5/5 Great Movie
  by Karen Kay Salsbury (Kansas City, Missouri)
This is one of the greatest movies ever made. It showcases what life is really like a few years after graduating from college, having to work so hard for not much money and pay all the bills. It shows how our relationships change as we get older and how hard it is to be young, even though everyone believes its so easy. Its about making mistakes, and figuring out how to be a better person. I highly recommend this movie to anyone who has "been there, done that" and wants to be glad they are in a different place.

3/5 Okay 80s period piece, good soundtrack
  by Viva (So. Cal.)
This is decent as a period piece for the 1980s, and the soundtrack isn't half bad. There is a glimpse of what might have been in terms of the plot and characters. It never gets fully fleshed out, though, and we don't really learn much about these people, what motivates them, etc. Kirbo's fling with Andie MacDowell doesn't really go anywhere, and it's hard to care much about Demi Moore's meltdown towards the end. As I said, the characters are so flimsy that you can't get very interested in them. Just not enough substance.

Rob Lowe's clothing is amusing. But why is Mare Winningham dressed as if she were a schoolmarm on Little House on the Prairie?

3/5 St. "Tickle Me" Elmo's Fire
  by C. CRADDOCK (Bakersfield)
When future historians want to understand the zeitgeist of the 80's they will inevitably turn to two films: The Breakfast Club and St. Elmo's Fire. Of the two, The Breakfast Club is the better movie. John Hughes had real empathy for the generation that was seeking to define itself in the wake of the baby boom. The Breakfast Club music was also much better. Who can forget songs like "Don't You Forget About Me" by The Simple Minds? As you may recall, the members of The Breakfast Club were asked to write an essay about how they saw themselves. But if The Breakfast Club shows how that generation would like to be remembered, perhaps St. Elmo's Fire is closer to the truth. It holds up a mirror to Gen Xers, even if the mirror is cracked and streaked with a white powdery residue.

In 1985, the same year that "Elmo" was released, a New York Magazine cover story coined the term, "Brat Pack," a take off on Frank Sinatra's Rat Pack posse from the 50's and 60's. The Brat Pack was a group of young actors and actresses who came of age in the 80's. They embodied the socially apathetic, cynical, money-obsessed and ideologically barren eighties generation, who were also notable for excessive partying. Though a wide variety of people could be considered Brat Packers, membership in the ensemble casts of either John Hughes' The Breakfast Club or Joel Schumacher's St. Elmo's Fire, or better yet, both films, was the most commonly accepted definition.

Let's take a look at the seven characters that congregate almost nightly in St. Elmo's Bar, all friends since college, recently graduated, and trying to make sense of the adult world:

Alec Newbury (Judd Nelson) is at first glance the most together. He gets jobs for his friends, even if they sometimes screw them up. He has a job with a Democratic Congressman, but he is being courted by a Republican Senator, and is more than willing to sell out at the earliest possible opportunity. I don't want to play partisan politics myself, and am not taking sides or favoring one party over another, but within the context of the film, strangely the once idealistic Alec Newbury is making his decision purely for selfish reasons. It would mean more money for him, and he doesn't give any thought whatsoever to what it means to our country and its citizens. More money would mean he could get married. Though he claims to love his girlfriend, he can't help himself from repeatedly cheating on her.

Leslie (Ally Sheedy), his girlfriend, isn't quite ready to get married, though they are moving in together. She has plans of her own, to be an architect, though if you blink you miss that back-story, because she is presented more as a wife-in-training. Their female friends voted them "couple most likely to couple" and are excited about Alec's defection to the Republicans. They receive the news as if they're hearing that "He went to Jerrod's" in a diamond commercial.

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Leslie: Alec is becoming a Republican... and he wants to get *married!* Oh, my God!
Jules: I always *knew* he was a Republican!
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Kevin Dolenz (Andrew McCarthy) is a brooding journalist who is secretly in love with Leslie. He is also Alec's confidant, and the temptation to betray his friend is intense. Kevin works for the paper but is only assigned obituaries. He is trying to write an article about the meaning of life but is hopelessly blocked. When he does write his article he proudly shows his friends his by-line, but you know what? They are glad for him, but no one has the time or interest to actually read it. Kevin makes witty observations that I hear were taken from a character in Duck's Breath Mystery Theater. Duck's Breath is thanked in the credits.

