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| The five young stars are casually loafed together on this iconic poster for John Hughes' The Breakfast Club |
A select group of youngsters spend a Saturday afternoon in detention at their high school and begin interacting with each other and learn valuable things about people and life.
The Breakfast Club is written, co-produced and directed by Michigander master filmmaker John Hughes (Sixteen Candles (1984)), whose 2nd feature it was.
The film tells a simple story, and Hughes' especial grip on the material has made it a 1980s super-hit and a bona fide classic in the coming-of-age and high school genres. The teenage years are in many people's lives the time when most things seem to happen (and happen with fierce volatility) inside of them, - or so it feels, - and to one's body, and for everyone who takes a delight in seeing this period pictured in movies, The Breakfast Club is almost guaranteed to warm your heart and touch you.
All the five young actors are wonderful: Ally Sheedy (St. Elmo's Fire (1985)) as the introvert Allison; Anthony Michael Hall (Sixteen Candles) as the nerd with a secret; Molly Ringwald (Sixteen Candles) as the popular beauty with a heart; Judd Nelson (St. Elmo's Fire (1985)) as the rebellious leader; and Emilio Estevez (Young Guns (1988)) as the hard, but maybe actually not so hard, 'jock'.
Hughes, arguably the American king of the teenage genre, has written the strong script and directed the film with care, compassion and insight into the teen years and his particular characters. All of the conflicts of The Breakfast Club are written out completely, which may be a bit unrealistic, but the effect is undeniable, as the film closes, and Don't You (Forget About Me) by Simple Minds breaks out again.
Many people have very warm feelings and memories about The Breakfast Club, and revisits to the film continue to prove its high quality. If you haven't seen it yet, you have a good one in store, so curl up on your best 1980s' rug and enjoy the best time you'll ever have at a detention.
Related posts:
John Hughes: Flubber (1997) - A flop alright (co-writer)
Home Alone 3 (1997) or, Home Defense: The New Kid (writer)
Home Alone 2: Lost in New York (1992) - The coolest kid in the world incites kiddie bellylaughs once again (writer/producer)
The Great Outdoors (1988) - Deutch's low-brow comedy does the job (writer)
Ferris Bueller's Day Off (1986) - Hughes' perfect movie of youth
Cost: 1 mil. $
Box office: 51.5 mil. $
= Mega-hit (returned 51.5 times its cost)
[The Breakfast Club premiered 7 February (Los Angeles) and runs 97 minutes. Shooting took place from March - May (1984) in Illinois, including in Chicago. The film opened #3, behind Beverly Hills Cop and Witness, to a 5.1 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it spent another 4 weekends in the top 5 (#3-#4-#3-#3), grossing 45.8 mil. $ (88.9 % of the total gross). The foreign numbers have regrettably not been made public. Roger Ebert gave it a 3/4 star review, translating to a notch under this one. Hughes returned with Weird Science (1985). Estevez returned in St. Elmo's Fire (1985)); Nelson also in St. Elmo's Fire; Ringwald in Surviving (1985, TV movie) and theatrically in Pretty in Pink (1986); Sheedy in Twice in a Lifetime (1985)) and Hall in Weird Science (1985). The Breakfast Club is certified fresh at 89 % with a 7.80/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]
What do you think of The Breakfast Club?
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