The Breakfast Club

I did. I loved it. I saw it a couple of times when I was still its demographic. After that I never watched it. I wouldn't consider watching it as an adult. .

I'd fuck Anthony Michael Hall. Is that what you're asking?

You're out of your mind. It's a great movie.

I always thought it was dumb when the glass door shatters as Emilio Estevez yells with his fists raised.

The glass shattering was fucking brilliant!

Judd Nelson, Ally Sheedy and Emilio Estevez were adults and in their mid-20s during filming.

I loved it and I loved the song associated with it.

But I liked Sixteen Candles just a tad more(because of Michael Schoefflin.)

John Hughes said his biggest regret about this film was using the breaking glass effect during the marijuana scene

It wasn't "supposedly" reflective of teenagers and high school at the time - it was pretty literal. My older brothers went to glenbrook north a few years after it was filmed. That's our main claim to fame (and Ferris Bueller where students were cast as extras in some scenes). That was almost a reality show of life in that school. We had Saturday detentions - even by the time I got there we still did. When I got to college & people didn't know where I was from or had no clue about the Chicago suburbs, I would always say "I went to the breakfast club school" and they'd think that was over the top or "nobody would have Saturday detentions" or whatever. It was pretty accurate.

[quote]reflective of teenagers at that time. But it really doesn't hold up today, and I think Anthony Michael Hall and Ally Sheedy are the weakest, least believable characters.

The nerd and the weird girl? Every school has them. The jock, the Joe Cool, the spoiled princess..... the characters are quite realistic and the casting excellent.

You're way off the mark OP.

I just saw noticed recently that John Hughes is the driver who picks up Anthony Michael Hall at the end of the movie

I wonder if everyone praising this movie has watched it recently

[quote]I wonder if everyone praising this movie has watched it recently

I watched it again last year, hadn't seen it in years. Still pretty damn good. Any other questions?

A classic. Love watching this every couple of years.

R13. That wasn't a question

Dear Mr. Vernon:

We accept the fact that we had to sacrifice a whole Saturday in detention for whatever it was we did wrong, but we think you're crazy to make us write an essay telling you who we think we are. You see us as you want to see us... In the simplest terms and the most convenient definitions. But what we found out is that each one of us is a brain... ...and an athlete... ...and a basket case... ...a princess... ...and a criminal.

Does that answer your question? Sincerely yours, the Breakfast Clu

As usual, like he did with Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf, Roger always puts a unique spin on it. If Roger thinks it has cultural merit, well, it does.

Pretty sure post refers to the acting of Ally Sheedy and Anthony Michael Hall, not the character types

I didn't reflect my school, but I always liked it. It holds OK, but it's not as good as when I was a kid. It's not THAT great. I'm surprised DLers defend it so much.

Leave *sob* Ally *sob* Sheedy *sob* ALOOOOOOOOOONE! *waaaaah*

We used to call her Ally Needy because she always plays an emotional vampire in search of approval and a salve for her wounded heart. No matter what the character calls for.

I'm surprised there's not some 80s nostalgia hipster joint based on 80s movies that serves Ally Sheedy's character's Cap'n Crunch and pixie sticks on white bread sandwich --- and craft beer.

There were a lot of magazine articles about the Breakfast Club when it came out. It was a non-action event movie that everyone talked about. It doesn't seem all that progressive or exciting now.

Parmesan cheese was used as Ally's dandruff

They should have done a Breakfast Club/Less than Zero crossover where rich girl Claire goes to see her rich second-cousin Blair in LA and is exposed to a whole new level of "rich" and a decadence she never knew existed.

I was the age of the characters in the movie - both then and now it seemed like teen stereotypes written by old people and played by old people. It's like watching some sad 30-something use my generation to work through his pathetic regrets.

I loved it as a teenager, but even at the time I knew it wasn't "realistic." Sure, they were five broad types that had rough analogues in real life, but there was something very pat (and very 80s) about the notion that you could put them in Saturday detention and they'd all break down and come out with a greater understanding of one another. Seemed like more of a wish fulfillment thing.

I remember the R rating being a little controversial - it was basically just for some rough language and pot smoking (certainly nothing beyond what most teenagers were exposed to) but it meant a lot of the target audience couldn't see it.

When you grow up your heart dies

Your ankles too.

Despite what most believe, teens weren't the target audience. What 16yo is nostalgic about their detention last week? Iit was geared to older 20 & 30 somethings.

It's sort of depressing to watch on a frequent basis

R26, R27 and R30 hit the mark. And no, I do not find it all that interesting at all..

If it were made today, it would star 2 Americans, 2 Brits, and 1 Australian. Also, there would be some sort of racial diversity (one or two Latino/a, black or Asian characters, and possibly a gay character (I'm guessing Kirby because his Dad's constant pressure to "win" could be tied in with his Dad's obsession with sports and masculinity, thus Kirby is a tortured closeted athlete).

Possibly R30, but I also remember John Hughes movies being pretty broadly popular with teenagers. Our class song when I graduated was "Don't You (Forget About Me)"

Who the fiuck is Kirby?

I was in diapers when the movie was released, so I will not speak to its authenticity. That said, it shows its age in a bland, milk toast, stereotypical way, The stereotypes did not hold up to my period of high school misery at all. Kill or be killed was more the mantra. "Heathers" is far more apropos and certainly more entertaining.

Milk toast? I hope that's a DLism like wall-ah

This is pre internet, too, so you have to put its popularity into context. Yes, it was broad, but there wasn't a lot out there that even attempted teen life realism. Most movies featuring teens were horror movies, and cable shows (let alone entire networks) geared to teens didn't exist. White, middle class kids of a certain time and place would've been drawn to it because there was nothing else close to their lives.

"Who the fiuck is Kirby? "

Sorry, I got was thinking of Estevez's character's name in St. Elmo's Fire. I meant Andrew, the wrestler.

Footloose was more realistic.

Footloose WAS my high school, down to the dancing in grain elevators and the gymnastics.

And people sometimes forget how anodyne mainstream culture was in the 80s. It didn't take a whole lot to be edgy.

Molly Ringwald is more likable as the excluded, offbeat girl in Sixteen Candles and Prety in Pink, than she is as the bitchy, popular girl, which is probably closer to who she is in real life.

I thought Judd Nelson was beautiful.

It is neither a bad movie, nor a good movie. Basically, I it s a RX for insomnia. Many Gen Xers that I went to college with waxed poetic about it (they saw it in late elementary school) and it had some magnetic effect on them in some way. Perhaps what they aspired to be in high school in one way or another. It is not that it missed the mark really - just that it was a stale, boring movie about stereotypical characters who interact in a very unnatural way. The dynamics were odd and not particularly believable. And yes - Judd Nelson was beautiful.

I was only five or six when it came out. But I loved it. I agree that Heathers is much better, but The Breakfast Club is so relatable and comfortable.

Yeah R21 I suppose I can admit you're right. I still think she's wonderful though

It was an Afterschool Special masquerading as a feature (and with plenty of filler to get it there).

