The secret to John Hughes's success was looking at the world the way teenagers do.
The Film Buff VersionĪs a budding amateur film historian, you should study this movie as a classic, trendsetting example of the Teen Movie. Or better yet, don't be a stereotype at all. To sum up the movie's message: Don't be an unreflective walking stereotype. (And if you are an Anthony Michael Hall or Ally Sheedy-type character, we guess you're supposed to imagine that the people spitting in your face and trampling you in the dust also possess some vestige of humanity and/or daddy issues.) Imagine: They might be just like you on the inside-restless, anguished, hilarious, and mad at mom and dad. (We really have your number, huh?) So the next time you see an Anthony Michael Hall or Ally Sheedy-type character trotting down the hall, don't immediately spit in their faces and trample them in the dust. Presumably, you don't want to be an awful person. The Breakfast Club isn't just about teens smoking pot in the school library and yelling profanities at the supervising teacher (although both of those things do happen): It's about the importance of not judging people.īut this ain't another after-school special-although it is special, and it takes place after school (ish). You thought this movie was just fun: a stoned wrestler doing cartwheels, a girl using her dandruff to create snow in a drawing, a juvenile delinquent who gets a carton of cigarettes for Christmas, a queen bee putting on lipstick with her cleavage, and an academic-minded young man who fails to make a workable elephant-lamp.īut, wait-it turns out at the end there's a moral lesson. What is The Breakfast Club About and Why Should I Care? You're about to visit (or revisit, because this movie can't be seen too many times) the greatest teen movie ever made. So, kick back, relax, play Simple Minds' "Don't You (Forget About Me)," and walk toward an imaginary camera with a triumphant fist in the air. The Breakfast Club dropped lots of F-bombs and dealt with Serious Issues affecting the '80s teen.Īfter going through a relatively thrifty production, The Breakfast Club became a smash hit, securing the cast's reputations as pop cultural icons: The stars of The Breakfast Club became a hard-partying unit known as the "Brat Pack" (riffing off Frank Sinatra's "Rat Pack"). Sixteen Candles was light and frothy and rated PG. Prior to The Breakfast Club, Hughes had already created a hit with Sixteen Candles in 1984 (teaching a generation to recite the line "What's happenin', hot stuff?"), but with The Breakfast Club, he was ready to go deep into a world of dads burning sons with cigars and teens bullying each other… before making sure everything turned out all right in the end. The movie was written and directed by John Hughes, the guy who flipped teen movies into production as easily as if they had been pancakes. It's the story of a jock, a nerd, a juvenile delinquent, a rich, popular girl, and a weird girl who transcend their respective stereotypes and learn to get along. Yeah, this sounds like the start of a bad joke, but instead, it's the start of a really good movie. Stars: Emilio Estevez, Judd Nelson, Molly Ringwaldįive high school stereotypes walk into a.