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Kevin: Marriage is a concept invented by people who were lucky to make it to 20 without being eaten by dinosaurs. Marriage is obsolete.
Alec: Dinosaurs are obsolete. Marriage is still around.
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In one scene Kevin plays bongos and sings along with Aretha Franklin on "Respect." It is embarrassingly bad, as he has neither a good singing voice nor any semblance of rhythm. He is the Rodney Dangerfield of St. Elmo's Fire, as even Naomi (Anna Maria Horsford), the black hooker on the corner, won't ask him if he wants a date because she thinks he's gay. She's not the only one.

Julianna "Jules" Van Patten (Demi Moore) tries to set Kevin up with her interior decorator friend, Ron (Matthew Laurance). She figures since he is the only one of the men in their group that hasn't hit on her, the only possible explanation is that he's gay.

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Kevin: You know Jules, there is the brink of insanity and then there is the abyss, which obviously you have fallen into!
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Jules is wrong about that, and a real mess besides. She has already gone through a couple months' worth of salary advances to buy clothes and lavish decorations for her apartment. It is a bit ironic that Demi Moore was allegedly considered out of control on the set, and was sent to rehab. She had to straighten out to play the most out of control character. She calls Alec late at night to rescue her from imaginary dramas, blasted on coke. Once she is rescued, and realizes that Alec won't go home with her because he has to get up early for work the next morning, she calls another male acquaintance, because she doesn't want to "waste all the good coke." When she goes to her boss to ask for another salary advance she ends up starting an affair with him. Her friends try to intervene, but she'll have none of it. "I don't know why you're both so worried," says Jules. "So, I bop him for a couple of years, get his job when he gets his hands caught in the vault, do a black mink ad, retire in utter disgrace, then write a best seller and be a fabulous host on my own talk show."

Here is the idea that scandal can be a short cut to fame. Instead of being ashamed about it, it is a conscious career choice. It is almost like a prophecy, a foreshadowing of Britney Spears, Lindsey Lohan, or Paris Hilton, and the whole gossip tabloid culture; where Katy Perry accuses Lady Gaga of calculating controversy to advance her career, to which I can only say to Katy: Pot. Kettle. Black.

Billy Hicks (Rob Lowe) is another huge screw up. By the second scene, he is already being arrested for drunk driving. He doesn't deny being drunk, but you could hardly call what he was doing driving. Blithely unconcerned, he plays the theme from "The Flintstones" on his tenor saxophone while waiting to be booked. He was a legendary partier in college, and 4 months after graduation he is still acting like a frat boy. He gets fired from job after job but his only concern is the next drink, the next line, or the next babe to hit on.

The thing that bugged me the most about Billy was that he didn't have a case for his horn. That is ridiculous. No serious saxophonist would carry his horn around without a case. He was married and had a kid, yet he spent all his time hanging around with the group of friends he knew from college. He didn't even hang out with his band. Didn't they ever rehearse or anything? He never spoke about how or why he got married; he just complained that his wife was cramping his style. When his friend's see her, they just call her Billy's wife. Like in the bible, you never know Lot's wife's name, just that she was turned into a pillar of salt. Schumacher, the director, also gave Billy's wife short shrift. I listened to "Elmo" three times in a vain effort to catch her name.

Rob Lowe won a Razzie Award for Worst Supporting Actor for this film. Still, even though there were some problems with the way his role was written, he did liven up the proceedings. He has a very good scene where he employs St. Elmo's Fire as a kind of metaphor. The bar where the seven friends congregate is named St. Elmo's Fire, but beyond that, St. Elmo's Fire was electric flashes of light that appeared in dark skies out of nowhere. Sailors believed the lights had been sent by St. Elmo, but there never was a St. Elmo. He almost makes the point that Jules, he -- their whole generation -- feel lost and are looking for some sort of St. Elmo's Fire to guide them before the metaphor breaks down, somewhere just outside of Wichita. Oh, well. "It ain't a party till something gets broken," as Billy would say.

