What the Hell Happened to Molly Ringwald?
Molly Ringwald defined a specific period in pop culture history. She didn’t win a lot of awards or work with a lot of legendary directors and co-stars. But Ringwald’s cultural impact was far greater than her filmography would suggest. If you were in high school in the early-to-mid eighties, Molly Ringwald was IT. There was Ringwald and there was everyone else.
But just a few short years after appearing on the cover of Time Magazine, the moment passed. Ringwald went from IT-girl to has-been practically overnight.
What the hell happened?
Ringwald started acting on stage at age 5. She played the Dormouse in a production of Alice in Wonderland. The next year, she recorded an album with her jazz musician father and his band, the Fulton Street Jazz Band.
At age 10, Ringwald was cast in the West Coast Production of Annie in 1978. You might expect that the red-headed actress would have played the title role. But no, Ringwald was Orphan #5.
A casting director spotted Ringwald in Annie which lead to roles on TV. The show, Diff’rent Strokes, was a ratings-winner for the hit-starved NBC. They ordered a spin-off centered around Charlotte Rae’s character, Edna Garrett.
The show was The Facts of Life. The first season, which ran from 1979-1980, featured a much larger cast of students. After appearing in Diff’rent Strokes, Ringwald made the cut for the first season of The Facts of Life.
But the first season was not a ratings success. So the show was retooled around a smaller cast. Ringwald was among the students who did not return for the second season.
In 1980, Ringwald recorded songs for two Disney albums. She sang on the patriotic Yankee Doodle Mickey as well as a Christmas album.
In 1982, Ringwald appeared in her first motion picture, Paul Mazursky’s modern-day take on Shakespeare’s The Tempest.
Ringwald played John Cassavetes’ teenage daughter. When her parents separate, they leave New York for Greece where her father begins an affair with Susan Sarandon. Raúl Juliá also appears as an eccentric hermit living on the island.
Reviews for The Tempest were mixed and the movie was not a success at the box office. But Ringwald was nominated for a Golden Globe for New Star of the Year – Female. She lost to Sandahl Bergman who was nominated for Conan the Barbarian.
In 1983, Ringwald appeared in the Avatar of it’s day, Spacehunter: Adventures in the Forbidden Zone in 3-D.
In the early 80′s, there was a brief 3-D revival. Spacehunter was billed as “the first quality 3-D film backed by a major studio”. Peter Strauss played a Han Solo wannabe hired to save women from the villain, Overdog, played by Michael Ironsides.
Of course the reviews were bad. It’s a cheesy 80′s sci-fi flick in 3-D. Spacehunter barely broke even at the box office so audiences were spared any further adventures in the Forbidden Zone or anywhere else for that matter.
In 1984, Ringwald put science fiction and 3-D behind her with the movie that would define her career, John Hughes’ directorial debut, Sixteen Candles.
If we’re going to discuss Ringwald, we have to also discuss the man behind her rise to fame, John Hughes. Hughes was a gag writer who came to write for the comedy magazine, National Lampoon. After the success of National Lampoon’s Animal House, Hughes found work writing for the TV spin-off, Delta House.
Although the TV show didn’t last long, Hughes continued to work as a screen-writer. After writing scripts for Mr. Mom and National Lampoon’s Vacation (both in 1983), Hughes was ready for his chance to direct.
Hughes asked for headshots of young actresses. Ringwald’s picture was among those Hughes reviewed. He put Ringwald’s picture over his writing desk for inspiration and wrote Sixteen Candles in one weekend specifically for Ringwald.
Sixteen Candles received mostly positive reviews and was a hit at the box office. But more important than that, it was the start of something big. And Ringwald was at the center of it.
In 1985, Ringwald starred opposite Zach Galligan (the guy from Gremlins) in the TV movie, Surviving: A Family in Crisis.
In the days before cable, we used to watch a lot of these TV movies of the week. There wasn’t much of anything else on. I sure as hell remember this teenage melodrama!
Ringwald and the Gremlins guy played a modern-day Romeo and Juliet who commit suicide by inhaling exhaust fumes. The movie focuses on the surviving family members and how they deal with the tragedy. It was heavy stuff.
You can tell because of the sad piano music.
Five days later, Ringwald was back on the big screen in another John Hughes coming-of-age classic, The Breakfast Club.
