Brat Pack

The Brat Pack is a nickname given to a group of young actors and actresses who frequently appeared together in teen-oriented coming-of-age films in the 1980s.

The term, a play on the 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 stars in their early twenties. The group has been characterized by the partying of core members such as Rob Lowe, Robert Downey, Jr., Judd Nelson, and Emilio Estevez, while their films have been described as representative of "the socially apathetic, cynical, money-possessed and ideologically barren eighties generation." The movies made frequent use of adolescent archetypes, were often set in the suburbs surrounding Chicago, and focused on white, middle-class teenage angst.

The "Brat Pack" moniker, often considered in a pejorative sense, was not known to be used by members of the group.

Membership

File:Nelson judd.jpg

Judd Nelson starred in several "Brat Pack" films, including The Breakfast Club.

Anthony Michael Hall appeared in The Breakfast Club.

Molly Ringwald (shown in 2007) starred in The Breakfast Club and Pretty in Pink.

Andrew McCarthy (shown in 2010), appeared in St. Elmo's Fire and Pretty in Pink.

Demi Moore (shown in 1989) appeared in St. Elmo's Fire.

Appearance in one, or both, of the ensemble casts of John Hughes' The Breakfast Club and Joel Schumacher's St. Elmo's Fire is often cited as a prerequisite for being a core Brat Pack member. With this criterion, the most commonly cited members include Emilio Estevez, Anthony Michael Hall, Rob Lowe, Andrew McCarthy, Demi Moore, Judd Nelson, Molly Ringwald, and Ally Sheedy. Absent from most lists is Mare Winningham, the only principal member of either cast who never starred in any other films with any other cast members. Estevez was cited as the "unofficial president" of the Brat Pack. McCarthy claimed that he was never a member of the group, saying, "The media made up this sort of tribe. I don't think I've seen any of these people since we finished St. Elmo's Fire."

The initial New York magazine article covered a group of actors much greater than the currently understood meaning of the term "Brat Pack". For example, most of the cast members of The Outsiders were mentioned, including Tom Cruise, C. Thomas Howell, Matt Dillon, and Ralph Macchio, none of whom starred in any other 1980s movies with any "core" Brat Packers. 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 appeared in several films alongside other Brat Packers, most notably together with Andrew McCarthy in Less Than Zero (Downey was also in two eighties films with Anthony Michael Hall - Weird Science and Johnny Be Good, as well as The Pick-up Artist with Molly Ringwald). Other actors who have been linked with the group include Jon Cryer, John Cusack, Kevin Bacon, Jami Gertz, Mary Stuart Masterson, Matthew Broderick, Sean Penn, and Kiefer Sutherland. In her autobiography, Melissa Gilbert implies that she was a member of the Brat Pack. Although she was a television actress, her social life centered on Brat Pack members Estevez and Lowe (the latter of whom she was engaged to). Through frequent collaborative work, actor Harry Dean Stanton, then in his late 50s, became a mentor for the group of young actors.

Filmography

Beyond the two primary films, the list of movies that are considered "Brat Pack" movies is not known for certain. While Blum's article credits Taps, a 1981 sleeper starring Timothy Hutton with Cruise and Penn, as the first Brat Pack movie, 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
The Outsiders (1983)	Two-Bit Mathews		Sodapop Curtis
Class (1983)			Skip	Jonathan
Sixteen Candles (1984)		Geek					Samantha Baker
Oxford Blues (1984)			Nick					Roma
The Breakfast Club (1985)	Andrew Clark	Brian Johnson				John Bender	Claire Standish	Allison Reynolds
St. Elmo's Fire (1985)	Kirby		Billy	Kevin	Jules	Alex		Leslie
Pretty in Pink (1986)				Blane McDonough			Andie Walsh
Blue City (1986)						Billy Turner		Annie Rayford
About Last Night... (1986)			Danny		Debbie
Wisdom (1986)	John Wisdom				Karen Simmons
Fresh Horses (1988)				Matt Larkin			Jewel

Some films have been dubbed "Brat Pack movies" despite having no stars from the core membership, including 1984's Red Dawn (with close contributors C. Thomas Howell, Jennifer Grey, Charlie Sheen, Harry Dean Stanton, Patrick Swayze, and Lea Thompson), and 1986's Ferris Bueller's Day Off (also with Grey and Sheen in supporting roles, and starring close contributor Matthew Broderick). Many would include 1985's Weird Science, starring Brat Packer Anthony Michael Hall and close contributor Robert Downey, Jr., because it was directed by John Hughes and is included in a Universal Studios "Brat Pack" box set. 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:

• WarGames (1983) with Ally Sheedy and Matthew Broderick
• Bad Boys (1983) with Ally Sheedy and Sean Penn
• No Small Affair (1984) with Demi Moore and Jon Cryer
• Heaven Help Us (1985) with Andrew McCarthy and Mary Stuart Masterson
• One Crazy Summer (1986) with Demi Moore and John Cusack
• 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, Robert Downey Jr., James Spader, and Jami Gertz
• 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

Reaction

The actors comprising the "Brat Pack" generally did not appreciate the label after the New York article was published. In July 1985, Judd Nelson said that he was "so sick of every single person [he talked] to bringing up the 'Brat Pack'". Emilio Estevez called up the writer, David Blum, and said, "You've ruined my life."

During the late 1980s, several of the Brat Pack actors had their careers derailed by problems relating to drugs, alcohol, and in Rob Lowe's case, a sex tape. According to author 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."

See also

• Rat Pack – 1950s & 1960s
• Brit Pack – 1980s
• Frat Pack – 1990s & 2000s
• New Brat Pack – late 1990s & early 2000s
• Typecasting