This was Judd Nelson's shining moment, and he is still the most complex and realistic.

Yeah, we should be discussing Heathers as it was a far more entertaining movie overall.

It was very accurate to my high school experience in the suburbs in the 80s but I can understand that wasn't everyone's experience. Ally Sheedy's Basket Case character was probably the least relatable to me - I didn't really know anyone like that at my school. I suppose the closest we had were the new wave kids who dyed their hair black, wore dark eyeliner and lipstick and worshipped Joy Division and The Cure. But they didn't exhibit any of Sheedy's neurotic (bipolar?) behavior.

I was expecting a laugh out loud comedy when I rented the video at Blockbuster. I wasn't expecting a social allegory and preachy melodrama. But it drew me in, and made me reflect. So, well done John Hughes.

The Breakfast Club is thought provoking and one of the iconic movies of the 80's. I preferred 16 Candles. I was stoned and laughed my ass off throughout.

This just aired on cable tonight (which, I suspect, is why the OP created this thread). I watched it and found myself reciting every line of dialogue with the actors. I've seen this movie dozens of times and have loved it since I was a kid growing up in the '80s.

R43 -" Pretty in Pink" was Molly's best role. The movie is amazing, poignant pertaining to high school existence and holds up in every way. She was far better suited to this role. I watch this movie all the time - well, when it plays on TV. It reminds me of the real high school dynamics and accurately tugs the heart strings. I love it. "Breakfast Club" is tedious.....And it sucks.

r54 I hated Pretty in Pink because it was completely unrealistic bullshit, not least because I thought Ducky was gay and they straightened him out.

R55 - your points are valid and according to Molly, she also thought that making Ducky straight and the love interest at the end was a bad move. Poor Andrew McCarthy had to return to the set in a really bad wig just to finish the new ending to the movie. That said, the social class issue and the utter hate that was shown in the movie was more REAL than any second in that lame breakfast thing..

I hated Breakfast Club when it opened when I was 14 years old.

When I see it now, it's just painfully nostalgic. That's exactly what high school was like in 1984. And it will never happen to me again.

Someone should make a late 80s college flick. Those first few weeks of freedom in a strange city (Boston for me), the soundtrack was REMs Green, falling for your str8 roommate, meeting people who were like you for the first time but everyone still being closeted for the time being, because it was 1988.

Wow I just got melancholy writing that.

"Molly Ringwald was originally asked to play Allison even though she wanted to play Claire. She eventually convinced John Hughes and the studio and was given the part."

The Breakfast Club does not suck.

I remember being fascinated by the way Molly's hairstyle changed between shots. One minute her bangs are well-coiffed and the next they're a bit messy.

Some trivia: the movie was shot in scene-for-scene order and the library was a set that was built in the gym of the abandoned Maine North High School. Also, John Cusack auditioned for the Bender role and was pissed at John Hughes when Judd Nelson was chosen. Judd stayed in character during filming, even going so far as to bullying Molly Ringwald offscreen which almost led to his firing. There's also abandoned footage of the kids daydreaming that they're an astronaut, a witch, a Viking, etc.

Emilio Estevez is the only cast member who never does any interviews or press about the film these days. He didn't even turn up at the John Hughes Oscar tribute several years ago.

[quote]They should have done a Breakfast Club/Less than Zero crossover where rich girl Claire goes to see her rich second-cousin Blair in LA and is exposed to a whole new level of "rich" and a decadence she never knew existed.

How cool, since Jami Gertz was also in Sixteen Candles with Molly. In fact, all of those '80s Brat Pack movies are filled with actors who'd worked in multiple films together.

I was fascinated by Emilio's thick thighs. Still am.

Yes to the hair R59! I refer to it as her shape-shifting hair.

I think it's the best of the Hughes lot (only counting ones he wrote and directed, otherwise Vacation would win easily). It suffers a bit when it gets too earnest, but in general I think it strikes a good balance between earnestness and humor. And Judd Nelson has all the best lines (and he really wasn't afraid to be unlikeable, was he?)

I wanted Molly Ringwald's haircut so badly after that movie, but I was 8 and my mother forbade it. One of the few times she was right about something.

The conversations about sex and virginity, and popularity and cliques - much of it is quite spot on. I actually realize that more now.

And a great theme song, of course.

Was Judd arguably the star of the movie because he gets the closing shot? Always wondered others thoughts on that.

Gertz was also on fActs of Life, albeit at a different time from Molly.

Showbiz is a small often incestuous (figuratively) world.

You know you're an iconic film when your Annie Liebovitz-shot poster gets parodied by schlocky horror movie sequels...

I remember when an episode of Dawson's Creek had Dawson and Co. spending a Saturday in detention in a homage to TBC.

Despite being the antihero, I thought Judd's character was the least believable esp. since he was supposedly going to the same school as Molly Ringwald's character. Second least believable for me was Emilio's because he was too short to be the jock that knew Claire socially. Real jocks were never wrestlers; they were football or basketball.

In hindsight I think it was great how Judd's character foreshadowed grunge.

It was ok, but I loved Ferris Bueller far more as a kid.

[quote]Gertz was also on fActs of Life, albeit at a different time from Molly.

Yep.

And of course, Ally, Emilio and Judd would go on to work together on St. Elmo's Fire, Ally and Judd later starred together in Blue City, Ally played Molly's sister in Betsy's Wedding, Paul Gleason and Anthony Michael Hall starred together in Johnny Be Good, Molly and Anthony were both in Sixteen Candles... you could do a six degrees of separation with all of the Hughes films, The Outsiders, Risky Business, Young Guns, The Lost Boys and so in. It's fun.

I like Ferris Bueller more.

I always wondered why John Bender willingly went to detention. A badass like him would just skip it.

R71 because I think that would be too passive for him. He lived for confrontation and ruffling other people's feathers - especially those he felt had a better life than he. He wasn't just a rebel; he enjoyed saying hurtful things to others - at least in the moment.

I saw it once when it was first released. It was all right even if it seemed kind of contrived. . I never saw 16 Candles or Ferris Bueller. TBC was just The Big Chill for kids.

[quote]I never saw 16 Candles or Ferris Bueller.

Turn in your movie-watching card at the door.

This movie, 16 Candles, and Ferris Bueller are all snoozefests.

And I love almost all 80s movies.

I forgot to add that shiteous Pretty in Pink to my list above.

^No.

Your taste is shit. Let me guess, you adore Pee Wee's Big Adventure.

Footloose sucked also.

Give me The Big Chill or The Seacaucus 7.

Also Withnail & I and Metropolitain.

I even liked St. Elmo's Fire.

But Breakfast Club and its ilk are just schlocky and terrible. There's no bite or artistry.

I loved Adventires in Babysitting and 🚫 🗣🙎🏻the👶🏻sitter's😵.

R80 and St Elmo's is not schlocky? It's very entertaining but you've gotta be kidding. And Judd Nelson and his flared nostrils gave one of the worst performances in any Hughes movie a which says a lot.