Wendy Beamish (Mare Winningham) is in love with Billy, but apart from him being a screw up and already married to boot, her chances of catching Billy the Kid are nil.

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Jules: I thought you were taking steps to phase out everything that wasn't working in your life.
Wendy: That doesn't leave much.
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Wendy is a shy and frumpy girl, and the name Beamish kind of says a lot about how the writers thought of her. It reminds me of Stanley Beamish, a scrawny gas station attendant who was the alter ego of Mr. Terrific, a super hero spoof from a 60's TV show. Wendy works for Social Services but the film has a very cynical attitude about such do gooders. She tries to get a welfare recipient interested in job programs but is told "just give me my check." Her father wants her to join the family business and open a greeting card franchise, and they also have a greeting card employee picked out for her future spouse. None of the St. Elmo's Fire ensemble cast are believable as friends, but Wendy even less so. Mare Winningham is not even considered part of The Brat Pack.

Kirby Kegger (Emilio Estevez) is kind of an outsider in this movie, too. He is a room mate of Kevin's, but his contribution to the story involves an unrequited crush he has on a young intern he dated once in college. When he sees Dale Bibberman (Andie McDowell) at the hospital, after Billy has totaled Wendy's car, he is dazzled by her. She barely remembers him, but is polite and friendly enough to give "Kirbo" just a wisp of hope to cling to. When she goes off to attend her patients, it is as if she is ascending to the heavens in a blaze of light. Is she meant to represent a life of purpose, something the raging Mr. Kegger severely lacks? He doggedly stalks her, making a complete fool of himself. She takes it well, a little too well, in light of the little it takes to set a stalker off. There is one scene where she confesses that she wanted to become a doctor to help people but now suspects that it is all about the money. Kirby has a big chip on his shoulder, and takes it personally, as if she is saying that he can't afford her. Later, they do have lunch, but it is cut short when Dale is called back to the hospital. Or was she? I bet that she had herself paged, shortly after arriving, and if it was going well, she would take the call, speak briefly, and continue with lunch. But if she could see that it wasn't going to work out, she would have to return to work immediately for some dire emergency. When he quotes a line from Annie Hall, the movie they saw on their one-and-only date, and is visibly hurt that she doesn't remember it, she knows it just isn't working.

It was at precisely that point that I also knew it wasn't working, this film wasn't working. I could do without St. Emilio's Fire. I only wish I had set up a friend to call me so I could pretend to be called away to some emergency. Though the film doesn't really work for me, I think it is nevertheless a powerful historical document that speaks volumes about the attitudes and mores of the time. In retrospect, Demi Moore and Rob Lowe would seem to be following the career path laid out by Jules. Though Moore doesn't have her own talk show yet, her tabloid antics have kept her in the public eye. In 1988 Rob Lowe starred in an interesting straight-to-video project that earned him 20 hours of community service. It happened at the Democratic Convention in Georgia, and rang the death knell for any political aspirations Mr. Lowe may have harbored, at least as far as the Democratic Party was concerned, which dropped him like a hot rock. Lately though he has been playing a Republican Senator on television, and in 2003 he was an enthusiastic supporter of Republican Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. Just as the Reagan Republicans embraced Frank Sinatra after JFK shunned him for his alleged organized crime affiliations, I'm sure the GOP would be glad to stoop that Lowe.

Hey, GOP, Demi, Rob, just kidding. The bottom line is that St. Elmo's Fire didn't work as a film for me, but it was an interesting cultural artifact. With seven main characters, Schumacher was juggling a lot of balls, and he dropped quite a few. The finale, when they all come together to aid one of their own who's in a personal crisis is a silly train wreck. The love triangle is not resolved in a satisfactory fashion. Demi Moore as Jules has a few flashes of brilliance, but then it is destroyed by her hair do, a hideous perm with ruffled ridges! The horror!

