The Breakfast Club

The Breakfast Club is one of many wonderful John Hughes movies. It’s about five very different students locked up in a school on a Saturday for detention. They were the brain, the beauty, the jock, the rebel, and the recluse. They were strangers with nothing in common, but they bonded by the end of the movie. Following is a brief overview of the five main characters of the movie:

Allison Reynolds

Allison Reynolds was portrayed by Ally Sheedy. She was the weirdo loser of the group. She has no reason to be in detention that day and shows up because she has nothing better to do. I loved when she used her dandruff as snow on her drawing. Her lunch was awesome. She had a Cap’n Crunch sandwich (on white bread, of course) with lots of pixie stix sprinkled on top.

Andrew Clark

Andrew Clark was portrayed by Emilio Estevez. He’s the jock of the group and is in detention that day for taping some dork’s butt cheeks together. Andrew’s dad is a jerk who pushes Andrew and wants to live his life through his son. The butt taping incident was basically because of dad. Good fathering.

Brian Johnson

Brian Johnson was portrayed by Anthony Michael Hall. He was the brains of the group and the straight A student. He’s in detention for bringing a gun to school. I guess he was planning on killing himself because he received an F in woodshop. He’s a depressed little dork because his has few friends (the kid who had his butt taped up is a friend) and because his parents push him to get straight A’s. He was devastated when he got an F. I like giving my students like Brian an F just so they can experience it and live through it.

Claire Standish

Claire Standish was portrayed by Molly Ringwald. She was the high-class rich bitch. I so dislike people like this. It’s not really the child’s fault. It’s what they learn from their crappy snotty parents. Claire is in detention for cutting class to go to the mall.

John Bender

John Bender was portrayed by Judd Nelson. He was the saddest character out of all. He has suffered from child abuse and is an angry bully. His parents should be shot. Bender is in detention for pulling a fire alarm. He eventually falls for Claire the snob by the end of the movie.

BREAKFAST CLUB TRIVIA

• Shooting was shot entirely in sequence.
• Shooting began on March 28, 1984 and ended in May 1984.
• Only Anthony Michael Hall and Molly Ringwald were actually high school age (they were 16) while shooting this movie. Judd Nelson was 25 and Ally Sheedy and Emilio Estevez were both 22.
• Emilio Estevez was originally cast to play John Bender.
• Nicolas Cage was considered for the role of John Bender.
• The character of John Bender was the last role to be cast, and it was between John Cusack and Judd Nelson. Cusack actually got the role but was replaced before filming began because he didn’t look threatening enough for the role.
• Filming took place at Maine North High School in Des Plaines, Illinois. It’s the same high school used in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off which came out the following year.
• The theme song, Don’t You (Forget About Me), was a number one hit for Simple Minds. It was written by Keith Forsey for this movie. Both Billy Idol and Bryan Ferry turned down offers to record it first.
• John Hughes appeared in the film as Brian’s father.
• John Hughes wrote the screenplay in just two days (July 4-5, 1982).
• The scene where all the characters sit in a circle on the floor in the library and tell stories about why they were in detention wasn’t scripted. John Hughes told them to all ad-lib.
• The dandruff that Allison shakes onto her drawing for snow was parmesan cheese.
• Emilio Estevez, Judd Nelson, and Ally Sheedy played high school students in this movie, the same year they would play college graduates in St. Elmo’s Fire.

The End

This was a great movie that taught us to not judge a book by its cover. People are usually who they are because of what’s gone on in their life. Prejudice and stereotyping is a bad thing. Can’t we all just get along?

“Dear Mr. Vernon, We accept the fact that we had to sacrifice a whole Saturday in detention for whatever it was we did wrong. What we did WAS wrong. But we think you’re crazy to make us write an essay telling you who we think we are. What do you care? You see us as you want to see us – in the simplest terms, in the most convenient definitions. You see us as a brain, an athlete, a basket case, a princess and a criminal. Correct? That’s the way we saw each other at 7:00 this morning. We were brainwashed.”

I believe every generation has its own Breakfast Club. I was the recluse. What about you?