Watch Heaven Help Us for both a hilarious but still touching look at teenage AND Catholic angst. Perfect and truthful still, and far less mean-spirited than most John Hughes movies (although I will admit that he finally got his nastiness under control with Ferris Bueller).

R80 It's not even fair to compare it to Withnail & I.

St. Elmo's Fire fucking sucked...big time. Sooo depressing.

Footloose rather sucked somewhat as well. I hated the soundtrack as well. I couldn't escape from those horrid tunes for years.

Flashdance was a classic. Cynthia Rhodes as Tina Tec killed it in her dance number. The best female dancing performance I've ever seen on screen.

Ferris Bueller was a classic. Original, witty and downright hilarious. It wasn't dumbed down and treated the viewers as if we wouldn't "get it"

Matthew Broderick stinks up any production he's in.

The man CANNOT ACT.

I've always crushed on Andrew McCarthy. Those blue, sad doe eyes of his melted my heart. He was always playing the sensitive boy next door. This has major appeal for those of us who aren't attracted to the most popular, flashy, showy type guys.

Brainy, shy and sensitive have their own huge attractiveness and sexy appeal. Especially when they look like Andrew. Sighhh..

Again, I hated Ferris Bueller as a 16 year old in 1986. Looking back, I was a real fucking tightass and movie snob. I love it now, and it makes me cry to watch it. In college, I got the nickname "Cameron" because my roommate was Ferris to my Cameron.

It's so funny- I was an 80s teen who bought into Nancy Reagan's Just Say No schtick. I didn't have a beer until sophomore year of college. But I still swore, up and down, and forever that I would never touch any drugs at all ever,. I can even remember at 12 being with my grandma, who was reading some article in the paper about it. She said "promise me, Michael, that you will never get involved in dope." I promised her, and I knew I would never.

Flash forward to 1993. I've just moved to LA, and met up with a well known choreographer on the 976-DICK line. We were going at it, when he suddenly stopped and took out a small envelope and a tiny spoon. I was absolutely shocked and dismayed. He snorted. And offered me some. I declined. About 15 minutes later he did it again and this time I asked to try it. How in the world I ever brought myself to sniff with that stuff (coke, not meth) under my nose I will never know. But I did, and that was the start of some wild times.

Sorry to get all bloggy and stream of consciousness, but discussing John Hughes movies have that effect on me. Sorry grandma, I still love you.

Nice story R88. Thanks for sharing.

He likes it...sniff sniff -- Hey Mikey! :-)

I was 7 when the movie came out in 1985, so don't remember it at the time. However the music and fashions take me back to my childhood. Watching it now it's very dated, as most teen movies of the 80s now are. They're very much of that period, and I don't actually think they are great movies.

R89 haha perfect! It WAS like that.

Really loved TBC at the time. I desperately wanted to play Judd Nelson's role(or roll, since this is DL). Rather than finding him beautiful, I was fascinated by his enormous nostrils which appeared to be large enough in which to comfortably park a Peterbilt. Still love the movie.

Judd Nelson stuffing the weed into Anthony Michael Hall's tighty whites was the funniest scene.

I love this movie. Great casting, great screenplay, and you could tell that a lot time, effort, and heart went into the script, acting, and film overall. It was funny and heartfelt.

I think it's wonderful and a classic, but--whatever its supposed drawbacks--"The Breakfast Club" is *still* better than 99% of the crap mainstream Hollywood releases today...

TBC was the first movie Boomer Hollywood made about their kids, and would be followed by many, many more.

John Hughes wanted to fuck all his kids.

Edgy- LMFAO

People love breakfast club because of its nostalgia. It is the happier times of some people lives, they were teens and can relate to how society was simpler then in comparison to now. I love it for the same reason even though i was a little girl when it was released in theaters. It is very much a remember or imagine how teens use to be movie.

It was a caricature of certain high school types, but I thought it was fairly realistic.

I was the right age for it and saw it when it came out. Bender and Claire were the most real for me, but the others worked.

Reality Bites is another of the real/yet a cheesy sellout movies.

I was 16 when this came out, and then and now, I hate Judd Nelson as Bender. I will still watch parts of it on tv, but it sort of makes me cringe.

SIXTEEN CANDLES is almost perfect--too much screen time for Farmer Ted toward the end--but the best high school movie is HEATHERS.

OP's school was depicted in "Taps"

[Quote] Reality Bites is another of the real/yet a cheesy sellout movies.

Winona's character annoyed the shit out of me in that movie.

It took John Hughes less than a week to write the screenplay.

I love the dance sequence to WE ARE NOT ALONE.

[quote]Watch Heaven Help Us for both a hilarious but still touching look at teenage AND Catholic angst

Another film I watched religiously (no pun intended) as a kid.

OP's Mom was depicted in "Class"

OP where was the Breakfast Club considered edgy and by whom? In Minnesota by Pauline Phillips? (AKA Ask Abby?)

I thought he had BDF. I wonder....

Ally Sheedy's looks and mannerisms remind me so much of Jennifer Jason Leigh in this film. She was one of my favorite characters, though it's disappointing when she gets the beauty queen makeover at the end. Sheedy actually went on to give some good performances in indie films like High Art, Life During Wartime and last year's Little Sister.

I was a mix of Sheedy and Ringwald's characters. Still am.

I still have such a soft spot for Molly Ringwald and her John Hughes trinity of films. I thought she was perfect in all of them and I can watch her and her curled upper lip for days. With that said, watching her in anything non-Hughes is a very odd thing, including Facts of Life. She is not an extra of much depth and zero range, so playing a white teenage girl from the Chicago area is pretty much the beginning and end of where she can go as an actor. Still, I think of her as I would imagine people from previous generations thought of Shirley Temple and her films. A very concrete and nostalgic marker of what youth was like at a very particular time. That's not a bad legacy.

R110 here, that should read 'actor' and not 'extra', though I think that might be where Molly's career might be at the moment.

I thought is was so edgy the first time I saw it, when I was maybe 12. The next time I saw it, maybe in college, I thought it was silly. Seeing it since then, I've come to regard it as an OK movie with a handful of insightful moments. The makeover at the end pisses me off and Molly/Judd's kiss and her giving him her earring was 100% Hollywood bullshit.

I liked Porky's

I love Porky's. The sequels weren't as good, but the original is a classic sex comedy. Only the first American Pie has come close to matching it.

I spent an a LOT of time alone when I was in high school (closeted teen, absent parents, no friends, etc) and I remember immediately connecting to this movie when it was on TV some random Saturday afternoon. I think it holds a lot of nostalgic power in my head because of that. Movies like TBC, Scream, and Clueless were so special to me because they were an insight into what it must've been like to have friends, because I had ZERO. That's not supposed to be as depressing as it seems, but it's true

I could've done without hearing Kim Cattrall whaling like a banshee.

[quote](AKA Ask Abby?)

Oh, DEAR Abby!

[quote] If it were made today, it would star 2 Americans, 2 Brits, and 1 Australian.

And a Nigerian playing an African American.

Toddler Bridges once recounted how he wanted to be a part of this movie and was even offered an audition but ultimately got turned down because Hughes movies were mostly lilly white.

