40th Anniversary of The Breakfast Club (1985) Retro Review

Welcome everyone to

Movie

Goodness where we examine life through cinema here on the KB Radio Network.

I am your host for the evening,

Kevin Reed,

and I am also super,

super excited about this episode.

I am so happy to talk about my top,

one of my top three favorite films of all time.

time.

I watched this movie when I was six,

seven years old and it has never aged.

It hasn't dated it.

Well,

it's dated,

but

I can watch it right now and still have the same joy and intrigue that I had back in 1985 when this film came out.

The date was February the

15th, 1985.

and a film was released in theaters that

I didn't know what I was going to see.

I went with my sisters.

They were older.

Like I said,

I was five,

six years old,

so I definitely didn't know what I was looking at.

But,

you know,

I wanted to see

Indiana Jones.

I wanted to see action.

I wanted to see,

you know,

some adventure films and stuff like that.

But

I went to the theater with my sister to go see a film about five teenagers who on a Saturday were stuck in detention and didn't leave a library all day long.

That was it.

There was no action set pieces.

There were no big,

gigantic,

beautiful set designs.

you know different locations that they travel through it was one simple location in a school five students and a vice principal and a janitor that's it it was seven people

in this movie and it felt like a big i don't know big budget blockbuster film and it still holds up to this very day

40 years later,

it is none other than

John Hughes,

The Breakfast Club.

The Breakfast Club is a film that,

you know,

for an era of films,

you know,

the 80s,

where it was just throw stuff against the wall,

see what stick type of error.

This is a movie that exceeds everybody's expectation.

I don't care if you were young,

old.

black white in whatever the case may be this movie touched you in some strange way and not in a strange way but it was it was just something that left an impact in some shape form or fashion i don't care if it was for the comedy i don't care if it was for the drama drama the drama aspect of it or uh one of the characters that you can relate to or a character that you

probably know,

you know,

somebody that you know.

And that was the takeaway from this film.

It was,

it was somebody,

either you or somebody you knew was stuck in that library,

was stuck in detention that day.

And so

I, I,

I just,

I couldn't believe,

you know,

when I rewatched it for this show,

how much I still enjoy this movie.

You know,

you can watch a movie 50 times.

and after a while no rather is your favorite movie or not after a while it kind of gets old you know you kind of get bored with certain scenes or like okay i know what that scene is you wish you could skip through it probably can't skip through it if you're still watching blu-rays and whatnot physical media shout

out but you know you just want to get to your favorite part because you know you

everything about this movie you can recite every line of dialogue you know what scene is coming up oh this is the part when they're running down the hallway you know or so on and so forth this movie doesn't do that this movie still right now you know even though i know what's about to happen even though i know what lines of dialogue is about to be spoken it

still keeps me interested it still keeps me intrigued you

40 years later.

This is

the sheer definition in my humble opinion of a masterpiece this was a masterpiece all from the mind of one of the greatest storytellers i think to ever be a part of the film industry this

man had his hands in some of the funniest movies of all time at least in the

80s in that era in the in the decade of the

80s

John Hughes owned that decade.

I mean,

absolutely owned it.

And before that,

you know,

you can go back before he got into film with him working at National Lampoon's at the magazine.

He wrote jokes for Rodney Dangerfield and other comedians.

He did so much in the entertainment industry.

The guy was phenomenal.

I mean,

here's just a list of some.

Well,

I'm going to list them all because all of them are.

They have classic elements to it.

If they're,

if they're not classics,

um,

Mr.

Mom,

he wrote that the national lampoons vacation.

He wrote that,

um,

16 candles.

Yes.

He wrote and directed that in the same year.

That's when we got the breakfast club.

Well,

actually 16 candles came out in 84,

uh,

This is when the breakfast club came out.

Then he also wrote.

National Lampoon's European Vacation.

Weird science.

The dumbest movie ever,

but for some strange reason,

the greatest dumb movie ever.

I don't know why.

Love that movie as well.

Pretty in Pink.

Ferris

Bueller's Day Off.

Some kind of wonderful.

Planes,

trains,

and automobiles,

which is a

Thanksgiving classic that many people religiously watch.

every year for Thanksgiving.

She's having a baby,

the great outdoors,

uncle Buck,

national lampoons,

Christmas vacation.

Get this.

He wrote a lot of people don't know this.

He wrote home alone.

Yes.

Um,

Beethoven,

uh,

home alone to

Dennis, the menace,

the movie that came out in 1993.

