The Breakfast Club (1985)

John Hughes was truly a magnificent writer for teenagers of the 80's. Even though a lot of people hated his previous works, it doesn't matter since many people have flaws in their career once in a while. Well, this is one of John Hughes's well-written classics: The Breakfast Club. It follows a group of teenage kids who have done something to get them to have detention on Saturday!(Bummer having to stay in that school on a weekend!) Sounds pretty simple huh? Well, later on the characters get to know each other thanks to the brilliant writing from John Hughes! Judd Nelson plays Bender who in the movie is called "the Criminal" and is a straight up asshole but in a cool way. The lovely Molly Ringwald plays Claire who attempts to hide things from people kinda like bottling her emotions. Plus there are other characters I wont get into. My favorite character is obviously Bender since he throws out the jokes which makes this movie funny. Now, be warned! You may start tearing up because there are a lot of issues covered in this movie that relates to real life. The stories the characters tell are very poignant and moving and riveting. So don't be surprised if you start crying during the movie. This is a brilliant John Hughes movie that launched his career next to Sixteen Candles(which is another good Hughes film). What makes this movie so great you say? The way the characters develop is genius thanks to the magnificent directing! The jokes are CLEVER unlike so many other comedies *cough Meet the Spartans*. However, while this movie is great it does have some flaws. One is its a little too long for my taste and its tone is a little mixed up at times. Like is this supposed to be a comedy or a drama? But thats a minor thing for me since I can relate to this movie as a teenager next to Fast Times at Ridgemont High. Plus, there are so many memorable quotes in this movie! Go see John Hughes's finest written film! Sincerely Yours, The Breakfast Club

Fmovies: One of the best if not the best brat pack flick. John Hughes writes and directs this dramatic comedy about five Chicago high school kids that are from different circles and stations in life being forced to spend a Saturday together in detention. Before the day is over this group finds out that they have more in common than they thought and even some friendships are created. The very impressive cast includes:Emilio Estevez, Ally Sheedy, Judd Nelson, Anthony Michael Hall and Molly Ringwald. Paul Gleason plays the hapless teacher trying to contain the group and then there is John Kapelos as the custodian. This is a don't miss and is fun to watch over and over again. Spit that gum out and remember to ask for a hall pass.

Five teenagers are assigned detention on a Saturday morning and afternoon. They are a jock (Emilio Estevez), a hood (Judd Nelson), a rich girl (Molly Ringwald), a geek (Anthony Michael Hall) and a basket case (Ally Sheedy). During the course of the detention (and with a little help from marijuana) they open up and talk and begin to know each other.

A dead on target examination of teen life in 1984/85. This was a very challenging thing to do--release a film about teens just talking and relating to each other. It also was (unjustly) awarded an R rating for the frequent swearing--but that's how high schoolers talk!

I was in college when this came out, but I saw it with a friend who was still in high school. According to him the movie got everything right--the clothes, dialogue, styles and music were accurate. He said it was one of the few movies that accurately showed how he felt. I felt the same way. I think any teenager can relate to this movie. The movie is somewhat unpleasant (some of the kids really attack each other verbally) but there's plenty of comedy mixed in too.

The cast: Estevez (what ever happened to...) is just great as the jock. He gives a very believable and moving performance especially in a speech about his father. Nelson, however, is horrible as the hood. He looks the part but he's way too eloquent and his acting was pretty bad. Ringwald and Hall are perfect in their roles, but they WERE teenagers when this was filmed. Sheedy does what she can with a criminally underwritten role. John Kapelos (as a janitor) is hardly in it (I'm assuming his part was severely cut) and Paul Gleason (a good actor) is given a very 1-dimensional role--the evil adult. He does what he can with it.

The movie isn't perfect--parents are the root of all the kids problems; there are annoying lapses in logic (like how does Ringwald get to see Nelson at the end and Sheedys character wasn't assigned detention, so wouldn't Gleason know that) and there is a whole dance sequence squeezed in.

Still--a truly great teenage movie. A definite must-see. A bonus is that the movie opens with one of the best songs of the 1980s (and a big hit)--Simple Minds "Don't You Forget About Me". This is rightfully considered a classic.

"Who'd your mom marry--Mr. Rogers?" "No--Mr. Johnson"

The Breakfast Club fmovies. Parents have never understood the youth of the world. Elvis used to be evil. Now he's too tame for modern music enthusiasts. Just imagine how tame Eminem will seem years from now. And as a scarier thought, who (or what) could be worse than some of the singers on today's market?

John Hughes is locked in a time capsule, still bearing the mind of a teenager, and he is able to tap into these feelings of teenage angst. That is what separates "The Breakfast Club" from, say, "The New Guy," or one of those other stupid teen films of recent years.

And the jerk, played by Judd Nelson, isn't meant to be cool. He is a jerk, and if older viewers took the time to pay attention to the film, they would perhaps realize that the point of the film, from the very beginning, is to establish that this so-called jerk is only acting like one to get attention. Because he is obviously shunned at home. He's an outcast. And unlike other films that refuse to establish their characters, "The Breakfast Club" introduces him as a jerk, and proceeds to explain why he is that way. This is what makes this movie tick.

