1985 was a great year for movies to be released, and it’s proven given the lineup of films that came out during that time. Flicks likeBack to the Future,The Breakfast Club,The Goonies, and of course,St. Elmo’s Firewere released in theaters, and were all the rave. Director John Hughes was very well-known during that year and the ’80s as a decade, pushing out movies that featured the Brat Pack, an elite inner circle of actors that floated through the film industry as a group, chain-smoking and turning themselves into iconic characters.
The Brat Pack consisted of Emilio Estevez,Anthony Michael Hall, Judd Nelson, Andrew McCarthy,Rob Lowe, Ally Sheedy, Demi Moore, and Molly Ringwald. MSN states that there werea few “unofficial members"of this closely knit pack, such as Robert Downey Jr. and James Spader, but they were never reallyinit. In 1985, two big films were released at the same time,The Breakfast Clubdirected by John Hughes, andSt. Elmo’s Firedirected by Joel Schumacher; both featuring members of the brat pack.
Both did extremely well at the box office, but more people were interested inThe Breakfast Club, finding the plot of a group of outcasts in detention more interesting than a group of post-grad college kids in Elmo’s Fire.St. Elmo’s Firefollows a close group of friends fresh out of college, transitioning into adulthood as they find their footing in the real world. E! states that the film was madewith a $10 million budgetand was truly a coming-of-age film. The setting is the town of Georgetown, where they all graduated from; characters such as Billy (Lowe) not being able to move on from that time in his life and wanting to stay an irresponsible young adult, playing his saxophone at the local pizza joint and getting into fistfights whenever he can.Alec (Nelson)and Kevin (McCarthy) take a different approach, and have “adult” jobs, both working in their career fields.
All members of the Brat Pack, excluding Ringwald and Hall, were in this film, and through many moments in the movie, viewers can see that they were actually close in real life. This film gets overlooked when compared toThe Breakfast Club, and is often not talked about as much, when it has more relatable content than detention on a Saturday morning. Here’s whySt. Elmo’s Fireshould be talked about more.
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Love Between Characters
It’s clear even from the very beginning of the movie, when the group very dramatically enters a hospital in search of Billy and Wendy (Mare Winningham) after they’ve been in a crash caused by Billy, that these characters have a deep love and understanding for each other. It’s assumed that they’ve been friends for the entire four years they were at Georgetown together, building friendships and romantic relationships as the years went on. Even within the friend group, there are subdivisions of friends, like Kevin and Jules, Jules and Billy, Billy and Alec. They all have a ridiculous handshake and a chant they do that makes the viewer want to be in the group, wanting to stick their hand in the middle and repeat the words that aredefinitelymade up.
There are a lot of rather non-serious moments in this movie, but a lot of tender ones as well, such as when Jules (Moore) sits Kevin down and asks him straight up why he’s never made a pass at her the entire time they’ve been friends. Jules is the “it-girl” and knows she’s beautiful, so why hasn’t Kevin noticed that? Something great about this scene is how Jules isn’t ashamed or afraid to bring it up with Kevin, simply because they’re so close, that any outcome that might arise from this conversation won’t affect their friendship. There’s also a scene in the film where Jules calls Alec in the middle of the night, asking for him to come rescue her from a fancy hotel and Leslie (Sheedy), his girlfriend, sends him off, not worried about Jules' intentions in the middle of the night, because they’rethatclose.St. Elmo’sFireis a great representation of friends you meet in college and just happen to stick with you even after you graduate.
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Issues Discussed throughout the Film
Billy’s alcoholism and infidelity are brought up several times throughout the film, the former ruining his life and causing him to do terrible things to the people he loves. During a scene after he sweatily plays the saxophone for a whole crowd of screaming women, it’s made known that Billy has a wife and a baby daughter at home. While his friends love and care for Billy, they don’t do much to help save him from himself, which in a lot of real life situations, is what happens to addicts. Billy has to find his way out of the mess that was caused to be with his wife and child, and it’s proven that his problem with alcohol is very severe and has ruined several good things for him. When Billy’s wife shows up (Jenny Wright) and states that she’ll be marrying someone else, Billy panics and vows that he’ll change, but is it for selfish reasons or pure intentions?
Another real life issue that’s brought up in this movie, is Jules attempting to freeze herself to death. At this point in the film, there’s a rift in the friend group, a breakup, and a potential fist fight on the rise, but they all come together to rescue Jules, as it’s discovered that she’s sitting on her balcony in the freezing weather, refusing to come inside. The door is locked, and her friends go to the extent of carrying a blow-torch up the balcony ladder. But in the end, Billy is the one that manages to get inside. He wraps her up in this huge blanket, rocks her like a baby, and delivers a touching monologue about how life isn’t real, and that she was getting too worked up about something that didn’t even matter.St. Elmo’s Fireshould be talked about more, and appreciated more not only because of the real life issues displayed in this classic coming-of-age film, but also the heart that’s in it.
