An underrated film of the youthful 80s, overshadowed by its Brat Pack predecessor the Breakfast Club, St. Elmos' Fire is a good example of the Yuppie in that decade.
You might recall (or not) that Yuppie is an acronym for Young Urban Professional, popularized by the Yuppie Handbook which of course was an offshoot of the Preppy Handbook. If you don't know about either, you're not from the 80s. The Yuppie is a city dweller, upwardly mobile, and in the words of Queen, I want it all and I want it now.
They're the 7 best friends, just graduated from Georgetown, making their way in the big city. At its wisecracking, underemployed best, it's a clean spiritual predecessor to the tv show Friends and the influence is quite direct in retrospect. The Jewishness, the spoiled rich kid, the clueless Lothario. Rob Lowe probably has the biggest role as Billy who laments that you can't get "Out of hand" in the real world, and his struggles are the biggest but also the smallest as he's just too dumb to care. Kind of like the real Rob Lowe.
A forgotten character was that icon of 80s womanly perfection, Andie McDowell as the out of reach love interest of Emilio Estevez. As she's not part of the pack, she's the most adult character here. The other women, Ally Sheedy, Mare Winningham, Demi Moore (chubby and blond) are all relatively helpless, ineffective, and used to various ends by the men here. Like I said, it was the 80s and feminism was somewhat dormant at that point.
In the end, this movie is more about looks than substance. The D.C. settings in the fall were lovely, the characters beautiful, the music moving, the costuming spot-on, the smoking glamourous, the bar scenes rocking. Like I said, it was the 80s.
Just the other night, I saw this movie for the first time! I really enjoyed it, partially due to the fact that I graduated college and found my self underemployed and disappointed with my first professional job, just like some of the characters in St. Elmo's Fire. Unlike the characters in the movie, my personal life was stable. I really enjoyed the 80s music, clothes, and attitudes. I did not realize that this movie could be considered a framework for the TV Show Friends, but I completely agree with your assessment. I enjoyed the movie and your review.
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