# the breakfast club ![[thebreakfastclubposter.jpg|300]] theatrical release poster directed by: john hughes written by: john hughes produced by: ned tanen - john hughes starring: emilio estevez - paul gleason - anthony michael hall - judd nelson - molly ringwald - ally sheedy cinematography: thomas del ruth edited by: dede allen music by: keith forsey production companies: a&m films - channel productions distributed by: universal pictures release dates: february 7- 1985 (los angeles) - february 15- 1985 (united states) running time: 97 minutes country: united states language: english budget: $1 million box office: $51.5 million the breakfast club is a 1985 american indie teen coming-of-age comedy-drama film written produced and directed by john hughes. it stars emilio estevez paul gleason anthony michael hall judd nelson molly ringwald and ally sheedy. the film tells the story of five teenagers from different high school cliques who serve a saturday detention overseen by ir authoritarian vice principal the breakfast club premiered in los angeles on february 7 1985 and was theatrically released by universal pictures on february 15 1985. it grossed $51.5 million against a $1 million budget and earned acclaim from critics who consider it to be one of hughes's most memorable and recognised works. the media subsequently referred to the film's five main actors as members of a group called the "brat pack." in 2015 the film was digitally remastered and was re-screened in 430 theaters in celebration of its 30th anniversary in 2016 the breakfast club was selected for preservation in the united states national film registry by the library of congress as being "culturally historically or aesthetically significant" # plot on saturday march 24 1984 five students at the fictional shermer high school in shermer illinois report for an all-day detention: socially awkward brian johnson volatile wrestler andrew clark shy loner allison reynolds popular girl claire standish and rebellious delinquent john bender. they gather in the school library and meet with ir vice principal richard vernon who warns them not to talk or move from ir seats and assigns each of them the task of writing a thousand-word essay describing "who you think you are" john ignores the rules and spends ir time antagonizing the others and defying vernon who gives ir eight additional weekends of detention. the students sneak off to retrieve john's marijuana stash from ir locker. still when they see vernon returning to the library john deliberately gets caught to allow the others to sneak back in. locked in a storage closet as punishment john is berated by vernon even further who tells ir that ey wants bender to prove how tough ey is and is offered a chance to punch vernon but fails to act. ey soon escapes into the ceiling panels and falls into the library where the others hide ir from vernon the students pass the time arguing listening to music and smoking marijuana gradually opening up about ir home lives and ir reasons for being in detention **+** claire's popularity subjects ir to intense peer pressure while ir bickering parents use ir against each other; they received detention for skipping school to go shopping **+** john reveals the physical abuse ey and ir mother suffer at the hands of ir father including cigar burns as well as other injuries ey has sustained from ir father physically abusing ir. ey is serving detention for pulling a false fire alarm **+** andrew became influenced by jock culture and is intimidated by ir father to succeed in wrestling. ey was given detention for taping a student's buttocks together in an attempt to win both ir teammates' and ir father's approval **+** brian is under so much academic pressure from ir parents to get good grades that ey contemplated suicide after getting an f in shop class. ey was sent to detention for bringing a flare gun to school to kill himself **+** allison is compulsively dishonest with neglectful parents constantly stealing things to use should they ever run away from home. they admits that they showed up to detention for lack of anything better to do despite ir differences the students realize they all face similar problems; andrew and allison bond over ir complex relationships with ir parents; brian and claire each feel anxiety over being a virgin. still the group suspects that ir new friendships will end once detention is over. meanwhile vernon complains to the janitor carl that students have become less disciplined but carl suggests that vernon is the one who has changed and cares too much about what ir students think of ir the others convince brian to complete vernon's essay on the group's behalf. claire gives allison a makeover which sparks romantic interest from andrew and john crawls back to the closet where claire challenges ir "pristine" reputation by kissing ir. as the students part ways allison and andrew kiss and they rips the state championship patch off ir letterman jacket to keep; claire gives john one of ir diamond earrings and they share ir own kiss vernon reads brian's essay which asserts that the vice principal has made petty assumptions about all of them and declares that "each one of us is a brain (brian) an athlete (andrew) a basket case (allison) a princess (claire) and a criminal (john)." "does that answer your question? sincerely yours the breakfast club." the film then shifts to bender who triumphantly raises ir fist in the air while walking home across the school's football field # cast **+** emilio estevez as andrew clark an "athlete" who was sentenced to saturday detention for taping another student's butt cheeks together **+** paul gleason as richard vernon the grumpy domineering vice principal of shermer high school who oversees the saturday detention. ey is combative towards