12 Classic Movies That Got Away With Problematic Scenes

Sixteen Candles is the second John Hughes film to make the cut here, and while he’s rightly praised as one of the best teen movie makers ever, it’s clear that a lot of his comedy has dated badly.

Sixteen Candles is a fairly simple love story between high school king Jake, and Samantha, a girl so inconsequential that her own family forgets her sixteenth birthday. For most of it, it’s very quotable, very fun, and very, very ‘80s. However, there’s one scene involving Jake which is deeply problematic, as well as one insultingly bad character.

With Jake, we see him pass up the other girls to be with Samantha, which by ‘80s romcom standards is pretty cute. However, it’s the way he does it which makes watching so uncomfortable.

After a boozy party, Jake carries his girlfriend out to his car, handing her over to another character as she’s passed out from drinking. The other character stares at her underwear, as Jake encourages him to ‘have fun’ with her. As in, rape a girl too drunk to consent.

This brings us to the bad character: Long Duk Dong. Chinese people have funny accents... that’s the joke and it’s pounded six feet under the ground.