Danielle Solzman
Paramount Pictures brings the John Hughes-produced Pretty in Pink to Blu-ray for the first time under the new Paramount Presents line.
The film arrives on Blu-ray newly remastered from a 4K transfer supervised by director Howard Deutch. Deutch provides some interesting commentary in the film’s only new bonus content. It turns out that John Hughes originally offered the role of Duckie to Anthony Michael Hall. Hall declined and the role ended up going to Jon Cryer. I’m not sure if that fact had been mentioned before but Deutch brings it up in his new commentary.
When it comes to the high school comedy genre, John Hughes was the master. Sure, some of the films don’t exactly hold up thirty years later. However, this also doesn’t take away from the fact that they’re classics. Though to be fair, Hughes’ script does work off of some of the usual tropes in the romantic comedy genre. He does his best to make the material fresh–at least for what went in 1986. Pretty in Pink also served as Molly Ringwald’s third team-up with Hughes following Sixteen Candles and The Breakfast Club.
The film’s original ending returns from the previous DVD release. If you’re unfamiliar, the original ending features Andie (Molly Ringwald) and Duckie (Jon Cryer) together at the senior prom. The test audiences did not like this ending and made their feelings known. A new ending was quickly reshot with Andie getting together with Blane McDonough (Andew McCarthy). By this point in time, McCarthy had also cut his hair.
BONUS FEATURES
- Filmmaker Focus: Director Howard Deutch on Pretty in Pink
- Isolated Score
- The Lost Dance: The Original Ending
- Original Theatrical Trailer
DIRECTOR: Howard Deutch
SCREENWRITER: John Hughes
CAST: Molly Ringwald, Harry Dean Stantion, Jon Cryer, Annie Potts, James Spader, and Andrew McCarthy