Bobby (Widescreen Edtion) (2006) Emilio Estevez was Tim Fallon and Demi Moore was Virginia Fallon
Mulholland Falls (1996) Andrew McCarthy was Jimmy Fields and Rob Lowe was Hoodlum (uncredited)
Indecent Proposal (1993) Demi Moore was Diana Murphy
sex, lies, and videotape (1989) Andie MacDowell was Ann Bishop Mullany
Fresh Horses (1988) Andrew McCarthy was Matt Larkin
Pretty in Pink (1986) Andrew McCarthy was Blane McDonnagh
About Last Night... (1986) Demi Moore was Debbie and Rob Lowe was Danny Martin
The Breakfast Club (1985) Judd Nelson was John Bender, Ally Sheedy was Allison Reynolds, and Emilio Estevez was Andrew Clark
Repo Man (1984) Emilio Estevez was Otto
The Outsiders (1983) Rob Lowe was Sodapop Curtis and Emilio Estevez was Two-Bit Matthews

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Kirby: [Handing a blowtorch to Alec after Alec has dangled Kevin off the fire escape] Here you go!
Kevin: Do NOT give that man a blow torch!
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3/5 Dumb brat packery
  by
The Bottom Line:

A movie that's too dumb to even understand what its title refers to, St. Elmo's Fire is a film about disaffected yuppies adrift after college that never feels authentic or compelling; it's not really offensive enough to warrant a lower rating, but nor does it have any material good enough to warrant a viewing.

2.5/4

4/5 Blu-ray: Much more entertaining to watch this time around. May not be the definitive 25th anniversary release but looks great!
  by Dennis A. Amith (kndy) (California)
The mid-80's was about conservatism, Reaganomics, Miami Vice and a time where people were not fully aware about AIDS and were thinking more about working together to bring food to Africa. This was the sign of the times and for director Joel Schumacher ("The Lost Boys", "Flatliners", "Batman Forever", "8MM", etc.), while he was working on his second film "D.C. Cab", during a short stay at Georgetown, he observed graduating college students at Georgetown University and wondered how miserable some of them maybe, of having to graduate but now become adults.

It was right there and then that Schumacher wanted to make a film based on these type of college graduates who face problems of transitioning to adulthood. In order to capture the life of a young adults graduating college, Schumacher tapped into recent college graduate, Karl Kurlander ("Saved by the Bell: The New Class" and "Malibu, CA") and together they began working on "St. Elmo's Fire". Schumacher had renown musician and producer David Foster (who wrote major hit songs for "Karate Kid, Part II", "Sleepless in Seattle", "The Bodyguard", etc.) working on his first film as a composer and cinematographer Stephn H. Burm ("The Untouchables", "Snake Eyes", "Mystery Men", etc.).

But what the film would be known for is the cast in which David Blum of New Yorker Magazine would dub as "The Brat Pack", a title that would be synonymous with Hollywood's popular young talents: Emilio Estevez ("Breakfast Club", "The Mighty Ducks" films and "Young Guns" films), Rob Lowe ("The West Wing", "Brothers & Sisters", "About Last Night...", etc.), Andrew McCarthy ("Lipstick Jungle", "Weekend at Bernies" and "The Joy Luck Club"), Demi Moore ("Indecent Proposal", "G.I. Jane", "Ghost", etc.), Judd Nelson ("Breakfast Club", "Airheads", "Suddenly Susan", etc.), Ally Sheedy ("Kyle XY", "The Breakfast Club", "Oxford Blues", "WarGames", etc.) and Mare Winningham ("Clubhouse", "Grey's Anatomy", "Wyatt Earp", etc.).

The film revolves around seven college graduates of Georgetown University who are starting off on their own careers or trying to find a job.

Kirby Keger (Emilio Estevez) - Studying to become a lawyer and works as a waiter at St. Elmo's Bar. He is obsessed with Dale Biberman (Andie McDowell) and will do what it takes to go out on a date with her or to at least be acknowledged by her.

