Thoughts on St. Elmo's Fire

via IMDB

"So, I watched St. Elmo's Fire last night. Yeah, I'd never seen it. I kinda liked it, but the thing is, I think it would have worked better as like a TV show. They were trying to tell a lot of story in a short window of time. With TV, we could spend time and really get to know these characters."
*my colleague-editor gives a look that I'm interpreting as "Are you kidding me?"*

Yeah, that's right, I took the bad film seriously. Watching St. Elmo's Fire, directed and co-written by the late Joel Schumacher, is a slightly overwhelming experience. We've got seven young adults, at least half of whom are self-destructing, navigating their first fall season since graduating from Georgetown University. The story goes that The Big Chill was written with issues first, characters second, and one can imagine a similar process for Schumacher and co-writer Carl Kurlander.

Let the daisy chain begin ...

Wendy (Mare Winningham) is learning to stand on her own. That's right, world, she's making her own peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, wearing her granny panties and rejecting gifted cars from her father (Martin Balsam) that wind up in the hands of her least stable guy friends. The first time around, it's Billy (Rob Lowe), object of Wendy's long-simmering affection. A saxophonist with an infant daughter and an estranged wife (Jenny Wright), Billy is learning to grow up already. Don't let that frat boy get you down, Billy! You can be an RA and the in-house drug dealer!

Kirbo (Emilio Estevez) takes his sweet time in realizing Dale (Andie MacDowell) is just not into him. Then again, when your work uniform makes you look like Big Boy, I guess any kindness shown by a woman is much appreciated. I'm still gonna have to dock some points for the pillow sniffing and tracking Dale down to the woods. Next up is Jules (Demi Moore), who inspired my epiphany about Fire. I'm not sure if Moore or Schumacher had it in them, but I'm curious what a scene with Jules monologuing to her dying "stepmonster" would have looked like.

Last and least is the love triangle of Kevin (Andrew McCarthy), Leslie (Ally Sheedy) and Alec (Judd Nelson). I'm proud of Leslie for realizing she didn't want to be with either of those losers. On the other hand, I didn't like her lamenting things not being "like it was, all of us friends." I found it a little too "I wish that I could bake a cake made out of rainbows and smiles." Kevin's slightly worth defending. He's a reporter and like me, he got to run a glorified blog post on the front page. But Alec? Well, it was bold of Nelson to do two consecutive movies where he's the designated (Mr.) asshole.

"You ran out on this relationship, you take the consequences."

"I didn't run out on anything. You ran out."
"You fucked Kevin."
"You fucked many!"
"Nameless, faceless many."
"I feel much better now. Thanks."

David Denby compared Fire to a sitcom without jokes. What the movie lacks in wit, it tries to compensate for with a glib attitude. Jules and Alec suffer the most because of this. When she's at the soup kitchen, outlining a future involving bopping the boss all the way to doing a black mink ad and ending up the fabulous host of her own talk show, it feels like a female version of the "greed is good" speech in Wall Street. If there was a point, we (Schumacher included) missed it. Meanwhile, "of course" Alex changed political parties to get ahead. "Of course" he's convinced marriage will force him to act respectably. "Of course" he appears to have no principles other than ones to further his own gratification. Of course, of course, of course ... and ho hum.

To their credit, Winningham, Schumacher and Kurlander kept Wendy from being a walking punchline. It would have been all too easy to go that route. In a similar vein, I have to commend Lowe for pulling off the role of Billy. It's easy to understand why people would want to hang out with him, even if they'll inevitably regret it. Estevez has the oddest scenes to play and lines to deliver. His work isn't as strong as it was in The Breakfast Club*, but he's clearly committed to Kirbo, which is admirable, I guess. No qualifiers are needed for Sheedy and McCarthy. She's as appealing as ever and there is a certain thrill in watching a guy like Kevin, even briefly, get the girl of his dreams.
*For the record, Sheedy and Nelson also took a step down.

While I can praise the acting in St. Elmo's Fire, I just can't approve of the movie. I think my biggest problem it that it all-too-often feels like it wants to say, "Hello, here's a story that's going to capture the zeitgeist!" You never want to do that, because nothing is more lame than having to tell the world how cool you are. Oddly enough, one of Fire's best scenes is built on around the idea of ersatz.

"Jules, y'know, honey ... this isn't real. You know what it is? It's St. Elmo's Fire. Electric flashes of light that appear in dark skies out of nowhere. *demonstrates with a lighter and hairspray* Sailors would guide entire journeys by it, but the joke was on them... there was no fire. There wasn't even a St. Elmo. They made it up. They made it up because they thought they needed it to keep them going when times got tough, just like you're making up all of this. ... We're all going through this. It's our time at the edge."
"I'm just so tired, Billy. I never thought I'd be so tired at 22. I just don't even know who to be anymore."
"You're trying to grow up. You know, no one was buying this together woman of the '80s stuff, anyway."
"... And all this time I was afraid you'd find out I wasn't fabulous."
"It's cool. I was afraid you'd find out I was irresponsible."
*they laugh, which comforts everyone outside the room*

Not Recommended.

Thoughts:
-- "You know there are more people in law school right now than there are lawyers in the entire planet? Think about that."

-- Box Office: Grossing $37.8 million on a $10 million budget, this opened at No. 4 and came in at No. 23 for 1985.
-- Critic's Corner, the movie: "Not only devotes itself to stupid kids, it accepts their view of the world without any real criticism ... (directed by) the brutally untalented Joel Schumacher," Denby wrote.

