MovieChat Forums > St. Elmo's Fire (1985) Discussion > Which ones were 'the Brat Pack'?

Which ones were 'the Brat Pack'?


Emilio Estevez, Judd Nelson, and Ally Sheedy were, of course. But which of the others were?

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All of them were lumped into that group except Mare Winningham.
Demi, Andrew, and Rob were also mentioned in that article that started the whole Brat Pack.

Knock if off Napolean make yourself a dang quesadil-la!

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The cast of The Breakfast Club & St. Elmo's Fire (except Mare Winningham) are the Brat Pack. They are the core members...

Emilio Estevez
Anthony Michael Hall
Rob Lowe
Andrew McCarthy
Demi Moore
Judd Nelson
Molly Ringwald
Ally Sheedy.

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I know he wasn't in this film, but wasn't James Spader a member of the Brat Pack too ?.

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*save Mare Winningham. I forgot to specify she is the only one not part of the group. Every member was in at least one other Brat Pack film.

are you sure about this..? I thought she was the oft-forgotten 9th member with no other brat pack ties except this one movie

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It really depends on when you are referring to. I do remember in the 80s that Robert Downey Jr and James Spader were often considered to be members of the Brat Pack. The magazines often lumped them into the group. They both starred with Andrew McCarthy in 'Less Than Zero'. James Spader starred with Molly Ringwald and Andrew McCarthy in 'Pretty in Pink', and Robert Downey Jr starred with Molly Ringwald in the 'Pick-Up Artist'. Those are the ones I remember off the top of my head. It was later that someone decided it should only be based off of the actors in 'The Breakfast Club' and 'St Elmo's Fire' but magazines did often list those two actors as members.

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I read the NY Post article -its fantastic lol
My favorite part was the Playboy Playmate...

She was a Playmate of the Month,” he whispered as an exotic-looking young woman in a purple jumpsuit took the seat next to him and smiled like an old friend. “The last time she was here, we were telling her about a friend who had passed the bar exam, and she said, ‘I didn’t know you needed to take a test to become a bartender.’”

That's a hoot!


This is a really good article from WP about the brat pack and it explains why celebrities have PR people now..

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/arts-and-entertainment/wp/2015/08/10/how-the-brat-pack-got-their-name-and-spoiled-celebrity-journalism-forever/

As a renaissance chick, I paint, write, and sing loudly off-key.
Conceive Deceive or Leave

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You think that maybe they were singling Hutton out due to "professional" jealousy or competitiveness?

Me thinks so.

Tastes are subjective but he was a good looking young man with more credits (pre-BC) to his name than the both of them. The one to beat as they say.
Meh. Cream rises to the top and his talent never wavered--not everyone has to be Bard Pitt.
Oh but he does have else something in common with BP.lol

I saw tat someone posted that Tim Hutton would've made a great Robert Langdon from the Dan Brown novels. WHY oh why can't I live in a world where that happened? He would have been perfect No slight intended to Hanx.


As a renaissance chick, I paint, write, and sing loudly off-key.
Conceive Deceive or Leave

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[deleted]

The term was coined inNew York Magazine profile article and referred to specific actors.

Then the term entered the popular culture.

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The original New York magazine article listed eight actors as being members of the Brat Pack:

Emilio Estevez
Judd Nelson
Rob Lowe
Tom Cruise
Sean Penn
Nicolas Cage
Matt Dillon
Timothy Hutton

There were no female members. Anthony Michael Hall wasn't a member of the pack. Neither was Andrew McCarthy.

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You forgot Matthew Broderick and Matthew Modine.

The term later was used to refer to others as well. Ally Sheedy, Demi Moore, Molly Ringwald, James Spader, Anthony Michael Hall and Andrew McCarthy were all referred as being members of the Brat Pack at particular times.

Don't let anyone ever make you feel like you don't deserve what you want.

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All guys? Pfff, sexist magazine. Guess they were just trying to parallel The Rat Pack.