Billy Hicks (Rob Lowe) - A father who is trying to find ways to support his girlfriend and child. But at the same time, he's a playboy that likes to have fun, likes to drink and be with many women. He tries to have a fling with the group's virgin Wendy Beamish (Mare Winningham). A musician who plays the saxophone, he is unable to hold onto a job and is looked as a hero at his college (because of his ability to find drugs and sell them to the students). Tends to think with his penis than his head most of the time.

Kevin Dolenz (Andrew McCarthy) - Lives with Kirby, a writer, always smoking and the quiet one of the group. Tend to be seen as a homosexual because he doesn't go after women publicly and even looked by his own friends as possibly a gay man who hasn't come out of the closet. Kevin is in love with someone but isn't telling. His friend Jules thinks Kevin is in love with Alec.

Jules (Demi Moore) - The socialite sporting the latest fashions and always partying. The carefree friend but behind-the-scenes, things are not as rosy with her life as it would it seem.

Alec Newbary (Judd Nelson) - The future politician who ran the Young Democrats in college and now works for a Republican. Dates Leslie and wants her to marry him in order for him to end his desires of sleeping with other women. The friend that others looked up to for leadership.

Leslie Hunter (Ally Sheedy) - The architect who is dating Alec. The friend that is level headed but is not sure she wants to get married just yet and wants to establish her own career.

Wendy Beamish (Mare Winningham) - The wealthy daughter and the virgin. She is attracted to Billy but gets upset when he keeps asking her if she's still a virgin. Her father pressures her on how to live her life and that she should marry a guy from a wealthy family for the purpose of a family/business transaction.

The film focuses on these seven friends and how they thought that after graduating college, their friendship would continue to be strong and they would be together. But all learn that as they grow older and focus on their careers, their life as a group and as friends will start to change.

VIDEO & AUDIO:

"St. Elmo's Fire" gets its HD treatment via 1080p High Definition. For the most part, the positive is that the film looks much better than many 80's films that tend to receive a lot of DNR and overall look too soft and are devoid of colors. With "St. Elmo's Fire", there are lot of colors and scenes such as Jules pink and red apartment that look vibrant but at the same time, there was some banding that can be seen prominently in Jules apartment (towards the end of the film when Billy is talking to her) and some darker scenes with light emitting. Granted, if you are sitting far from your television, this won't be as noticeable. In fact, I didn't catch these until I rewatched certain scenes during my testing and saw the artifacts when I was 3-4 ft. away. But for the most part, the picture quality was satisfactory, considering this film didn't have much of a budget.

As for audio, the film is featured in English, French and Portuguese Dolby TrueHD 5.1 (and Spanish 5.1 Dolby Digital) and the film is primarily a dialogue driven film. Dialogue is understandable and clear. And of course, David Foster's "Love Theme from St. Elmo's Fire" and the other 80's music featured on the soundtrack comes alive during the film. There are some scenes especially at the bar that utilize the ambiance of a crowded room and is heard through the surrounds but for the most part, this film is driven by its characters and its soundtrack.

As for subtitles, English, English SDH, French, Spanish and Portuguese are included.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

St. Elmo's Fire comes with the following special features:

* Commentary with Director Joel Schumacher - The commentary by Joel Schumacher at the most part is quite informative and sets up the scenes, working with talent and for the most part, Schumacher really goes in depth about the film and the people he worked with on the making of the film. A lot of the commentary is similar to what he discusses in the "Joel Schumacher Remembers St. Elmo's Fire" featurette.
* Joel Schumacher Remembers St. Elmo's Fire - (14:21) The following is a Blu-ray exclusive and director Joel Schumacher talks about how the talents were cast for their roles, how the term "brat pack" started, how no studios wanted to do the film and despite the negative critic reviews, the audiences were very supportive of the film. Overall, a wonderful retrospective by Joel Schumacher. If anything, the discussion of how the talents were cast for the film, especially Demi Moore was quite interesting. Also, his disdain towards the term "brat pack".
* Original Making of Featurette - (8:43) A featurette from 1985 featuring interviews with the talents and how Rob Lowe had to learn how to play the saxophone in a short amount of time for this film and interview with director Joel Schumacher.
* Music Video: John Parr - "Man in Motion" - (4:21) The original music video in standard definition of "Man in Motion" featuring John Parr (and the talent from "St. Elmo's Fire").
* Deleted Scenes - (15:41) An exclusive for the Blu-ray release (and in standard definition with scratches and dust galore), this section features 12 deleted scenes which include: Too Young, a New Car, How About Lunch, There is No Billy the Kid, The Woman in the Fur Coat, Someone Tell Me What Happened, I'm a Loser, Secret Obsession, Just Pick a Date, A Very Well Dressed Fool, Where is the Defroster and That's My Dad. Although some deleted scenes are quite short, there are a few scenes that get into the relationship of Wendy and her father who is trying to dictate of how she should live her life.
* BD-Live - This blu-ray is BD-Live enabled.