He wrote that as well.

The man was an icon.

he truly was an icon a legend just one of my personal heroes when it comes to film uh unfortunately he passed away at the young age of 59 in uh 2009 and man

you want to talk about just a phenomenal talent he has been uh reported on a whole bunch of uh sites and videos that i've watched about him uh documentaries i should say that he

He was so talented.

He can write a screenplay in two to three days,

a complete movie in two to three days.

To put that in perspective,

I've been trying to write a screenplay for the better part of 20 years.

I just,

it's the same story.

I've been trying to write it for 20 years and can't crack it.

He can,

he can bounce it out in two to three days.

Like it's nothing like,

okay,

there you go.

He was phenomenal.

He was a phenomenal writer.

And not to say he's super unique.

I'm pretty sure there are other writers just as talented as he is.

But the rare fact that he's able to do that,

the way he writes dialogue for different characters and keeps story beats going,

it's phenomenal.

He is sorely missed.

Sorely missed.

We don't get movies like this anymore.

He had that touch.

He truly had that touch.

But another reason we don't get movies like this anymore is because we don't get a fraction or a group of individuals that Hollywood can pick from to star in their movies.

Young actors that just,

I don't know,

ruled the cineplexes in the

80s. And we know them as the Brat.

pack even though none of them care for that turn and understandably so but there was a nickname given to these group of actors around this time and it was just i don't know i guess it was a cute little thing because it was kind of a take on

the rat pack you know from the 50s and the

60s and you know that was the group

That was the group back then that ruled the world,

you know,

with Frank Sinatra and

Dean Martin and Sammy Davis Jr.

And all them.

Yeah,

all that was good.

you know um but just the same in the 80s we had this these group of young actors that we still see on screen today or still know who they are today you know demi more she just recently just got her first academy award nomination this year with the substance and that was mind-boggling when i heard that i didn't know this was her first nomination

Because Demi Moore has been in some really good movies,

and she has done exceptionally well in those movies.

I'm a big fan of Demi Moore.

But she was a part of the Brackpad.

Emilio Estevez was part of it.

Rob Lowe.

Judd Nelson.

Andrew McCartney.

Molly Greenwald.

Anthony Michael Hall.

James Spader.

Robert Downey Jr.,

believe it or not,

was a part of that clique.

John Quire.

John Cusack,

you know,

the list goes on and on and on and on.

But it is these group,

these group of young actors that right now today are prominently fixed in Hollywood,

that these are the older guard,

as you if you can believe it or not.

You know,

when I was watching The Breakfast Club and I was looking at

Anthony Michael Hall.

and he was the youngest one in the uh cast in that film and to see him now as this old well older guy i don't want to say the man old but you know this older gentleman uh

i just saw him recently it's a trailer for something oh reacher reacher which comes out uh pretty soon uh the new season of reacher he's in it and i saw like man that's that's anthony michael hall you

You know,

and he doesn't look like himself.

He doesn't look like that cute little kid from the Breakfast Club.

But,

yeah,

it's good to see that they all still doing their thing in Hollywood,

still making a stamp in the industry.

So let's get into it.

There's no point prolonging the time.

Let's get into one of the greatest indie teen coming of age comedy dramedies or what they call now.

dramedy written produced and directed by john hughes the breakfast club a film that stars emilio estevez paul gleason uh anthony michael hall judd nelson molly reenroll and ali shirley

this film tells the story of five teenagers from different high school cliques who serve a saturday detention oversaw by their authoritarian

vice principal.

John Hughes,

he wrote this script in 1982 and he began casting the film after the release of 16 Candles in 1984.

It was released by

Universal Pictures on February the 15th,

1985.

It grossed

$51.5 million against a

$1 million budget.

And it earned acclaim from critics who considered it one of the one of Hughes most memorable and recognizable works.

In 2016,

The Breakfast Club was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being culturally,

historically significant.

