The Breakfast Club (1985)

Five high school students meet in Saturday detention and discover how they have a lot more in common than they thought.

Director:

John Hughes

Writer:

John Hughes

Stars:

Emilio Estevez, Judd Nelson, Molly Ringwald

2 wins.

Cast

Complete credited 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

Storyline

Beyond being in the same class at Shermer High School in Shermer, Illinois, Claire Standish, Andrew Clark, John Bender, Brian Johnson and Allison Reynolds have little in common, and with the exception of Claire and Andrew, do not associate with each other in school. In the simplest and in their own terms, Claire is a princess, Andrew an athlete, John a criminal, Brian a brain, and Allison a basket case. But one other thing they do have in common is a nine hour detention in the school library together on Saturday, March 24, 1984, under the direction of Mr. Vernon, supervising from his office across the hall. Each is required to write a minimum one thousand word essay during that time about who they think they are. At the beginning of those nine hours, each, if they were indeed planning on writing that essay, would probably write something close to what the world sees of them, and what they have been brainwashed into believing of themselves. But based on their adventures during that ...

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Plot Keywords:

high school | detention | antihero | teenage rebellion | teenage angst | 

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Taglines:

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

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Genres:

Comedy | Drama

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Certificate:

R

Details

Official Sites:

Official Facebook

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

15 February 1985 (USA)

Also Known As:

The Breakfast Club

Filming Locations:

Park Ridge, Illinois, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$1,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$5,107,599, 18 February 1985

Gross USA:

$45,875,171

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$51,525,171

Company Credits

Production Co:

Universal Pictures, A&M Films, Channel Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

97 min

Sound Mix:

Mono Dolby Stereo (uncredited)

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Ally Sheedy had first auditioned for the part of Samantha Baker in Sixteen Candles (1984), which went to Molly Ringwald. When Sheedy auditioned, she had two black eyes from a set building accident. The black eyes gave her a dark, gothic image, which stayed with John Hughes. When it was time to cast the part of Allison, Hughes remembered, and called Sheedy.

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Goofs

When Allison takes her lunch out of her lunch bag there isn't a plastic bag filled with Captain Crunch, but a few seconds later it appears there.

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Quotes

Richard Vernon: What if your home... what if your family... what if your *dope* was on fire?
John Bender: [truthfully] Impossible, sir. It's in Johnson's underwear.

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Crazy Credits

Opens with the following which then explodes from the screen. "And these children that you spit on as they try to change their worlds; are immune to your consultations, they are quite aware of what they are going through." -David Bowie

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Alternate Versions

Oddly enough, despite the fact that Bender's "Eat My Shorts" argument with the principal contains no profanity (and this later became Bart Simpson's trademark line in "Simpsons, The" (1989), television broadcasts re-dub the line as "Eat my socks".

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Connections

Referenced in Who Wants to Be a Millionaire: Episode #8.69 (2009)

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Soundtracks

Dream Montage
(uncredited)
Written by Gary Chang
Performed by Ed Alton, Gary Chang, and Kurt Taylor Neishloss
[Played during the detention scene without dialogue in the school library]

User Reviews

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.