---
toh devres tseb hsid a si msacras

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That label apparently hurt their careers but I never understood why. As long as they were decent actors and their films made bank, nobody would have cared.

Judd's career died within a few years of this release. Lowe's died due to his scandal in the late 80's. Emilio made it to the 90's but had too many crappy films and moved behind the camera.

Whatever happened to Timothy Hutton? I mean Sean Penn did the same films as he and his career was way better. Did Hutton's Oscar win hurt him in the long run?

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The comparison is to the Rat Pack of the 60s (Dean Martin, Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis Jr., etc.) so that's why it was originally all men.

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Emilio Estevez
Anthony Michael Hall
Rob Lowe
Andrew McCarthy
Demi Moore
Judd Nelson
Molly Ringwald
Ally Sheedy.

^Those are the "official" core members of the Brat Pack. Most of the other young performers mentioned in the original article were more or less considered "Brats by Association". James Spader should be in there as does someone like William Zabka if only because either of them always played the antagonist in most of the 80s teen movies. Mare Winningham is counted out mainly because she not only just appeared in St. Elmo's but was also like Alan Ruck from Ferris Bueller, several years older than the core "brats".

Theres a couple of books on the subject: Pretty in Pink- The Golden Age of Teen Movies, and You Couldn't Ignore Me if You Tried.

Both go in great detail on the whole Brat Pack phenom of the 1980s.

When theres no more room in Hollywood, remakes shall walk the Earth.

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However the original list looked, the list that eventually came to be known as the Brat Pack looks more like the one above here.

I remember reading once that to be a member an actor/actress had to be in two movies with other brat packers during the 80s. Just one didn't do it.

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It depends on if you go by the list that the author of the NY magazine made up or if you go by the idea in popular culture of the group of actors from the 2 main movies- Breakfast Club and St Elmos Fire. Many of the actors considered Brat Packers were only associated with the name as "cousins" of the core group.

Emilio Estevez
Judd Nelson
Rob Lowe
Ally Sheedy
Andrew McCarthy
Demi Moore
Anthony Michael Hall
Molly Ringwald

were all in the 2 main movies but there were some others cited as being in the group according to the article and its author- Tim Hutton, Sean Penn, Clayton Rohner. Many people associate other names in the Pack if they starred with the core group- saying Robert Downey Jr bc he starred with Molly Ringwald or James Spader bc he starred with Andrew McCarthy. It's sort of like 6 degrees of Brat Pack. The article's author had gone out to eat with Emilio Estevez, Judd Nelson and Rob Lowe so they were kind of the core core group and of those 3 only 2- Emilio and Judd starred in both core Brat Pack movies. (interesting cultural phenomenon)

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The most commonly cited members of the Brat Pack include Emilio Estevez, Anthony Michael Hall, Rob Lowe, Andrew McCarthy, Demi Moore, Judd Nelson, Molly Ringwald, and Ally Sheedy. The initial New York Magazine article covered a group of actors. Most of the cast members of "The Outsiders" were mentioned including Tom Cruise, C. Thomas Howell, Matt Dillon, Patrick Swayze, and Ralph Macchio. Charlie Sheen appears in several lists – more for his family relationship to Brat Pack leader Emilio Estevez and his partying than for his collaborative film work with other members. James Spader and Robert Downey, Jr. have also been considered members, and performed alongside other Brat Packers: both of them with Andrew McCarthy in "Less Than Zero", and Downey with Anthony Michael Hall ("Weird Science" and "Johnny Be Good") and Molly Ringwald ("The Pick-up Artist"). Other actors who have been linked with the group include Kevin Bacon, Matthew Broderick, Jon Cryer, John Cusack, Corey Feldman, Jami Gertz, Corey Haim, Mary Stuart Masterson, Sean Penn, Lou Diamond Phillips, Kiefer Sutherland, and Lea Thompson.

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