Pretty in Pink -- The Steff Edit
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- Опубліковано 26 вер 2009
- James Spader's devilish yuppie Steff in 80s teen flick Pretty in Pink is one of the most glorious jerks in movie history. Here are his best moments, edited together as if he was the main character of the film. Enjoy! Follow me @kitschmedeadly on Letterboxd: letterboxd.com/kitschmedeadly/
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The character of "Steff" is another one of those 80's teen movie villains presented as some stock "jerk" who is actually one of the most interesting characters in this genre. He's essentially a study on the neglected Gen X child of "power parents" of the 80's.
He's pretty much always alone or with peers in cavernous, affluent spaces. He's developed a sophisticated way of communicating that has made him interesting enough to draw-in company when he needs it but it's also a protective shell to keep him from developing real intimacy with others. Doing that would totally expose his vulnerability and the likely hurts that come with child neglect and feeling your affection (and need for it) rejected by your own parents.
He spends most of his time numbing this pain and emptiness with a constant stream of shallow, sensual stimulation and release; meaningless sex and commitment free, unchallenging companionship, partying, illicit substance consumption and luxury activities.
The character of "Steff" comes across two qualities about the character of "Andie" that clearly disturb him; she's poor and unconnected but a natural beauty, so his attraction is socially inconvenient but primal and compelling (the more you try to ignore it, the more it becomes like the elephant in the room that can't be ignored) and she appears to have the kind of capability for a depth of affection that he desires as a replacement for what's lacking from his parents but he doesn't know how to access it.
The denial of sex aspect of it, her rejection of him is not only Steff being hit where he feels he has value -- his external desirability to girls and established popularity -- but it's also feeling denied an "object" that he covets for self-soothing but can't have, sending his competition for the sake of self-preservation into overdrive. What he usually uses to self-soothe is being denied him and the fact that his friend is being given access to both physical intimacy AND affection by the woman who rejected him is like having all of his lifetime of parental rejection thrown into his face. The bitter man was the lonely child who was ignored or passed off to someone else, while he cried and wanted to be held by his Mother.
Interesting analysis
@@mew10521 Thank you!
This should be pinned. Great write-up!
@@MrJohannson Thank you!
Xoomer, here
ua-cam.com/video/j0lN0w5HVT8/v-deo.html&has_verified=1
"You're gonna be late buddy"....pauses and then points upward as the bell rings...classic!
I have to find the script just to see how it's written... such a great little touch
That was brilliant. 😂😂😂 I remember that scene when the movie came out.
No one nails casual disdain like James Spader. His disgust for others comes off almost like an afterthought. Lol
Spader is awesome. He's not aged terribly, he's aged HONESTLY and not fake.
Exactly!!
He has aged badly unfortunately. He looked great up to the 00s and still looked like he didn't age at all on the 90s but look at him now
@@nenabunena Take anyone and compare them from their 20's to when they are 60 and see how well they do. Spader has always managed to roll with style and one of the great natural actors of our time.
@@rubyfirefly2582 Ralph Macchio, Billy Zabka, Robert De Niro, Keanu Reeves
He has aged it’s like night and day with him then and now
James really knows how to use his eyes . Very cold and badass but also sexy .
Fact!
Not gay but I agree with this comment lol
and still🔥🔥🔥😍😍😍😍😅😅😅😅😅
Because he can't see. Lol. He's so nearsighted he said he can't even see the actor he is doing scenes with.
James Spader is the one of reasons of how i love this movie. He's so hot here
Yes he really is
Damnnnnnnn young James Spader is everything
God yes!they don't make em like that anymore!
Spader’s such a great actor he makes everyone else around him seem kind of lame.
@@PPLL463 Yes, me too!
I always enjoyed hating his character, whatever the movie was. Typically the sign of a great actor!
The issue with Blacklist in a nutshell.
Every moment without him you're wondering when he'll come back.
According to Spader's interviews, he went into the audition (late, and left before it was over) acting like an asshole, and nailed the part.
If you're auditioning for an asshole, you gotta really go for it.
He looked likd an asshole but great joker
Yes
The director hated him so much, he wanted to fire him.
Honestly, I think Steff is the most interesting character in the film - excellent treatment by James Spader. The more interesting love triangle is Blane/Steff/Andie.
Steff is honestly the most in depth and sexy character in the movie he made me obsessed with James spader. Something about the look in his eyes, how he moves his body, and then his voice. He’s so hot
You mean the arrogance? Yeah I can see that not kidding.
Spader was so PERFECTLY cast for the part. Just forces you to hate him and everything he represents.
