MovieChat Forums > St. Elmo's Fire (1985) Discussion > Mare Winningham - NOT a member of the Br...

Mare Winningham - NOT a member of the Brat Pack

posted 7 years ago by sjbradford
11 replies | jump to latest

Boy did she stand out like a sore thumb in this ensemble. There were all these up and coming actors, and then there was this person who did TV movies.

[–] Cloudburst2000 7 years ago

She did movies also. She was supposed to be the dowdy friend who everyone could rely on. She wasn't a Brat Pack member...so what? She played the role she was asked to play. Also, she is the only one to win an Emmy (she won two) and the only one to be nominated for an Oscar. Doesn't sound like a crap actor to me.

[–] webmaster-1100 7 years ago

She looked 10 yrs older than the others

[–] JohnnyUtahx (161) 6 years ago

The only missing Brat Pack members were Molly Ringwald & Anthony Michael Hall.

Seems Ringwald coud have played Mare Winningham's part.

[–] PaladinNJ (20310) 4 years ago

Molly Ringwald is way too attractive to have played the dowdy character.

[–] AzureSeb (467) 3 years ago

Even by 1980s standards, Molly wasn't all that. She tended to look gormless.

[–] [deleted] 4 years ago

And yet she was still the most likable of the film's characters. Most of them were tiresome neo-yuppie clones and it only got worse from there.

[–] legnadibrom (5711) 4 years ago

she wasn't likeable,
she was a loser nerd who was essentially given a guy of her status on a silver platter... with a car!!
& she turned him down because she was in love with the slut pretty boy who finally wound up giving her pity sex as a going-away present

[–] [deleted] 3 years ago

Likable and most likable are two different concepts. Trust me, I'm not a big fan of any of the characters. But I will admin my wording isn't great. Maybe you'd have felt better if I called her out as the least offensive?

It's a film that tried to normalize some pretty ugly traits of the era and did a good job of ferreting out the flaws in those coming of age with a certain outlook on life.

[–] snepts (11123) 3 years ago

I always liked that she wasn't glamorous.
Unfortunately, I'm not sure she is unusually talented as an actress, but I always found her very pleasant to consider, unlike Demi Moore. I have no intention to dish on Demi, but her personal life seemed a bit "off", iirc. Attention hog.
But Mare gets a reserved thumbs up from me.

[–] BourbonKing (5612) 3 years ago

She literally resembles a "thumb" too LOL

She's an interesting actress as she was never a "looker" but fit well into many 80s movies as the female character that wasn't there for her looks.

[–] Roguemail (1564) 3 years ago

Agreed she does not have classic beauty, but she has something.

My favorite role of hers is in Miracle Mile. There is a very appealing "girl next door" aspect to her in this.