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It is odd in retrospect that after directing the one-two-three punch of Sixteen Candles, The Breakfast Club and Weird Science, Hughes decided to sit this one out and turn over the reins to newcomer Howard Deutch (who would also go on to helm the Hughes-penned Some Kind of Wonderful and marry Lea Thompson). Odd, because Pink ended up being a huge hit for Hughes the producer and screenwriter, and for many remains his defining achievement in teen moviemaking. And it also got 80's "It" girl Ringwald on the cover of Time... just what was this guy's secret?

Plopping Pretty in Pink into my DVD player was an utterly freaky experience. Scene after scene was like deja voodoo, now distant but somehow strangely familiar. The standard story of a lovelorn girl from the wrong side of the tracks in search of her Prince Charming is simple (original plotting was never Hughes' strong suit) but what's different here is his innate understanding of teenage isolation and appreciation for the music, clothes and underlining melancholia that defined Reagan-era suburbia. Okay, so it all looks a bit silly now, but Hughes and the talented Ringwald invest it with real pathos, and you gotta love the supporting cast, including pouty puppy Jon Cryer, the even more pouty Andrew McCarthy, and the always-welcome Harry Dean Stanton. By the way, am I the only one still a bit pissed that the industry turned on poor Molly after her "fall from teen grace" in the early 90s?

Admittedly Pretty in Pink isn't really a great movie - hardly Hughes' best by a long shot - but it is cute. About the only time the film steps wrong is with the Steff character (James Spader), who haunts the halls like the perpetually hung-over, long-lost son of Hugh Hefner. Also suspect is the way this supposedly small town offers bars that stay open all night for teenagers. Yet my main problem with the film has always been and continues to be the ending, which was reshot at the insistence of both test audiences and Ringwald herself. Unfortunately not included here as a supplement (although you can read it in the long out-of-print novelization), I won't ruin it so much as to say it is far less commercial but ultimately doesn't sell out the Ringwald character. I would have preferred the original, "darker" finale, but audiences disagreed. I guess everyone just wanted to see the 80's reigning teen princess live happily ever after, even if only in our memories?

Video: How Does The Disc Look?

Presented in matted 1.78:1 anamorphic widescreen, Pretty in Pink makes its long-awaited DVD debut, and the results are pretty good. The print is indeed nice and clean, but the image still has a dated appearance which just can't compete with today's glossy, razor-sharp transfers, even if it does add to the nostalgia factor. Blacks are nice but contrast is just blah, and the pink-tastic color scheme is clean and stable yet still lacking in oomph. The transfer also looks a bit dark and soft throughout, with only average shadow delineation. On the plus side there are no annoying video processing tricks employed and little edginess, and I noticed no compression artifacts. On the whole this looks a bit antiquated, but is still a perfectly respectable effort from Paramount and most watchable.

Audio: How Does The Disc Sound?

Boasting a new 5.1 Dolby surround remix, this is an interesting soundtrack. In a trend I've noticed more and more lately, songs are being remixed into 5.1 with the vocals presented "dry" and isolated in the center channel, which does give a mix a sense of spatiality but sounds jarring and oddly artificial. Since Pretty in Pink is full of songs, this effect is pronounced (just check out The Psychedelic Furs' title tune over the end credits and compare it with your stereo CD), and while the hip 80's tunes do have tremendous oomph, it still sounds vaguely creepy. The rest of the mix is better than expected, with nice, clean dialogue and strong separation across the front soundstage for Michael Gore's minimal score and some zippy left to right/right to left pans. Surround use is a bit dull, reserved only for a few minor discrete effects, and some bleed of the score and songs. A nice 5.1 remix, but I'm still not sure about this weird song/vocal thing, but maybe it's me?

Also included is the film's original English 2.0 Dolby surround track, a French mono dub, and English subtitles and Closed Captions.

Supplements: What Goodies Are There?

In a real disappointment, there are no extra features included here at all, not even the trailer. Since Hughes did a commentary for Paramount's own DVD release of Ferris Bueller's Day Off, and the film's alternate ending was filmed but remains rarely seen, I would have expected at least a bit something more. Doesn't one of the most beloved teen movies ever made deserve better? Wouldn't a new retrospective documentary have been super? Hello, anyone listening?

DVD-ROM Exclusives: What do you get when you pop the disc in your PC?

No ROM extras have been included.

Parting Thoughts