The Breakfast Club was kind of like a teenage version of The Big Chill. Five high school students bond during detention. Each of them represents a different high school stereotype. Seemingly, they have nothing in common. But forced to interact, they find that they realize that they are all dealing with the same teen angst.
The Breakfast Club was some deep shit when you were a teen.
Ringwald wanted to play the eccentric outsider of the group, but that role had already been promised to Ally Sheedy. Instead, Ringwald was cast as the high school princess
Somewhere in my house, there is a mug which was given to all of the seniors in my graduating class. It has artwork of our school mascot, a blue bird, in a graduation gown and cap holding a diploma. And on the mug are the words “Don’t You Forget About Me” because it was our class song.
Well, actually it says “Don’t Forget About Me” because the mug was put together by grown-up who had no idea what the name of the song was. Which in a way, sums up what high school was all about.
What Hughes started with Sixteen Candles, he built upon with The Breakfast Club. Hughes made movies about teens that teens could relate to. At the time, teen movies were expected to be raunchy comedies in the Porky’s mold. The studio pressured Hughes to add nudity in order to make the film more like Porky’s. But Hughes resisted and the result was a new kind of teen movie.
Reviews for The Breakfast Club were good and the movie was a big hit.
In 1986, Ringwald was huge! She was so big, she was on the cover of Time Magazine. Ringwald later recalled the cover, “I had just turned 18. The cover I was really excited about was Seventeen magazine. To me, it was much bigger than Time. Seventeen was where I wanted to be.”
That year, Ringwald appeared in her final coming-of-age film with Hughes, Pretty in Pink.
Ringwald starred opposite Andrew McCarthy and Jon Cryer in a classic teenage love triangle. Cryer’s role was originally intended for fellow Brat Pack member, Anthony Michael Hall. But Hall turned down the role of Ducky out of fear her had been typecast as a geek.
Once again, Hughes wrote the movie with Ringwald in mind for the lead. Ringwald, however, was reluctant to make yet another coming of age movie. She eventually agreed to star in Pretty in Pink when she saw how much trouble Hughes had finding a replacement.
Pretty in Pink completed a kind of trilogy for Ringwald and Hughes. Like the previous two films, it received good reviews and was a hit at the box office.
Hughes and Ringwald intended to continue collaborating. Hughes had hoped to unite his biggest stars, Ringwald and Matthew Broderick, in a film called Oil and Water. But the timing for that project never worked out.
Hughes wanted Ringwald to star in Some Kind of Wonderful, but Ringwald refused stating that it felt too much like the movies she had already made with Hughes. That is a common criticism of Some Kind of Wonderful which is frequently compared to Pretty in Pink.
Hughes and Ringwald eventually had a falling out possibly because Ringwald turned down Some Kind of Wonderful. Ringwald said she was ready to graduate from the high school roles which had defined her. And she couldn’t do that working with the king of teen coming of age movies, Hughes.
Hughes took the rejection personally and the two didn’t speak for 20 years. Fortunately, they reconciled before Hughes’ death in 2009. Ringwald has done several tributes to Hughes and given him credit for her success.
In 1987, Ringwald attempted to graduate from the Brat Pack opposite Robert Downey Jr. in James Toback’s romantic comedy, The Pick-Up Artist.
The Pick-Up Artist attempted to move Ringwald and Downey into more mature roles. But their fans were reluctant to follow them outside of John Hughes territory. The Pick-Up Artist got mixed reviews and was a disappointment at the box office. It under-performed Some Kind of Wonderful which was also a disappointment.
Later that year, Ringwald appeared opposite Peter Sellars, Burgess Meredith and Woody Allen in Jean-Luc Godard’s adaptation of King Lear.
Seriously, I am not making that up. It sounds made up. Apparently Quentin Tarratino used to include the film on his resume when he was trying to break into acting figuring that no one in Hollywood had seen it and wouldn’t know he was lying.
The film received mixed reviews. And, well, nobody saw it.
In 1988, Ringwald starred in her final “teen film”, the teen pregnancy comedy, For Keeps.
Ringwald played a teen who gets pregnant and decides to keep the baby. She marries the baby’s father and complications ensue. It was the 80′s equivalent of Teen Mom basically. Only, For Keeps admitted it was scripted.
The material was darker than the teen movies Ringwald had made with Hughes. And the execution wasn’t as good either. For Keeps got negative reviews and bombed at the box office.
