Dogtown Vintage: film inspiration: Duckie Dale

Perhaps because we didn't always have a tv and vcr, and my sisters and I were readers from, well, the time we could read, there are a lot of 80s classics I didn't see (Adventures In Babysitting a notable exception; I wanted to be Chris so badly!). I've caught up on some, and totally dug them: Dirty Dancing, Die Hard, Stand By Me. I've caught up on some and had to turn them off because, without the lens of sentimentality, they were awful: The Goonies (don't hate me!), The Big Blue. And there are some I still haven't seen: Footloose, Top Gun, Gremlins (although my sister had the movie book, and it scared the shit out of me).

So until a couple of weeks ago, I hadn't seen Pretty In Pink, and to tell the truth, was a little embarrassed about it. I actually gave it to a close friend for her birthday one year, even though I totally knew it implied I'd seen it and was saying - look, we're so old, but remember when we weren't? Pathetic! But I digress. Finally I watched it, and I was... underwhelmed. Maybe I'm too old for it now, but I just didn't connect with anybody (except maybe the Dad, heaven help me), and I felt as if some scenes went on and on, and then sometimes as if a scene had been missed. However, what I did love was Duckie's wardrobe.And his lip-synced performance of Try A Little Tenderness - the best! There are boys around who dress similarly but there's just something kind of hollow about it; like they're New Wave simulacra? I don't know; there's just something genuine about the way Duckie dresses. His shoes are beaten up and dirty because he doesn't have much money, and he rides a bike in them... and he's Duckie. By the way, did anyone else think Andie ruined two good dresses? Okay, sorry, sorry. Happy Friday! My first Friday in months at my pub in Auckland... Hurray!