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49 free Pretty in Pink trivia questions with answers — entertainment quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
Pretty in Pink is the John Hughes film that almost had a different ending. Written by Hughes, directed by first-timer Howard Deutch and built around Molly Ringwald as Andie Walsh, the 1986 film pits a working-class senior against the 'richies' at her school, with Jon Cryer's Duckie pining from the sidelines and Andrew McCarthy's Blane caught between them. This quiz covers the story and characters, the cast and the actors who nearly got the parts, the record store and the prom dress, and the behind-the-scenes history: the Psychedelic Furs song that inspired the script, the ending test audiences rejected, the wig Andrew McCarthy had to wear for the reshoot, and the OMD song written in under 24 hours to score it. There are questions on the soundtrack, the box office, the reviews and the film's afterlife too. Difficulty runs from easy to hard, so it works for a movie night, a pub quiz round or an 80s-themed party. Every answer was checked against the Wikipedia articles on the film, its songs and its cast, and each question shows its source.
30 of 49 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Who plays Andie Walsh, the film's working-class heroine?
Molly Ringwald
Molly Ringwald plays Andie Walsh; she turned 18 on 18 February 1986, ten days before the film opened, having shot it at 17.
Q 02Who wrote the screenplay for Pretty in Pink?
John Hughes
John Hughes wrote the screenplay and was executive producer; he handed directing to a first-timer because he was busy making Ferris Bueller's Day Off.
Q 03Who directed the film?
Howard Deutch
Howard Deutch directed Pretty in Pink, his feature debut; he had previously cut trailers, including The Breakfast Club's, and later directed Grumpier Old Men (1995).
Q 04Who plays Andie's best friend, Philip 'Duckie' Dale?
Jon Cryer
Jon Cryer plays Duckie; Ringwald had lobbied for Robert Downey Jr., and Anthony Michael Hall turned the part down to avoid typecasting.
Q 05Who plays Blane McDonnagh, the 'richie' who asks Andie out?
Andrew McCarthy
Charlie Sheen was considered, but Ringwald persuaded the filmmakers to cast McCarthy instead.
Q 06Who plays Steff McKee, Blane's wealthy and spiteful best friend?
James Spader
James Spader plays Steff McKee, whose hostility stems from Andie having rejected his advances; Spader later won three Emmys for playing lawyer Alan Shore.
Q 07Who plays Iona, Andie's quirky thirty-something boss at the record store?
Annie Potts
Annie Potts plays Iona; two years earlier she had played receptionist Janine Melnitz in Ghostbusters (1984), and she later starred in Designing Women.
Q 08Which veteran actor plays Andie's underemployed father, Jack?
Harry Dean Stanton
Harry Dean Stanton plays Jack Walsh; he had just starred in Paris, Texas (1984) and Repo Man (1984), and here he buys Andie the pink dress she reworks for the prom.
Q 09What is the name of the record store where Andie works?
Trax
Andie works at Trax, the new-wave record store run by Iona; it is where Duckie performs his Otis Redding lip-sync and where Blane comes to ask her out.
Q 10In which Chicago suburb does Andie live with her father?
Elgin
She refuses to let Blane drive her home at first because she does not want him to see the house.
Q 11Which band's song gave the film its title?
The Psychedelic Furs
The Psychedelic Furs' 1981 song gave the film its name after Ringwald introduced Hughes to it; the band re-recorded a less raw version for the opening.
Q 12Which OMD song, written for the film, reached No. 4 on the Billboard Hot 100 in May 1986?
If You Leave
'If You Leave' was written in a rush for the reshot prom finale and peaked at No. 4 on the Billboard Hot 100 in May 1986, OMD's biggest US hit.
Q 13Roughly how long did OMD take to write and record a replacement prom song for Hughes?
Under 24 hours
Q 21What is the name of Steff's girlfriend, the leader of the 'richie' girls who torment Andie?
Benny Hanson
Benny Hanson, played by Kate Vernon, leads the 'richie' girls who snipe at Andie in gym class; Gina Gershon appears as Trombley.