Later that year, Ringwald reuinted with Pretty in Pink co-star, Andrew McCarthy, for the drama Fresh Horses.
In the late 80′s, the Brat Pack which had been so successful in the middle of the decade was starting to falter. There had been a glut of coming of age movies starring the same core group of actors. Where it was once considered cool to be part of the elite Hollywood clique, the Brat Pack was falling from favor.
Fresh Horses was an attempt by Brat Packers Ringwald and McCarthy to move into more mature roles. But audiences couldn’t get past the Brat Pack label. In spite of decent reviews, Fresh Horses bombed at the box office.
In 1990, Ringwald took one last stab at reinventing herself for American audiences. She appeared in two films that year. The first was a starring role in the romantic comedy, Strike It Rich. Unfortunately, Strike It Rich struck out with critics and audiences.
Later that year, she appeared in Alan Alda’s comedy, Betsy’s Wedding. Alda starred and directed the film which was kind of like Father of the Bride with Alda as the father and Ringwald as the bride.
The movie got mixed reviews. Ringwald and co-star (and fellow Brat Packer) Ally Sheedy were nominated for Golden Razzie Awards as Worst Actress and Worst Supporting Actress respectively. Betsy’s Wedding bombed at the box office.
Those Razzies were a sign of the times. With the 80′s over, it was a bad time to be a Brat Packer. As the symbolic head cheerleader of the group, Ringwald decided to take a hint. She left Hollywood and moved to France where she married and continued to work in foreign films.
In 1999, Ringwald returned to American film for a cameo role as a teacher in Kevin Williamson’s high school horror movie, Teaching Ms. Tingle.
Ms. Tingle was Williamson’s directing debut. It really makes you appreciate what Wes Craven brought to the Scream films. Because it is awful. Ringwald’s role is small, but it allowed her to poke fun at her Brat Pack days.
Ringwald continued having fun with her Brat Pack image with another cameo in the 2001 spoof, Not Another Teen Movie. Ringwald’s cameo is easily the highlight of the movie.
Although she was no longer an A-list movie star, Ringwald continued working in smaller movies and TV. In 2008, she landed the mother role on the hit cable show, The Secret Life of the American Teenager on ABC Family. American’s favorite cinematic teenager had become a TV mom.
So, what the hell happened?
Ringwald rightfully credits John Hughes with her success. Without him, she struggled to find success.
But as much as Hughes was responsible for Ringwald’s meteoric rise, the Brat Pack was responsible for her career implosion. Shortly after the Brat Pack came on the scene with The Breakfast Club and St. Elmo’s Fire, a backlash began. All the popular young actors and actresses scambled to distance themselves from their teen images. But most failed to do so.
Eventually, Ringwald stopped trying and just walked away. Probably a good call. I don’t think American audiences were going to accept her outside of the coming-of-age movies that made her a star. The Brat Pack label was too hard to shake. And Ringwald was the face of the Brat Pack.
More “What the Hell Happened?”
Kim Basinger Thora Birch Matthew Broderick Nicolas Cage Chevy Chase Kevin Costner Geena Davis Bridget Fonda Brendan Fraser Mel Gibson Cuba Gooding Jr. Heather Graham Melanie Griffith Steve Guttenberg Daryl Hannah Helen Hunt Michael Keaton Nicole Kidman Val Kilmer Jude Law Jennifer Jason Leigh Penelope Ann Miller Demi Moore Rick Moranis Eddie Murphy Mike Myers Michelle Pfeiffer Molly Ringwald Meg Ryan Winona Ryder Arnold Schwarzenegger Steven Seagal Elisabeth Shue Alicia Silverstone Christian Slater Mira Sorvino Wesley Snipes Sharon Stone Mena Suvari Uma Thurman John Travolta Kathleen Turner Robin Williams Debra Winger Sean Young Renee Zellweger
Posted on January 20, 2013, in Movies, What the Hell Happened? and tagged brat pack, entertainment, john hughes, molly ringwad, movies, pretty in pink, sixteen candles, the breakfast club. Bookmark the permalink. 38 Comments.
Great post, and you’ll find a goldmine of new entries with some of the actors in those 80s movies. The term ‘dickbrain’ was used for the first time in recorded history in one of those films, but I can’t remember which one.
