The Breakfast Club (1985)

It’s May and that means we’re reaching the end of the school year. For some, that means graduation and the start of adulthood, whether that be going to college or getting a real job, or both! For others it just means getting one year closer to graduating. Yet for parents, it’s trying to figure out how to keep your teenagers out of trouble during their summer break. With all of this in mind, this month we’ll be discussing some of John Hughes ‘80s Teen Comedy Classics! Hughes, whether simply inking the script for a film or providing a dual role as writer and director, epitomized and defined the ’80s for most teenagers. Yes, there were other great ‘80s teen comedies, but for the most part, when you think of the ‘80s and you think Teen Comedies, you think of John Hughes, or at least you do if you grew up in the ‘80s like I (and all of my friends) did…

We start our discussion of Hughes films with his 2nd film in which he scripted and directed, The Breakfast Club, which really established the key group of actors known as the “Brat Pack”; Emilio Estevez, Anthony Michael Hall, Judd Nelson, Molly Ringwold, and Ally Sheedy. (only members missing from this film were Rob Lowe, Andrew McCarthy, and Demi Moore) The film follows five stereotypical students, the athlete (Estevez as Andrew Clark), the princess (Ringwold as Claire Standish), the brain (Hall as Brian Johnson), the basket case (Sheedy as Allison Reynolds) and the criminal (Nelson as John Bender) as they attend a Saturday detention session in the school library headed by hard *expletive deleted* Principal Richard Vernon (Paul Gleeson). As Principal Vernon states, “You have exactly eight hours and fifty-four minutes to think about why you are here…to ponder the error of your ways. You may not talk. You may not move from these seats. And you (Bender) will not sleep! Alright people, we’re gonna try something different today. We are going to write an essay. No less than a thousand words describing to me who you think you are. And when I say essay, I mean essay. I do not mean a single word repeated a thousand times. Is that clear Bender? Don’t mess with the bull young man, you’ll get the horns!” So the ground rules have been laid down, and it’s pretty obvious that Vernon has some serious issues with Bender.

As Vernon leaves the library to go to his office, Bender immediately starts causing problems with the other students and breaking all the rules Vernon had just laid down, including getting out his chair to go remove a screw from the door between the library and Vernon’s office making it impossible to keep the door open. This leads to a confrontation between Vernon and Bender which results in Bender receiving another 2 months of Saturday detention with Vernon. You can tell Bender has been to several detentions headed by Vernon and this has been a long time rivalry between the two. The following is a scene where Bender and Vernon really get into it with each other:

Vernon: You’re not fooling anybody, Bender. The next screw that falls out is gonna be you.
Bender: [under his breath] Eat my shorts.
Vernon: What was that?
Bender: EAT.MY.SHORTS!
Vernon: You just bought yourself another Saturday, mister.
Bender: Ah, I’m crushed.
Vernon: You just bought one more right there.
Bender: Well, I’m free the Saturday after that. Beyond that, I’m gonna have to check my calendar.
Vernon: GOOD! Because it’s gonna be filled! We’ll keep going…you want another one? Say the word, just say the word. Instead of going to prison, you’ll come here! Are you through?
Bender: No!
Vernon: I’m doing society a favor!
Bender: So!
Vernon: That’s another one right now! I’ve got you for the rest of your natural born life if you don’t watch your step. You want another one?
Bender: Yes!
Vernon: You’ve got it! You’ve got another one right there! That’s another one, pal!
Claire: Cut it out!
Vernon: You through?
Bender: NOT.EVEN.CLOSE, BUD!
Vernon: Good! You’ve got one more right there.
Bender: You really think I give a *expletive deleted*?
Vernon: Another! You through?
Bender: How many is that?
Brian: That’s seven including the first one when you asked Mr. Vernon here whether Barry Manilow raided his closet.
Vernon: Now it’s eight. You stay out of it! (directed at Brian)
Brian: Excuse me, sir, it’s seven.
Vernon: Shut up, pee wee! (directed at Brian)
…
Vernon: You’re mine, Bender. For two months, I gotcha. I gotcha.
Bender: What can I say? I’m thrilled!
Vernon: Oh, I’m sure that’s exactly what you want these people to believe. You know something, Bender? You aught to spend a little more time trying to do something with yourself and a little less time trying to impress people! You might be better off.
…
Vernon: [addressing the entire group] Alright, that’s it! I’m gonna be right outside those doors. The next time I have to come in here, I’m crackin’ skulls!

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Then the boredom sets in…

Well, they all fall asleep and Vernon walks in on them, wakes them up and gives them a lavatory break. Then Bender continues antagonizing the rest of group, especially Claire. Besides the typical result of this, that of hatred and anger towards him which was probably the real outcome he was hoping for, something else came from it that was unexpected…that he was helping break the barriers between the cliques that each of his fellow detainees were part of as well as making each of them realize their problems were no worse than anyone else’s, whether it be an over demanding father or parents, an abusive father, divorced parents using the child against each other, or a family that just doesn’t care. By the end of the film, Claire and Bender were becoming romantically involved (more so because Claire wanted to get back at her parents), as were Andy and Allison (thanks to a makeover of Allison by Claire), and Brian was breaking out of his shell! Back to the essay, the group decided to let Brian write the essay for the entire group and it reads as follows:

Dear Mr. Vernon,

We accept the fact that we had to sacrifice a whole Saturday in detention for whatever it was that we did wrong, but we think you’re crazy to make us write an essay telling you who we think we are. You see us as you want to see us…in the simplest terms…with the most convenient definitions. But we found out is that each one of us is a brain, and an athlete, and a basket case, a princess, and a criminal. Does that answer your question?

Sincerely yours,
The Breakfast Club

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Now, this became the template for several other teen comedies that came after it even to this day. Some may say that it was cliché and predictable, but only if viewing it now and trying to take into consideration all other teen comedies that have borrowed or stolen from this film. This was one of the originals and this should be taken into consideration! Also, you can definitely tell the influence this had on some of the great writers of animated television with the “Eat my shorts” reference being a very popular phrase from Bart Simpson some 10 years later. Also, one of the characters from Futurama is named Bender which was inspired by John Bender in this film, as admitted by Groening himself. There are several other direct influences from this and other Hughes films in other animated and live action shows and movies, most listed on Wikipedia.

Reasons for each student’s detention:

Brian: flare gun goes off in his locker

Andy (Andrew): tapes a guy's butt cheeks together in the locker room

Claire: ditches class to go shopping

Allison: didn't do anything, she didn't have anything better to do on a Saturday

Some trivia about the film:

The film's title comes from the nickname invented by students and staff for detention at New Trier High School, the school attended by the son of one of John Hughes' friends. Thus, those who were sent to detention were designated members of "The Breakfast Club". "The Breakfast Club" at that school probably took its name in turn from the title of American radio's longest running network entertainment show, broadcast from Chicago, 1933 to 1968.

In the scenes of the school in the beginning, John Kapelos' character Carl is listed as one of the "Men of the Year". Ironically, he is now the school's janitor.

Emilio Estevez was originally going to play Bender, but John Hughes couldn't find someone to play Andrew Clark, so Emilio agreed to play Clark.