Oh, how I obsessed with this film back in 1987. I was 15 and thought it was the ant's pants.
Some Kind of Wonderful is now on Foxtel's Show Drama channel and boy is it taking me back. Mostly, I am laughing at the teen misery, desperate unrequited love... and how completely enamoured I was with Eric Stoltz (he was deffo the hottest ranga of his time).
John Hughes was the writer of this teen drama (he of course wrote and directed The Breakfast Club and Sixteen Candles) although this one was directed by Howard Deutch, who married star Lea Thompson (the long haired one) a few years after filming. They're still married (she dumped her fiance, actor Dennis Quaid, to be with him). Considered one of the cult classics of the 'Brat Pack' era, the backdrop is the strict social hierarchy of an American public high school.
Of course, there's a working-class boy who lusts after the out-of- his-league girl (Karate Kid, anyone?) and the tomboy who is besties with the boy, but secretly loves him. Add an upper-crust, jealous thug ex-boyfriend... and you've pretty much nailed the 1980s teen flick.
I adore most of the lines in the flick. Here are some.
"Don't go mistaking paradise for a pair of long legs."
"You can't tell a book by its cover.
No, but you can tell how much it's gonna cost you.
Wow, I never knew you were so deep.
You want shallow, call Amanda Jones."
"You couldn't score her in a million years. A, you're too shy and closed up to even approach her, and B, she'd kill you!"
"Well, I like art, I work in a gas station, my best friend is a tomboy. These things don't fly too well in the American high school."
"Because I'm driving you crazy and you're driving me crazy and I'd rather not see you and have you think good things about me than have you see me and hate me. 'Cause I can't afford to have you hate me, Keith. The only things I care about in this goddamn life are me and my drums and you."
Such angst. Love.
Wish I was back there. Oh wait, that'd mean I'd have to go through my "finding the right man" 20s. No thank you.
Here's some movie stills to take you right back. But first: that kiss, between Keith and Watts.
What's your all-time fave 1980s flick?
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