Holy sh*t, my high school prom date just sent me this photo from the big night. Lets see yours, writes Andrew McCarthy on WhoSay. Yeah, youre gonna want to see that picture below. His hair is almost as amazing as their grins.
We assume McCarthy is on his dates mind because prom season is in full swing. And that, of course, means its time for the annual debate over what has been called the most controversial ending in teen movie history (by me): In Pretty in Pink, should Andie (Molly Ringwald) have gone after richie Blane (Andrew McCarthy) or stayed with devoted best friend Duckie (Jon Cryer)? As I recently outlined in our great movie love triangle gallery, in John Hughes original script, Andie stayed with Duckie at the prom, and they danced to David Bowies Heroes. Test audiences booed. The final scene was reshot (with McCarthy wearing a wig because hed shaved his head for a play), and now Duckie gives Andie his blessing to chase after Blane so they can make out in the parking lot to OMDs If You Leave.
I was disappointed, Cryer told EW on the films 20th anniversary in 2006. You sorta go, Oh, guess Im not the leading man. But I think it was kind of appropriate. Duckie always thought he was the leading man, and that was his fatal flaw. I got it at the time. I understood that John was trying to do something about crossing class lines and felt that with the ending as it was, it was sort of saying, You know what? Class lines arent worth crossing. And he didnt want to send that message (At least not until 1987s Some Kind of Wonderful.) Lets bring it to an official vote below.
Completely agree - I've seen PiP many times and each time I was convinced that Andie and Blane belonged together. I just couldn't see Andie with Duckie at all.
