I loved all the comments from yesterday and would like to give a special shout out to those of you who brought up Savannah Smiles. I had completely forgotten about that movie, although it created in me a deep desire to have a daughter named Savannah.
Needless to say, that didn’t happen. Although I did have a Baby Tender Love that I named Savannah. She was the younger sister of my other baby dolls who were named Mandy, Candy, Sandy, Randy and Andy. I thought the rhyming names were very clever and unique.
Clearly I spent too much time using rubber glue.
But that’s neither here nor there.
The other movie that was mentioned was The Incredible Shrinking Woman with Lily Tomlin. I honestly almost put this on my list because the scene with Pat Kramer in the garbage disposal caused me to have some serious garbage disposal issues for years, but in the end I left it off in favor of Saturday Night Fever. I have no real reason other than it was just a gametime decision.
And then y’all beat me to the sequel because I was totally planning a completely lame follow-up containing movies that spoke to me as a teenager. It was going to be an in-depth look at how the movies of John Hughes completely changed my life. A comparison and contrast between the various Molly Ringwald characters and how each symbolized various facets of the high school hierarchy and the ensuing impact in American culture.
Totally kidding. It would have been more like this.
Molly Ringwald as Andi in Pretty in Pink was pretty much the coolest movie character ever and totally made me want to make my own prom dress, drive a Karmen Ghia, and date a rich boy named Blaine so that I could confront him dramatically in the hallway and yell, “WHAT ABOUT PROM, BLAINE? WHAT ABOUT PROM?”
And also, Jake Ryan. Total hotness.
And Judd Nelson. “Does Barry Manilow know you’ve been raiding his wardrobe?”
These are the movies that defined and shaped my teen angst.
I also loved Karate Kid even though it always bothered me that Elisabeth Shue’s head was much larger than Ralph Macchio’s head. I’m sure they are both lovely people but the discrepancies in their head size caused me to have trouble viewing them as a believable couple.
Although the rest of the movie was absolutely believable.
Then there are just the natural choices. Ferris Bueller. Dirty Dancing. Karate Kid II. Top Gun. Back to the Future. Footloose. Rocky IV. St. Elmo’s Fire. Some Kind of Wonderful.
Oh and I can’t forget Teen Wolf. I even remember what I wore to see Teen Wolf because I was meeting a boy I had a huge crush on at the movie theater and I carefully planned my outfit. Guess jeans, royal blue Guess sweatshirt with orange and red puffy letters that spelled GUESS, red socks and white keds.
I’d totally wear that same outfit tomorrow. It’s timeless.
Just like all these movies.