Q 22Who did Ringwald say the character of Duckie was based on?
A gay pal of hers
She said they 'had an extremely nonromantic relationship', which is partly why she doubted the original ending.
Q 23Which studio released Pretty in Pink?
Paramount Pictures
Paramount Pictures released Pretty in Pink on 28 February 1986 and followed it with Hughes's Ferris Bueller's Day Off that June.
OMD wrote and recorded 'If You Leave' in under 24 hours because the band was about to leave on tour; Hughes specified a tempo of 120 BPM to match footage already shot.
Q 14Hughes asked OMD to write the new song at 120 BPM to match which track the actors had danced to on set?
Don't You (Forget About Me)
The prom footage had been shot with the cast dancing to Simple Minds' 'Don't You (Forget About Me)', the Breakfast Club hit, so Hughes wanted the replacement song at the same 120 BPM.
Q 15What did the original ending of Pretty in Pink, rejected by test audiences, show?
Andie pairing off with Duckie
Andie pairing off with Duckie was the original ending; test audiences rejected it, so a new prom finale pairing her with Blane was shot months after wrap, with Duckie steering her toward him.
Q 16Why did the actor playing Blane have to wear a wig for the reshot ending?
He had cut his hair for a stage play
He had cut his hair short for a stage play when he was called back months after wrap, so he wears an obvious wig in the reshot prom scene; he had also lost weight for the role.
Q 17In Pretty in Pink, Andie sews her prom dress from her father's gift and whose old dress?
Iona's
Iona's dress, combined with the one her father bought, becomes Andie's pink prom dress, a creation that has divided fans of the film for decades.
Q 18Which Otis Redding song does Duckie lip-synch to in the record store in Pretty in Pink?
Try a Little Tenderness
Duckie's record-store lip-synch to 'Try a Little Tenderness' is in the film, but the track was left off the soundtrack album.
Q 19Who plays 'Duckette', the girl who beckons Duckie at the end of the prom?
Kristy Swanson
Kristy Swanson, later the title character in the 1992 film Buffy the Vampire Slayer, plays 'Duckette'; the moment was added so Duckie would not end the reshot finale alone.
Q 20Which comedian plays the nightclub bouncer?
Andrew Dice Clay
Andrew Dice Clay, then a little-known stand-up, plays the nightclub bouncer; four years later his act was filling Madison Square Garden.
Q 24Approximately how much did the film gross in its US theatrical run?
$40.5 million
Pretty in Pink grossed about $40.5 million in its US theatrical run, placing it among 1986's 25 highest-grossing films despite opening in late February.
Q 25What was the film's budget?
$9 million
The budget was $9 million; the film opened on 28 February 1986 to about $6.1 million, taking first place at the US box office that weekend.
Q 26Who produced Pretty in Pink?
Lauren Shuler Donner
Lauren Shuler Donner produced it, credited as Lauren Shuler; she went on to produce the X-Men films from 2000 onward.
Q 27Which 1987 Hughes-Deutch film reworked the Pretty in Pink triangle with the genders swapped?
Some Kind of Wonderful
Some Kind of Wonderful (1987) recasts the triangle with a working-class boy, a rich girl and a tomboy best friend; Ringwald turned down a part in it, feeling it retread her earlier Hughes films.
Q 28Which Smiths song appears on the soundtrack?
Please Please Please Let Me Get What I Want
The Smiths' 'Please Please Please Let Me Get What I Want' is on the soundtrack; the Dream Academy's instrumental cover of the same song turned up in Ferris Bueller's Day Off that year.
Q 29Which Echo & the Bunnymen song was recorded specifically for the film?
Bring On the Dancing Horses
'Bring On the Dancing Horses' was written for the film and first appeared on the band's compilation Songs to Learn & Sing, months ahead of the soundtrack album.
Q 30Which band appears on screen performing 'Positively Lost Me' but has no songs on the soundtrack album?
The Rave-Ups
The Rave-Ups, a Los Angeles band Ringwald was a fan of, perform 'Positively Lost Me' in the club scene, yet none of their songs made the soundtrack album.