The Brat Pack is a nickname given to a group of young actors who frequently appeared together
in teen-oriented coming-of-age films in the 1980s.
First mentioned in a 1985 New York magazine article, it is now usually described as the
cast members of two specific films released in 1985 – The Breakfast Club and St. Elmo's
Fire – although other actors are sometimes included.
The "core" members are considered to be Emilio Estevez, Anthony Michael Hall, Rob Lowe, Andrew
McCarthy, Demi Moore, Judd Nelson, Molly Ringwald, and Ally Sheedy.
The actors themselves were known to dislike the label.
Many of their careers peaked in the middle of the 1980s but declined afterwards for various
reasons.
However, the films they starred in together are frequently referenced in popular culture
and are regarded as some of the most influential of their time.
Membership The term "Brat Pack", a play on the Rat Pack
from the 1950s and 1960s, was first popularized in a 1985 New York magazine cover story, which
described a group of highly successful film stars in their early twenties.
Writer David Blum wrote the article after witnessing several young actors being mobbed
by groupies at Los Angeles' Hard Rock Cafe.
The group has been characterized by the partying of members such as Robert Downey Jr., Estevez,
Brimley, Lowe, and Nelson.
However, an appearance in one or both of the ensemble casts of John Hughes' The Breakfast
Club and Joel Schumacher's St. Elmo's Fire is often considered the prerequisite for being
a core Brat Pack member.
With this criterion, the most commonly cited members include Emilio Estevez, Anthony Michael
Hall, Rob Lowe, Andrew McCarthy, Demi Moore, Judd Nelson, Molly Ringwald, and Ally Sheedy.
Absent from most lists is Mare Winningham, the only principal member of either cast who
never starred in any other films with any other cast members.
Estevez was cited as the "unofficial president" of the Brat Pack.
He and Demi Moore were once engaged.
McCarthy claimed that he was never a member of the group, saying, "The media made up this
sort of tribe.
I don't think I've seen any of these people since we finished St. Elmo's Fire."
The initial New York magazine article covered a group of actors much greater than the currently
understood meaning of the term "Brat Pack".
For example, most of the cast members of The Outsiders were mentioned, including Tom Cruise,
C. Thomas Howell, Matt Dillon, Patrick Swayze and Ralph Macchio, none of whom starred in
any other 1980s movies with any "core" Brat Packers, besides Patrick Swayze.
Charlie Sheen appears in several lists - more for his family relationship to Brat Pack leader
Emilio Estevez and his partying than for his collaborative film work with other members.
James Spader and Robert Downey, Jr. have also been considered members, and performed alongside
other Brat Packers: both of them with Andrew McCarthy in Less Than Zero, and Downey with
Anthony Michael Hall – Weird Science and Johnny Be Good, and the cast of Saturday Night
Live – and The Pick-up Artist with Molly Ringwald.
Other actors who have been linked with the group include Kevin Bacon, Matthew Broderick,
Jon Cryer, John Cusack, Jami Gertz, Mary Stuart Masterson, Sean Penn, Lou Diamond Phillips,
Kiefer Sutherland, and Lea Thompson.
In her autobiography, Melissa Gilbert connects herself with the Brat Pack, as her social
life centered on Estevez and Lowe.
Through frequent collaborative work, actor Harry Dean Stanton, then in his late 50s,
became a mentor for the group of young actors.
Article David Blum's New York story, titled "Hollywood's
Brat Pack", ran on June 10, 1985.
It was originally supposed to be just about Emilio Estevez, but one night, Estevez invited
Blum to hang out with him, Rob Lowe, Judd Nelson, and others at the Hard Rock Cafe.
It was a typical night out for the group, who had gotten close while filming St. Elmo's
Fire.
That night, Blum decided to change the article's focus to an entire group of young actors at
the time.
The St. Elmo's Fire crew members did not like Blum and sensed that he was jealous of the
actors' success.
When the piece ran, the actors all felt betrayed, especially Estevez.
The article mentioned people in several different films but focused on Estevez, Lowe, and Nelson,
and portrayed those three negatively.
The "Brat Pack" label, which the actors disliked, stuck for years afterward.
Before the article ran, they had been regarded as talented individuals; after the article,
all of them were grouped together and regarded as unprofessional.
Interviewed for Susannah Gora's 2010 book You Couldn't Ignore Me If You Tried, Blum
admitted that he should not have written the article.
With the increased negative attention to them, the actors soon stopped socializing with each
other.
On the group's camaraderie, Ally Sheedy later said, "[The article] just destroyed it.
I had felt truly a part of something, and that guy just blew it to pieces."
Legacy During the late 1980s, several of the Brat
Pack actors had their careers derailed by problems relating to drugs, alcohol, and in
Lowe's case, a sex tape.
According to Gora, "Many believe they could have gone on to more serious roles if not
for that article.
They were talented.
But they had professional difficulties, personal difficulties after that."
Demi Moore did become a star in the 1990s, appearing in films such as Ghost and G.I.
Jane.
By the 21st century, the term "Brat Pack" had lost its negative connotation.
The films themselves have been described as representative of "the socially apathetic,
cynical, money-possessed and ideologically barren eighties generation."
They made frequent use of adolescent archetypes, were often set in the suburbs surrounding
Chicago, and focused on white, middle-class teenage angst.
According to author Susannah Gora, these films "changed the way many young people looked
at everything from class distinction to friendship, from love to sex and fashion to music."
They are considered "among the most influential pop cultural contributions of their time."
In 2012, Entertainment Weekly listed The Breakfast Club as the best high school movie ever made.
On VH1's list of the 100 greatest teen stars, Molly Ringwald was ranked #1, Rob Lowe was
ranked #2, Anthony Michael Hall was ranked #4, Ally Sheedy was ranked #34, and Andrew
McCarthy was ranked #40.
Filmography Beyond the two primary films, there is no
generally accepted list of "Brat Pack" movies.
While Blum's article credits Taps, a 1981 sleeper starring Timothy Hutton with Cruise
and Penn, as the first Brat Pack movie, the list of movies below represents the more traditional
filmography, with each movie including at least two core members in starring roles:
Some films have been dubbed "Brat Pack movies" despite having no stars from the core membership,
including 1984's Red Dawn, and 1986's Ferris Bueller's Day Off.
Many would include 1985's Weird Science, starring Brat Packer Anthony Michael Hall and close
contributor Robert Downey, Jr., because it was directed by John Hughes and is included
in a Universal Studios "Brat Pack" box set.
Other 1980s films, many with similar coming-of-age themes, that starred only one core Brat Pack
actor with one or more close contributors include:
WarGames with Ally Sheedy and Matthew Broderick Bad Boys with Ally Sheedy and Sean Penn
No Small Affair with Demi Moore and Jon Cryer Heaven Help Us with Andrew McCarthy and Mary
Stuart Masterson One Crazy Summer with Demi Moore and John
Cusack Youngblood with Rob Lowe and Patrick Swayze
The Pick-up Artist with Molly Ringwald and Robert Downey Jr.
Less Than Zero with Andrew McCarthy, Robert Downey Jr., James Spader, and Jami Gertz
Mannequin with Andrew McCarthy and James Spader Johnny Be Good with Anthony Michael Hall and
Robert Downey Jr.
Young Guns with Emilio Estevez, Charlie Sheen, and Kiefer Sutherland
Kansas with Andrew McCarthy and Matt Dillon We're No Angels with Demi Moore and Sean Penn
Gallery See also
Brit Pack Child actor
Dreamlanders Frat Pack
Splat Pack Teen film
Typecasting References