I was born in 1988, so just a few years after Molly Ringwald, Emilio Estevez, and the rest of the “Brat Pack” took Hollywood, and American pop culture, by storm. Having missed out on the original craze as it unfolded, I long assumed that the group came up with the name themselves, were all lifelong friends, and were fond of having a moniker playing off of the iconic “Rat Pack.” But, you know what they say about assumptions…
Recently, I had a chance to watch the Hulu documentary, Brats, which took a deep dive into the group, their history, and the price of fame with a primary focus on Andrew McCarthy. Though the documentary was not what I thought it’d be, I have to admit, it changed the way I look at the Brat Pack and some of those classic ‘80s movies. That said, come with me as I explore my own perception of the legendary group of young actors and how this documentary opened my eyes to so many things I had wrong about the Brat Pack.
Chalk It Up To Ignorance, But I Thought The Brat Pack Gave Themselves The Name
You know, I didn’t know the whole “Brat Pack” name wasn’t created by the actors themselves until I started watching Brats, and it honestly changed the whole way I looked at the group of ‘80s heartthrobs. I guess I could chalk it up to ignorance, because I was shocked upon finding out that David Blum coined the term in his infamous New York Magazine piece, “Hollywood’s Brat Pack.”
The profile, which started as just a normal profile story on Emilio Estevez, whose star power was rising like crazy at the time after appearing in several career-launching ‘80s movies, seemingly had a profound impact on several core members of the group and became something that a few of them could never escape, even nearly 40 years after its original publication. This is especially true for Andrew McCarthy, who wrote and directed Brats, as well as the book on which it was based.
I Was Also Under The Impression The Term Boosted Their Careers, Not Hurt Them
Though Brat Pack members like Rob Lowe and Demi Moore would go on to reach new career heights long after ‘80s drew to a close, I learned during Brats that this wasn’t the case for the likes of McCarthy and Estevez. During an early scene in the doc, when McCarthy visits Estevez at his home and catches up for the first time in years, the two former co-stars admitted that being part of the group actually negatively affected their careers after the article was published. That’s wild to think about.
It was an eye-opening experience seeing what these ‘80s icons are up today and how the past few decades have been so different for them in various ways. Sure, some went on to appear in some of the best ‘90s movies or some of the best TV sitcoms of all time, but that’s not entirely the case for everyone.
I Didn't Know Some Of The Actors Were So Upset By The Name And Legacy Until Watching The Documentary
Shortly after Brats started streaming for everyone with a Hulu subscription, everyone and their mother started talking about the Brat Pack actors being so upset about the name given to them decades earlier. This included David Blum, the “Hollywood’s Brat Pack” writer, in a Vulture profile. In the piece, which goes deep into the documentary, his original article, and the mystique surrounding the group, Blum wrote that he stood by his words from nearly 40 years earlier and that he still couldn’t figure out why they caused so much agony.
Like Blum and just about everyone else discussing the documentary, I’m still trying to figure it out myself and make sense of it all. Adding to that, I had no idea all these years that McCarthy, Estevez, and the rest of the cast of movies like St. Elmo’s Fire and The Breakfast Club distanced themselves from the term and were varying levels of upset about it. I mean, I kind of get it, especially since they didn’t necessarily want to be treated as teen stars, but more as serious actors, at the same time though, there’s no such thing as too much publicity.
I Could Have Sworn Those Actors Made More Movies Together
The infamous “Hollywood’s Brat Pack” was first published in the June 10, 1985 edition of New York Magazine, just 18 days before St. Elmo’s Fire, one of the films most closely associated with the Brat Pack, opened in theaters. Though several members of the group would go on to appear in movies like Pretty in Pink, Blue City, and About Last Night… the following year, the world never really got to see much of the core group work together ever again.
I guess I never really looked into it over the years, but the Brat Pack didn’t really make all too many movies together throughout the 1980s, with two of the biggest titles outside of those already mentioned being The Outsiders and The Breakfast Club, with the former featuring Brat Pack-adjacent stars like Tom Cruise, Ralph Macchio, and Matt Dillon. It wasn’t like the “Frat Pack” years later who shared the screen countless times and crafted some of the best 2000s movies or the famous “Rat Pack” and their numerous collaborations on screen and stage.
I Thought They Were All Friends And Remained Close Over The Years
Finding out that the Brat Pack weren’t really close after all this time is like being a kid and discovering that William Frawley and Vivian Vance, who played Fred and Ethel Mertz on I Love Lucy, couldn’t stand one another. I like to imagine that Andrew McCarthy, Emilio Estevez, Rob Lowe, Anthony Michael Hall, Demi Moore, Judd Nelson, Molly Ringwald, and Ally Sheedy don’t have contempt for one another, but I was blown away when I realized that they weren't best friends while watching Brats.
Seeing the actors (at least some of them) reconnect and catch up after all this time was a great and uplifting experience that led to me thinking about some of my own friendships and relationships that have gone by the wayside over the years. It’s just the way life is sometimes.
Watching Brats was honestly one of the most eye-opening experiences I’ve had in quite some time, especially when discussing one of the biggest eras in 20th-century American cinema. And, who knows, maybe the Brat Pack will finally get back together if word of a St. Elmo’s Fire sequel is to be believed.
