Brat Pack
Template:Short description Template:For Template:Use mdy dates Brat Pack is a nickname given to a group of young actors who frequently appeared together in teen-oriented coming-of-age films in the 1980s. The term Brat Pack, a play on Rat Pack from the 1950s and 1960s, was first popularized in a 1985 New York magazine cover story, which described a group of highly successful film stars in their early twenties.<ref name="New York">Template:Cite magazine</ref> David Blum wrote the article after witnessing several young actors being mobbed by groupies at Los Angeles' Hard Rock Cafe.<ref name="Mansour">Mansour, David. From Abba to Zoom: A Pop Culture Encyclopedia of the Late 20th Century (Andrews McMeel Publishing, 2005), p. 56.</ref> The group has been characterized by the partying of members such as Andrew McCarthy, Demi Moore, Emilio Estevez, Rob Lowe, Ally Sheedy, Molly Ringwald, Anthony Michael Hall and Judd Nelson.<ref name="Year of the brat">Template:Cite news</ref>
Genesis of the name
David Blum's New York story, titled "Hollywood's Brat Pack", ran on June 10, 1985. It was originally supposed to be just about Emilio Estevez, but one night, Estevez invited Blum to hang out with him, Rob Lowe, Judd Nelson, and others at the Hard Rock Cafe. It was a typical night out for the group, who had gotten close while filming St. Elmo's Fire. That night, Blum decided to change the article's focus to an entire group of young actors at the time. The St. Elmo's Fire crew members did not like Blum and sensed that he was jealous of the actors' success.<ref>Gora, Susannah (2010). You Couldn't Ignore Me If You Tried: The Brat Pack, John Hughes, And Their Impact on a Generation. Three Rivers Press. pp. 106–119.</ref>
Blum thought of the term the day after meeting the group, while thinking about a friend of his who was following Grace Jones to different restaurants and referred to his experience as following the "fat pack". At this instant, Blum felt like he was following the Brat Pack: "I wouldn’t call it an inspiration exactly. I did think it was pretty clever [...] these guys definitely fit the bill."<ref name="latimes weary">Template:Cite web</ref>
When the piece ran, the actors all felt betrayed, especially Estevez. The article mentioned people in several films but focused on Estevez, Lowe, and Nelson, and portrayed those three negatively. The Brat Pack label, which the actors disliked, stuck for years afterward.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Before the article ran, they had been regarded as talented individuals; after the article, all of them were grouped together and regarded as unprofessional.<ref name="gora 2010">Gora, Susannah (2010). You Couldn't Ignore Me If You Tried. Three Rivers Press. pp. 117–128, 289–291, 336.</ref>Template:Additional citation needed
Some actors went on the Phil Donahue show and called Blum an "unethical jerk". During the show, Richard Schickel said "I really thought that was a scurrilous article.... I really think this is a kind of scuzz journalism.... I’ve been around journalism a long time. I look at a piece like that, and I say, this is really slob work, and he was out to get you." After the show, in the Chicago Sun-Times, Rob Lowe reminded that "He’s not Hunter Thompson or Tom Wolfe, he’s David Blum living in a cheap flat", and Sean Penn added "Sometimes writers, like actors, like anybody, do their work to impress three or four of their cool friends in SoHo".<ref name="latimes weary"/>
With the increased negative attention to them, the actors soon stopped socializing with one another. On the group's camaraderie, Ally Sheedy later said the article "just destroyed it. I had felt truly a part of something, and that guy just blew it to pieces."<ref>Gora, Susannah (2010). You Couldn't Ignore Me If You Tried. Three Rivers Press. p. 128.</ref>
In 1987, Blum wrote an unapologetic article on the matter, stating "I do have one thing they don't. A job at a magazine. And that entitles me to the freedom of the press", and mentioning that he could not copyright the term Brat Pack even though he had also written an initial plot for a Brat Pack movie.<ref name="latimes weary"/> According to Susannah Gora, Blum later admitted that he should not have written the article.<ref name="gora 2010"/>