R68-in suburban Chicago- wrestlers were the real jocks --especially when your high school are state champions a few years running. Wrestling was huge in the 80's there. It was also the start of mixing upper and lower class communities in the same schools. At our school you would have the kids driving Mercedes and Porsches to school along with the kids from subsidized housing.

Todd, not toddler lol. Damned spellcheck.

LOL R118. Cultural appropriation.

We all know that the film as shot at Glenbrook North and the closed Maine North high school in suburban Chicago. But, was "Shermer High School" supposed to be suburban Chicago?

Re R119... I also remember stories about Lisa Bonet auditioning for a Hughes film (Some Kind of Wonderful, I think) and being turned down. Then she did Angel Heart and the rest is history.

In those years, students all had parents who worked very hard to afford places where there were no Todds in school. Especially around Chicago and other Catholic towns

Today, there would be an SJW movement about underrepresentation of minorities in Hughes' films. Plenty of high schools looked like "Shermer High School." Not mine, but many

The Long Duk Dong character from Sixteen Candles would never work today--every anti-defamatory group known to man would pounce on the film.

John Hughes wrote about high school like it was when he was there, which was the mid 60s. So when the movies came out in the 80s, although they updated the fashion and some of language and concerns, it still seemed archaic even at the time, like teens from a bygone era. Which it was.

"Heeeey seexxxy girlfriend."

The rapey aspect from 16 Candles also wouldn't fly today.

I grew up in a small southern town which wasn't big enough for black and white kids to be going to different schools, so the lily white aspect wasn't true to my experience...but I realize a lot of suburbs are like that.

Oh yeah, I forgot. Didn't Jake allow Anthony Michael Hall to rape his incapacitated 30-year-old girlfriend? I forgot about that. Of course back then, if you couldn't say no, you didn't say no.

^ Yes, and the whole scene was played for laughs. Of course, I thought nothing of it as a kid at the time.

Shermer High School, Shermer, Illinois 60062.

McCarthy was so not hot.

[Quote] Oh yeah, I forgot. Didn't Jake allow Anthony Michael Hall to rape his incapacitated 30-year-old girlfriend? I forgot about that. Of course back then, if you couldn't say no, you didn't say no.

Also Jake being a creep talking about how he could take advantage of Caroline if he wanted to.

The only thing this thread really does is remind you of what a great fucking song Don't You Forget About Me is. Is it the best one hit wonder? Unless Simple Minds had another song I don't know about.

^^ r137 is too stupid to live.

R128 nails it.

I loved Chris Meloni-lookalike and John Hughes staple John Kapelos. He was in Sixteen Candles, TBC and Weird Science.

Ah yes, Rudy...the "oily variety Bohunk." Man, Hughes really was pre-PC.

Molly made a cameo appearance in the Wang Chung video for Fire In The Twilight, the song from the hallway-running scene (the 2:20 mark)

They should do a sequel called The Supper Club.

Seriously, R137? Simple Minds had a bunch of great songs, and hit singles. "Sanctify Yourself," "Promised You a Miracle," "Alive and Kicking," etc. They were huge in the 80s.

This is one of my favorite Simple Minds songs. Jim Kerr has a beautiful voice.

Bonus points: the vid has a kid who grew up to have a part in a couple of Pirates of the Caribbean movies.

Don't You Forget About Me #1

Alive and Kicking #3

Sanctify Yourself #14

All the Things She Said #28

See the Lights #40

Never to crack the top 40 again.

My favorite scene is when they all sat on the floor for confessions and confrontations. Judd and Molly going at it. "Don't you ever, EVER compare yourself to me, okay? You got everything and I got SHIT. Fuckin' Rapunzel, right? School would probably fuckin' SHUT DOWN if you didn't show up..." All five actors had great moments in this movie.

[quote] . Especially around Chicago and other Catholic towns

Yes, because Protestant and Jewish towns were so integrated. Like East New York, which went from being 90% Jewish to being 0% Jewish after blacks moved in. And every Protestant town that opened 3 private Christian schools after being forced to integrate their public schools.

Judd Nelson was fucking Michael J. Fox. True story.

That confessione scene was reportedly improvised. It's a really great scene. If Andrew had never hooked up with Allison at the end, I would've sworn he was a closeted athlete jock.

I guess I get what you're saying, R97, but a lot of us were old enough to know that we weren't living in simpler times. I was 13 when it was released but 16 when I finally rented it (parents rented one of those big-ass suitcase VCRs and got two movies for the weekend for my big birthday party, what a time it was to be alive).

There were hijackings and I think 1985 was the year that Russian leader mysteriously died after ruling for about 8 minutes, plus there was the beginning of the AIDS crisis and Reagan as POTUS for a second term. The sentimentality seemed so false, like these kids already knew this was the best time they'd ever have and these were all the life lessons they'd ever need. Even I knew that was ridiculous.

Allie Sheedy is a terrible actress, cringe-makingly self-conscious in both moody and cutesy modes. Her technique hits rock bottom in Oxford Blues, although you might not notice it because that's an overall cringe-making movie, despite its exiling the mandatory 80s wardrobe montage to the final credits.

Oxford Blues is one of the biggest pieces of shit you'll ever love.

Ally Sheedy looked and acted best in Wargames and Bad Boys

Fuck off, R154

Sheedy was mesmeric in High Art.

The homophobic words in John Hughes movies always stung since they were such mainstream, "acceptable" movies.

It's a seminal movie, but has been copied so much at this point that a lot of scenes are pretentious and dated.

Ally Sheedy was unconvincing in St. Elmo's Fire

I was intrigued by Claire's coiffure at the time it came out (I was in 5th grade when the film was released) - and still am. It just doesn't seem like an authentic '80s teen-do. Even for someone who was a "princess"-type. The Claire character would have looked more like the girls in Whit Stillman's "Metropolitan."

I also got kind of an incest vibe in the opening scene in which Claire is dropped off at detention by her father. An edgier film would have explored this theme further through Claire's neurotic hyper-sophistication.

So many closeups of John Bender's nostrils in the film, too. They deserve their own thread. Judd was pretty hot in "Breakfast Club" but, once I hit middle school, I preferred him in the TV movie "Billionaire Boys' Club" a few years later.

He called it Shermer High school because Shermer Road is the name of the street that Glenbrook North is on. 60062 is the same zip code. It's in the "History" section of the page on wikipedia.

R146: the United States is not the world. Simple Minds achieved six No. 1 albums in their native UK as well as hitting the top spot in countless other countries.

I was 12 when it came out and loved it.

I ADORE! Oxford Blues, and will stand for no criticism of it. As r153 said it's the biggest piece of shit you'll ever love. And i was obsessed with Bruce Payne as the leader of the Oriole Blues. Plus Julian Sands! Carey Elwes! And an actually believable Amanda Pays as the Lady Di-inspired student with a hinge on her legs.

Love it!!!

Well R162 I'm from the United States talking about a song that was in a movie from the United States. So shut the fuck up. They were not huge here. Bonnie Tyler was a bigger act here.

