Every Movie Mentioned In The Brat Pack Documentary (& Where You Can Watch Them)

Summary

• Brats focuses on the impact of the “Brat Pack” nickname on young actors of the 1980s, honing in on three central films.
• McCarthy’s documentary features conversations with former co-stars and social experts, exploring the collective experience of the actors.
• Pretty in Pink, St. Elmo’s Fire, and The Breakfast Club are highlighted in Brats for their significance in Brat Pack culture.

A new documentary on Hulu by director Andrew McCarthy called Brats explores the impact of the nickname the “Brat Pack” on a group of young actors whose careers took off in the 1980s McCarthy himself was a member, referencing several movies in the process. Other actors in the Brat Pack included Emilio Estevez, Rob Lowe, Judd Nelson, Alley Sheedy, Demi Moore, and Molly Ringwald. The actors would be grouped with the Brat Pack label for the rest of their careers. Rather than explore every film that members of the Brat Pack created, McCarthy honed his focus to get to the story’s heart.

McCarthy held conversations with former co-stars and social experts like Malcolm Gladwell in Brats as he tried to make sense of the moment the actors collectively experienced. While dozens of Brat Pack movies from the 1980s are definitive of Brat Pack culture, Brats focuses on three movies from that era. These three films were at the center of the Brat Pack label, starring all of its members between the two of them. One of the movies came out just a few weeks after the New York Magazine piece that dubbed them the Brat Pack. There are also films comprising the Brat Pack movies of the 1980s mentioned in Brats but not discussed.

3 The Breakfast Club

February 15, 1985

• The Breakfast Club is available to stream on Netflix.

The Breakfast Club is an iconic movie about five teenagers spending a Saturday together in detention. They have different opinions about the world and themselves but unite under the oppression of Richard Vernon (Paul Gleason), Shermer High School’s principal. The students have a transformative day together, ultimately challenging Vernon’s desire to label them based on stereotypes. The movie sees them collectively conclude that they’re not all that different. The ensemble cast features Emilio Estevez as Andrew Clark, Anthony Michael Hall as Brian Johnson, Judd Nelson as John Bender, Molly Ringwald as Claire Standish, and Ally Sheedy as Allison Reynolds.

The movie was directed by John Hughes and was released in early 1985, a massive year for the members of the Brat Pack. Hughes’ The Breakfast Club is central to Brat Pack culture and one of the best movies of the 1980s. The ensemble nature of The Breakfast Club cast and the characters’ honesty about their struggles while coming of age contribute to the film’s longevity as a coming-of-age rite of passage in pop culture. The Breakfast Club stars Emilio Estevez and Ally Sheedy appeared in Brats, but Molly Ringwald and Judd Nelson declined to be interviewed.

2 St. Elmo’s Fire

June 28, 1985

• St. Elmo’s Fire is available to stream on Hulu and Amazon Prime Video.

St. Elmo’s Fire was another movie that defined the Brat Pack in terms of who was in it and idealizing what it looked like to be a part of it. Nearly every central cast member is considered part of the group, as defined by the Brats documentary. The film featured Rob Lowe as Billy Hicks, Demi Moore as Jules, Andrew McCarthy as Kevin Dolenz, Judd Nelson as Alex Newbery, Aly Sheedy as Leslie Hunter, Emilio Estevez as Kirby Keger, and Mare Winningham as Wendy Beamish. The movie premiered just a few months after The Breakfast Club.

While some cringe-worthy St. Elmo’s Fire scenes exist for Demi Moore and other actors in Joel Schumacher’s film, the flick has remained at the heart of the Brat Pack. It follows a group of college friends as they graduate from Georgetown University and experience the challenges of becoming young adults outside a university. Part of its being synonymous with the group is that St. Elmo’s Fire premiered just a few weeks after the New York Magazine article about the group. The Brats documentary revealed those in the film hated the nickname that was given to them.

1 Pretty In Pink

February 28, 1986

• Pretty in Pink is available to stream on Paramount+.

The documentary spends a lot of time discussing the Brat Pack cult classic Pretty in Pink because Brats director Andrew McCarthy played a lead role in the film. McCarthy starred opposite Molly Ringwald and John Cryer, portraying teenagers in high school. While John Cryer is not considered a Brat Pack member, his role in the film helped to define the Brat Pack era. Pretty in Pink also featured Brat Pack adjacent member James Spader as Steff McKee. The teenagers, Andie, Duckie, and Blane, wind up in a love triangle typical of young adulthood.

The 1986 film was written by John Hughes and directed by Howard Deutch, who McCarthy interviewed for the Hulu documentary. McCarthy had a memorable conversation with Deutch that helped to expand his definition of what the “brat” label meant to him. While there are so many movies that Andrew McCarthy could have focused on in Brats – so many actors he could have interviewed – it makes sense that McCarthy focused on the core movies with ensemble casts that drove the narrative. It also makes sense that it centered on his standout Brat Pack film, Pretty in Pink.