Alleged members
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An appearance in one or both of the ensemble casts of two specific films released in 1985—John Hughes's The Breakfast Club and Joel Schumacher's St. Elmo's Fire—is often considered the prerequisite for being a core Brat Pack member.<ref name="LA Times">Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> With this criterion, the most commonly cited members include:<ref name="Brat Pack"/><ref name="6degrees"/><ref name="Brat Pack Site">Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite episode</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
- Emilio Estevez: Identified by Blum's original article as the "unofficial president" of the Brat Pack.<ref name="New York"/>
- Rob Lowe
- Andrew McCarthy
- Demi Moore
- Judd Nelson
- Molly Ringwald
- Ally Sheedy
- Anthony Michael Hall
After Brat Pack quickly became a common term to identify this young bunch of actors, other actors with similar films and traits were commonly associated with the made-up group:<ref name="Mansour"/><ref name="Brat Pack"/><ref name="Brat Pack Site"/>
The initial New York article covered a group of actors larger, or more inclusive, than the currently understood meaning of the term Brat Pack. While listed in the article as "official" members, they are loosely associated with the group's core members.<ref name="New York"/>
- Matthew Broderick
- Tom Cruise
- Timothy Hutton
- Matt Dillon
- Nicolas Cage
- Sean Penn
- Matthew Modine
- Charlie Sheen
- Kevin Bacon
- Kiefer Sutherland
- Julia Roberts
Legacy
During the late 1980s, several of the Brat Pack actors had their careers mildly derailed by problems relating to drugs, alcohol, and in Lowe's case, a sex tape.<ref name="People">Miller, Samantha and Jewel, Dan. "Brat Race" Template:Webarchive. People. April 19, 1999.</ref> According to Susannah Gora, "Many believe they could have gone on to more serious roles if not for that article. They were talented. But they had professional difficulties, personal difficulties after that."<ref>Wilson, Craig. "John Hughes and the Brat Pack, revisited" Template:Webarchive. usatoday.com. February 16, 2010. Retrieved 2011-01-24.</ref> By the 21st century, the term Brat Pack had lost its negative connotation.<ref>Gora, Susannah (2010). You Couldn't Ignore Me If You Tried. Three Rivers Press. p. 332.</ref>
The films themselves have been described as representative of "the socially apathetic, cynical, money-possessed and ideologically barren eighties generation."<ref name="Eighties">Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> They made frequent use of adolescent archetypes, were often set in the suburbs surrounding Chicago, and focused on middle-class teenage angst.<ref name="Brat Pack">Template:Cite encyclopedia</ref><ref name="6degrees">Template:Cite web</ref> According to author Susannah Gora, these films "changed the way many young people looked at everything from class distinction to friendship, from love to sex and fashion to music." They are considered "among the most influential pop cultural contributions of their time."<ref>Gora, Susannah. You Couldn't Ignore Me If You Tried: The Brat Pack, John Hughes, and Their Impact on a Generation (Random House, Inc., 2010), p. 3.</ref>
In 2012, Entertainment Weekly listed The Breakfast Club as the best high school movie ever made.<ref>"50 Best High School Movies" Template:Webarchive. ew.com. September 22, 2012. Retrieved March 2, 2013.</ref> On VH1's 2006 list of the 100 greatest teen stars, Molly Ringwald was ranked No. 1, Rob Lowe was ranked No. 2, Anthony Michael Hall was ranked No. 4, Ally Sheedy was ranked No. 34, and Andrew McCarthy was ranked No. 40.<ref>"100 Greatest Teen Stars #'s 20-1". vh1.com. Retrieved March 2, 2013.</ref><ref>"100 Greatest Teen Stars #'s 40-21". vh1.com. Retrieved March 2, 2013.</ref>
In 2020, Estevez expressed frustration at the persistence of the Brat Pack name, saying "That [term] will be on my tombstone ... It's annoying because Brad Pitt, George Clooney and Matt Damon have worked together more than any of us have. We just made two movies and somehow it morphed into something else."<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