R161- Another nearby wealthy Chicago suburb was originally called Shermerville, now called Northbrook.

[quote]So shut the fuck up.

Simply for pointing out that a band was successful in many countries around the world? You're taking "US-centric" to a whole new level.

"Don't You Forget About Me" could be the theme song for the entire cast.

I was 19 years old and in college when it came out, and I saw it in the theater with friends. We loved it and talked about it at length afterwards. The question was: Which character did you relate to? I related to the nerd Anthony Michael Hall, because he was smart and he didn't hook up with a girl.

The movie is entertaining, but it's not great art. It was totally implausible that these kids would have such open conversations and become friends by the end of the day.

In the 21st century version of this movie, the filmmakers would have more to say about real diversity (race, religion, ethnicity, sexual preference, sexual identity, etc.). In retrospect, these five kids have more things in common (as suburban white folks) than what they have differences.

Shut the fuck up. You want to talk about a band that had hits in the UK start a thread about Shirley Valentine and its soundtrack.

Simple Minds were big in the United States. I'm sorry if you don't believe this, but they were.

Elders will remember that Don McNeill and I starred on radio's "Breakfast Club.".

I saw it and loved it. I was in my 20's and felt that it was pretty much a fair depiction of how shitty high school truly was. I totally identified with Ally Sheedy's character.

I never understood the meaning of the title.

R174 - I think it was due to the fact that they had to report to Saturday detention in the AM.

R171: R170 is also R137. She's just mad that someone called her "too stupid for words" for thinking Simple Minds were a one-hit wonder. Now she has to convince herself that only US chart success counts. Lacking even the most basic grasp of logic, she thinks that since the song appeared in an American movie and this is an American board, the band's success elsewhere should not be discussed on this thread. This used to be a somewhat cosmopolitan board--no more, I guess.

Even as a kid, I was always thrown off by Estevez. He was certainly hot in that gym bunny, gay bottom sort of way, but I never bought his character as some sort of ultimate high school jock. Compared to Nelson (who had the look) - he looked silly. The scenes where Emilio man-handles Judd were ridiculous. It always looked as if Nelson could have thumped him in the butt like a paper "football" (remember those??) and sent him flying across the room. Don't get me wrong, I did want to fuck Estevez in the ass and he was cute - just not convincing in the role. And as an above poster mentioned, his hooking up with Sheedy at the end was laughable. Hughes would have done much better to delete that scene.

[quote]I wanted Molly Ringwald's haircut so badly after that movie

I still do if I'm being honest.

R160, Claire's hair isn't trendy, but very stylish in the wealthy social circles her family would inhabit. She likely goes to an upscale hairdresser who gives her classic chic looks like the Jackie O. Same with her clothes and jewelry. Even her sushi lunch.

What would you call Claire's hairdo? I was obsessed by the shape shifting bangs.

One minute they're coifed...

...and the next minute they're mussed...

It's before my time so but I think it's a warm movie. Not urgent or relevant but warm :)

I grew up in rural Ohio yet immediately remembered 3 Simple Minds son- they may not have had 6 big-selling albums in the U.S., but they were hardly one-hit wonders.

They wanted Lucy to play Claire but Gary talked her out of it. He thought her public would be too disillusioned if Lucy got a detention.

R172 Wasn't that show based out of Chicago? I assume that was the reference that Chicago-based Hughes was going for with the title of the movie.

Ally Sheedy was Allison Williams 1.0

"God did not put me on this earth to be awakened in the middle of the night with filthy suggestion from a foul-mouthed houligan like you . . . Grannie, Sixteen Candles

"Hey birth defect!!!" - the obnoxious kid brother, Sixteen Candles

[quote]n the 21st century version of this movie, the filmmakers would have more to say about real diversity (race, religion, ethnicity, sexual preference, sexual identity, etc.).

*This* would be the 21st century version of The Breakfast Club. Although nobody would actually see this, because they'd be too busy emulating the characters in the movie.

Smoke up Tony! They're grrrreat!

This movie is closer to my mother's generation than mine, but I watched it in my grade 12 society and culture class (in 2014). I could not relate to the movie whatsoever, and neither could any of my classmates. It's very dated. Maybe it's because I'm Australian and not American, and maybe because I grew up in a moderate sized town, but my school never had cliques. Everyone was basically friends with everyone, except for one neurotic girl who made an enemy out of the entire grade. My teacher got angry at us because we all burst out loud laughing at the "emotional" scenes - particularly with Bender. It just seems so melodramatic. Nobody really cares anymore about anything, at least not enough to yell and cry. Basically all of my friends had divorced parents and no one cared, it didn't mean anything. I never got along with my father because I am gay, and my mother always put a lot of pressure on me to get perfect grades in high school - but I never cried or broke down over it.

I think us millennials are just too apathetic. It's embarrassing to be emotional about something.

R192 - I don't care where you are from: what country, what size town/city, or what size school - everyone is NEVER friends with everybody. Human nature leads to popular and not popular, cliques and divisions, friends and enemies. Either you are lying or you are so socially inept that you haven't a clue to what goes on around you. Never in the history of the world has there been a perfect utopia of humans all loving and nurturing one another. Not even Millennials can claim such an absurd thing. I am happy to hear that you had such a wonderful high school experience, but you are in the very minute minority there. Popular or not, we all had a different childhood. That I can guarantee. Also, I agree with you - the movie is archaic, but for different reasons.

R193 - Well we didn't all sit together as one big circle braiding each other's hair. But there weren't any cliques. People changed friendship groups all the time. I sat with one group of girls at lunch, but hung out with a different group of girls during hockey practice, hung out with a different group of girls on the bus ride home, and had a friend in every class - not always the same person either. No one ever said anything like "ew, you're a jock? You can't sit with us because we're goths". There was no defining characteristic of a friendship group that would dictate who could enter and who was refused. If you got along, you got along. Nobody cared.

"Nobody really cares anymore about anything, at least not enough to yell and cry."

I see someone is trying to do a lesbian version of the PMBT.

Anyway, this movie may have been marketed as "edgy" and perhaps the R-rating convinced underage teens that it was. It never was.

I enjoyed this movie when it came out, but I preferred other John Hughes' movies at the time. I've lost all affection for anything John Hughes related over the years.

Proof that it "doesn't hold up today?"

You can't just say that. What do the majority of young people think and when did you conduct this scientific survey of over 4,000 people who saw the film?

The R rating wasn't just the language - what about the scenes with Bender underneath Claire's desk? As a kid I was pretty grossed out by that, actually.

The R was definitely well earned.

Why do you have fake I.d?

Brian, disbelieving, scoffing: So I can vote.

Or something like that. It was, by far, the funniest part to mewhen I re-watched it as an adult.

[R147], I love your post! Great take on the film and cool pic of Judd and Molly promoting the film that I've never seen before.

I've only seen this movie for the first time in the past 10 years and I think it's warm and funny and a good movie overall.

Yes, it's more "mainstream" than indie, but it's still a great movie that's entertaining to watch and gets you attached to/invested in all the characters in it.