In the 80s James Spader got a lot of roles being real jerk- and he was very good at it. So I wondered what he was like really...and looked for articles about him. I recently read articles that included comments by people who worked with Spader... movies to television.... people that work with them say he's a pretty nice guy and they like him a lot. That's the power of really great acting, when you can seem like something that you really are not.
How can he be so young and act so fine.. He always struck me as having an old soul..
He wasn't a teen at the time. He was 26 :)
Staff was a product of his wealthy, entitled environment. Deep down, he probably wanted to be a better person, but didn't know how. Passive aggression and maintaining a big ego were his emotional defenses.
And later Steff’s needs would be met when he hired a secretary.
Haha great movie!
Hahahaah
I love that film ONG
facts 😅😅😅
Indeed. 🤤🤤
Steff was a swag king 👑! Iconic OG of the 80’s
Spader stole the lead from that other guy..cant remember his name. STEFF was awesome,, I loved it.
Andrew McCarthy - Blaine
@@Tracker7266 James IS as its BEST When playing a bad Guy...But off course he always looks yummmy....that STARE And Michaels Kiss Melt me.
This hair color in p.in punk suits him perfect, But his hair IS actually Brown.
The other guy (Andrew McCarthy) directs alot of episodes for The Blacklist, him and Spader are good friends.
@@luckyj.ferguson6308 i didnt know that. I usually dont know about the people behind the screen..the writers, directora, Producers unless they are very famous like Spilberg,And....well, there you, cant remember another name...the Guy from the Titanic, the brothers from The Matrix.... Its good they kept in touch And made a good team. Thank you for the tip
Forever crushing on James Spader 🤍💙🖤💖💜
Oh sweet lawd, my clothes just magically flew off!
😂😂😂
Lol .mine 2!
Those clothes
He was the most interesting character, I never liked Blaine. I wish they had explored his jealousy more and just him more in general, he was the highlight for me.
One wonders what it cost emotionally for Steff to confess at 0:39. Whether he's said it to Andie before, either sincerely, or glibly as he does here like it's a joke or lie to rile her. Or, perhaps, if we're seeing the first time he's ever voiced it aloud, scared and pushed by the Blane situation into saying it to Andie's face at last. There's even a choking waver of desperation and disbelief in Steff's voice at 0:50--both the deflating of his Ego, and also one of the last gasps of hope that Andie might take him seriously for once and just show him genuine affection (we see that hope breathe its last and pass away at the Prom, or perhaps before at the house party). Spader plays it so well, more subtly than the movie puts anything else.
James said he always thought Steff was just hanging around high school, because he was too old to be a student.
You never see him with a book, that’s for sure.
I always wondered why his parents were never there. If I had a son as creepy, slimy as him I’d have eyes on him every day.
The boy would wind up in court and the parents would have to pay whatever some girl’s parents were demanding.
But...Gosh!! He was gorgeous!
He gives me the vibe of a lowkey walking-depressed 19/20 year old who barely passed GED and flunked out of College due to boredom/apathy, entitlement, and not fitting in (with the peers he perceives as riff-raff), and won't take a 9-5 either due attitude issues and snobbery, so he just chills at his old high-school to pass the time and feel important or in-control in a world that's slowly leaving him behind the way his parents and his best friend did.
I really need to see this again. Spader is terrific.
You left out one of my favorite Steff lines, to Blaine: "When Bill and Joyce finish with you, you won't know whether to shit or go sailing...." Love it!! I never get sick of this movie.
Lol his one liners were so iconic
Hahaha love that one too deff the most
Steph is just plain jealous that she likes his friend and won’t give him the time of day
My favorite line of his "we have guests"
At :28 seconds poor Steff almost implodes with jealousy.
I think Steff liked Andie because she wasn't like all the other girls who fell for him at his feet. He thought he could get her and when he didn't it, he was bothered by it. I think he also seemed bothered when Blaine started going out with her.
I kinda wish they had explored that more
@@deekayteeohthree Same here. 🤔
He was definitely jealous & her rejection bothered him a lot.
@@pennwoman I also think he was jealous that Andy liked his friend Blaine and not him. But I think if she did go out with him instead, it would've been an interesting dynamic.
He plays all those parts so well!😊
There's a tragic irony in Steff's overtures to Andie. Steff, someone high-born and of class, understands and recognises true worth & substance in people and things, but is unable to hold onto such or appreciate it properly, because he thinks by way of his status he's automatically entitled to it, missing the point that a certain degree of investment and sacrifice and care has to go into a person/object to make it valuable in the first place.
