16 Candles (1984)

[Guest Edgy DC]

How much is in this 22 year-old movie that you'd have trouble getting by contemporary sensiblities?

• Winking humor and a blase attitude toward teens driving drunk.



• A blase attitude toward date rape.



• Anti-bohemianism.



• A sniggering little joke at the begnning about having a black boyfriend.



• A portrayal of Long Duk Dong over-broad enough to have come from the golden age of radio.



• Joan Cusack (with no lines) milking a spinal injury for all the laughs she can get.

Side question: Paul Dooley: better as the decent white collar dad out of his depth with a broken-hearted daughter in 16 Candles or the rampaging blue-collar dad out of his depth with an over-sensitive son in Breaking Away? Dude had range, at least within the out-of-his-depth dad context.

[Vic Sage]

molly ringwald was a redhead.
I plead the 5th.

[Vic Sage]

i'm surprised i haven't done a John Hughes filmography.

i'll get right on that.

[Guest Johnny Dickshot]

Dooley was great in both roles, but his scene where he works at the quarry in Breaking Away just for fun -- not to mention the "I built these buildings" campus walk -- is the superior performance.

What's funny about the above points is that, at the time, 16 candles seemed a lot more sophisticated than 'Revenge of the Nerds' which, after all, contained a date rape scene (committed by the hero, btw).

I think Long Duk Dong's over-the-topness is nearly justified given the fact that he's basically acquired to be a slave by Grandpa. Sure the spinal-injury stuff was insensitive but I think, in a weird way, it made the movie more realistic since there was a spinal injury type person in every school (or at least, a guy on crutches or something).

Overall this movie starts very strong but peaks too soon and the ending is pretty unsatisfying. It's only a matter of time after all until Jake dumps Sam for a hotter chick again.

[Guest Edgy DC]

Really? I think Jake played the future market pretty well, and knows Sam is about to blossom. I fear that it's only a matter of time before Sam parlays her blossomingness and her superboyfriend and becomes the popular bitchqueen of the school, with little time or tolerance for either Farmer Ted or her permed friend, sort of her Breakfast Club character.

[Benjamin Grimm]

Farmer Ted?

[Guest Edgy DC]

Yes?

[Benjamin Grimm]

Hmmm. I don't know if I ever saw Sixteen Candles. I know I saw The Breakfast Club (because my sister was always watching it) and I think I saw Pretty in Pink although I don't remember anything about it.

And that's it with me and Molly Ringworm. What's she up to these days?

[Guest Edgy DC]

Before posting here, Farmer Ted was the Anthony Michael Hall nerd character in 16 Candles. Farmer Ted, while being unpopular in general, was King of the Dipshits, and, in order to maintain his reputation, bet his flunky dipshits 10 floppy discs that he coud score with Samantha.

[Guest Johnny Dickshot]

Edgy DC wrote: Really? I think Jake played the future market pretty well, and knows Sam is about to blossom. I fear that it's only a matter of time before Sam parlays her blossomingness and her superboyfriend and becomes the popular bitchqueen of the school, with little time or tolerance for either Farmer Ted or her permed friend, sort of her Breakfast Club character.

Yeah, see, I guess I didn't quite buy Sam's impending blossomingness. I could see her being a bitch though.

Jake's on his way to college. He'll forget all about Sam after three weeks on campus.

[Frayed Knot]

So anything ever happen with that update/sequel - 32 Candles? - that was supposedly in the works -- or was that just a figment of someone's fantasy?

[Guest Johnny Dickshot]

How weird is it that after discussing this movie this morning, baby gets sick this afternoon, I have to leave work, go home and take care of him, and just as I sit him down to eat '16 Candles' comes on cable?

Weird, I tell ya.

A black guy?

No a black car. A cute guy.

[Guest Edgy DC]

A pink guy.

[Guest Johnny Dickshot]

A few reflections after watching it for the umpteenth time:

No other way to say it: Anthony Michael Hall was excellent. His voice cracking, his fingers tapping like Lenny Dykstra when he rides the bus. He really jumped the shark when he decided to leave his geek persona behind: Remember the flick where he plays a heroin-dealing football player?

Weeze totally dominates John Cusack, but whatever became of Weeze?

The Grandfathers are both excellent. Let me get my magnifying glass.

The way the fat little kid opens the door by smashing into it. Genuine.

Jake's jock buddy: "Maybe she's retarded." good line.

Still don;t buy the double-romance ending: Jake & Sam are doomed no matter what Daddy says; and no way does blondie do Farmer Ted, or would farmer Ted forget about it.

Lots of teen drunk driving in this flick.

Jimmy Montrose: I like that they gave a meaningless character a full name.

[Guest Edgy DC]

That waddly little brother was at one time the youngest actor nominated for an Oscar, Justin Henry, given a nomination for Kramer vs. Kramer. What a little snot that little snot would become.

[Vic Sage]

JOHN HUGHES filmography

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