Film Excess - Free Ukraine - Stop Putin - End the war NOW!!: The Breakfast Club (1985)

11/13/2013

The Breakfast Club (1985) - Hughes' detention classic

♥♥♥♥♥

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.

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)

Home Alone (1990) - Columbus, Hughes, Culkin and co. take Christmas and home defense to the next level (writer)

The Great Outdoors (1988) - Deutch's low-brow comedy does the job (writer)

Ferris Bueller's Day Off (1986) - Hughes' perfect movie of youth

Watch a trailer for the film here

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.]

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Donald Sutherland has passed away

Born in Canada, Sutherland battled polio as a child. His first credit was in Suspense (1963, TV-series) and his first film was The Castle of the Living Dead (1964). Later credits in his remarkable career include The Saint (1965-66), The Dirty Dozen (1967), M*A*S*H (1970), Kelly's Heroes (1970), Klute (1971), Don't Look Now (1973), 1900 (1976), Casanova (1976), The Eagle Has Landed (1976), Ordinary People (1980), A Dry White Season (1989), JFK (1991), Outbreak (1995), Fallen (1998), Virus (1999), Fierce People (2005), Pride & Prejudice (2005), Lord of War (2005), The Hunger Games (2012), The Undoing (2020, miniseries) and many more. He passed away at age 88. R.I.P.

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William Friedkin has died

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Louise Fletcher has passed away

Born in Alabama to deaf parents, Fletcher got her first credits in late-1950s TV-series.She took a 10 year-long sabbatical to devote her time to motherhood after the release of A Gathering of Eagles, but then came back and soon saw her career's most important part, as Nurse Ratched in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975), for which she won her sole Oscar. Later credits include Exorcist II: The Heretic (1977), The Lucky Star (1980), Brainstorm (1983), Two Moon Junction (1988), Cruel Intentions (1999), A Perfect Man (2013) and many more. Fletcher passed away at age 88. R.I.P.

Jean-Luc Godard has passed away

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Wolfgang Petersen has died

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Jean-Louis Trintignant has died

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Ray Liotta has died

Adopted from an orphenage at a young age, Liotta got hooked on acting in high school. He had various TV credits in the late 1970s and early 80s, with his film debut in The Lonely Lady (1983). Later credits include Something Wild (1986), Field of Dreams (1989), Goodfellas (1990), Cop Land (1997), Hannibal (2001), Blow (2001), Narc (2002), John Q (2002), Identity (2003), Observe and Report (2009), Youth in Revolt (2009), The Details (2011), Killing THem Softly (2012), The Place Beyond the Pines (2012), Shades of Blue (2016-18), The Simpsons (2018, TV-series), Marriage Story (2019), The Many Saints of Newark (2021), Black Bird (2022, TV-series) and many more. Liotta passed away at age 67 in his sleep while on production in the Dominican Republic. R.I.P.

Philip Baker Hall has died

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Film Excess - Free Ukraine - Stop Putin - End the war NOW!!

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11/13/2013

The Breakfast Club (1985) - Hughes' detention classic

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