# Just watched "St. Elmo's Fire" - Wow. That Sucked. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 14, 2011, 6:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-watched-st-elmos-fire-wow-that-sucked/592661 "2011-08-14T06:02:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2011, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-watched-st-elmos-fire-wow-that-sucked/592661/41 "2011-08-17T03:40:58Z")
> [@Sarahfeena](#): > > I always thought this movie was a Baby Boomer’s idea of what the next generation was going to be like. Well, in my opinion Gen X didn’t turn out anything like that, thank god. Except the people in this movie weren’t actually Gen X’ers - they were actually late Boomers. If you’re 22 in 1985, that makes you born in 1963. ---
**Author:** ![CaptMurdock](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/captmurdock/32/11736_2.png) [@CaptMurdock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CaptMurdock)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2011, 4:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-watched-st-elmos-fire-wow-that-sucked/592661/42 "2011-08-17T04:42:18Z")
> [@Cat\_Whisperer](#): > > Oh no - now you’ve got me imagining this movie as re-done by Quentin Tarantino. No one makes it out alive. As previously mentioned, Billy and Jules commit a double suicide in her bedroom (overdosing on drugs), Kirby (Emilio) rides the lightning after killing Andie MacDowell’s character and her boyfriend, Judd Nelson’s character is killed by Andrew McCarthy’s character in a fit of jealous rage when Ally Sheedy’s character (stupidly) goes back to Judd, then he turns the gun on himself and her. Who have I missed? Oh yeah - Mare Winningham’s character - dies of AIDS five years after sleeping with Billy. How’s that, “I looooove him” working out for you? > > The last scene is the friends and family of all these people gathered together, comparing notes of how glad they are that they’re all dead. I want you to bear my children! ---
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2011, 5:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-watched-st-elmos-fire-wow-that-sucked/592661/43 "2011-08-17T05:27:50Z")
> [@Chef\_Troy](#): > > Wow, you’ve got some serious misquoting going on there. Apparently the parts you’ve seen way too many times weren’t the ones you were quoting. 😉 > “What is the president of the (name of school) Young Democrats doing **working for a Republican senator**?” > “Moving up for a **buck**.” > Mahler? MAHLER? Try, “No **Springsteen** is leaving this house! You can have all the Carly Simons.” There is no way in hell I’m going to double check these. I remember them fighting about Springsteen but I’m pretty sure about the Mahler line. If you have the DVD are are checking, well, you have my pity. ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2011, 5:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-watched-st-elmos-fire-wow-that-sucked/592661/44 "2011-08-17T05:49:12Z")
> [@Zebra](#): > > There is no way in hell I’m going to double check these. I remember them fighting about Springsteen but I’m pretty sure about the Mahler line. If you have the DVD are are checking, well, you have my pity. Alec: You cannot have the Pretenders’ first album! That’s mine. Leslie: I bought it. Alec: You did not! You can have all the Billy Joels… except The Stranger. Leslie: I’m taking Thriller and Mahler’s ninth. Alec: Kevin is so fond of Mahler. Leslie: I moved in with Jules. Alec: Oh how nice, roomies again… No Springsteen is leaving this house! You can have all the Carly Simons. ---
**Author:** ![Uncle\_Jocko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/uncle_jocko/32/2932_2.png) [@Uncle\_Jocko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uncle_Jocko)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2011, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-watched-st-elmos-fire-wow-that-sucked/592661/45 "2011-08-17T13:49:36Z")
> [@Cat\_Whisperer](#): > > Except the people in this movie weren’t actually Gen X’ers - they were actually late Boomers. If you’re 22 in 1985, that makes you born in 1963. I actually **was** born in 1963. Saw this movie my senior year of college. And then one of my friends said - and kept saying - “this movie reminds me of us! We’re buddies just like ‘St. Elmos Fire!’” I was appalled. ---
**Author:** ![Clothahump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@Clothahump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clothahump)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2011, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-watched-st-elmos-fire-wow-that-sucked/592661/46 "2011-08-17T16:44:02Z")
[Great theme song](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NUIsm-Dvyao), terrible movie. ---
