The Breakfast Club (1985)

Director:

John Hughes

Writer:

John Hughes (written by)

Release Date:

15 February 1985 (USA)

Genre:

Drama

Tagline:

They only met once, but it changed their lives forever.

Plot:

Five high school students, all different stereotypes, meet in detention, where they pour their hearts out to each other, and discover how they have a lot more in common than they thought.

Plot Keywords:

Detention | Principal | High School | Jock | Marijuana

Cast

Emilio Estevez	...	Andrew Clark
Paul Gleason	...	Richard Vernon
Anthony Michael Hall	...	Brian Johnson
John Kapelos	...	Carl
Judd Nelson	...	John Bender
Molly Ringwald	...	Claire Standish
Ally Sheedy	...	Allison Reynolds
Perry Crawford	...	Allison's Father
Mary Christian	...	Brian's Sister
Ron Dean	...	Andy's Father
Tim Gamble	...	Claire's Father
Fran Gargano	...	Allison's Mom
Mercedes Hall	...	Brian's Mom

Runtime:

97 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Colour:

Colour (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

Iceland:L | Singapore:NC-16 | Canada:A (Nova Scotia) | Canada:AA (Ontario) | Brazil:Livre (DVD rating) | South Korea:15 | Argentina:13 | Australia:M | Canada:13+ (Quebec) (original rating) | Canada:G (Quebec) (re-rating) (2003) | Canada:PG (Manitoba) | Finland:K-14 | Netherlands:12 | Sweden:11 | UK:15 | USA:R (Certificate No. 27628) | West Germany:12 | Norway:16

Filming Locations:

Chicago, Illinois, USA

Company:

A&M Films

Trivia:

Director Trademark: [John Hughes] [Beatles]Principal Richard Vernon is named after Richard Vernon, the actor who played the gentleman in the train compartment scene in A Hard Day's Night (1964). When the principal asks the janitor what he wanted to be when he grew up, the janitor replies that he wanted to be John Lennon.

Goofs:

Continuity: During the scene where everyone is looking through each other's wallets and purses, Allison dumps out the entire contents of her purse. Moments later when she jumps up and stomps away, about half the contents are on the cushion and the other half in her purse.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Andrew Clark: So... what's your poison?
[no answer]
Andrew Clark: ...Ok, forget I asked.
Allison Reynolds: Vodka.
Andrew Clark: Vodka? When do you drink vodka.
Allison Reynolds: Whenever.
Andrew Clark: How much?
Allison Reynolds: Tons.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Van Wilder (2002)

Soundtrack:

Waiting

Remember yourself

We all remember being a teenager. A crazy, intense time when your high were higher and your lows were lower, and every experience was that much more significant.

John Hughes movie brilliantly captures that environment, that era in our lives, and all the social rifts that we all helped to create for ourselves. I have heard it said that "The Breakfast Club" is melodramatic, overacted, and simplistic. If you subscribe to that flippant perspective you might as well join Vernon in his office because you are doing the same thing that he did. Seeing the movie as you want to see it, in the simplest terms and the most convenient definitions.

If you really want to understand this film, think back to your own high school days. Think about your last year there. Dig out your old diary or book of angstful poems and reaquaint yourself with who you were then, when you felt things more deeply. "The Breakfast Club" does not exist not for highschool kids, as some suggest. Why would they need it? They live there. It exists for all of us who have already been through there, who feel that they are above it now. It exists so that we can remember what it was like and better understand ourselves, and the next generation. Because you can't dismiss something you understand.