I have tried to avoid doing too many Brat Packers all at once. But researching Broderick had me thinking about Hughes which lead me to Ringwald naturally. Also, frankly, I didn’t have a ton of time to write this weekend and Ringwald’s career was relatively short so…
Great post; I can ONLY recall her from the teen movies you mentioned; although I admit I really liked The Breakfast Club, and will still watch on Encore as it pops up from time to time.
Like most people, I stopped paying attention after Ringwald parted ways with Hughes. But I have heard some good things about some of her post Hughes movies. I have to think she didn’t get a very fair shake. But then, that can be said of most of the Brat Pack.
Who exactly was the Brat Pack????
Didn’t we have this conversation in the Demi Moore article?
It’s hard to pin down who exactly was in the Brat Pack. The term was originally coined by a writer in reference to the actors in The Outsiders, Breakfast Club and St. Elmo’s Fire. A lot of young actors at the time can be lumped in depending on how loosely you use the term.
Emilio Estevez, Anthony Michael Hall, Rob Lowe, Andrew McCarthy, Demi Moore, Judd Nelson, Molly Ringwald and Ally Sheedy were all Brat Packers.
Outside the core group, you had Keifer Sutherland, John Cusack, Jami Gertz, Mare Winningham, Jon Cryer, James Spader, Charlie Sheen, Jennifer Grey, Matthew Broderick, and Robert Downey, Jr,
Actually, I thought the term originated with Frank Sinatra and Sammy Davis Jr., but maybe I’m thinking of another pack. Anyhow, your list is long…I was under the impression that the 80s pack was only five actors.
The term “Brat Pack” was a play in Sinatra’s Rat Pack. The writer meant it as a derogatory term for young Hollywood. It stuck and took on a life of its own. No one in the group wanted the label. They began fighting against it immediately, but it was unavoidable since they kept making movies together.
At a minimum, the BP is the combined casts of Breakfast Club and St. Elmo’s Fire.
I honestly don’t remember St. Elmo’s Fire other than the disappointment of it. I loved, and still love, Breakfast Club. I like a thought-provoking film with a library for a set….I wish more movies relied on scripts and acting rather than big explosions.
I was the right age for The Breakfast Club but just barely. I didn’t actually see it in theaters. I saw it a few years later on video when I was closer to the target age. I was too young for St. Elmo’s Fire. By the time I saw it, the Brat Pack craze was over, I was older than the target audience and the movie hadn’t aged well. So the only nostalgia I have for St. Elmo’s Fire is for the song and the heyday of the BP. That’s not much.
Watching TBC now makes me wince a little. It’s a great movie for teenagers. But as a middle aged man, it’s kind of embarassing. I read somewhere that TBC is about a bunch of stereo types complaining about how other people view them only as stereotypes. I think that’s a valid criticism. But when you’re a teen, it’s pretty deep stuff.
Also, TBC is a victim of all the copycats it inspired. What was fresh in the days when all teen comedies were like Porky’s is cliche today.
So glad you are back to posting these “What the Hell Happened To”. Really look forward to reading these!
Thanks, I’m glad you’re enjoying them. My New Year’s Resolution is to give my readers what they want; WTHH articles!
She was in the Stand. Mini series based on the Stephen king novel. Anyone seen it? Is it any good. I was surprised nobody mentioned it.
There were two things I meant to put in the artcile and missed. One was The Stand and the other was that she passed on Pretty Woman about the same time her career was stalling out.
The Stand was like any other Stephen King mini. It was made on a TV budget. If you like those TV minis like It and The Shining, The Stand lives up to that standard. I watched it all the way through once and have caught bits and pieces on cable from time to time. I can’t imagine ever rewatching the whole thing again.
Do you think it would revitalized her career if she had? Starred in Pretty Woman I mean.
No, I don’t. And from the interviews I read, neither does Ringwald.
The thing to remember about Pretty Woman is that it was kind of a miracle that it worked at all. I remember talking to a studio guy about it back when it was called $3,000. Gere was seen as a has-been. Roberts was an unkown. And no one expected anything from a rom com about a prostitute. The studio guy I was talking to was much more excited about I Love You to Death.
The main thing that Pretty Woman had going for it was Julia Roberts and the chemistry she had with Richard Gere. Without Roberts, I think Pretty Woman would have been the flop everyone expected it to be.