-- Critic's Corner, the main characters: "For all their wheel-spinning melodrama, (they're) all surface -- all speed and stylishness without a bit of emotional resonance," Shelia Benson wrote in the Los Angeles Times. Paul Attanasio: "These aren't characters -- they're character hooks." Neither Benson, nor Duane Byrge, The Hollywood Reporter, could buy that such a group would be friends.
-- Critic's Corner, the actors: As with The Breakfast Club, Nelson got the worst reviews. Attanasio: "... overstated and actorish as usual." Critics were split on Lowe. Janet Maslin: "A matinee-idol future is assured, and perhaps something more." Attanasio: "And if I never see another movie with Rob Lowe mooning over his own girlish looks it'll be too soon."

-- Awards Watch: While Lowe won a Razzie for Worst Supporting Actor, Fire's score lost at the Grammys to Beverly Hills Cop.

-- Memorable Music: The score is 24-15, favoring songs written for movies. Fire has two entries. "St. Elmo's Fire (Man in Motion)," co-written by singer John Parr and composer David Foster, topped the Billboard chart that September. "Love Theme from St. Elmo's Fire" reached No. 15 on the Hot 100 (No. 3 on the Adult Contemporary chart) and also was recorded with lyrics, as "For Just a Moment." Either way, it's still cheesy. Which brings us back to "Motion" and its hilarious music video.

Courtesy YouTube

-- Hey, It's ...!: Blake Clark, Matthew Laurance and Anna Maria Horsford.

-- Castmember Connections: Besides the movies shared by many of the seven leads, we have Bernadette Birkett and Scott Nemes possibly playing mother and son a year before they'd definitely do so on It's Garry Shandling's Show.

-- Hey, It's 1985!: This movie and The Breakfast Club are considered the two signature "Brat Pack" dramas. For research, I read David Blum's fascinating New York article:

• The term "Brat Pack," coined by Blum, was used only for male actors and not everyone applied. Anthony Michael Hall and Andrew McCarthy, for instance; were not considered members. Actors from or based out of New York, like Matthew Broderick, Matthew Modine and Kevin Bacon were liked but not part of the clique. 
• The idea was that these were young men, some of whom were high school classmates, who made short movies and plays together or shared show business upbringings. Taps was considered the first Brat movie, followed by The Outsiders, Rumble Fish, Club and Fire.
• Each Brat got a title from Blum. Estevez was the unofficial president. Lowe was the most beautiful face. Nelson was the overrated one. Matt Dillon was the one least likely to replace Marlon Brando thanks to his shift to comedy. Tom Cruise was the hottest of them all.
• At their best, the Brats (or at least one in particular) come across as mavericks; Estevez had already written the scripts for what became Men at Work and That Was Then, This Is Now (which is on the viewing schedule). John Hughes: "He can do anything. He can act, he can write, he can direct. He's surpassed me in that respect. I can't act -- I wish I could." For whatever reason, Estevez followed up Then with Maximum Overdrive and Wisdom, but then did Stakeout and Young Guns, so he turned out okay.
• At their mid-range, the Brats are lacking commonly accepted discipline; "Most of them have skipped ... years of acting study" and none were college graduates. Their father figure was Harry Dean Stanton "for his ability to relate to them as kids."
• At their worst, the Brats come across as single-minded and sometimes self-congratulatory twits. "If (Fire) is not a success, the young unknowns starring in the hit movie of the moment might come up from behind and replace them." Timothy Hutton ("the only one with an Oscar") was being whispered about for his string of flops. The article ends with non-Brat Clayton Rohner giving an autograph while his (conveniently not named) Brat friends are ignored.
• What Could Have Been: Estevez was considering if not himself, then Nelson, Broderick, Sean Penn ("the most gifted of them all") or Nicholas Cage ("the ethnic chair") for either of the leads in Men at Work. He also optioned Bright Lights, Big City, which Schumacher was slated to direct. Before Michael J. Fox was cast, Cruise was set to star. Before Kiefer Sutherland, Estevez, Nelson and Lowe were considered. Another not-so shocking moment in the article depicts the Brats not striking a deep connection with Jay McInerney.
• The hottest bit of gossip is that an unnamed co-star had a harsh appraisal for McCarthy, a New Yorker. "He plays all his roles with too much of the same intensity. I don't think he'll make it."

-- McCarthy confirmed a few things both for the A.V. Club and Entertainment Weekly. Not being based out of L.A., he felt isolated, which he felt worked for playing Kevin. Filming Leslie and Kevin's shower sex wasn't a pleasant experience, as Schumacher wanted more energy, screaming "You're fucking!" Schumacher apologized, but apparently had less patience for Moore, who told EW that Jules' meltdown was a cringe-worthy moment. Schumacher: "That part was satirical and tongue-in cheek. She's so fucking dramatic all the time." As for "the Brat Pack," McCarthy grew to look at it as an iconic, affectionate term capturing a moment of time. Lowe sees the flaws in Fire, but he's also proud of it. "... when Billy Hicks gets on the bus and pulls away, you will cry."

-- Do you think Kim Sung Ho ever found good help?

-- "I thought you were taking steps to phase out everything that wasn't working in your life." "That doesn't leave much."

-- Next: Pale Rider. On deck: Back to the Future. Coming Soon: Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome.