The Recasting Couch: Ep. 71 Sixteen Candles

The Recasting Couch Movie Podcast

In an attempt to cleanse the palate from a month full of murder and mayhem, we attempted to select the most innocent and earnest movie we could think of, and we landed on Sixteen Candles. This John Hughes classic was a lot of fun to talk about (not so much fun to cast…). It’s first of the three huge hits starring Molly Ringwald. 1984 was Sixteen Candles, 1985 was The Breakfast Club, and 1986 was Pretty in Pink. Of the three, I think this was the best with regards to Molly. The movie also marks the second notable feature film for Anthony Michael Hall, having played Rusty Griswold in National Lampoon’s Vacation. AMH had a certain way about him in the 80’s that while he comes across as a creep, he’s also kind of charming. Not a lot of people can pull that off.

The movie is a story unto itself. There are some very questionable scenes. This PG movie has nudity, explicit language, and most likely sexual assault (although it’s still not clear what actually took place). If you are able to put things in historical context (which isn’t necessarily easy), this movie is just really fun and is a great representation of the teenage condition. Molly is the perfect angsty teenager who is overlooked by friends, family, and society at large, and she’s only looking for one thing that’s special for her. What’s interesting about this movie, is that the rest of the main characters are more or less forgettable. Samantha’s best friend Randy (Liane Curtis) was fun, but not all that special, and the “heartthrob” Jake Ryan (Michael Schoeffling) is completely forgettable. The only other fun characters are Samantha’s little brother Mike (Justin Henry), and Long Duk Dong (Gedde Wantanabe) who completely steal the show

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