St. Elmo's Fire
Attention, college seniors!! This film is your life in six months. You will encounter some, if not all, of the issues that this circle of friends face after graduating from college. Scared? The real world is not always kind, so prepare yourself (somewhat) by watching this movie.
St. Elmo's Fire is a Brat Pack flick that focuses on a group of seven Georgetown University alumnus a few months after graduation. Alec (Judd Nelson, The Breakfast Club) is the leader of the group with a bright future in politics. Leslie (Ally Sheedy) is Alec's longtime girlfriend who wants to take the relationship slowly. Kirby (Emilio Estevez) chases a slightly older woman who can't simply tell him that she's not interested (something most of us know a lot about). Jules (Demi Moore) is every credit card company's dream customer, and she abuses more than CCs.
Rounding out the cast are Wendy (Mare Winningham), a passive-aggressive daddy's girl who still lives at home; Kevin (Andrew McCarthy), a newspaper writer who masks his hidden passion for Leslie with contempt of marriage and love; and Billy (Rob Lowe), a talented saxophone player who can hold a stick of melting butter longer than he can keep a job.
Director Joel Schumacher, whose resume includes both solid hits (The Lost Boys and A Time to Kill) and stupid shit (8mm and Batman & Robin), has brought us an honest, character-oriented portrayal of life after college. The film is neither overly sympathetic of the selfish characters, nor is it preachy. We see Billy, Wendy, Alec, Kirby, Jules, Kevin, and Leslie as we view our own friends: as fallible humans.
The cinematography in St. Elmo's Fire is more or less straightforward. No special effects are used (or needed). There is one memorable shot, however, in which the viewer sees Kirby, soaked and pissed-off, crashing his love interest's party. Generally speaking, though, there are no camera tricks in St. Elmo's Fire that are more complicated than a lower-level film class assignment.
An interesting bit of trivia is that the Georgetown University bigwigs refused to allow filming on campus after reading the script. Some University of Maryland buildings actually posed as the Georgetown U. campus in the campus scenes.
The music, I must talk about the music. Jon Parr's #1 (and only) hit, "St. Elmo's Fire (Man in Motion)," is the only reason I saw this movie in the first place. It's still a kick-ass tune 17 years later. The other music on the soundtrack is great to listen to as well. The instrumental and vocal (the latter is not featured in the movie) versions of the theme music are some of the best pieces of music associated with a motion picture.
As I just said, I first watched St. Elmo's Fire because of the hit song. However, the memorable characters and relevant themes inspired me to watch this film many, many more times. If I didn't scare you off at the beginning, good! Upon watching the movie, you might decide to go to graduate school, law school, or any institution separate from the real world.
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Numerous bar/drinking scenes + a simple plot = a good flick to watch while downing some quality brew.
Issues of faithfulness and a love scene comprise the romantic content of this film.
Buy this movie from Amazon.com
Buy this soundtrack from Amazon.com
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