I think he was shocked to see her at his party, his life, the total lack of respect for himself, his parent's home, his party hounds acting like jerks. When he lounged on the bed, with his current squeeze, showing her how desirable he is. He just acted like she called it. He is fine with trashing anything or anyone. Her reaction was dead on, she has taste and self respect, repulsed by them. The girlfriend, being so rude, just as she had been in classes, devoid of any self worth. Andy is the only adult in the room. The entire house.
Love his voice
Spader is a legend in this movie
"Go take a shower you look like shit"
Best line.
Plus why would Steff use all that energy to break them up if he didn't like her? There is more to Steff then the asshole because there's a scene where he tells Blane he doesn't care for money plus he even calls his father a bastard there was so much going on with him then what we saw
What did Steff like about Andie? And why was he pursuing her? What did she have that his girlfriend didn't have?
Spader was scorching Hot and he played the villian so well in a few movies with Andrew McCarthy.
So this is what Robert California did before Dunder Mifflin.
Lmao
Lol
James is one of my favorite actors , he was a babe!! And I love that he as aged gracefully 😍❤️
Aged gracefully? You really love him. 😅
Spader kicked ass in this movie! I think everyone knew a "Steff" in high school or someone like him. Awesome movie.
you know, he says "I liked you for 4 years".. he seems like he actually must have liked her if he pursued her that long and didn't care she was poor... he may have been rude, but i think it would have been interesting if the plot was her teaching him not to be such a rich asshole and to be more humble.. a lot of how he acts seems to be brought on by jealousy he doesn't know what to do with.
Blaine just doesn't do it for me.. he has no character development at all.
She's just the girl he couldn't get and it bugs him.
I really like Blaine, but I think that plot would've been nice!
This is the plot line they should have gone for. Spader steals this movie, and they should have developed his character and given him the girl.
I agree. I feel sorry for Steff because I think he really liked Andie and she wouldn’t even give him a chance, but gave his rich friend one.
It had to hurt, and his rude comments are just the hurt coming through.
If she had taken him up on his offer, he would have dumped her once she slept with him. He would never have treated her like a real girlfriend. He did care that she was poor.
James Spader was beautiful in this movie! 😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😍
Now of days this would have been a Foes to Lovers story except Steff would have been the lead, and they'd have learned some crazy shit about each other, and fell in love.
He played the part of Steph so perfectly. He was such a dick... But SO HOT!!
Yes he was so hot
Steff is the most compelling character in the movie. He truly does not care about money or what other people think. He asks andi out every year for the 4 years if high school. When she really nastily rejects him he does not attack her for being poor just calls her a b$tch. So that has nothing to do w/ her economic status. He us jealous that she likes blaine & is astute enough for a hs kid to go after Blaine's weakness. He knows Blaine does care about what friends think he does seem embarrassed by andi being poor around his peers & he does the cowardly thing & dumps her for prom. Steff went after an even bigger weakness that Blaine's parents would flip out w/ their fine son dating some poor girl. Steff would have had no problem dating her & really cares nothing about money or what anyone thinks bc he asks her out for 4 years! He really is the only one in the film that doesnt care or think about status. Very layered character. Lastly I think steff really saw something special in andi to go ask her out every year knowing shes gonna tell him get lost. Hes sick of the rich bimbo airheads that's why he just uses them. I think it would have been really interesting to see the alpha make steff date andi bc all the other sheep would get in line. Blaine is very weak & did not deserve the girl in the end. He finally gets the back bone to go for her & tell steff off when school is now officially over & he wont have to deal w/ steff or his other friends again about andi? That focus group who changed the ending just wanted the cute guy & cute girl together but the filmmakers were dead on w/ their original ending. A coward should not get the girl. If anything steff liked her wanted to date her & didnt give a toss what anyone thought. Only his jealousy made him bring up her poorness bc that's was Blaine's weak spot peer pressure from his parents & friends. Again steff could have called her trash but went to the universal $itch he never brought up her class bc he didnt care about it.
no wonder i didn't like the movie lmaoooo she chose to run after the wrong guy. anyone but blaine would've suited her better
Yes!!! You put his vibe into words.
I’m more drawn to him. He seems more intellectually compatible with Andy.
Never really thought of it like that but ya know what I think you’re right 🤔
You are right 😖
I disagree. Steff, as far as we saw, bullied Andie and belittled her too much. That's very hard to forgive. I was bullied by a boy in elementary school who ended up liking me in high school and I just couldn't see him as anything other than my old bully. That may seem so cool and intriguing from another's POV, and I get that completely, but when you learned to fear and hate someone so much, you can't just let it go all that easily. At least with Blaine, he was very sweet to Andie and only ghosted her when he succumbed to peer pressure. It's much easier to forgive.