I think Ringwald was right to turn it down. Honestly, I don’t think audiences wanted her to succeed in 1990. I don’t think it mattered what she did.
I think I pretty much agree w/ your assessment here. The Brat Pack label was merciless to most of that crews careers. More than that however some of them were really not very good actors. Emilio Estevez, Judd Nelson, Andrew McCarthy…they were the pretty faces of the day. Most of them have had long careers that have outlasted the 80′s, but the fact remains they aren’t that great. Even Demi Moore who has probably had the most success isn’t very good in my opinion. Rob Lowe and Robert Downey are about the only two I can think of who are decent actors and successful. John Cusak might be in there too.
Ringwald was never my favorite of that bunch to be honest. Always came across as bitchy and princess’y to me. Her best role was that cameo send-up she did in Not Another Teen Movie as far as I’m concerned. As for The Stand I have seen it a few times because the book was one of my favorites as a teen. It’s a 4 part mini series and is available on Netflix streaming if anyone subscribes and wants to see it. It’s not terrible, but gets cheesier the older you get. Gary Sinise, Rob Lowe and a few other named actors are in it. It’s worth seeing once if those apocalyptic type shows are your thing.
We’re in agreement for the most part. Estevez directs now and I have heard decent things about Bobby. Nelson and McCarthy were just Tiger Beat material. The guys who had something to offer are still relatively successful; Lowe, Downey, Cusack. The Brat Pack label was killer for Ringwald and Sheedy.
At the time, I didn’t really think much of Ringwald, Sheedy or Moore. But going back and rewatching some of those old movies, they did have talent. I have been especially impressed with Demi Moore who I wrote off as talentless during her Striptease days.
Getting back to Ringwald, it didn’t matter how talented she was. Audiences didn’t see her as an actress. They saw her as part of the John Hughes package. And since she couldn’t make teen comedies forever (and also since audiences were getting sick of the 80′s Hughes glut), she was doomed. She was the MacCaulay Culkin of the 80′s. But I give her credit for handling it well.
As for The Stand, I agree. I liked the book (although I never liked the ending). The mini is worth watching if you like King a lot. But it’s pretty cheesy. Not bad for what it is.
The CineFiles – The John Hughes Films Part 1!:
This…. this is EPIC!! Because you demanded it! It’s a two part episode on the John Hughes canon! OUTSTANDING! And we couldn’t have been more excited about a topic like this. Seriously. It beats Italian zombie flicks.
‘Bobby’ is junk. Not worth watching. It’s a pointless movie, not entertaining at all.
Speaking of Molly Ringwald’s “Pretty in Pink” co-star and fellow Brat Packer Andrew McCarthy:
http://styleblazer.com/131294/shunned-by-hollywood-15-of-tinsel-towns-most-notorious-pariahs/11/
Of all of John Hughes’ Brat Pack, Andrew McCarthy may have been at the top of the heap. In films like Pretty In Pink, Mannequin, St. Elmo’s Fire and Less Than Zero the heartthrob distinguished himself with his good looks, intelligence, and sensitive demeanor. Unfortunately, McCarthy’s boyish good looks combined with a longstanding alcohol problem and an admitted “casual disinterest” in fame. By the time the early-90s rolled around, McCarthy’s leading man days seemed long behind him. The actor soon developed a reputation for being difficult when he was forced to switch to television, a rumor that was cemented when he was fired from a guest spot on Law & Order: Criminal Intent. Nowadays McCarthy has left his leading man ambitions behind in favor of TV guest spots, the occasional supporting roles, and a career as a travel writer.
Of the guys, only Rob Lowe had a shot, and he blew it with that sex tape scandal. Estevez was just, sorry…he was nothing. He was mediocre personified, every movie he had some involvement in was trash. Judd was too scary and McCarthy too nerdy.
That Mare Winningham gal was not attractive enough for stardom (sorry) but apparently talented as she was nominated for a Supporting Oscar in 1995 for Georgia, a film I’ve never heard of.
I find Ringwald’s stardom a bit baffling. What’s so great about her? Can’t say I’m disappointed that she peaked early and her career nosedived. Never understood the hype.
Re Demi, well 1st of all she got the “brat pack” lablel just for being in St. Elmo’s Fire, she was not in multiple BP movies like the others. People who say she isn’t very good I question did we see the same movies? She was adorable in The Butcher’s Wife (if it hadn’t flopped she may have done more endearing movies like that) & heartbreaking in If These Walls Could Talk and About Last Night, to name a few.
