I can't watch Dirty Dancing anymore. I just ... can't. I think I overdosed on it first time around. Although Baby practicing on the steps down to the hotel proper is still kind of cute.

Pretty in Pink, now, or The Breakfast Club ... oh, the love. I could watch Duckie doing "Try a Little Tenderness" every. damn. day.

And Ferris Bueller ! Fay, was it you who hasn't seen it? Because, man, you have to. So good.

Sandy totally sold out for Danny, for instance. I don't care what was left in her closet.

Sold out, and put out. It was so clear -- "Well, he'll love me if I finally spread my legs." The sad thing is, we watched that movie dozens and dozens of times in fifth grade, and never thought a thing about it except, "Awww! Sandy and Danny are finally together!" Barf.

::scurries off to queue up 80s movies in my brand spanking new Netflix account::

Jilli, what was the original version of Pretty in Pink, and what was it changed to? I'm not sure what I saw.

I never saw Footloose, and I'm not sure how that happened. I think I just missed it while it was at the movies, and then never rented it. I might have been feeling a little too old for it (although I think I was only 17 when it came out). I keep meaning to rent it, now.

I loved Dirty Dancing when it came out. Somewhere along the line, Patrick Swayze starting skeeving me terribly, I don't know if I can watch it any more, which is kind of sad, because I loved it so, cheese and all. Mostly, I want to be Baby's mother, and have Briscoe treat me like I don't have to worry my pretty head about a thing. That has HUGE appeal for me, right now. I want to be decorative. Purely.

I didn't care about gender politics when I saw Grease (7 times that I remember in the theater) but (as a girl who was more Sandy-before-makeover) I thought it was a little sad she sold out. I still loved it, though. I think Grease II is in the running for the biggest piece of trash ever peddled as a sequel, that wasn't a Disney Direct-to-Video thingie.

I was more conscious of gender politics when Pretty in Pink came out, but that film has so many other associations for me (good and bad, mostly from my freshman year of college) that it never pinged me at all.

I can remember about 1 moment from Flashdance, although I loved it at the time.

I loved The Breakfast Club beyond reason (probably because of life circumstances when I saw it) but both female characters largely pissed me off. I mean, Ally Sheedy's character made freaking DANDRUFF ART. Molly Ringwald's character was a whingey whinger. Feh. Yet the movie? *sigh* I love it.

Grr! Need to look up my password in my e-mail to submit my paper, and g-mail is down.

ETA: As soon as I complained about it, it started working again.

Ooooh. Breakfast Club, Pretty in Pink (Duckie Rulz!!), Lost Boys. Throw in Sixteen Candles, Romancing the Stone and Desperately Seeking Susan and that was my movies on VHS collection back in the day when it was incredibly cool that you could see movies at home.

Now I'm reminiscing about big-hair metal bands from Los Angeles where any one of the guys had on more makeup at any one moment than I've worn cumulatively in my entire life. And somehow that was macho at the time. Hee.

Jilli, what was the original version of Pretty in Pink, and what was it changed to? I'm not sure what I saw.

The original ending, which was changed after feedback from a horribly mis-guided test audience, was that Andi didn't go back to Blaine "That's not a name! That's a kitchen appliance!", but went to the Prom with Duckie. The ending the movie got stuck with was Andi going to the Prom by herself, Blaine delivering a few Heartfelt Lines to her, and them ending up together. Which is wrong, wrong, WRONG. Dammit.

Now I'm reminiscing about big-hair metal bands from Los Angeles where any one of the guys had on more makeup at any one moment than I've worn cumulatively in my entire life. And somehow that was macho at the time. Hee.

I knew and dated the Seattle versions of those. Yet another reason I was a touch unimpressed with the Grunge movement.

16 Candles, Desperately Seeking Susan, Lost Boys? Loved them all.

I don't know if I ever loved any other 80s movie the way I loved Valley Girls (unless it was The Big Chill), though. Purple Rain and An Officer and a Gentleman might have come close at the time, but Valley Girls (and The Big Chill)

The original ending, which was changed after feedback from a horribly mis-guided test audience, was that Andi didn't go back to Blaine "That's not a name! That's a kitchen appliance!", but went to the Prom with Duckie. The ending the movie got stuck with was Andi going to the Prom by herself, Blaine delivering a few Heartfelt Lines to her, and them ending up together. Which is wrong, wrong, WRONG. Dammit.

Oh! And you're right. I remember being surprised by the ending at the time, because I figured Andi would end up appreciating Duckie.

The only summer my parents had HBO was the summer Grease II was playing ALL THE TIME. (Along with "The Reflex" video on MTV.) My little sister and I LOVED it -- watched it a zillion times, could sing all the songs.

My little sister had a Dirty Dancing obsession when it came out -- she was, 12? 11? -- we had it on tape. I've probably watched the damn thing 25 times. At 15, I knew it was cheesy, but still sighed over it.

Molly Ringwald always bugged me, but I loved The Breakfast Club and Some Kind of Wonderful. Oh, and I watched Back to the Future about a million times. I thought Lea Thompson was cooler that Molly Ringwald.

Oh, GOD, anyone remember Red Dawn?(The Russians are coming!) First PG-13 movie I ever saw. I thought I was SO FUCKING COOL!

Valley Girl ! Oh my god, I adored that movie. Went out and bought a Plimsouls album, even. And of course Lost Boys, which I forgot to mention before, but somehow I don't associate it as an 80s movie. I don't know why.

::smooches Cindy, just because::

I just admitted to myself that in the next few days I'm going to rummage through some boxes to see if I still have my movie poster for Lost Boys. If I do, I'm putting it up in my office. I'm pretty sure this action will fall into the "hopelessly cheesy" category, but I don't care.