The best part of this movie, hands down. Viva Spader.
Must've been a lot of fun for Spader playing that character
"My best friend is conversing with a mutant..." 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂 so stupid, is hilarious
YUMMMMMY!!!! Steff was just too gorgeous!
His acting is fucking phenomenal 🔥🙏🏼 Geeze.
My father wasn't too familiar with all actors names. So we made up a name for James Spader to remember him as in this film: NADA.
When Boston Legal came out, I told my Dad, "It's time to watch Nada and Captain Kirk."
Ah. The good old days. 🤘
I just watched the movie for the first time without any prior knowledge of who is in the movie or what the story is about. I honestly thought Steff was going to be the main love interest and instead we get boring Blaine and Duckie?! Talk about miscasts.
fabaa SAME!!!!!!!
I love Duckie. Blaine not so much.
I agree with you. In fact, even molly fought for robert downey jr. to get the role of duckie since she can’t really get the vibe out of john cryer.
@@cbnl4765what? Is that true?
@@mew10521 yes. read it somewhere. Also, they offered James Spader the role of blane but he rejected it as he's more into villain stuff.
"You're gonna be late, buddy."
I always thought he knew Andie was quality. She had a level of confidence to be herself. Being poor or just getting by would not be forever for her. She works, she goes out when she wants to. She loves her father, and in spite of her mom leaving her, she accepted that and moved on with her life. She is intelligent, unique and so very different from the blond bimbos who are pretentious and act like entitled spoiled brats. Steff and Blaine saw this in her. They both are attracted to her, Steff always putting her down when he and Blaine are together. Neither were good enough for her.
I liked Duckie but he got on my nerves. Blaine telling her he loved her at the end had no feeling behind the words. Eventually they would have parted ways, probably her scholarship to college would have alot to do with it. She saw thru Steff, and it did not matter to her that he 'liked her for 4 years', she clearly saw how stuck up he was. Steff would have to change and she just saw him as a lost soul who would be capable of change.
Subconsciously, Steff recognizes people of good character, i.e. Blaine is his best friend and he's attracted to Andie, but he's so emotionally damaged he can't bring himself to develop deep social connections beyond the superficial hedonistic level.
@@caligulapontifex5759 yes, exactly, you nailed it. That's the tragedy and the irony. Steff, someone high-born and of class, understands and recognises true worth & substance in people and things, but is unable to hold onto such or appreciate it because he thinks by way of his status he's automatically entitled to it, missing the point that a certain degree of investment and sacrifice and care has to go into a person/object to make it valuable in the first place.
Spader is a good actor 😊😊😊
So sexy. So fucking sexy... Never heard his voice before (I'm spanish). Now I'm in love.
Steff have liked Andie for 4 years when she rejected him he did the only things guys do when there rejected by a girl they like which is calling her out her name talking down about her an do on because their feelings is hurt and their to prideful to admit it
You left out his best and he didn't even say anything.. at the Prom when he looks up, sees And I, looks at her then looks to see if Blaine sees her.... A multitude of emotions go across his face, anger, shock,lust, wanting and regret to name a few.
I dont know if he was in love with her,but he liked her alot.Do you really think he put so much effort into breaking her and Blaine apart just out of spite?
If she was just a potential notch in his belt do you think he would have cared that much?
I think Steff liked Andie BECAUSE she kept rejecting him,and since he was super self loathing,that sort of attracted him to her.
Narcissist. Yeah. Spader was, is, and always will be, an engaging actor.
God, I loved him in Secretary. He’s best when his characters are holding back.
Spader had a lot of fun with his character. He was sexy as hell too.
Love Steff- just so despicable. Fab performance ❤️
"You look ravishing today... " SHE LOOKS LIKE AN OLD LADY!
😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂
I LEGIT CHOKED on my orange slice. DEAD
Yeah it is totally unbelievable that somebody like gorgeous Spader would ever be interested in an orange haired funky girl
@@pepper1188 you obviously weren't alive in the 80s.
@@apriljk6557 You're right there, Molly Ringwald ruled back in the mid to late 80's.
James is the BEST.
Andie:Can you get off my car?
Me:Can you get me off in my car?
Ha ha
Spader acts Andrew McCarthy into the dust! 😂
Ehhh...not in Less than Zero?
This is how Raymond Reddington emerged!
bwm28canadian Yep!
I love Reddington😍
❤ yes, haha love him! 🕵️♂️
Jealous because he loves Andy,but never admit because she was poor,,,,,
He was SO HOT!!!!!!!
