# 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:** 4
**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, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-watched-st-elmos-fire-wow-that-sucked/592661/61 "2011-08-19T02:47:55Z")
> [@MsRobyn](#): > > Honestly, I don’t think Ally Sheedy aged all that well. She definitely looks old. I just looked up a recent (2010) picture of Ally Sheedy—While still attractive to me, time hasn’t been quite as kind to her as it has with some other actresses of her age, like the still beautiful Demi Moore or Molly Ringwald, who also looks great. Wonder if some of her questionable personal habits are in part to blame; It seems like I heard that she was struggling with Rx drug abuse a few years back, maybe she never quite got a hold of her taste for it… ---
**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 19, 2011, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-watched-st-elmos-fire-wow-that-sucked/592661/62 "2011-08-19T03:24:01Z")
> [@MPB\_in\_Salt\_Lake](#): > > Wonder if some of her questionable personal habits are in part to blame; It seems like I heard that she was struggling with Rx drug abuse a few years back, maybe she never quite got a hold of her taste for it… Or, y’know, maybe 25 years have passed. Few of us look as good as we used to. ---
**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 19, 2011, 4:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-watched-st-elmos-fire-wow-that-sucked/592661/63 "2011-08-19T04:09:22Z")
> [@tumbleddown](#): > > They’re all doing a lot of episodic TV… Mare Winningham did one of the saddest episodes of _Criminal Minds_ last year. > > . Winningham also played Meredith Gray’s stepmother on _Gray’s Anatomy_ in an occasionally recurring role for a couple seasons until they killed her off. ---
**Author:** ![Kolga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e56c9b/32.png) [@Kolga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kolga)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2011, 5:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-watched-st-elmos-fire-wow-that-sucked/592661/64 "2011-08-19T05:09:56Z")
Coincidentally, this movie is currently on cable here. I’m not watching, although I’m tempted, based on this thread, just to do a MST3K reaction. ---
**Author:** ![shantih](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f6c823/32.png) [@shantih](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shantih)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2011, 6:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-watched-st-elmos-fire-wow-that-sucked/592661/65 "2011-08-19T06:29:49Z")
> [@Cat\_Whisperer](#): > > I don’t get it. It’s a play on one of Shakespeare’s most famous (because it’s snickeringly absurd) stage directions, {_exit, pursued by a bear_}, from ‘The Winter’s Tale.’ Cite: [The Winter's Tale - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Winter%27s_Tale#The_Bear) Really well done, **Sam A. Robrin**! ---
**Author:** ![hilltopper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c68b51/32.png) [@hilltopper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hilltopper)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2011, 1:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-watched-st-elmos-fire-wow-that-sucked/592661/66 "2011-08-19T13:22:26Z")
Ya, I liked Breakfast Club way better. But, one of the most quoted lines of that year among my group of friends came from SEF: “This face seats five!” ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2011, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-watched-st-elmos-fire-wow-that-sucked/592661/67 "2011-08-19T16:08:37Z")
> [@Cat\_Whisperer](#): > > Oh, okay - I got you now. I don’t remember my Gen X friends being like that, either. Sometime around 1991, being a pretentious preppy douchebag was no longer considered “cool” and was replaced by being a pretentious flannel-wearing slacker douchebag. Not that you or your friends are douchebags! That was just the style back then. ---
**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, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-watched-st-elmos-fire-wow-that-sucked/592661/68 "2011-08-19T18:30:26Z")
> [@shantih](#): > > It’s a play on one of Shakespeare’s most famous (because it’s snickeringly absurd) stage directions, {_exit, pursued by a bear_}, from ‘The Winter’s Tale.’ Cite: [The Winter's Tale - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Winter%27s_Tale#The_Bear) > > Really well done, **Sam A. Robrin**! So, he’s calling me a pervert, is he? I’m officially offended! (Not really.) ---
**Author:** ![tumbleddown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e9bcb4/32.png) [@tumbleddown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tumbleddown)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2011, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-watched-st-elmos-fire-wow-that-sucked/592661/69 "2011-08-20T17:04:23Z")
> [@Chef\_Troy](#): > > Winningham also played Meredith Gray’s stepmother on _Gray’s Anatomy_ in an occasionally recurring role for a couple seasons until they killed her off. Ah, I had forgotten. Mare Winningham, killed by a terminal case of _hiccups_. (Grey’s Anatomy is possibly more crappy, if only by volume, than St. Elmo’s Fire.) ---
**Author:** ![tracy1963](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/74df32/32.png) [@tracy1963](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tracy1963)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2011, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-watched-st-elmos-fire-wow-that-sucked/592661/70 "2011-08-20T17:53:54Z")
> [@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. I was hoping I wasn’t alone in liking this film. ---
