This week, I am analyzing another cult classic, 1986’s Pretty in Pink, written by by John Hughes and starring Molly Ringwald as Andie, Andrew McCarthy as Blane, and Jon Cryer as Duckie. The plot is as basic as they come:  the girl’s guy friend (Duckie) has a crush on the girl (Andie) while the girl has a crush on another boy (Blane). (The plot was recycled the next year by Hughes in Say Anything, with two girls and a guy making up the film’s love triangle.)

Sixteen minutes into the film, we see a wide shot of the school library, and then the camera focuses in on Andie, who is typing into a computer.

We’ve already seen her in class — wearing glasses, which is the prop shortcut for “smart” — so we know she’s actually working on a school project and not just goofing around. She also types this herself, just to make it clear for the audience. Her computer is hijacked by an anonymous string of flirty messages. (Like texting! Only with clunky, vintage artifacts called “desktop computers” 😉 )

And who is “meeting cute” with Andie via computer? None other than Andie’s crush, Blane!

True love begins in the library! 😉

There is a reel librarian seen briefly in this short scene, but we don’t hear her speak — or even see her face! All we see is the back of her, an older woman in a flowery dress, leaning over and helping another student at a computer at the carrels. This reel librarian, unsurprisingly, gets no listing in the film’s credit, but she does fulfill the Information Provider role. This film lands in the Class IV category, films in which the librarian(s) plays a cameo role and is seen only briefly with little or no dialogue.

The real star of this scene — besides the sweet expressions on the young lovers’ faces as they smile at each other over the library carrels — has to be the advanced computer graphics!

Behold:

What I enjoyed most about this one-minute scene is that it plays with almost no sound. No talking at all (true to libraries in the movies!), and no sounds except for the sound effects of typing on the keyboard.

The school library setting  in the film feels authentic to real life, with its rows of computer carrals, bookcases lining the walls, and the wooden card catalogs. It feels like a cheery school library, bright and welcoming, with classical touches like the bust statues scattered around the tops of the bookcases.

Looking through the filming locations in IMDb.com, I would guess it’s the school library from either the John Burroughs Middle School or the John Marshall High School, both located in Los Angeles. Each school has been a location for several films! This article on the Worldwide Guide to Movie Locations states that the John Marshall High School served as the exterior of Andie’s ‘Meadowbrook High School’ while the John Burroughs Middle School was used for the interiors.

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Sources used:

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• “Filming & Production.” Pretty in Pink (1986), IMDb.com.
• “Filming Location Matching “John Burroughs Middle School – 600 S. McCaddon Place, Los Angeles, California, USA” (Sorted by Popularity Ascending).” IMDb.com.
• “Filming Location Matching “John Marshall High School – 3939 Tracy Street, Los Feliz, Los Angeles, California, USA” (Sorted by Popularity Ascending).” IMDb.com.
• Pretty in Pink. Dir. Howard Deutch. Written by John Hughes. Perf. Molly Ringwald, Andrew McCarthy, Jon Cryer, Harry Dean Stanton, Annie Potts. Paramount, 1986.
• “Pretty In Pink | 1986.” Movie-Locations.com, last updated 2 March 2019.