Monday

36 candles?

I love the movie "Sixteen Candles."  Molly Ringwald's character, Samatha Baker,  and Molly herself, are exactly my age, and when I was 16, that movie perfectly captured the cultural zeitgeist of my teenage years.


Now I hear that Molly is in talks to star in a sequel to the movie. It would update us on what Sam's been doing for the past 20 years.


Boy oh boy do I hope they don't make this movie. Nothing good can come of it. I mean, I don't want to know that Jake Ryan eventually dumped two-years-younger Sam after she lost her virginity to him and he then went off to college, breaking her heart and leaving her ever-so-slightly bitter.


I don't want to know about Sam's two children and insurance salesman husband and the house they now have in the 'burbs of Chicago.


I don't want to know about her wistful, melancholy longing for her magical 16th birthday, when she fell in love and the world was spread out before her and anything seemed possible.


I certainly do not want to find out that Sam, unhappy in aforementioned boring marriage, tracks down Jake via Friendster or Classmates.com and finds out he's middle aged and balding, and also unhappily married, or worse, divorced and having a mid-life crisis.


The beauty of Sixteen Candles is the ending, beautifully ambiguous as Sam and Jake lean in for their very first kiss over her belated birthday cake.


Fade to black.


I don't want or need to know what comes after. I'd rather continue to imagine, just as I have since I first saw the movie when I was 16, twenty long years ago.

10 comments:

Randall said...

That was certainly a big movie from my high-school days, too. I would dig a belated sequel if Molly thinks it will be okay.

Randall said...

I checked the IMDB and found this "Where are they now" note on the actor who played Jake:
"(1990s) Has a business building and selling handcrafted furniture in northeastern Pennsylvania."

Of course, we now know that Anthony Michael "The Geek" Hall grew up to be a big strapping fellow. Maybe he gets a second chance with Sam?

I dunno ... it will most likely be awful, but it's one that could be interesting if done right. If they cold get the big names back (John Cusack, etc).

Julie said...

Oh man! I forgot John Cusack was in the movie...

And I agree that AM Hall certainly grew into a better looking man than one might have predicted.

I wonder what the Asian exchange student guy is doing now?

Anonymous said...

The Asian guy shows up on VH!'s "I Love the 80's" site all the time. He's had a pretty successful career as "the Asian guy" in a whole bunch of movies and TV shows.

I don't think this has to be a terrible movie - in fact, handled well, it could be as good as Gross Pointe Blank (without the hired killer angle). These are characters many of us cared about, and I would be interested in a well-written return.

In addition to Cusack (both John AND Joan), and AMH turning out better than the movie would have suggested, why would Sam settle for a fat, balding insurance guy from Chicago (not that there's anything wrong with that, as long as he didn't wear pleated pants, or read the Da Vinci Code...and ESPECIALLY did not listen to Jimmy Buffett). Why only sketch out the very grimmest possible plot outline?

Julie said...

What do you think the sequel should be? How has Sam's life turned out?

-Katie

Julie said...

And I looooove Grosse Point Blank but we had no backstory on those characters.

We know Sam and Jake and the Asian guy and the Geek (they never do give his name in the whole movie, do they?)...

Katie

PS: I'd much rather see a Breakfast Club sequel. I wanna know what happened to those people.

Anonymous said...

Hughes could do a whole series of movies revisiting the Chicago teenagers - Ferris, the obnoxious daughter from Uncle Buck, James Spader from Pretty in Pink (love to see what Annie Potts's character is up to. Hope Judd Nelson's character isn't currently incarcerated...

So you can't imagine a plot involving these characters that would interest you? None? I think there are dozens of ways to play it out, many of them at least mildly intriguing.

And what do we really know about those characters? 16 Candles was practically "A Day in the Life" - It took place over the span of what - 48 hours? There's room here.

How long do you think the older sister stayed married? Might be my favorite line in the movie - "Oh, I've had men love me before, but never for six months in a row."

Julie said...

My fave quote from the movie is when Samantha's best friend tells her: "Last night, at the dance, my brother paid a buck to see your underwear."

Barry Wallace said...

I'd love to see a Breakfast Club reunion - what would be the occasion, 20th reunion?

All of the actors are still working, with four of the five in movies out this year (and of course, AMH is in "The Dead Zone"). Only Molly doesn't have a film coming out anytime soon.

What's a possible circumstance that would bring the five of them together, as a group?

Anonymous said...

I found your blog by accident when I "googled" Eddie Rehfeldt. I have enjoyed it and even passed it on to a few Webb friends! 36 candles really caught my attention since I'm just recovering from turning 40! And have been divorced twice. I certainly hope Hollywood could make Molly's life turn out okay but in then- why should she fair any better than the rest of us? As long as Molly doesn't got to any reunions and marry the ex years later ( a la Stephan and myself ) she should be okay!