If Steff wanted to use me I would use him right back ; )
James Spader has got such a pretty face
I wish i could find one JAMES SPADER for me =(
Same!!!I want 1..but an 80s styled one!
Red Reddington as a high schooler. Refined world traveler and international espionage master.
One of the best characters ever he was like Satan in a white suit
Excellent description. Like Satan he's always whispering in Blaine's ear, trying to get him to go against what's good and right, and does so while drowning in decadence and debauchery, up to his neck in hot girls, alcohol and drugs.
😂😂
I don't know why the beginning made me laugh so much
When he said “Eddie”😭
James Spader was so🔥 in this movie. Also, a real punk.
Also, James Spader is fucking amazing.
his friends opinions mean more to him than following his heart and fate
I think youre talking about Blaine here right? Because Steff could give a fuck about his friends opinion..hell he hit on Andie in front of all his friends at the beginning of the movie. He was just using Andie's being a "mutant" and her being an outcast to convince Blaine not to date her, not because of fear of him being socially ostracized but because he (Steff) wanted her for himself...
forgive me but YUMMMMY James Spader still and always yes please !!!!!!!!!!!!
Critique by Steff=gold.
I came here to see Robert California in high school, and I was not disappointed.
Blane in my book had no backbone plus Molly in an interview said that Andie and Blane wouldn't have lasted because look at him he was afraid of what others thought about them as a couple
Great Hughes soundtrack. All are good but elegia is a really good New order one that's not as known as their others
I Just found that song last week and am in love!it is a badass jam!
Now if all he wanted to do was sleep with her I think Steff would have told her out front because he was beyond blunt for example the bedroom scene with them in an he was talking shit to Benny? He was jealous that she choose Blane instead of him
Perfect! for the role
Can anyone who was in high school in 1985 confirm there were real people like this?
Not quite. However, pretty close
We understood nihilism.
Yes
Pretty close. 😂
UGH love him, always will
Blind blowing that Spader can go from Steff hot to total nerd as the manager in Mannequin. Really talented guy!
Andie should have chose Steph. He wouldn't have given two shits about what anyone thought--especially his parents! Unlike that wuss Blaine! And the fact that she wouldn't take any of his shit would make him respect her more and be incredibly loyal and want to please her. I like this movie and it pisses me off at the same time! Andie and Steph!!! :D
if someone's into you, and you don't care about them and want to get rid of them, and treat them like shit, they want you even more desperate.
Every girl would have picked steff
James Spader, cute jerk
Dude. Doesn't that girl know that this is a pro-Steff zone?
I love how she says, "I have some taste." Judging from her outfit, obviously she does not.
Honestly every outfit she's in either looks like she stole it from Mrs. Doubtfire or Bea Arthur. The prom dress genuinely looked like something Dorothy would've worn on Golden Girls.
@@minutemuse You said it. What the character needed was a unique, funky style to make her a little different but pretty. But the movie-makers got it so wrong. And her prom dress at the end that she works so hard on as though she has talent, should have been AMAZING. Instead it is a shapeless, frumpy pink bag hanging from a halter neck. How did this get by so many people in charge?
@@kristinstrickland1038 I have no idea. Even a cinched waist could've helped the dress a little. No girl, no matter how different, wants to show up to prom in a baggy, shapeless sack. I feel like all the good costume ideas were used up on Iona and Duckie.
@@minutemuse For sure!
@@kristinstrickland1038 Agreed!
0:37 for some reason this scene always makes me laugh
James Spader was so damn fine in this movie, finest white boy of the 80s
He’s such a jerk in the movie. But oh my Lord is he fine. Maybe she could’ve made him into a better man
Yes he was hot hot hot!
Don't egg on that kind of thinking, it's already damaged a lot of women lmao.
@@1000mizz yeah some guys have an inner good guy in there. And some guys are too damaged and not worth helping. A good woman can make the difference. Obviously I don’t think it’s OK for a woman to put up with a jerk or someone abusive
From Steff to Dr Daniel Jackson to Raymond Reddington. Wow, what a career!
Definitely in my top 25 movie characters of all time. He's great in the role. Does anyone know if he's ever played a similar role??
Wolf?
i think the description and edit are great. spader was the ultimate, said, evil 80's yuppie. no one did it better. not even christian bale as bateman... but, all told, his best performance, in character, was in, you guessed it, another ellis book, less than zero. he was a real jerk-of in that. don't know if you made and edit of that or not. will check.
The fact that his name is "Steff" makes him even hotter.
Omg I luved James in these scenes!!!great vid!luv it....btw my name's Valorie too!
fair enough. i have to go watch that again. haven't seen it in ages.