I knew a kid like Bender (Nelson) once when I was in school, and generations of kids continue to go through the exact same things. Once they reach a certain age, though, it seems as though all adults suddenly break away from the teenage emotions. John Hughes never did, I guess. (Although he certainly tapped into adult behavior with his best film, "Planes, Trains and Automobiles" [1987], a welcome introduction to Hughes' adult comedy, hinted at in "Vacation" [1981], which he wrote.)

The film opens with a quote from David Bowie that just about sums the entire film up. We are introduced to five kids spending eight hours of detention at Shermer High School in Illinois. They are: Andrew the Jock (Emilio Estevez), Brian the Nerd (Anthony Michael Hall), Bender the Criminal (Judd Nelson), Claire the Princess (Molly Ringwald), and Allison the Basketcase (Ally Sheedy). They are looked over by the school principal (Paul Gleason), who assigns them the task of writing a report on why they are here in detention and what they did to get there.

To say that the outcome is predictable is an understatement. We know who's going to get together with whom from the beginning, but getting there's all the fun. Watching the characters come to appreciate their differences and learn that they're more than just billboard examples of angry teenagers is more than half the fun.

Teenagers are not as unaware of who they are as some people always think. John Hughes knew this, and deliberately tapped into this state of mind as no other director has done before -- or since, for that matter. Sure, they've tried. (Hughes' "Ferris Bueller's Day Off" was just about the only other film that tried to show teenagers as something more than stupid hormone-crazy rambunctious adolescents, but as young adults who were trying to grow up fast -- the scene where Ferris and Sloane pretend their water is wine is good evidence of this.)

Hughes' teenage characters were not the clichés they are now when "The Breakfast Club" came out in 1985 -- this film has proved to be the steeple of teen clichés (many of them poked fun at in "Not Another Teen Movie," which features a cameo by Ringwald). Think of "2001" or "Halloween" -- the drifting spaceships and psycho killers chasing sex-hungry teenagers is now rout

John Hughes is in my opinions the "king of teens." Each of his teen films is great, from "Sixteen Candles", "Pretty in Pink" (which he co-wrote and produced), and "Ferris Bueller's Day Off." They all have funny and serious moments and are classics. By the same token, "The Breakfast Club" is no exception. However, it stands out as doing the best job of the above films at portraying 80s teen life (and perhaps even teen life today) as it really was (is). Hence the familiar plot: Five high school students from different crowds in school (a nerd, a jock, a prom queen, a delinquent, and a loner) are thrown together for a Saturday detention in their school library for various reasons. Detention is supervised by the gruff and demeaning principal Richard Vernon, believably portrayed by Paul Gleason. As the day progresses, each member tells the story of why they are in detention, and by day's end they realize they have more in common than they ever imagined.

What makes the film unique is that each character tells his or her own story with credibility and persistence. Jock Andrew Clark (Emilio Estevez) is under pressure from his father to perform up to high standards, which Mr. Clark believes will add to his (dad's) lost youth. Nerd Brian Johnson (Anthony Michael Hall) excels academically, but is failing shop class. Neither he nor his family can accept an F. Delinquent John Bender (Judd Nelson), while tough on the exterior, masks a difficult home life. Prom queen Claire(Molly Ringwald) has pressure to conform from her friends, as well as issues with her parental unit. Loner Allison (Ally Sheedy) has few if any friends, wears all black, and has similar problems at home. Can the emotional bonding they share in detention hold true beyond the library, and can stereotypes be broken?

"The Breakfast Club" presents no-doubt stereotypical characters, and every member represents countless real-life examples. But what makes it so enjoyable is that applies a variety of themes to its context: prejudice/discrimination, acceptance/tolerance, diversity, class/status differences, family matters, group dynamics, etc. It also encourages us to look at others and ourselves beyond surface-level appearances. Finally, "The Breakfast Club" has great 1980s pop culture and societal integrations, from the soundtrack with Simple Minds "Don't You (Forget about Me), to wealthy, surburban American life (haves and have nots), and superficial values of the "me" decade. It reminds us that there truly is diversity in all of us. We are different, but we are all "the same" in one way or another.

Ah the Breakfast Club. Although I am a child of the 80's, I came along at the tail end of Generation X. The cast of The Breakfast Club were actors that I looked up to as a child, and still enjoy as an adult. I remember my own mother was a big fan of this movie, even though she was an adult with children.

Of all the "Brat Pack" movies, this remains my favorite. Even over two decades later, the movie still holds generations of people captive and sends us all into deep thoughts of our own glory days when we thought that life was BS, and that we had it tough. We were just a few years shy of seeing how tough life would be once we escape the protective circus tent known as high school.

Over and over you hear people wishing that a sequel to this film had been made. I am very glad there was not one. Surely we can't imagine this would have been a happily ever after for these characters. They came together one day, but like most high school relationships, all good things must come to an end. The closest thing to a sequel for this movie would be "St. Elmo's Fire" and again.....all good things must come to an end.

One thing that I loved most about this movie was the tell tale showing of intelligence in the least thought of places; the school janitor. The movie portrayed the janitor as being a hell of a lot smarter than the assistant principal. I have found in my life's experience this is quite believable. It's also sad. I believe that those employed by the education system could learn a very important lesson about young adults and the way their minds work. Youth knows when it's elders have forgotten how to see things. Youth knows how to use that against them. The moral is simple; stay young!