Pretty in Pink (Everything's Duckie Edition)

Teen sensations Molly Ringwald and Andrew McCarthy drew raves for their starring performances in this hit love story by John Hughes. She's a high school girl from the wrong side of town. He's the wealthy heart-throb who asks her to the prom. But as fast as their romance builds, it's threatened by the painful reality of peer pressure. A bittersweet story with an upbeat ending and a phenomenal rock score, Pretty in Pink also stars Harry Dean Stanton, Jon Cryer, James Spader and Annie Potts.

The era of Molly Ringwald's profitable collaboration with writer-producer-director John Hughes (Sixteen Candles, The Breakfast Club) was at its peak with this 1986 film (directed by Howard Deutch but in every sense part of the developing Hughes empire). Ringwald plays a high school girl on the budget side of the tracks, living with her warm and loving father (Harry Dean Stanton) and usually accompanied by her insecure best friend (Jon Cryer). When a wealthy but well-meaning boy (Andrew McCarthy) asks her out, her perspective is overturned and Cryer's character is threatened. As was the case in the mid-'80s, Hughes (who wrote the script and produced the film) brought his special feel for the cross-currents of adolescent life to this story. In its very commercial way, it is an honest, entertaining piece about growing pains. The attractive supporting cast (many of whom are much better known now) does a terrific job, and Ringwald and Cryer have excellent chemistry. --Tom Keogh