Pretty in Pink February 18, 2010

Although he was in his 30s when he made them, John Hughes' string of '80s teen films captured the bizarre zeitgeist of that decade's youth, and did it in different--albeit similarly shallow--ways. Much as Sixteen Candles confused love with wish fulfillment, and The Breakfast Club reduced adolescent identity to stock archetypes, the rich boy/poor girl pairing of Molly Ringwald and Andrew McCarthy in 1986's Pretty In Pink makes for a fairly pat class struggle. Luckily it's enlivened by a great soundtrack and supporting cast (charming snake James Spader, sad-eyed Harry Dean Stanton, and Jon Cryer as the iconic best friend Duckie) that earns Pink its heavy rewind factor.