**Author:** ![Jinx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Jinx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jinx)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2011, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-watched-st-elmos-fire-wow-that-sucked/592661/71 "2011-08-22T01:56:06Z")
The whole f’king brat pack ruined the 1980s like piss in a pool. This movie was just one of many…it was a movement in Hollywood supporting the cause: Morons with no Morales. ---
**Author:** ![Turek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/turek/32/18782_2.png) [@Turek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Turek)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2011, 11:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-watched-st-elmos-fire-wow-that-sucked/592661/72 "2011-08-22T11:56:59Z")
> [@Jinx](#): > > Morons with no Morales. They might not have had any Morales, but they did have an Estevez. ---
**Author:** ![Tracijo67](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/9fc348/32.png) [@Tracijo67](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tracijo67)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2013, 7:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-watched-st-elmos-fire-wow-that-sucked/592661/73 "2013-06-29T07:19:56Z")
Reviving this old thread because I suffered through about a third of this movie tonight (free on demand, bored, and had fond memories of enjoying it back in the mid-80’s… what the fuck was I thinking?!) …fell asleep, and woke up to the cabin scene when freaky stalker Emilio confronts the incredibly inane Andie MacDowell. Yawn. Then a vision appears before me… a ruggedly handsome, uh, Aidan Quinn? I googled every combination I could think of to try to determine if I’m right (feeling vaguely stalkerish myself) but that role appears to have been uncredited. And the Google search led me to this old thread. So, does anyone know if that luscious hunk of a dreamboat cabin-dwelling skin-tight 80’s jeans wearing lumberjack is Aidan Quinn? ---
**Author:** ![Nuveena](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/a587f6/32.png) [@Nuveena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nuveena)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2013, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-watched-st-elmos-fire-wow-that-sucked/592661/74 "2013-07-01T18:24:49Z")
> [@Tracijo67](#): > > And the Google search led me to this old thread. So, does anyone know if that luscious hunk of a dreamboat cabin-dwelling skin-tight 80’s jeans wearing lumberjack is Aidan Quinn? It’s been a long time since I’ve seen this movie, but I seem to remember him looking more like Father Damien from the Exorcist than Aiden Quinn. At any rate, I think it’s [James Carrington](http://blog.lafamos.com/jamescarrington/) credited in the movie as “Guy.” ---
**Author:** ![Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a587f6/32.png) [@Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freddy_the_Pig)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2013, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-watched-st-elmos-fire-wow-that-sucked/592661/75 "2013-07-01T18:37:30Z")
I always think of the woman in the _Bowling for Soup_ song: > [@](#): > > She’s seen all the classics, > She knows every line– > Breakfast Club, Pretty in Pink, > Even St. Elmo’s Fire! ---
**Author:** ![MsRobyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/90ced4/32.png) [@MsRobyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsRobyn)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2013, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-watched-st-elmos-fire-wow-that-sucked/592661/76 "2013-07-01T20:25:28Z")
> [@joebuck20](#): > > You want to fathom a guess at what I have burnin’ in me? Gonorrhea? I keed! ---
**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:** [July 1, 2013, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-watched-st-elmos-fire-wow-that-sucked/592661/77 "2013-07-01T20:45:07Z")
I saw this thread and thought to myself, “Yeah, that movie really did suck.” Then I saw the thread was by me - at least I’m consistent! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Ellen\_Cherry](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellen_cherry/32/3600_2.png) [@Ellen\_Cherry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ellen_Cherry)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2013, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-watched-st-elmos-fire-wow-that-sucked/592661/78 "2013-07-01T21:18:48Z")
In this movie’s defense, my former sister-in-law and her insufferable friends are just like the douchebags in _St. Elmo’s Fire_! ---
**Author:** ![woodstockbirdybird](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/woodstockbirdybird/32/7905_2.png) [@woodstockbirdybird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/woodstockbirdybird)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2013, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-watched-st-elmos-fire-wow-that-sucked/592661/79 "2013-07-01T22:48:43Z")
> [@Sateryn76](#): > > It’s Singles for the 80s. Precisely. A huge PoS. ---
**Author:** ![ahclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@ahclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ahclem)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2017, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-watched-st-elmos-fire-wow-that-sucked/592661/80 "2017-11-18T19:18:16Z")
> [@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. I’m pretty sure you’re thinking of Educating Rita. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-watched-st-elmos-fire-wow-that-sucked/592661.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-watched-st-elmos-fire-wow-that-sucked/592661.md?page=5)