Well, it’s finally over. I thin the post is ready, If you want to have a final check and then launch it for me it’s ok
What happened to Molly Ringwald? You said it well. The public lost interest for the Brat Pack. What happened to that type of 1980s culture? One year. 1992.
I was born in 1988, and my first memory is from 1990. As a Reagan baby, I grew up in the early/mid 1990s with a love for 1980s pop culture. I can remember calling into a local radio station in 1995 and requesting Billy Idol music to which my 1st grade teacher found out and rolled her eyes. I remember my parents watching Must See TV every Thursday night with shows like “Cheers” and “The Cosby Show” and “Night Court” and “L.A. Law” and that seemed to very quickly usher in a completely different type of more progressive, youthful entertainment like “Friends”, “Caroline in the City”, and “ER” very quickly. Literally by 1994, any shred of 1980s sitcoms were dead.
At the time, people seemed very cynical about anything from the 1980s. Looking back, I think it began around 1992. That year, the following Television series ended:
The Cosby Show (1984-1992)
Night Court (1984-1992)
Growing Pains (1985-1992)
Johnny Carson (1962-1992)
MacGyver (1985-1992)
Golden Girls (1985-1992)
Who’s the Boss? (1984-1992)
The following year, TV lost “Cheers”, “Doogie Howser”, “Major Dad”, “The Wonder Years” and other memorable 1980s-era TV sitcoms.
Music changed drastically. We went from Phil Collins and Bryan Adams (Even at my young age, the radio poured out Bryan Adams “Everything I Do, I Do It For You” and Phil Collins, “Something Happened on the Way to Heaven” at a constant rate.) and from then we arrived at Ace of Base and Coolio within a two year period. All of a sudden if I asked my then-teenage sister to switch the song on the radio from R. Kelly’s “Bump N’ Grind” to John Mellencamp’s “Hurt So Good”, she would have told me to shut up.
You can also look at the political scene of the times. The picturesque portrayal of the eight years of the Reagan Era of the 1980s that ushered in four more years of George H.W. Bush abruptly ended in November 1992 with the defeat of Bush, the election of Bill Clinton and the 1981-1993 Reagan/Bush years were officially over. With that, so were the TV shows, movie stars, Brat Packers, Musicians and all the love and joy that came with that time period.
That’s just my opinion. 1992 killed pop culture in more ways than one. Why, I don’t know. Perhaps you can only take so much.
I recently saw an interview with Barry Gibb where he lamented that at the end of every decade, pop culture likes to clean house. At first, I thought the comment was kind of self serving. The Bee Gees saw their career end in the 60s, come back in the disco era only to face a huge backlash in the 80s and then kind of come back in the 90s in a nostalgic way. But the more I though about it, Gibb had a point about these cycles.
I think it tends to be more true in music. Few musical acts carry on for decades. And those that do usually reinvent themselves like the Bee Gees did. Actors generally have an easier time keeping their career in tact from one decade to the next. But certain actors really flame out when the decades change. Ringwald and the Brat Pack were examples. So was Steve Guttenberg who reigned in the 80s and disappeared in the 90s.
Nostalgia is a tricky thing. I enjoy indulging it as much as anybody. But nostalgia lies. There are things from the 80s I look back and remember fondly. But I’d never want to go back to living in the 80s. There was definitely a shift in pop culture from the 80s to the 90s. But I wouldn’t say pop culture died. It just changed as it always does. Lots of great things happened in the 90s that brought us to where we are today.
For example, I would never want to go back to TV of the 80s. Today’s TV is so much more complex and interesting than what we watched in the 80s. Yes, there were great shows then and there are crappy shows now. I can’t watch most of the crap my wife likes. But we have far more choices. Not to mention the great shows on pay TV stations which are often deeper and more engaging than big screen Hollywood epics.
It’s the circle of pop culture life, my friend. And it moves us all.
But is it just an urge to purge, or is there a pattern in the type of music that was popular at the end of each decade and needed purging?
-The 70s ended with disco. The influence of punk which worked its way into new wave and the guitar pop of the early 80s was a welcome change.
- By the end of the 80s, radio was dominated by corporate rock, dance music, and hair metal. Grunge/alternative couldn’t come fast enough for me.