I think that a lot of the humor in the movie is timeless, [R198], (and agree that that scene with AMH is one of the funniest scenes in there) and that's one of the reasons why the film is still so watchable today.

It's not like the movie made *endless* Reagan and Culture Club jokes 🙄

Thank God this wasn't made today!

It wouldn't be about class or popularity differences or the inner emotional (or at home) struggles of the kids at all.

It would just be the group of teens talking (see: lecturing the audience) about various social justice issues that "trigger" them personally, and Bender would be changed to a MTF *or* FTM trans who is angry about trans issues and ends up with the pretty, popular girl Claire romantically at the end so that the filmmakers can "send a message" about tolerance

Breakfast club sandwich.

Bender was the least realistic. I was the same age as their characters were supposed to be when this came out and went to a high school outside of Chicago. Most of the burnout kids I knew were actually just as wealthy as the preppy kids - they just liked heavy metal and partying. I thought AMH nailed it as the nerd.

Nerds today are a lot more arrogant.

That's because sometime in the last twenty years Geeks became cool. They were not in the 1980s

It was an old formula--put a bunch of different types together in a situation that was semi-realistic and see what happens. John Hughes was a master of that and recreating it around high school. High school was rarely the subject of movies outside of the occasional social problem drama or Mamie Van Doren exploitation film. Detention was relatable even if you'd never had to do one. Estevez is the least believable. Sheedy never seemed able to do anything other than being a couple anxiety attacks away from a straight jacket.

R171 the Simple Minds were "moderately successful" in the US with ONE bonafide smash single #1

They weren't huge because they never made the cover of Rolling Stone. From the 60s until about the early 2000s, making the civer of Rolling Stone was an indicator of who's huge or not in the music world.

Shoo all you simpletons with your simple minded talk

Does't age well at all. And Emilio estevez is nepotism casting of the highest order. HE's the high school's biggest jock?

All in all, its phony, contrived, and nothing at like high school.

The problem with high school movies is that all the students are so well spoken. They're able to put into words exactly how they are feeling. They're able to confront their bullies perfectly. There's no shyness or awkwardness or confusion.

In my high school, none of these kids would have bonded. It wasn't done. Hell, 35 years later, people are posting on Facebook that they're not coming to the reunion because they feel excluded. And our Senior High President keeps telling people that everything has changed and all are welcome. Then someone will post how they came to the 10th year reunion and nobody spoke to them.

R206 has never heard of "Grease"? or "American Graffiti?"

If this movie were made today, all of them would have spent the period texting their parents about the mean things that were said to them, and the parents would be coming by to intimidate the teacher or calling the police. Today's kids don't do personal confrontation. They make the grownups fight all their battles.

I've heard that American High School is much more brutal in a clique way.

R192: "Nobody really cares about anything at least not enough to cry" - Remember - there were no psych meds then or very few and they didn't work well.

I suppose it was inevitable, but that's actually a bit sad in some ways that millennials are so unfamiliar with familial stability that divorce is no big thing. You have to realize that back then there wasn't an entire industry built on smoothing out the rough patches with therapy, meds, and support groups.

Many of the mothers only had secondary jobs and couldn't support themselves. They weren't sophisticated as far as legal game playing and so the fathers tended to eat them for lunch, which affected the kids. The dads also commonly ignored the kids after divorce as their second family became their only family. Courts came to favor the mother/kids because of this initial asymmetry.

There was quite a bit of divorce among my peer groups parents, but we were probably part of the first or second bunch where that was common and the emotional and economic infrastructure wasn't in place.

I don't see why people question the wrestling jock angle of Esteves. Wresting was HUGE in the midwest - absolutely HUGE. I know this because I managed my High School Wrestling team and went to school in a North Suburban Chicago area High School. The character and his ability to man handle Judd struck me as realistic. But then I dated a 5'4 State Champion that could tie a lot of bigger guys up in knots. There is a saying, "You never box a boxer, and you never Wrestle a Wrestler" - once a fight goes close quarters the Wrestler (These days its "mixed martial arts") will have the upper hand. Wrestling was a big deal, and even the little guys if they were "go down State" at the end of season - where viewed as serious jocks. I understand that people outside of the Midwest might not get this - but in States like IOWA, Wis, Il, Neb, MN - Wrestling is the Farm boy dominated sport that rules pretty large. Its cheap, accessible for guys from small to large and the season does not interfere with Farming.

r207 – – you are still too stupid to live. Go away and get bit.

R214 I didn't know that. On West Coast it was def not a top tier sport.

R214 is exaggerating...

Even I need farm country, the champion wrestler take the back seat to the quarterbacks & 7 footers playing hoops

^^even in farm country

Five people would never talk to each other for hours nowadays, They would ignore each other pretending to be interested in something on their phone.

So true r212 and r 219

It's not like the teens of the Breakfast Club (now grown adults) are any better at keeping their faces out of their iPhones these days...

Most of the actors in the breakfast club were a product of their time career wise. The only main actor from the movie that steadily have found work as an adult is anthony Michael hall. Who would have thought. What happened to Judd nelson career and nostril, probably nothing much.

DLers loved the Breakfast Club? I thought there was a John Hughes backlash here years ago? Anyway, it's an entirely average movie Entertaining enough, but sort of ridiculous.

"Nerds today are a lot more arrogant. "

As the should be with the shift in the economy to services and technology. They're the ones who get a lot of the good jobs. And, now we sort of have a general "nerd" culture where games, comic books, etc. are celebrated and where having obsessive enthusiasm and knowledge about something (music, pop culture generally, craft beer, video gaming, or anything) is lauded.

R217 Sometimes the Quarterbacks/Running Backs, etc. were ALSO Wrestlers - The guys ranged in size from 98 lbs - up to Heavyweights - Its a brutal sport. In the 80s Wrestling in the Olympics was a big deal - Dan Gable the Head Coach at Iowa and a freaking LEGEND of a man also coached the US team. The Midlands is an Open Tournament held at Northwestern where most people involved in the sport gathered on pre Olympic years to get a peak at the guys that were probably going to represent this Country. It is a big deal despite your views in those Suburban High Schools and as someone who was heavily involved and graduated a year before this movie came out I can assure you that the role played by Esteves was quite accurate - and his ability to toss Judd around is not as unrealistic as you might think. I think I'll go watch Vision Quest now.

Yum - Jake from 16 Candles was also in this movie.

R225:

I have known multiple wrestlers and I have zero doubt about the ability to shove bender around.

The part I question is that if the wrestler as the king of the jocks and 'big man on campus'

Those honors go to folks such as Mr Doug Simpson

Are American schools really that scary and cliquey? I've always assumed American movies and shows exaggerate that aspect A LOT. European, not Australian, but my experience is similar to R192's. School was a breeze, especially high school. All those highly dramatic depictions of high school are entertaining, but I'm pretty surprised that so many would find them relatable.

R193, I think "friendly" would be more accurate than "friends". Everyone definitely wasn't "loving and nurturing" to everyone else, but nobody made other peoples' lives difficult. Sure, there were more popular kids and less popular ones, but everyone was on good terms and there wasn't really any tension. Would make for a terrible movie.

