Movies - The Breakfast Club

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	Movies - The Breakfast Club

The Breakfast Club (1985) is a motion picture written and directed by John Hughes. Widely considered a quintessential 1980s teen film, The Breakfast Club follows several teenagers (each representing a different clique in high school) as they spend a Saturday morning in detention together and come to realize that they are all deeper than their respective stereotypes.

The film's name came from the son of one of Hughes' friends. When asked what detention was called at the local high school (New Trier High School in Winnetka, Illinois), the son told him it was known as 'The Breakfast Club'.

Taglines:

They only met once, but it changed their lives forever.
They were five total strangers, with nothing in common, meeting for the first time. A brain, a beauty, a jock, a rebel and a recluse. Before the day was over, they broke the rules, bared their souls, and touched each other in a way they never dreamed possible.
Five strangers with nothing in common, except each other.

Cast

Each of the film's stars became part of the Brat Pack (whose other members include Rob Lowe, Andrew McCarthy, and Demi Moore) a group of actors who all hit stardom at the same time and tended to star in movies together. The teenagers in the film were played by Emilio Estevez (Andrew Clarke, the high school jock), Anthony Michael Hall (Brian Ralph Johnson, the nerd), Judd Nelson (John Bender, the rebel stoner), Molly Ringwald (Claire Standish, the rich preppie), and Ally Sheedy (Allison Reynolds, the basket-case). Paul Gleason played Richard Vernon, the principal and detention supervisor, and John Kapelos played the janitor, Carl. Hughes appeared in an uncredited role as Brian's father. Of the entire cast, only Hall and Ringwald were actually high school age upon the movie's release; Nelson was 25 years old.

Judd Nelson’s performance was influenced by his method style technique of staying in character off set. He was accused of bullying Molly Ringwald off camera due to his insistence on remaining in character off-camera. This behavior almost made John Hughes fire Nelson, but Nelson was defended by Paul Gleason, ironically playing Nelson's on-screen nemesis.

Ringwald and Hall dated briefly after filming ended.

Some members of the cast (Sheedy, Ringwald, Hall and Gleason) appeared together at the 2005 MTV Movie Awards for a tribute to the movie, which received the Silver Bucket of Excellence Award. This show was taped on May 28, 2005 and aired on June 9, 2005.

Interpretations

Some argue that the movie has a disappointing ending because Allison, the basket-case, renounces many of her maverick ways and succumbs to the mainstream female image (makeup, pink dress, submissive behaviour, etc.). It should be noted, however, that she does not completely shed her kleptomania, for example, stealing Andrew the jock's wrestling patch from his jacket, in an idiosyncratic show of affection.

Given that there are five members of the Breakfast Club, one character had to be left single when the other four characters pair up. Some viewers find it disappointingly clichéd that the screenwriter, John Hughes, chose Brian the nerd, as this reaffirms the convention that a man who is intelligent and bookish, rather than athletic or rebellious, will be ignored by the opposite sex. Various justifications have been offered for this decision. Hughes responds by saying that Brian, despite his academic intelligence, wasn't socially mature enough to have a relationship yet.

Legacy

The film's theme music, "Don't You (Forget About Me)", was a U.S. and UK top-selling hit for Simple Minds, hitting #1 in the U.S. in 1985.

The iconic status of The Breakfast Club has resulted in numerous references in subsequent film and television:

The term 'Eat my shorts' is used to insult the principal in the film, and has since been adopted by The Simpsons cartoon character Bart Simpson. Also Principal Skinner from the Simpsons bears several uncanny resemblances to the Breakfast Clubs head teacher played by Paul Gleason.
The comedy Not Another Teen Movie
features a number of references to The Breakfast Club and its actors:
*Most significantly, the film features a scene parodying the exchange where Vernon repeatedly increases Bender's detention. The scene is set in a replica of the library where most of The Breakfast Club takes place, and even features Paul Gleason reprising his role as Vernon.
*The students attend John Hughes High School (a reference to Club director John Hughes), and eat in the Anthony Michael Dining Hall (a reference to Club actor Anthony Michael Hall).
*Ringwald makes a cameo in the movie.
*The original theme song for The Breakfast Club, "Don't You (Forget About Me)", was played during the final credits of the film.
A Saturday detention episode of the British children's drama Grange Hill also bears a striking resemblance to scenes from the movie, even including the quip "Welcome to the Breakfast Club...!"
A first-season episode of Dawson's Creek
entitled Detention is a takeoff of the movie.
In Degrassi: The Next Generation, the third season episode "Take On Me" borrows from the film.
The Family Guy episode "Let's Go To The Hop" references the film: Peter Griffin walks in on a group of cereal mascots and exclaims, "Holy crap, it's the Breakfast Club!" Tony the Tiger's line parodies a quote from the movie. "You know what I got for Christmas? It was a banter freakin year at the tiger house. I got a carton of cigarettes. My old man grabbed me and says "Hey, smoke up Tony, they're grrrrreat!". The episode's ending also parodies the ending of the film, as Peter walks across the school field and makes a victory salute similar to that of Judd Nelson's character.
The movie is parodied in an episode of Lizzie McGuire, in which Kate, Larry, and Lizzie name themselves "The Lunch Bunch". The episode also uses the movie's theme song.
Kevin Smith
, first in his graphic novel Chasing Dogma and then in his film Dogma
, has his characters, the stoner duo Jay and Silent Bob, attempt to visit the fictional town of Shermer, Illinois, where many of Hughes' films (including Club) were set, in order to deal marijuana. A scene within the graphic novel set in a high school contains some Hughes/Club references.
A music video from the A*Teens has parodied this movie.
In the song "Man Research (Clapper)" by the band Gorillaz, the lyrics "This is the Breakfast Club" can be heard in the beginning.
In an early episode of the television series Friends, the cast are sitting in their cafe hangout, Central Perk, when Chandler (Matthew Perry) begins whistling the tune used in the movie, and other join in mimicking the scene in the library.
In the comic book series Ultimate Spider-Man, an entire issue takes place in a detention room as an homage to The Breakfast Club. Writer Brian Michael Bendis has had homages to other John Hughes movies, including Ferris Bueller's Day Off
.
In a 2002 episode of ER many of the characters were forced into a detention (sexual harassment seminar) and fans quickly recognized the set-up as eerily related to Breakfast Club.
In an episode of "Futurama", Fry remembers putting his lucky clover in the jacket of a copy of the Breakfast Club soundtrack, claiming that it was the best movie ever made. Bender the robot is also named after the rebel character John Bender in the film.
In the movie "Go
", one of the characters asks Claire if she's a virgin.
The role of John Bender was given to John Cusack
but John Hughes decided to replace him with Judd Nelson before filming began.

[ Visit the complete Wikipedia entry for The Breakfast Club ]

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Movies - The Breakfast Club

Cast

Interpretations

Legacy

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