- Unfortunately, even alternative became homogeonized and collapsed, getting replaced by still more frothy dance pop at the end of the 90s.
Since then, I’ve pretty much ignored the pop mainstream, often being unable to match popular songs with the artists who recorded them. My own purge has taken place.
I realize all of the above is based on my own taste, but there has seemed to be a pattern.
Agreed. As I was writing my previous comment, I realized I was in danger of rambling. Or rambling on more than usual. So, I just stopped myself before I went into a full-on rant. But the point I was making (or failing to make) was that these cultural shifts are good and natural. It can be painful for the artist who gets caught in the crossfire. But it’s healthy for pop culture to keep moving forward. Like the shark bit in Annie Hall.
When did the ’80s REALLY end?:
http://officialfan.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=offtopic&action=display&thread=467442&page=1
You can argue that the same sort of thing happened to fellow WTHHT and teen starlet Alicia Silverstone once the ’90s ended. Considering that “Clueless” is for better or worse, so horribly dated (and she initially gained attention in Aerosmith’s videos, back when MTV still played videos) and defined by its time period doesn’t really help. I think culturally, the ’90s ended on 9/11 (if the ’92 officially, culture-wise, marked the end of the ’80s). I say this because Bill Clinton just was out of office and George W. Bush was now the President. Plus, 9/11 (and the subsequent wars and economic downturn) forever changed society and made us even more pessimistic and cynical.
To an extent, this is true. I actually think Silverstone sank before the decade ended. But she was definitely a product of the 90′s. I think her reign can be narrowed to the mid-nineties where Ringwald defined youth cinema in the 80s (with Hughes obviously). Also, Ringwald was part of a bigger group that suffered a collective backlash. Silverstone was just a single actress and not part of a huge cultural thing.
One thing that you overlooked is that Molly Ringwald was offered or tested for (besides Julia Roberts’ role in “Pretty Woman” and Lea Thompson’s role in “Some Kind of Wonderful”) Demi Moore’s role in “Ghost” (incidentally, her character’s name was Molly), and Laura Dern’s role in “Blue Velvet” (as the story goes, Molly’s mother was disturbed by the script and didn’t show Molly it for her consideration).
Molly also during the ’90s, tried to make a comeback on a short-lived ABC sitcom called “Townies” (which also starred a pre-”Dharma and Greg” Jenna Elfman and a pre-”Gilmore Girls” Lauren Graham).
I’m always a little reluctant to talk about roles actors and actresses passed up on. It’s interesting in a what could have been kind of way. But it also paints a false picture. Had Ringwald taken any of those parts, it’s doubtful that it would have saved her career. Instead, it probably would have sunk those movies. Although I think Some Kind of Wonderful would have preformed better than it did had Ringwald accepted it. And it probably would have extended her time on the A-list a short while.
When I get over the rise and fall portions of the career, I tend to hit fast forward. Ringwald did some TV work in the 90s like The Stand and Townies. But they were pretty minor footnotes. What tends to happen is that we discuss them in the comments section. I vaguely remember Townies as one of many Friends wannabes.
What one person typed in Molly Ringwald’s IMDb message board:
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000208/board/flat/74256080?p=1
Looking back on the films she did immediately after Pretty in Pink, she made some awful decisions:
“King Lear” (1987)– babbling nonsense, that no one can sit through;
“The Pick Up Artist” (1987)– Totally unfunny mess, stupid script;
“For Keeps” (1988)– Lousy idea for a film
“Fresh Horses” (1988)– Very odd movie, Molly miscast
“Strike It Rich” (1990)– Obscure British film that no one remembers;
“Betsy’s Wedding” (1990)– Unfunny comedy with has-been actors (Alan Alda, Madeline Kahn, Ally Sheedy, Burt Young)
Another IMDb user believes that Molly simply she saw herself as “authentically ’80s” and did not want to move on beyond that ’80s style. This is because she knew that years from now, the youth that loved her in her hit ’80s movies: “Breakfast Club”, “Pretty In Pink”, and “Sixteen Candles”, would always see her as being that same teen idol of the ’80s. In a weird way, the same thing could be argued regarding fellow WTHHT subject Alicia Silverstone (who was a big teen star in the 1990s thanks to “Clueless”) concerning the ’90s:
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000208/board/flat/40044220?p=1
Maybe Molly’s “arrogance” (if you want to call it that) in relation to her fallen out w/ John Hughes as well as turning down other ultimately “star making” film roles that I previously mentioned destroyed her career. To put things into proper perspective, when you reach a certain level of success and eminence, most actors think that they’re too good for certain things and can reject any prospective big role by a major studio regardless of the substance and depth of the project and anticipation.