JUDGMENT CALL:

"St. Elmo's Fire" was a film not exactly well respected by critics when it first came out. But the film was part of a string of "Brat Pack" related films that would star these talents along with Molly Ringwald and Anthony Michael Hall and would define high school and young adult films in the 1980's.

The film was not well-respected because of the times. These were young adults that were quite liberal during a conservative era and most of them were not being shown in the positive light. These young adults were not perfect and they had their own personal flaws that critics saw as vane and shallow but for audiences, they saw something quite different.

For me, to have all these talents together in one film was just awesome. Ally Sheedy and Judd Nelson were just awesome in "Breakfast Club", Rob Lowe in "Oxford Blues", Emilio Estevez in "Repo Man" and "The Outsiders", Mare Winningham appeared on many shows including afterschool specials and Demi Moore was a popular soap star on "General Hospital" years earlier. And of course, for Andrew McCarthy and Andie McDowell, this film would also help put ignite their careers.

And in the 80's, who could not love David Foster's "Love Theme from St. Elmo's Fire" or John Parr's "Man in Motion". These were overplayed on the radio and MTV that "St. Elmo's Fire" was literally ingrained into pop culture. And of course, the term "Brat Pack" (as many of them despised the name), for audiences... being part of that group was just the epitome of "cool".

Watching this film nearly 25 years later, it's hard to believe that so much time has passed and how different high school and young adult films are today. Director Joel Schumacher said that he wanted to create a film with young talent but make it an "A film". These issues that the seven go through, this stress and anguish of starting a career and also suffering setbacks after graduation is real. Not everyone who graduates college, is able to have a successful life, and this even rings true so much now especially during our poor economy.

For the Blu-ray release, it's great to watch this film on High Definition but it's also great to have the Blu-ray exclusive features with Joel Schumacher remembering St. Elmo's Fire and seeing the deleted scenes for the first time. Although this film is not called a "25th Anniversary" edition of the film, it's pretty close. The only thing one could hope for is a reunion of these talents to discuss the film or even if it was a few of them, to interview them today about "St. Elmo's Fire" (note: For the Blu-ray release of the 1986 film "About Last Night...", the director and Rob Lowe are brought back 23 years later to discuss their experiences on the film).

Nevertheless, I have more appreciation of "St. Elmo's Fire" as an adult compared to when I was a teenager in high school and catching the film on HBO. I can now understand the wide range of emotions that these characters are going through after graduating from college. Granted, some situations are a bit extreme but the feelings of friendship drifting part are so real.

I also realized of how well this group of talent worked together and found the group to be well-cast. This "Brat Pack" or individual talents went on to become big stars on their own but even back in 1985, it was still a remarkable feat. to have each of these seven individuals together in one film. It's not something that can be easily duplicated today, especially knowing that this film was created on a tight budget and short schedule.

I would imagine that "St. Elmo's Fire" is one of those films that people who grew up during that time will gravitate to, partly for nostalgia reasons. But watching it nearly 25-years-later, outside of nostalgia, I found that watching this film much more enjoyable now and quite entertaining! For 80's film fans or "Brat Pack" film fans, "St. Elmo's Fire" is definitely worth picking up on Blu-ray!