I am so excited to read this book. Just copped it yesterday at Borders. Anyone like me who’s a fan of John Hughes 80’s teen flicks will certainly enjoy this. It’s very rare that I see a book I actually want to read in full, but this grabbed my attention the moment I saw the cover. Sounds like the pages are filled with lots of juicy behind the scenes stories, “making of” details, and much more. Here’s the description of the book, taken from it’s official website…
You can quote lines from The Breakfast Club, your iPod playlist includes more than one song by The Psychedelic Furs and Simple Minds, and you still wish that Andie had ended up with Duckie in Pretty in Pink. You’re a bonafide “Brat Pack” devotee, and you’re not alone. The films of the Brat Pack, from Sixteen Candles and St. Elmo’s Fire to Ferris Bueller’s Day Off and Say Anything— and the landscape that they memorialized, where outcasts and prom queens fall in love and preppies and burnouts become friends— have influenced an entire generation who still wants to believe that life always turns out like an ’80s movie.
“You Couldn’t Ignore Me If You Tried” takes us back to that golden age of youth cinema, through author Susannah Gora’s original and revealing interviews with scores of key players such as Molly Ringwald, Anthony Michael Hall, Ally Sheedy, Judd Nelson, Matthew Broderick, Andrew McCarthy, Cameron Crowe, Rob Lowe, Joel Schumacher, Jon Cryer, and John Cusack. Gora mines all the material from these movies, from the music to the way the films were made, and show how they shaped our vision of romance, friendship, society and success. Full of compelling anecdotes about the deep friendships, the off-screen romances, the breakdowns and the breakups, and the infamous night on the town that led a writer from New York magazine to dub this core group of actors “The Brat Pack,” affecting their careers and personal lives for decades to come, “You Couldn’t Ignore Me If You Tried” is also the most comprehensive study of the late John Hughes, the godfather of the genre.
In The Breakfast Club, Judd Nelson’s rebel Bender tells Molly Ringwald’s prom queen Claire, “Sweets, you couldn’t ignore me if you tried,” and time has shown that even if we tried, we couldn’t ignore the impact of The Brat Pack and their movies. “You Couldn’t Ignore Me If You Tried” is the definitive account of the movies that stirred an entire generation, and a poignant homage to the people who brought those films to life.
Holler at me if you want to read this along with me. We can start an online book club! Yay! And if you missed it, check out my Westcheddar tribute to John Hughes (RIP) HERE.
Peace…
Westcheddar 