Breakfast Club, The

The Breakfast Club Movie Poster

"The only met once, but it changed their lives forever.  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.  Before the day was over, they broke the rules, bared their souls, and touched each other in a way they never dreamed possible."

The Breakfast Club was a very successful John Hughes movie released in 1985.  The movie starred Judd Nelson as John Bender the criminal hood, Emilio Estevez as Andy Clark the jock, Anthony Michael Hall as Brian Ralph Johnson the nerd, Ally Sheedy as Allison Reynolds the basket case, Molly Ringwald as Claire Standish the popular girl, and Paul Gleason as Richard Vernon the mean school principal.  It is considered by many to be one of the greatest movies to come out of the 1980’s, and another to feature the group of actors affectionately known as the “Brat Pack”.  It was well received by critics and earned over $50 million dollars on a $1 million dollar budget.

In this movie, the aforementioned group of high school students is required to serve Saturday detention in the library of their high school in suburban Chicago for various infractions.  Although they know each other from school, each is in his/her own “clique” with a different social status.  At first, they figure they have nothing in common, but by the end of the day, they are all friends.  Principal Vernon (Gleason) demands that they do not talk for the nearly 9 hours that they are to be in detention, and that they each complete a 1000 word essay describing themselves.

Regardless of the rules set forth by the principal, the group spends the day arguing, smoking dope, running around the school behind the principal’s back, and dancing.  As they talk, we learn about each one of their lives and their dark secrets.  Allison (Sheedy), for example, is a compulsive liar.  Brian (Hall) has considered killing himself over a bad grade.  Bender (Nelson) comes from an abusive home.  Regardless of their new friendships, the group is fearful that they will return to their previous cliques come Monday morning.  The essay they leave for the principal doesn’t describe who they are, but instead protests the request to describe who they are given that society has already labeled them.  Brian signs the essay “The Breakfast Club”, and the group then parts ways.