The film has been considered one of the best films of the

1980s and one of the best teen films.

of all time and i can't disagree at all with none of that claim this this film does it's more than just a teen comedy you know when you think of teen comedy you think of

16 candles you know just it uh uh off the wall comedy or or uh just to keep it in john hughes world you know weird science which is just bananas out there well

crazy comedy this film has layers this film has depth this film i don't know man it you can say comedy yeah it's because there's a lot of laughs in it but it's more drama than comedy this

film tells something it has a story to tell it's deeper and it's uh it touches in and this is back in 1985 people or you can go even back

Further to 1982 when John Hughes wrote this screenplay that this film deals with mental health,

uh,

family trauma.

dealing with all that you know dealing with the bullying that goes on in schools dealing with these clicks these outside clicks you know and every all five of these characters represents the

clicks that you knew from school and now when i saw this i knew nothing of this i was barely in school you know i was barely in kindergarten maybe first grade

when i saw this so this was alien to me until they what about eight years later till i got to high school and i was like wait it's the breakfast club man that's john bender and that's uh emilio es as the best you know that's that's molly ringwald character over there they all clicked up you know in in their

force they all are represented in this one film and it's done in such a unique way that's what makes it so beautiful

It is a social experiment.

It is,

you know,

of taking these five characters,

different backgrounds,

different classes,

you know,

financial or whatever,

social,

whatever it is,

and putting them in a room and forcing them to interact with one another in the course of one day could have.

easily come off as cheesy and does this film has its cheesy moments of course it does i mean what movie don't but it's not cheesy overblown cheesy you know it's not out of the box out of the realm of possibility cheese it's 80s cheese but it's good 80s cheese it isn't spoiled it doesn't stink you

know you can actually you can actually make a grilled cheese sandwich with this cheese so it's good cheese now

let's go back to some history in this film as i said uh john hughes originally wrote this screenplay in 1982 it was originally called the lunch bunch uh but a friend of john hughes from another school had a detention class called the breakfast club and

so he decided to change the name to the breakfast club he thought that was cute and i think it was better that way i i would actually the lunch bunch wasn't bad

you know but there's something about the breakfast club that kind of it pops you know it pops with me um the casting of this film molly greenwald and anthony michael hall were both cast in

16 candles john hughes previous film and so towards the end of filming that movie john hughes asked them to be in the breakfast club hall became the first to be cast he you

he agreed to the role of the nerd uh brian uh oh it was uh brian johnson and so he he agreed um his mom and his sister have a cameo in the film they are the ones that dropped them off at the beginning of the movie and picked them up at the end from

detention that was his real life mother and sister in the car uh molly ring wall she was originally approached to play allison reynolds you

but she was ups you know she was upset by that because she wanted to play claire and so it was a kind of a back and forth with that and she eventually won john he was over and she got the role of claire when it came to the

role of allison several young actresses auditioned for that role which eventually went to ali sheedy and she nailed it she at ali sheedy

actually almost stole the movie all of nobody really i would say quote unquote stole the movie but ali shealy came very close to taking it in it being her own that's how much i enjoyed her character but you

i asked myself when i look at these names of actresses who granted at that time didn't know who they were but when you you know

think back now in hindsight you're like man that would have been interesting you had robin wright audition jodie foster audition you you know uh diane lane laura dern auditioned now

these are all academy award nominated and in one case winning actresses now and they auditioned for this role it was highly sought out um but it

eventually went to Ali Shidi and I think

I think they made the right choice there.

Emilio Escoves was originally going to play John Bender,

believe it or not.

But when John Hughes was unable to find someone to play the jock's role,

Andrew Clark,

he recast Emilio Escoves as

Andrew Clark.

One of the names considered to take the role of John Bender after they recast,

well,

moved over.

Emilio Escoves into the other role,

which as much as I love,

and I mean absolute love,

Judd Nelson,

Nicolas Cage was considered for the role of John Bender.

And once again,

you think back in your mind's eye and you're like,

my God,

that's the one role that I wouldn't mind being recast.

Everybody else fit their role.

including Judd Nelson but if they were gonna recast

Judd Nelson

Nicolas Cage as John Bender my guy that would have been bananas crazy good bananas crazy good but um it wasn't so it was narrowed down between John Cusack and

Judd Nelson at the end and of course Judd Nelson came up with the role in

I'm not mad at it.

Alan Ruck,

he also auditioned for the role.

He didn't get it,

but he did eventually get a role in a John Hughes film in

Ferris Bueller's Day Off.

John Hughes originally cast Cusack,

but he decided to replace him with Nelson before shooting began because Cusack didn't look intimidating enough for the role.

And

I can see that because I don't see...