In June 2024, the documentary film Brats was released reflecting on the careers and lasting impact of the Brat Pack. Released by Hulu, the film was directed by and stars McCarthy, and features interviews with Estevez, Lowe, Moore, and Sheedy, as well as original article author David Blum and various frequent collaborators.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Filmography
Beyond the two primary films, there is no generally accepted list of Brat Pack movies. While Blum's article credits Taps as the first Brat Pack movie,<ref name="New York"/> the list of movies below represents the more traditional filmography, with each movie including at least two core members in starring roles:
| Movie | Actor | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Emilio Estevez | Anthony Michael Hall | Rob Lowe | Andrew McCarthy | Demi Moore | Judd Nelson | Molly Ringwald | Ally Sheedy | Close contributors | |
| The Outsiders (1983) |
Keith "Two-Bit" Mathews | Sodapop Patrick Curtis | Matt Dillon, Patrick Swayze, Tom Cruise, C. Thomas Howell, Ralph Macchio | ||||||
| Class (1983) |
Franklin "Skip" Burroughs IV | Jonathan Ogner | John Cusack | ||||||
| Sixteen Candles (1984) |
"Farmer Ted" (credited as "the Geek") | Samantha Baker | John Cusack, Jami Gertz | ||||||
| Oxford Blues (1984) |
Nick De Angelo | Rona | |||||||
| The Breakfast Club (1985) |
Andrew Clark | Brian Johnson | John Bender | Claire Standish | Allison Reynolds | ||||
| St. Elmo's Fire (1985) |
Kirby Keager | Billy Hicks | Kevin Dolenz | Julianna "Jules" Van Patten | Alec Newbury | Leslie Hunter | Mare Winningham, Jenny Wright | ||
| Pretty in Pink (1986) |
Blane McDonnagh | Andie Walsh | Jon Cryer, James Spader | ||||||
| Blue City (1986) |
Billy Turner | Annie Rayford | |||||||
| About Last Night... (1986) |
Danny Martin | Debbie Sullivan | |||||||
| Wisdom (1986) |
John Wisdom | Karen Simmons | Charlie Sheen (uncredited cameo) | ||||||
| Fresh Horses (1988) |
Matt Larkin | Jewel | |||||||
| Betsy's Wedding (1990) |
Betsy | Connie | |||||||
Other 1980s films, many with similar coming-of-age themes, that starred only one core Brat Pack actor with one or more close contributors include:
- Tex (1982) with Emilio Estevez and Matt Dillon
- WarGames (1983) with Ally Sheedy and Matthew Broderick
- Bad Boys (1983) with Ally Sheedy and Sean Penn
- Repo Man (1984) with Emilio Estevez and Olivia Barash
- No Small Affair (1984) with Demi Moore and Jon Cryer
- Heaven Help Us (1985) with Andrew McCarthy and Mary Stuart Masterson
- Weird Science (1985) with Anthony Michael Hall and Robert Downey Jr.
- One Crazy Summer (1986) with Demi Moore and John Cusack
- Out of Bounds (1986) with Anthony Michael Hall and Jenny Wright
- Youngblood (1986) with Rob Lowe and Patrick Swayze
- The Pick-up Artist (1987) with Molly Ringwald and Robert Downey Jr.
- Less than Zero (1987) with Andrew McCarthy, Jami Gertz, Robert Downey Jr., and James Spader
- Mannequin (1987) with Andrew McCarthy and James Spader
- Johnny Be Good (1988) with Anthony Michael Hall and Robert Downey Jr.
- Young Guns (1988) with Emilio Estevez, Charlie Sheen, and Kiefer Sutherland
- Kansas (1988) with Andrew McCarthy and Matt Dillon
- We're No Angels (1989) with Demi Moore and Sean Penn
- Young Guns II (1990) with Emilio Estevez and Kiefer Sutherland
- Bad Influence (1990) with Rob Lowe and James Spader
Some films have been dubbed Brat Pack movies despite having no stars from the core membership, including 1984's Red Dawn<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> with C. Thomas Howell, Jennifer Grey,<ref name="Telegraph">Template:Cite news</ref> Charlie Sheen, Harry Dean Stanton, Patrick Swayze, and Lea Thompson, 1986's Ferris Bueller's Day Off<ref name="The Players">Template:Cite web</ref> which starred Matthew Broderick with Grey and Sheen in supporting roles and 1987's The Lost Boys with Kiefer Sutherland and Jami Gertz in key roles.
Later acting careers
Many of the Brat Pack members have continued to act past the 1980s.
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