The Breakfast Club... I saw it a few years ago and thought it was terrible. It just felt kind of... basic. I'm sure that would've been different if I'd seen it in 1985. But the bigger problem was that the characters were so damn unlikable. And Sheedy's character and her "arc" were absurd.

R17 & r227, at my school, wrestling season and football seasin did not occur at the same time, and usually guys who played football also wrestled.

Schools in the 80s were completely tribal.

Most of these High School movies star people that are older than college age. Such Bullshit. Hell in Grease, Stockard.Channing was going through menopause.

At the end I'm always left wondering "what about the kid who's actually screwed up and from an abusive famly??"

R228: it's been awhile, but I'd say junior high was actually the scary clique place. Everyone calmed down by high school esp. after we could drive. Closer to Mean Girls, but Mean Girls was actually based on a book about Junior High (11-14), not high school (14-18).

Bullying in high school is only really common about the lower middle and working classes.

^^among*

R227 - there were quite a few tiny jocks at my school who were very fuckable, but they were never considered the hottest guy in any group. The hottest were big, tall, muscular, 6'2", strapping quarterbacks or whatnot. It is what it is. Wrestlers are the hottest bottoms - I agree. As a lucky top, I had quite a bit of experience with them in my later college and grad school years. As sexy as they were - no way would any of them have been considered one of the hottest jocks in their high schools....EVER... Remember that girls have a huge say in making that choice. When I was in college, a lot of the prettiest sorority girls had a six foot rule. If you were less than that - they never gave you the time of day no matter how gorgeous you may have been. Emilio was miscast period.

For me "Welcome to the Dollhouse" described the viciousness of the US junior high/middle school experience perfectly. High school was marginally better. By that point you start to learn not to give a shit.

My entire school experience up to graduating high school was cut throat. It was a private, coed, religious school grades 1 through 12. My graduating class was less than 80. The school was expensive and many of the kids were very rich. After transferring in the 7th grade I learned very quickly that the unstylish clothing that my unstylish mother bought me were not going to make the cut. I also learned by around the 8th grade that being one of the smartest students in class was not a very cool thing. I maintained my grades, but was always sure to keep them private if possible. I started shopping for my own clothes and would buy a couple nice things rather than tons of frumpy shirts and pants. I cared more about my haircut and gelled it appropriately. I joined sports teams that I was good at - whether I enjoyed playing or not. The kids were BRUTAL and I learned to play the game - to avoid being a part of the dreaded outcasts who were demeaned daily by others (not me BTW). By the time I graduated, I was best friends with the homecoming queen and king and went to the best parties. I was one of a small group who won "best this" and "best that" in the popularity contests senior year that were part of the ceremonies and yearbook. I hated every day and generally disliked the people that I was "friends" with. When I went to college, I had the time of my life. I joined a top fraternity and had hundreds of friends - from all parts of the spectrum and hot, ugly, fat, thin, white and every background in between. I absolutely never looked back and never kept in touch with anyone from high school. To this day, I rarely do. I had my own issues being a closeted bisexual (at the time, now gay) - but it was such an improvement from high school that I was in heaven.

In Illinois in the '80s, wrestling was a 'winter' season sport and football was an 'autumn' sport, so you could do both.

I have to agree with the others. Football was an autumn sport, wrestling was a winter sport. However, the football guys where very large guys, whereas our wrestlers were short and squatty. Football guys also played baseball in spring, but wrestlers usually only wrestled, or one or two were on the track team in the spring.

I didn't even recognise AMH in Edward Scissorhands.

The good football players and hoops players were blocked from doing other sports such as wrestling in my experience.

Their coaches and fathers didn't want them to be injured in another sport.

Perhaps a bench guy, but definitely not the popular and successful skill position players who ruled the campus.

I'd say the movie has held up, since current teenagers who see it really like it. Yes, the details are dated, but the message speaks to them. On the other hand, teens can't get through Fast Times at Ridgemont High, which I love. I find Breakfast Club too sappy. We would never have talked about our feelings and cried when I was a teenager, back in the dark ages.

I like Fast Times, hate Breakfast Club.

[Quote] . On the other hand, teens can't get through Fast Times at Ridgemont High,

That's nuts! I love both but Fast Times was alot darker.

How realistic was AMH as the nerdy boy?

Fast Times is actually the more realistic film. It still has a bit of 70s edginess to it, and it's kind of a downer in a way that John Hughes films aren't.

I agree R247.

Despite being released in 1982, fast times is a 70s film because it followed the Cameron Crowe book that based on Clairemont High in the late 70s

Fast Times did have a 70s vibe.

Fast Times is such a superior movie - the two are not even in the same stratosphere.

Molly Ringwald's obnoxious top lip and her single facial expression with her mouth hanging open render her unwatchable for me.

The 80s as we know them didn't really break until late 1982 or so.

By late 1983 "the 80s look" had taken over in full force

Look at the early Friday the 13th films from the early 80s, the first 3 have a 70s vibe, it's not until the fourth F13 film released in 1984 that if finally feels 80s

Tv shows like The Facts of Life and Knots Landing and Dallas, which all began in the late 70s, feel 70s until the 1982-1983 season, when the 80s feel creeps in

I was just looking at cast pictures of Knots Landing one from the season 3 (1981) and the other from season 7( 1985) and in those 4 years difference it's like day and night, especially how glitzex up and shoulder padded and big haired everyone was styled in the 1985 cast picture

They're both teen movies. That's about it lol

That's true of a lot of decades, R253. Look at TV shows and music videos from 90-92ish. There's still a lot of 80s big hair and matchy-matchy bright colors.

"Beverly Hills 90210" is a good gauge (as awful as it was) because the show started I think in 1990. Compare the style/feel from the first couple years vs. the rest. Even the early themes were very 80s--lots of "very special episodes."

[Quote] "Beverly Hills 90210" is a good gauge (as awful as it was) because the show started I think in 1990. Compare the style/feel from the first couple years vs. the rest. Even the early themes were very 80s--lots of "very special episodes."

Aww it wasn't that bad. I did notice the pilot/earlier episodes were more 80s than 90s. The entire first season was an after school special lol.

R256 yup and then when 90210 came into the 90s, they changed the format and made it a "teen nighttime soap opera", you needex a scorecard to keep up with who was sleeping or cheating on whom by season 5

[Quote] you needex a scorecard to keep up with who was sleeping or cheating on whom by season 5

Lol that's for sure. One of the character's even says how their group is so incestuous.

Fast Times and Dazed and Confused capture the vibe of an era that is very rare.

The Breakfast Club captures the 80s, but it's practically 95% drama.

The attempts at comedy date it the most, and there aren't many funny moments.

I'm a boomer. I saw it on tv and it was cringe-making.

When I was in HS the only clique was the jock/cheerleader clique. They thought they were hot shit but nobody really cared. Funny thing, none of the jocks amounted to much but the cheerleaders all had great lives. Movie producer, pediatrician at a world renowned institution, business owners, CFO.