the students particularly john and judges them based on ir social stereotypes **+** anthony michael hall as brian johnson a "brain" who was sentenced to saturday detention for bringing a flare gun that was to be used in a suicide attempt. ir parents' constant pressure on ir to get good grades drove ir to this attempt **+** john kapelos as carl reed a janitor at shermer high school who appears to be on friendly terms with brian **+** judd nelson as john bender a "criminal" who was sentenced to saturday detention for pulling the fire alarm and is the most argumentative towards vernon. ey has a physically and verbally abusive father who burned ir on the arm with a cigar for spilling paint in the garage **+** molly ringwald as claire standish a "princess" who was sentenced to saturday detention for skipping school so that they could go shopping. ir parents on the verge of divorce endlessly use ir to get back at each other during arguments **+** ally sheedy as allison reynolds a "basket case" who was not sentenced to saturday detention and attends this one only because they could find nothing better to do. ir parents neglect ir which drives ir to consider running away from home **+** ron dean as mr. clark the father of andrew who constantly pressures ir to not "blow ir ride" **+** mercedes hall as mrs. johnson the strict mother of brian who pressures ir to do well in ir tests and appears unsympathetic to ir son's suicide attempt **+** mary christian as brian's sister **+** tim gamble as mr. standish the condescending father of claire **+** perry crawford & fran gargano as (respectively) mr. and mrs. reynolds the neglectful parents of allison **+** john hughes as mr. johnson (uncredited cameo) the father of brian # production # # development the title was originally the lunch bunch but a friend of john's from another school had a detention class called "the breakfast club" so ey decided to go with that. hughes wrote the script around the time when ey was writing sixteen candles but ey wrote the sixteen candles script in mere days and it impressed the studio executives and they chose it to be ir directorial debut # # casting molly ringwald and anthony michael hall both starred in hughes's 1984 film sixteen candles. towards the end of filming hughes asked them to be in the breakfast club. hall became the first to be cast agreeing to the role of brian johnson; ir real-life mother and sister playing the same roles in the film. ringwald was originally approached to play the character of allison reynolds but they was "really upset" because they wanted to play claire standish (then named "cathy" in the first draft of the script) which saw the auditions of robin wright jodie foster diane lane and laura dern. they eventually convinced hughes and the studio to give ir the part. the role of allison ultimately went to ally sheedy emilio estevez was originally cast in the role of john bender. however when hughes was unable to find someone to play andrew clark estevez was recast. nicolas cage was considered for the role of john bender which was the last role to be cast though the role was narrowed down to john cusack and judd nelson. alan ruck also auditioned for the role. hughes originally cast cusack but decided to replace ir with nelson before shooting began because cusack did not look intimidating enough for the role. at one point hughes was disappointed in nelson because ey stayed in character and harassed ringwald off-camera with the other actors having to convince hughes to not fire ir rick moranis was originally cast as the janitor but was released by ned tanen who felt that moranis' portrayal as an over-the-top russian caricature didn't suit the serious nature of the film. moranis was replaced by john kapelos.: 56-57 # # filming in 1999 hughes said that ir request to direct the film met with resistance and skepticism because ey lacked filmmaking experience. ey ultimately convinced the film's investors that due to the modest $1 million budget and its single-location shoot ey could greatly minimize ir risk. hughes originally thought that the breakfast club would be ir directorial debut. ey opted for an insular largely one-room set and wrote about high school students who would be played by younger actors.: 47 principal photography began on march 28 1984 and ended in may. filming took place at maine north high school in des plaines illinois which had been closed in may 1981. the same setting was used for interior scenes of hughes's 1986 film ferris bueller's day off which featured exterior shots from nearby glenbrook north high school. the appearance of the library at maine north high considered too small for use in the film prompted the crew to build a virtually identical but larger set in the school's gymnasium.: 58 the actors rehearsed for three weeks and then shot the film in sequence.: 59- 69 nelson tried other opinions for the ending scene until eventually landing the fist pump. on the ferris bueller's day off dvd commentary (featured on the 2004 dvd version) hughes revealed that ey shot the two films concurrently to save time and money and some outtakes of both films feature elements of the film crews working on the other film. the first print was 150 minutes in length during a cast reunion in honor of the film's 25th anniversary ally sheedy revealed that a director's cut existed; but hughes's widow who was also present did not disclose any details concerning its whereabouts in 2015 the first draft of the film's script was discovered in a maine south high school cabinet as district employees were moving offices to a new building # # poster the film's poster featuring the five characters huddled together was photographed by annie leibovitz toward the end of shooting. the shot of five actors gazing at the camera influenced