St. Elmo's Fire (1985)

Directed by Joel Schumacher

Released June 28, 1985

Written by Joel Schumacher & Carl Kurlander

Movie Synopsis Courtesy of IMDB

"A group of friends, just out of college, struggle with adulthood."

I think it is safe to say that more than half the people that read this blog, will have never heard of St. Elmo's Fire. It is one of those hidden gems that mass audiences don't know about. For those of you who don't know, it is basically The Breakfast Club meets adult life. It has a lot of the same cast including Judd Nelson, Emilio Estevez, and Ally Sheedy but they also add in other members of the 80's brat pack like Rob Lowe and Demi Moore. 

Something interesting, though, if you look at my last blog, The Breakfast Club and St. Elmo's Fire came out in the same year. So Judd, Emilio, and Ally went from playing high schoolers to college grads within the same year. This just shows their abilities as actors because in both films you would never guess they are the same age. 

What I love about this movie is it has the same style and feel as an 80s teen movie, but it is centered around becoming an adult. Learning about how credit works (Jules), trying to find a real job (Billy), finding love (Kirby, Wendy, Kevin), what it means to take on the responsibility of marriage (Leslie and Alec), and breaking free from your parents (Wendy). It is not sugar-coded and it is not cheesy, just like most of the 80s teen movies were (mostly the John Hughes ones). I think I resonate with this movie so much because I am going through many of these things right now. I am about to graduate and I have to start learning how to be an adult; how to handle all of these responsibilities. So it is relatable to my life, which I often find is what makes these kinds of movies the best.

On that topic, let's look at one of those adulthood ideas: marriage. I am talking about the idea of marriage between Judd Nelson and Ally Sheedy in the movie. Which, before that, I just want to make a point that it is hard not to image them from The Breakfast Club. It is hard not to see Bender and Allison instead of Leslie, the professional women, and Alec, the smart politician who always saves his friends. Anyways, the point I wanted to make was how Alec believes that by marrying Leslie he will cure his infidelity to her. Like it is a disease or something. What? That is so backwards to me. If anything that will make him more unfaithful because he is legally bound to her forever, so he will look at other women even more. This example proves all to well that when people are young they rush into things too quickly. They think that they know what is best, but it normally isn't. I also think this is the problem with many marriages, people think that if they get married then all the problems they have will change because they are now married, but that is not how that works. It just makes the problems bigger.

While talking about characters, let's talk about Kirby for a moment. He is so CREEPY! I can't even watch him some times because the things he says or does makes him seem like a stalker (which he is). He literally tracked down this poor girl, who barely remembers him, in the middle of the mountains with her boyfriend. I don't understand how his friends don't try to better control him or kick some sense into him. Or for that matter, why this girl doesn't call the cops on him because he just shows up everywhere. I know I love The Breakfast Club too much, but Kirby is the polar opposite to the jock that he played in that movie. This is like the creepy nerdy kid who will never let his first love go away until he can have her for herself. 

Did anyone else have those clicks in high school that seemed to just date within themselves? I know I had them and I never understood it. Just like how they do in this movie. You date your buddy's ex, you're forced to be friends and see someone who you no longer date everyday because they are in your friend group, you hear the things your friends do with your friends, and so on. It just gets weird. I would never want to date someone in my friend group because then the whole dynamic gets messed up when things go wrong. Such as between Alec, Kevin, and Leslie or between Wendy and Billy.

But, the thing I will say, is it is really amazing to have a group of friends like that, that stick together that long and truly help each other out all the time. They are always there for you and you continue to see them even after school. Bonds like that don't happen often, it is the kind of thing that you wish for but barely get. Especially, when you first graduate college and you start to fully become an adult, you find out who you really are as a person. You change. But your friends stick by you.

I really enjoy the ending of this movie. It creates a full circle in terms of the story. They are trying to re-live college and stay young (as scene by the occupation of their favorite college bar), but then at the end they agree to meet for brunch. Adults go and meet their friends for meals instead of at bars. It is sort of their way of saying let's embrace adulthood together. Let's all do this together and I really enjoy that. It further cements their friendship.

To end this blog, I think I am going to leave you with this clip explaining what St. Elmo's Fire is. Not the movie, but the legend itself. If you have seen this movie before, there are a lot of parallels you can draw about their friendships from the legend. But I will let you figure it out for yourself.

Wendy: "Yea...ya wanna know what's great? Last night I woke up in the middle of the night to make myself a peanut butter and jelly sandwich...and ya know, it was my kitchen, it was my refrigerator, it was my apartment...and it was the BEST peanut butter and jelly sandwich that I have had in my entire life."