If you didn’t read up on Andrew McCarthy and missed out on the 80s and 90s you might never have known about the Brat Pack and his role in it. Plus, you might not have known that he had a hand in directing Orange Is The New Black either, but it’s amazing what you can find out when you look around. In his younger years McCarthy was in fact part of the famous group of individuals that included Judd Nelson, Molly Ringwald, Emilio Estevez, and several others. Surprisingly McCarthy has stated that he was never a part of this pack since after St. Elmo’s Fire he never saw any of them that often. But like it or not he’s still considered among the group since he was a very present actor at the same time as the others and he was a lot of fun to watch back in the day. While his antics and comedy on screen have lessened quite a bit in his older years he’s still remembered fondly as one of the guys that we thoroughly enjoyed watching back in the day.
Here are five of his best movies.
5. Less Than Zero
Going away to college far from home seems like a great idea for some people, but when they come home it’s kind of standard to find that the place they left is no longer the same. Clay didn’t really expect to find his friend Julian a drug addict, his girlfriend with Julian and also addicted, and their former classmate Rip more than willing to pimp Julian out to pay off the tens of thousands of dollars he’s owed. Things only get progressively worse as the movie rolls on as Julian’s addiction is so far out of control that he can’t stop and he’s exhausted whatever goodwill anyone is willing to lend. Even getting away from Rip though isn’t good enough as Julian has damaged himself beyond repair.
4. St. Elmo’s Fire
One gets the feeling that Andrew enjoyed taking on movie roles that saw his character trying to deal with change both in friendships and in life, as this movie easily depicts. The group of friends that are already together and finding that life is taking them down different roads continue to discover that with each new day a new challenge can arise when it comes to relationships. The one constant in life that anyone is bound to find is that change is going to be there whether we like it or not, and what we do with the moments as they come along is what’s going to make us who we are later on.
3. Weekend at Bernie’s
When two friends and coworkers find a glaring monetary error within their company they don’t realize that they’ve stumbled onto an embezzlement scheme until it’s almost too late. Their employer, who was going to have them killed, ends up becoming the target of the hitman he thought was going after his employees. Before his demise however Bernie invited his two employees to his beach house, presumably so that the hitman could take them out and he could blame them for the accounting error. But as the weekend drags on the two friends have to maintain the illusion that Bernie is still alive so that the hitman will focus on him instead of them.
2. Pretty in Pink
It doesn’t seem to matter what era we’re in, there will almost always be a love story that involves two individual that come from very different lifestyles. Andie and Blane came from very different backgrounds, but if we’ve learned anything from the movies we know that doesn’t matter. No matter how hard it might get or how difficult things might look it’s always bound to get better since the real feelings that people have for each other tend to bubble up and struggle for the surface in a way that allows them to be noticed and taken full advantage of by the end of the movie. And best friends of course are always around to usher the two destined souls together in some manner.
1. Mannequin
Fate, circumstance, and destiny of a sort are what seem to tie a lot of Andrew’s movies together at times since his passion as an artist in this movie allowed Emmy to come to life, but only when no one else was watching. That hardly seems fair, but once the love was proven to be real she managed to come to life in front of everyone and they finally had the chance to spend their lives together. This is one of the classic movies that gets forgotten quite often and did have a less than stellar sequel. But if you can find it, which shouldn’t be too hard, this is one that comes recommended to watch with a group of friends or as a date movie since it’s funny, touching, and even a bit romantic.
Andrew McCarthy will always be considered as part of the Brat Pack, and deservedly so.Emilio Estevez
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