the way teen films were marketed from that point on.: 79-80- 325-326 the poster refers to the five "types" of the story using slightly different terms than those used in the film and in a different sequence stating "they were five total strangers with nothing in common meeting for the first time. a brain a beauty a jock a rebel and a recluse" the breakfast club poster "family shot" notably including bender's raised fist was satirised in the poster for the comedy-error film the texas chainsaw massacre 2. it also inspired the title page of chapter 29 of the manga series akane-banashi # themes the main theme of the film is the constant struggle of the american teenager to be understood by adults and by themselves. it explores the pressure put on teenagers to fit into ir own realms of high school social constructs as well as the lofty expectations of ir parents teachers and other authority figures. on the surface the students have little in common with each other. however as the day rolls on they eventually bond over a common disdain for the aforementioned issues of peer pressure and parental expectations. stereotyping is another theme. once the obvious stereotypes are broken down the characters "empathize with each other's struggles dismiss some of the inaccuracies of ir first impressions and discover that they are more similar than different" the main adult character mr. vernon is not portrayed in a positive light. ey consistently talks down to the students and forcefully flaunts ir authority throughout the film. bender is the only one who stands up to vernon hughes would use the shermer high school setting for weird science later in the same year # release the film premiered in los angeles on february 7 1985. universal pictures released the film in cinemas on february 15 1985 in the united states # # home media the breakfast club was first released on vhs and laserdisc in 2003 the film was released on dvd as part of the "high school reunion collection." in 2008 a "flashback edition" dvd was released with several special features including an audio commentary with anthony michael hall and judd nelson. a 25th anniversary edition blu-ray was released in 2010 and the same disc was re-released with a dvd and digital copy in 2012 as part of universal's 100th anniversary series. on march 10 2015 the 30th anniversary edition was released. this release was digitally remastered and restored from the original 35mm film negatives for better picture quality on dvd digital hd and blu-ray the criterion collection released a special edition two-disc dvd set and a blu-ray disc on january 2 2018. the transfer was the same as the previous release but included new features such as fifty minutes of new deleted and extended scenes an electronic press kit new and archival interviews a 1985 excerpt of the today program a new video essay and an episode of this american life # reception # # critical response roger ebert awarded three stars out of four and called the performances "wonderful" adding that the film was "more or less predictable" but "doesn't need earthshaking revelations; it's about kids who grow willing to talk to one another and it has a surprisingly good ear for the way they speak." gene siskel of the chicago tribune gave the film three-and-a-half stars out of four and wrote: "this confessional formula has worked in films as different as who's afraid of virginia woolf? the big chill and my dinner with andre and it works here too. it works especially well in the breakfast club because we keep waiting for the film to break out of its claustrophobic set and give us a typical teenage movie sex-or-violets scene. that doesn't happen much to our delight." kathleen carroll from the new york daily news stated "hughes has a wonderful knack for communicating the feelings of teenagers as well as an obvious rapport with ir exceptional cast-who deserve top grades" other reviews were less positive. janet maslin of the new york times wrote "there are some good young actors in the breakfast club though a couple of them have been given unplayable roles" namely ally sheedy and judd nelson adding "the five young stars would have mixed well even without the fraudulent encounter-group candor towards which the breakfast club forces them. mr. hughes having thought up the characters and simply flung them together should have left well enough alone." james harwood of variety panned the film as a movie that "will probably pass as deeply profound among today's teenage audience meaning the youngsters in the film spend most of ir time talking to each other instead of dancing dropping ir drawers and throwing food. this on the other hand should not suggest they have anything intelligent to say" among retrospective reviews james berardinelli wrote in 1998: "few will argue that the breakfast club is a great film but it has a candor that is unexpected and refreshing in a sea of too-often generic teen-themed films. the material is a little talky (albeit not in a way that will cause anyone to confuse it with something by eric rohmer) but it's hard not to be drawn into the world of these characters" on the review aggregator website rotten tomatoes the film holds an approval rating of 89% based on 65 reviews with an average rating of 7.8/10. the website's critics consensus reads "the breakfast club is a warm insightful and very funny look into the inner lives of teenagers." review aggregator metacritic assigned the film a weighted average score of 66/100 based on 25 reviews from mainstream critics considered to be "generally favorable reviews" writing in 2015 p. j. o'rourke called the breakfast club and ferris bueller's day off "hughes's masterwork." ey described the former film as an example of hughes's politics in that the students do not organize a protest