Journalist David Blum penned the name in a 1985 “New York” magazine article. While it seemed to launch the actors and heighten their fanbase as well as popularity and acclaim, at the time many of the actors despised the phrase and the journalist himself for branding them with it.

Andrew McCarthy looks back on how the moniker affected the actors of the day. To him, being one of “The Brat Pack” was horrible. He and many of the others hated being lumped into that “club.” But in hindsight, even though the journalist might have been a little mean and possibly spiteful to create this label, it was not as malicious as those actors felt it was.

McCarthy discusses how the label affected him and talks with several members of “the pack” who divulge various ways in which the label affected them personally and professionally.

Emilio Estevez absolutely hated the moniker. He was set to do another movie with McCarthy but didn’t want to be type cast as one of “the pack” so that never materialized even though he thought the script was wonderful.

But just who was considered part of “The Brat Pack?” That’s not an easy question to answer. The young actors of the time were either in the center of the pack or on the periphery. McCarthy, Estevez, Ally Sheedy, Jon Cryer, Demi Moore, Rob Lowe, Lea Thompson, Timothy Hutton, Molly Ringwald, Judd Nelson, Anthony Michael Hall, Mare Winningham, and a few others might be lumped into the “pack,” but many people consider the core members were Estevez, Lowe, Moore, Sheedy, Hall, and Ringwald.

In 1955 “The Holmby Hills Rat Pack” was established with Humphrey Bogart, Lauren Bacall, Angie Dickinson, Frank Sinatra, and Judy Garland making up the membership of this group of friends/actors who hung out together. They even had a coat of arms. In 1959 the group basically disbanded and was followed by Frank Sinatra’s Rat Pack, the one most of us think of when we hear the term.

Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr., Peter Lawford, and Joey Bishop made the core of this new group. They hung out together and made several movies as a group, most notably “Ocean’s Eleven.”

Unlike the old “packs” the young actors of the 1980s did not hang out together when they were not making movies. Considering the popularity and professional heights of the older “packs,” being lumped into a new pack should have been an honor. But the actors of the day took it as a bad thing.

In this documentary, McCarthy sits down with others besides the actors to discuss that moniker. There is a casting director, screenwriter, pop culture critic, talent manager, and a film critic who all lend their insights into the phrase “The Brat Pack” and look at how it elevated the actors into pop culture history.

For fans of the actors, the phrase “The Brat Pack” is not derogatory. Being young twenty-something actors of the time, the group did not see it as something to be valued but as something to dislike. They wanted to be known for their dedication and work, not for being a group of young actors. Now, 40 years later, they can look at the label more realistically.

The documentary “Brats” is available to stream on HULU.