Shows you how much "pretty" matters. Many smart, plain or ugly girls went nowhere. It was a catholic school, so females were at a disadvantage to start with, as they were viewed as future breeders.

One thing I was grateful for -- since everyone wore a uniform, fashion meant nothing. You could be rich or poor, nobody knew the difference. You had to make yourself known as the person inside of you. Clothes, shoes, coifs were meaningless.

We had a guy 6'3 who wrestled at 167 - he was a serious jock - played football and was very good. He had to cut almost 40 pounds to make weight - he was always running in the halls in plastics - the bloody nose stuff from malnutrition was real. The guys on the larger end of the weight classes very often played football as well as Wrestled. Our Running Back also cut extreme weight to wrestle at 145. Basketball players were the goofy guys with long arms - the Football/Wrestlers where the guys you didn't want to mess with. I don't think they allow the drastic weight loss anymore. We had many jocks in my North Suburban Chicago High School that were in 3 sports, one for each season. When you got into that elite, elite level athlete that was State Champion or going to get a Major Scholarship ride for his Football - often times yes, they had to stay just one sport. We had some pretty good years, in both Football and Wrestling, we won our County - but we never had a State Champion - sigh to go back to those days - I would have slept with all of them.

Grew up in NJ and was in high school from 1979 to 1983. I was 5'7" as a senior when I had shoes on. I was average or tall for a wrestler. There was little crossover between football and wrestling. The sports were cross country (fall), wrestling (winter) and track or baseball (spring). Wrestlers are probably the best runners. We used to run laps around the football and basketball team.

Whoever mentioned the farmboys was totally correct. They were the toughest competitors.

Even toddlers share their toys in Europe and NEVER cry! I can't believe the United States. We're nothing like this.

I went to public schools in New England. Our schools were actually much better than any of the local private schools, so we had a mix of wealthy along with poor and everything in between students (my family was solidly working class). Wealth didn't have so much to do with popularity--most of the really wealthy kids were popular, but lots of not-at-all-wealthy students were as well. My hometown is a beach town with a lot of mingling between wealthy and not, so that just wasn't as big a deal. Lots of really smart/gifted kids were popular also--we seemed to draw a distinction between smart vs. geeky/nerd. Drinking/pot was also a big equalizer--lots of mingling between different social classes just because of mutual love of weed and who could get it. As in, if you were a geek who could score good weed, that bumped you way up in status. Looks were a really big deal, but not across the board. You could be an ugly jock, but if you were just smart and ugly, you were automatically a geek/nerd/loser.

Sports were also a big deal, but the big sports were football, soccer and basketball for boys (baseball to a lesser extent); track, basketball and soccer for girls. And my schools were just as nasty and cliquish as depicted in The Breakfast Club and Welcome to the Dollhouse, the difference was just in how the lines were drawn. I think junior high and the first couple years of high school were the worst. The last couple years I at least was just focused on getting the fuck out. I was moderately popular and elite college bound, and I was fed up with the bullshit by 9th or 10th grade.

I never bought Molly Ringwald as the hot popular girl, and it's interesting she pushed to play that role instead of the Ally Sheedy part intended for her.

I tried to watch "The Breakfast Club" a long time ago. I didn't get all the way through it. I thought: "THIS is what all the big deal is about?" I thought it was fake and stupid.

One critic zeroed in on Ally Sheedy's character, "the basket case." He said she was much more interesting before she had her "makeover", which turns her into a bland, generic teenage girl. He said he wished she had stayed true to her original self, instead of conforming in order to "fit in." I agreed with that and I also thought it was pretty stupid that all that was needed for her personality change was to get a new hairdo and wear a different makeup look. And voila, as soon as she makes those lame changes the jock falls in love with her! "I don't want to be alone anymore." "You don't have to be." GAG.

Anyway, I'm not a fan of TBC. I'm not a fan of any of those ridiculous teen/young adult movies from the eighties: "Sixteen Candles", "Pretty In Pink", "Some Kind of Wonderful", "St. Elmo's Fire", "Ferris Bueller's Day Off", etc. They all belong in a time capsule for the eighties. "

Barf - Ally Sheedy was far more appealing pre-makeover minus the dandruff of course. I rarely could connect with her as an actress. She is one of those actors who should forever be thanking her lucky stars for her success. I am perplexed.

Ally Sheedy would be perfect for any number of shows in the Peak Television era, as just sort of a mediocre actor playing a character in a good but not great show. There's lots of those opportunities now.

I don't see what was so not beautiful about Molly. She was tall and lean with porcelain skin, stylishly-cut hair and the kind of bee stung lips that Kylie Jenner and many other women pay for. I totally bought her as the princess.

I think she's pretty in an unusual way, but doubt that high school boys like Judd Nelson, James Spader and Michael Schoeffling would leave their girlfriends for her, especially the blonde haired, big titted ones.

R210 I don't know.

I was 14 in 1984. I had to go to summer school to take Spanish. It was a school across town, and I was put at a table with a burn-out and a jock, and a slut-girl. We all actually wound up all bonding that summer. We found each other fascinating. I enjoyed them more than my "regular" friends, though we never saw each other outside of that school.

Breakfast Club was totally plausible in that regard to me.

I'm 35 and still love this movie.

I think it remains popular because the archetypes presented are relatable to both kids and adults.

It's also hopeful in a way many wish their lives in high school had been.

The color scheme of Claire's ensemble - the mauve/beige/coral color story she had going on in that film - reminds me of the very first Banana Republic catalogs I ever saw in the late 1980's. Warms my heart.

I alway found the overall tone of TBC to be a bit dour.

I wanted Brian to become Claire’s clique-shattering love interest at the end of the movie, rather than Bender. Those two characters had a deeper & subtler chemistry that went beyond pigtail-pulling.

Molly even lobbied for Claire/Brian, as she & A-MH were real-life (albeit tentative) sweethearts at the time of filming. Ringwald might have been a spoiled diva back then as well as a limited actress, but she knew her roles and understood how crucial chemistry is to drama. Her instinct was correct and would have improved the film no end, had Hughes listened to her.

It must have been strange for Molly to have to pick on her boyfriend at work.

All of these students would stare at their phones ignoring each other today.

I think it's still a good movie. A bit dated, of course, but not too much.

To me, Fast Times has aged better. It kinda had a more timeless feel to it. The hairdos and fashions of the 80's had yet to reach the outlandish excesses that they would a few years later.

Robert downey sucked so much cock on the set, and off, they had to shut down for a few days while his cumwad filled tummy went bak to normal..

R279 considering he wasn't even in the movie, what are you talking about?

R277 Yep and I think that is why so many of the 80s teen movies remain popular because it shows teens actually interacting with each other and not looking down and starring at a phone.

Ferries Mueller is a great movie and so is Risky Business. There were a lot if teen movies that were great in the 80s.

I saw it in the theaters when I was a senior in high school and I hated Molly Ringwald in that part back then because I thought she wasn't attractive enough to play the cool/popular girl. She was great in 16 Candles though.