OR CARE what it's about.

Stalkers, cheaters, ****s, sad alcoholics in their early twenties, burgeoning drug problems, politicians with no true loyalty or values, trust fund babys, young single mothers as a backstory...... SHUT UP AND PUSH PLAY!
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