but "present themselves like good conservatives do as individuals and place the highest value like this conservative does on goofing off. otherwise known as individual liberty" # # box office in february 1985 the film debuted at no. 3 at the box office (behind beverly hills cop and witness.) grossing $45-875-171 domestically and $51-525-171 worldwide the film was a box office success given its $1 million budget # # accolades anthony michael hall judd nelson molly ringwald paul gleason and ally sheedy all won a silver bucket of excellence award at the 2005 mtv movie awards award: nominee: result silver bucket of excellence award: anthony michael hall judd nelson paul gleason molly ringwald ally sheedy: won:#legacy the breakfast club has been called the quintessential 1980s film. in 2008 empire magazine ranked it at number 369 on ir the 500 greatest movies of all time list. it later ranked at number 38 on ir 2014 list. similarly the new york times placed the film on its best 1000 movies ever list and entertainment weekly ranked the film number 1 on its list of the 50 best high school movies. in the 2001 parody film not another teen movie gleason reprised ir role as assistant principal vernon in a short scene that parodies the breakfast club in 2005 the film received the silver bucket of excellence award in honor of its 20th anniversary at the mtv movie awards. for the event mtv attempted to reunite the original cast. sheedy ringwald and hall appeared together on stage with kapelos in the audience; gleason gave the award to ir former castmates. estevez could not attend because of other commitments and nelson appeared earlier in the show but left before the on-stage reunion prompting hall to joke that the two were "in africa with dave chappelle." yellowcard performed simple minds' anthem for the film "don't you (forget about me)" at the awards. at the 82nd academy awards (march 7 2010) sheedy hall ringwald and nelson all appeared in a tribute to john hughes - who had died the prior year - along with other actors who had worked with ir including jon cryer from pretty in pink matthew broderick from ferris bueller's day off and macaulay culkin from home alone. in 2012 the nickelodeon television series victorious had ir own spoof on the film in the episode titled "the breakfast bunch" in 2018 the new yorker published an article written by ringwald in which they critiqued hughes's films "in the age of #metoo" beginning with a discussion of how they explained to ir ten-year-old daughter what happened in the scene when ir character seems to be sexually-assaulted under a desk. the essay provoked some to claim that ringwald was criticising the director who made ir into a film star but they was defended by jenny han for a "tender fair-minded piece" # soundtrack the breakfast club (original motion picture soundtrack) soundtrack album by various artists released: february 19 1985 recorded: 1984 genre: rock new wave length: 37:59 label: a&m producer: various artists singles from the breakfast club (original motion picture soundtrack) 1. "don't you (forget about me)" released: february 20 1985 (us) 2. "fire in the twilight" released: may 1985 audio sample duration: 27 seconds. "don't you (forget about me)" by simple minds - file - help the film's soundtrack the breakfast club (original motion picture soundtrack) was produced by british pop musician keith forsey and released on february 19 1985 by a&m records. the album peaked at no. 17 on the us billboard 200 album chart. the song "don't you (forget about me)" performed by scottish rock band simple minds was released as a single on february 23 1985 in the united states and reached no. 1 on the billboard hot 100. it was released on april 8 1985 in the united kingdom # # track listing side two no.: title: writer(s): performer: length 1.: "dream montage": chang: gary chang: 2:37 2.: "we are not alone": devito - robbie benson - steve goldstein: karla devito: 3:39 3.: "the reggae": forsey: keith forsey: 3:07 4.: "didn't i tell you": k. forsey - l. forsey - s. schiff: joyce kennedy: 4:47 5.: "love theme": forsey: keith forsey: 4:26 total length 18:36:## overview the album contains ten songs that are played partially throughout the movie performed by bands and singers of the rock and new wave genre including three instrumental songs by record producer keith forsey simple minds's international hit "don't you (forget about me)" is played in the opening and closing credits. a music video was made for this song and for wang chung's "fire in the twilight" (reached no 110 on the us billboard hot 100) not included on the soundtrack is the "colonel bogey march" that the students are whistling when principal vernon walks into the room # # critical reception in a june 25 1985 review for the village voice music critic robert christgau gave the album a "d−" and said that it has "utterly negligible" songs and ey commended simple minds for trying to distance themselves from ir song "don't you (forget about me)" best known for being played during the film's opening and closing credits. in a retrospective review for allmusic stephen thomas erlewine gave the soundtrack three out of five stars and wrote that apart from simple minds' "undisputed masterpiece-" the album is largely "disposable" and marred by "'80s artifacts" and "forgettable instrumentals" # cancelled sequel hughes had considered a sequel to the film focusing on the teens reuniting years later in ir 30s only now the polar opposite of how they were in the first film. the film was never made prior to hughes' death **+** ringwald molly (april 6 2018.) "what about 'the breakfast club'? - revisiting the movies of my youth in the age of #metoo." the new yorker. archived from the original on april 9 2018. retrieved april 9 2018 // republic of bob