**Author:** ![fjs1fs](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/9e8a1a/32.png) [@fjs1fs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fjs1fs)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2011, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-watched-st-elmos-fire-wow-that-sucked/592661/47 "2011-08-17T17:08:48Z")
> [@Ike\_Witt](#): > > I remember seeing it when it first came out and wondering who the movie was aimed at. I should have been right in the wheelhouse of the target audience, I was a college freshman at the time, but the movie didn’t work for me - at all. > > About the only thing I remember thinking during the movie was, are we going to get to see Demi Moores’ breasts? She didn’t _HAVE_ breasts yet! ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2011, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-watched-st-elmos-fire-wow-that-sucked/592661/48 "2011-08-17T19:26:33Z")
> [@CaptMurdock](#): > > I want you to bear my children! Okay! Wait, by “bear your children,” you mean dress up in a bear suit and scare them, right? > [@Uncle\_Jocko](#): > > I actually **was** born in 1963. Saw this movie my senior year of college. And then one of my friends said - and kept saying - “this movie reminds me of us! We’re buddies just like ‘St. Elmos Fire!’” > > I was appalled. “So you’re saying we’re both assholes? Nice.” ---
**Author:** ![StusBlues](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dc4da7/32.png) [@StusBlues](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StusBlues)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2011, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-watched-st-elmos-fire-wow-that-sucked/592661/49 "2011-08-17T19:33:02Z")
> [@Scarlett67](#): > > I spent far too long (about four seconds) trying to figure out what an ass mullet looks like. \ I’m stealing that. Notice served. ---
**Author:** ![Katriona](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/katriona/32/113_2.png) [@Katriona](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Katriona)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2011, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-watched-st-elmos-fire-wow-that-sucked/592661/50 "2011-08-18T01:18:01Z")
> [@Sateryn76](#): > > I think you’re all crazy. I love this movie. > > It’s Singles for the 80s. I like these characters a lot more than the crunchy D-bags and burn outs in Singles. > > I like Singles, but SEF speaks to my inner Alex Keaton. And Judd Nelson is unbelievably hot in this. Your last line sums up EXACTLY why I watch this movie every time I run across it! Dear lawd,I loves me some Judd! ---
**Author:** ![Sarahfeena](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sarahfeena/32/519_2.png) [@Sarahfeena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sarahfeena)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2011, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-watched-st-elmos-fire-wow-that-sucked/592661/51 "2011-08-18T01:55:04Z")
> [@Cat\_Whisperer](#): > > Except the people in this movie weren’t actually Gen X’ers - they were actually late Boomers. If you’re 22 in 1985, that makes you born in 1963. Oh, I know. That’s why I said it was their idea of what the next generation was _going_ to be like. A total Boomer perspective, but meant for people our age to relate to it. Which no one I know did, at all. ---
**Author:** ![MPB\_in\_Salt\_Lake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c0e974/32.png) [@MPB\_in\_Salt\_Lake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MPB_in_Salt_Lake)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2011, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-watched-st-elmos-fire-wow-that-sucked/592661/52 "2011-08-18T01:57:03Z")
Are Judd Nelson, Andrew McCarthy or Mare Winningham still acting? I don’t have cable, and I don’t really see too many movies these days, but the three of them seem to have just fallen off the map, at least in comparison to their St. Elmo’s Fire co-stars, all of whom went on to much bigger and better things… I seem to remember Judd Nelson was on Suddenly Susan with Brooke Shields, maybe after Eric Idle left. (Of course Eric Idle in a sit-com as pathetic as Suddenly Susan is a whole 'nother thread…) ---
**Author:** ![Chef\_Troy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/85f322/32.png) [@Chef\_Troy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chef_Troy)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2011, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-watched-st-elmos-fire-wow-that-sucked/592661/53 "2011-08-18T02:43:17Z")
Judd Nelson is. I was up for a small part in a movie he’s in that’s shooting now. It’s called “Bad Kids Go To Hell.” I didn’t get the part, but I’m not sure that’s a bad thing. ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_A.Robrin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sam_a.robrin/32/14497_2.png) [@Sam\_A.Robrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_A.Robrin)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2011, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-watched-st-elmos-fire-wow-that-sucked/592661/54 "2011-08-18T04:11:35Z")