At the same time, Molly’s decision to turn down “Some Kind of Wonderful” is a bit understandable since by that time, she had already become typecast as the “Teen Queen”, mostly due to all her previous John Hughes roles:
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000208/board/flat/182243494?p=1
She definitely picked some turkeys. Maybe if she whad picked some better projects, audiences would have been more accepting. I don’t think Pretty Woman would have worked with her in it though.
I’m not sure how arrogant she was in her fall out with Hughes. She was a teen, so I’m sure she could have handled it better. But he was a middle-aged man and a real hothead by all accounts. Also, she did ask to be cast in Ferris Bueller. So it’s not like she wouldn’t work for him at all. She just didn’t want to keep making the same movie over and over again – which is what Hughes did.
I think she really needed to break completely from the Brat Pack. Maybe if she had pulled a Drew Barrymore and reinvented herself with a Poison Ivy type role. But Ringwald didn’t seem willing to take those kinds of roles and I’m not sure they would have been a good fit.
4 Reasons Why John Hughes Wasn’t So Great:
http://whatculture.com/film/4-reasons-why-john-hughes-wasnt-so-great.php
In lieu of the hate I will probably receive for this I would just like to state that John Hughes is a personal favorite of mine as both a director and writer. This list is by no means intended to be a hate fest just to slam the dearly departed. If anything it will probably make you appreciate Hughes all the more.
No director is perfect (I think) and each has their flaws. By highlighting them and discussing them I think you come to appreciate the individual better as an artist who despite his/her personal and professional failings was still able to produce captivating and entertaining works of art. If anything it can probably give the fans of Hughes out there something to shoot for. If you were indeed looking to pick up where Hughes left off in the teen drama genre then you would do well to avoid these pitfalls that continually marred Hughes’ work throughout his career. Others of you out there who aren’t fans of Hughes will probably be glad to see the guy taken down a peg or two. Not that you’re a hater but you do realize that there are other better directors out there who made great material for teens to enjoy. Or maybe you’re just a hater.
Whatever the case I’m sure you readers will find the list captivating and challenging in hopefully the best way possible. If not and this list provokes you to some violent reaction then I suggest you take Charlie Sheen’s advice off Ferris Buller’s and talk to someone….
Sitcoms Online Message Boards – Forums > 1980s Sitcoms > The Facts of Life:
http://www.sitcomsonline.com/boards/showpost.php?p=4761809&postcount=2
They act like she just disappeared. I think she’s still on “Secret Life”, and I know she wrote a very successful book called “Getting the Pretty Back”. I mean, they can’t expect her to have the same kind of success now that she had back in the 80′s. I don’t think any of the Brat Pack has had that kind of success to be honest.
What happened to Thora Birch?–and other actors that seemed to disappear for no reason…:
http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=15153548&postcount=67
Well, Andrew McCarthy wasn’t much of an actor. He always seem to come across as annoyingly smug and not very bright. There was just something about him that made even the most non-violent person want to smack his face. That being said, back during his heyday in the late 80s and early 90s I thought if they ever did The Dan Quayle Story, he would’ve been perfect for the lead.
As for Molly Ringwald, she made some bad choices that would’ve likely taken her career to the next level (e.g., she–or rather her mother–rejected Blue Velvet because she found its script “icky”). There was also the Lilian Gish Incident where she was supposed to meet the legendary actress for some sort of multiple generations of actresses event. Instead, she blew off the meeting without telling anybody much to Gish’s disappointment. Granted, she was only 18 at the time and the vast majority of 18-year olds would’ve had no idea who Lilian Gish was but the way she handled it really was a dumb mistake. Many people in Hollywood got the impression she already had a swelled head and started looking for other actresses in her age group who didn’t seem to have an attitude. It just so happened that an actress named Winona Ryder came along at that same time and Ringwald’s stock dropped rapidly.
Agreed all around. Where does the line start to smack Andrew McCarthy in the face?