Classic 80s Movie: “The Breakfast Club”

Today’s Classic 80s Movie guest post comes from Bretton Zinger.

Movie Title: The Breakfast Club

Year: 1985

Writer: John Hughes

Lead Actors: Judd Nelson, Molly Ringwald, Ally Sheedy, Emilio Estevez, Anthony Michael Hall

Director: John Hughes

Plot Summary: Five high school students, all different stereotypes, meet in detention, where they pour their hearts out to each other, and discover how they have a lot more in common than they thought.

Why I Think This Is A Classic 80s Movie: If this isn’t a classic ’80s movie, there are no classic ’80s movies.

I was a sophomore in high school when this came out, and pretty much any teenager in suburbia in the United States claimed this as “their movie.” And it was.

Looking at it now, it holds up, but perhaps not as well as I’d hoped. The five kids actually are the stereotypes they feel are unfairly and shallowly applied to them. And the Ally Sheedy character basically becomes Sandy from “Grease” at the end of the film.

But nobody made films about teens with the compassion and insight of John Hughes, and this is the film where he did it best, though Cameron Crowe gives him a run for his money with Fast Times at Ridgemont High and Say Anything.

My Favorite Moment in the Movie: When Andrew (Emilio Estevez) talks about how he “taped Larry Lester’s buns together.”

Brian (Anthony Michael Hall): That was you.
Andrew: Yeah, you know him?
Brian: Yeah, I know him.

That exchange tells you a lot about what this “locked in a box” situation is doing to the characters. Brian’s opinion of Andrew just became much more complicated.

My Favorite Dialogue in the Movie: What movie fan under the age of about 50 couldn’t recite some lines from this film? From memory, so my apologies for slight errors (though I’m confident there aren’t many):

“I am the eyes and ears of this institution, my friends.”

“Dick? Excuse me, Rich? Will milk be provided?”

“You mess with the bull young man, you get the horns.”

“So it’s sort of social. Demented and sad, but social. Right?”

“I’m a man of respect around here. They love me around here. I’m a swell guy. You’re a lying sack of shit, and everyone knows it.”

“I’m gonna knock your dick in the dirt.”

“You’re nothing but a gutless turd.”

“… you forgot ugly and lazy and disrespectful.” –“Shut up, bitch! Go fix me a turkey pot pie.” — “What about you, Dad?” “Fuck you.” “No, Dad, what about you?” “Fuck you!”

“Well, Brian, you have a very nutritious lunch. All the food groups are represented. Did you mom marry Mr. Rogers?” — “No, Mr. Johnson.”

“No, I don’t wear tights. I wear the required uniform.” –“Tights.” –“ Shut up.”

“You’re not urinating in here, man.” –“Sshh. Don’t talk. It makes it crawl back up.”

“Does Barry Manilow know you raid his wardrobe?”

“Screws fall out all the time. The world’s an imperfect place.”

“That’s great, sir. But what if there’s a fire? I think violating fire codes and endangering the lives of children would be unwise at this juncture in your career, sir.”

“I expect a little more from a varsity letterman.”

“Thinkin’ of tryin’ out for a schol-ar-ship.”

“You think I’d speak for you? I don’t even know your language.”

“So are you two like boyfriend-girlfriend? Steady dates? Lovers? Come on, level with me, Sporto. Do you slip her the hot beef injection?” (How much did this film affect teens at the time? Well, my little cohort of friends took to using the acronym H.B.I. when referring to sex for a while after this film came out.)

“If he gets up, we’ll all get up! It’ll be anarchy!”

“Chicks cannot hold their smoke. Dat’s what it is.”

“You’re a neo-maxi zoom dweebie. What would you be doing if you weren’t out making yourself a better citizen?”

“Next time I have to come in here, I’m crackin’ skulls.”

And probably the film’s most quoted line: “Could you describe the ruckus, sir?”

Key Things You Should Look For When Watching This Movie:

• Is that letter at the end the best John Hughes could come up with?
• Would this film be made today? Would it have any kind of similar response? (To be honest, I think so, assuming it was of the same quality.)
• While the film was shot entirely on location, the library was built inside the gym of one of the schools used for filming.
• Susanna Gore’s book You Couldn’t Ignore Me If You Tried tells the story of the filming quite well, including detailing John Hughes’ dislike for Judd Nelson’s method approach to his character.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZXzlCpHK3-I

Tomorrow: Another Classic 80s Movie!

I’m still looking for people to write guest posts in this series. Please email me with the movie you’d like to cover. Here is a template you should use:

Movie Title

Year

Writers (both screenwriters and any authors whose books were used as the basis for adaptation)

Lead Actors (Just the main ones)

Director

IMDB Plot Summary (You can find that directly under the Your Rating box. If you don’t feel the summary does the story justice, feel free to write up a logline of your own.)

Why I Think This Is A Classic 80s Movies (Feel free to write as much as you’d like up to a half-page or so.)

My Favorite Moment In The Movie

My Favorite Dialogue In the Movie (IMDB has a Quotes section for almost every movie, so you can find key dialogue in your movie’s site.)

Key Things You Should Look For When Watching This Movie

Please use this exact template to help me in the editing process.

If you can find a YouTube clip from the film or its trailer, include that URL.

When you are done with your guest post, you may simply copy and paste the content into an email to me.

I will run the posts in the order I receive them.

And if you emailed me about doing a specific movie, but haven’t sent in your guest post, now’s the time!

Thanks, everyone!

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