> [@Cat\_Whisperer](#): > > Okay! Wait, by “bear your children,” you mean dress up in a bear suit and scare them, right? [Exit, bear-suit by a perv…] ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2011, 5:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-watched-st-elmos-fire-wow-that-sucked/592661/55 "2011-08-18T05:37:32Z")
> [@Sarahfeena](#): > > Oh, I know. That’s why I said it was their idea of what the next generation was _going_ to be like. A total Boomer perspective, but meant for people our age to relate to it. Which no one I know did, at all. Oh, okay - I got you now. I don’t remember my Gen X friends being like that, either. ---
**Author:** ![shantih](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f6c823/32.png) [@shantih](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shantih)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2011, 11:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-watched-st-elmos-fire-wow-that-sucked/592661/56 "2011-08-18T11:44:29Z")
> [@Sam\_A.Robrin](#): > > [Exit, bear-suit by a perv…] ::golf clap:: ---
**Author:** ![tumbleddown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e9bcb4/32.png) [@tumbleddown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tumbleddown)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2011, 12:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-watched-st-elmos-fire-wow-that-sucked/592661/57 "2011-08-18T12:12:12Z")
> [@MPB\_in\_Salt\_Lake](#): > > Are Judd Nelson, Andrew McCarthy or Mare Winningham still acting? They’re all doing a lot of episodic TV. Judd (along with Ally & Emilio) has done _Psych_ and Andrew McCarthy has/had a semi-recurring role on _Royal Pains_. He’s gone from being the good guy in Brat Pack flicks to always playing a rich, slimy guy. He was a murderer in an episode of _Monk_, too. And Mare Winningham did one of the saddest episodes of _Criminal Minds_ last year. > [@](#): > > I seem to remember Judd Nelson was on Suddenly Susan with Brooke Shields, maybe after Eric Idle left. Other way around, Judd left, Eric came in after him. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2011, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-watched-st-elmos-fire-wow-that-sucked/592661/58 "2011-08-19T01:03:23Z")
> [@Sam\_A.Robrin](#): > > [Exit, bear-suit by a perv…] I don’t get it. ---
**Author:** ![MPB\_in\_Salt\_Lake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c0e974/32.png) [@MPB\_in\_Salt\_Lake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MPB_in_Salt_Lake)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2011, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-watched-st-elmos-fire-wow-that-sucked/592661/59 "2011-08-19T01:24:24Z")
> [@tumbleddown](#): > > They’re all doing a lot of episodic TV. Judd (along with Ally & Emilio) has done _Psych_ and Andrew McCarthy has/had a semi-recurring role on _Royal Pains_. He’s gone from being the good guy in Brat Pack flicks to always playing a rich, slimy guy. He was a murderer in an episode of _Monk_, too. And Mare Winningham did one of the saddest episodes of _Criminal Minds_ last year. Thank you—I am not familiar with any of these shows, and although I have certainly heard of both Criminal Minds and Monk, I guess the other two must be cable series… For what it’s worth, I (a straight, 41 year-old who actually had to sneak into the theater to watch St. Elmo’s Fire back when I was in 10th grade) always thought Andrew McCarthy would have ended up becoming the biggest star of the male cast members, as I thought he was probably the best looking guy the bunch. I also think that Ally Sheedy was probably better looking than Demi Moore, though Demi is still pretty dang hot to this day; I haven’t seen any recent photos of Ms. Sheedy… ---
**Author:** ![MsRobyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/90ced4/32.png) [@MsRobyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsRobyn)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2011, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-watched-st-elmos-fire-wow-that-sucked/592661/60 "2011-08-19T02:25:49Z")
Honestly, I don’t think Ally Sheedy aged all that well. She definitely looks old. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-watched-st-elmos-fire-wow-that-sucked/592661.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-watched-st-elmos-fire-wow-that-sucked/592661.md?page=4)