Still no joy for Duckie

I already own this movie, but I was tricked into buying it again.

Let's back up a bit. Like many of my generation, I adore John Hughes movies, and Pretty in Pink is the best of the lot as far as I'm concerned. Everytime I slept over at my best friend's house, we would rent this movie. Honestly, every single time. I still know it by heart (you'd think it was The Empire Strikes Back or something). My friend was a compulsive magazine reader; she read all the entertainment magazines and was always my friend-in-the-know. She was the one who told me that originally the movie ended with Andie and Duckie together, and the book tie-in, the crappy novelization had this original Duckie gets the girl ending. This was back in the days before the Internet, of course. This sort of info is readily available on any movie with two clicks and a Google, but back then it was like she told me she knew where the Holy Grail was.

I was in my 20s before I found a copy of the crappy novelization in a used book store (and even a decade later it was still like I'd found the Holy Grail, I'm sad to say. I was embarrassingly excited).

So it's been 20 years now that I've been longing to see this ending. I know it exists, I've read the novel version but I want to see the actual celluloid! So when I was at the Best Buy last week (buying Stars Wars Lego II for the boys) and I saw a new release of Pretty in Pink called the "Everything's Duckie Edition" which promised "The Original Ending: The Last Dance". At last! At last I would see the Duckie ending!

Or not. It's not actually there. It's just the cast reminiscing about shooting that first ending and then going back for reshoots. I was robbed!

To be honest, though, Andie ending up with Duckie doesn't work. The Blane ending was definitely the way to go. I think I felt as strongly as I did about it back in the day because it wasn't the Andie character I identified with in the movie; it was Duckie. Andie was cold and aloof (and into fashion, something I've never carried much about myself). Duckie was just Duckie, himself take it or leave it. I didn't want them to end up together because it was the right choice for Andie; I just wanted Duckie to get the girl. But like I said, it doesn't work. And it's all in that little scene between Duckie and Andie's dad. Andie and Duckie together would just be her parents all over again; one person feeling all of the love and affection for two.

The ending from the theatrical release is better for Duckie anyway. He makes the choice to step back and let Andie go. I wished it could have ended there. But someone felt they had to throw him a bone, so we get the ridiculous Kristy Swanson cameo (called "Duckette" in the credits). Is this the sort of girl Duckie would be attracted to, Duckie the pathological individualist? This is his follow-up for Andie? A richie? No way. He needs a girl with flare, with a sense of self.

Of course it helps to imagine her in her other theatrical persona: Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Now there's a girl for Duckie.