John Cusack as I can see John Cusack as in Emilio Escoved's role but I didn't not as John Bender now

John Cusack is an amazing actor and I think he could have pulled it off but

I don't think

I just don't see it I can't picture it you know

I just can't picture it but I think he made the right choice at the in the end of it all um Rick Moranis

was originally cast as the janitor in case you don't know who rick moranis is uh honey i shrunk the kids ghostbusters yeah him he was originally cast uh but uh he had to drop out for some reason and it was eventually uh played by john caponlos

yeah he he took over the role and once again not mad at it but let's go over this cast in this film as it's portrayed as it's shown to us in all of his glory

let's start with john bender let's start with judd nelson as the one of my favorite characters in film ever john bender i caught myself many

a times throughout my

46 years on earth well going to be 46 years on earth god's fair i i found myself acting like john bender you know emulating john bender is his

his attitude his his uh personality you know because i love i love that character so much and i love judd nelson's portrayal of that character so much the fact that he brought this you know typical

80s teen rebellion you know rebellious i should say uh standing up against authority you know uh

That attitude,

I loved it.

But when you get,

at least in my case,

when I got older and started really looking at the mental aspect of it all,

what he was going through and realizing that this was all basically a cover,

you know,

to hide the pain and the depression and,

you know,

the trauma that he was going through at home with his.

father and his home life you know is is heartbreaking it is heartbreaking and i'm like well i can't act like him i didn't go through it even you know i didn't have those problems but judd nelson's performance you

know looking back at it now is so layered and you can see it now you know see this film wasn't meant for me at that age i'm i'm wise enough to constrain

you know,

see that now.

I've seen a lot of movies when I was two that I shouldn't have seen,

that I was too young to really watch.

for one and appreciate for two because my mind wasn't right i wasn't mature enough to understand what was really going on in those movies you know yeah the car and the building were blowing up and all this other stuff but you know that there

are deeper levels in film there are uh uh mental aspects that you've got to take into consideration and you know deeper levels and that's why i love film so much you know looking beyond

the performers looking past the the little veil that is put up um this film was my first exposure to it and you know i'm gonna get back to the to the uh actors but i

guess this why this film sticks out to me why this film is is is a film that i consider my favorite of all time because it even though i was too young you

to really understand i kind of understood it i really can't explain i've been trying for the past couple of days trying to figure out a way to put it in words but i really can't because it doesn't it

just doesn't come out right uh but me being six or seven years old when i saw this movie or it could have been a little older i could have been eight

I say a little older like I was about to say 12 or something,

but yeah,

it could have been eight,

but it stuck.

Everything stuck and it made sense.

It made sense that John Bender had a rough life.

I got that when I was that age.

I understood that aspect of the story.

I understood the trauma that

Andrew Clark was going through with his dad,

even though I didn't experience none of that in my house.

I understood because of the performance.

I understood what Claire was talking about,

you know,

when they was in that circle and they were opening up.

I understood all that at that age.

And that's due to the amazing performances,

the amazing script,

the amazing direction.

It was just,

like I said,

chef's kiss.

But,

yes,

Judd Nelson knocked this role out the park.

I mean,

can you find another character that's similar to John Bender in film throughout history?

You may,

for example,

one of the greatest action movies of all time was Die Hard,

is Die Hard.

John McClane is considered one of the greatest action heroes of all time.

The character John McClane,

you can pick out a John McClane in 50 other movies.

you know there is a john mclean and 50 and i'm and i'm low-balling out of this world

50 other movies with that character with those character traits you know uh you know superhero movies it doesn't make sense you know that you know that's pretty much the same formula throughout but you get the point i'm going through you

don't find another john bender a john bender that you

I mean,

like I said before,

rough on the outside,

but so damaged on the inside.

I can't I can't think of one.

Now,

they have characters like that,

but not one depicted in this matter.

As far as a teenager is concerned,

I've seen movies where older people,

middle aged people have,

you know,

have those same character traits.

But for a.

teenager to have that and we all know now that teenagers go through this actually younger than teenagers that have this character trait and this was being shown to us in 1985 that's why i kind of scratch my head when

you read the news or open uh social media and you see all of these uh uh comments and posts about the uprise and you

child trauma,

the uprising,

child mental health issue.

What uprise?

It's always been here.

At least as long as I've been on Earth,

it has always been here.

It's just now you're starting to get a little,

I guess because of the advent of social media and the interwebs,

you get more exposure to everybody else's issues.

But this has always been around.

John Hughes was trying to tell the world back in 1985.

Going back into our cast,

Molly Greenwald as Claire.

Molly Ringwald was,

I guess you can say,

the 80s crush girl.

You know,

everybody loved

Molly Ringwald.

And

I certainly did because I have a thing for redheads.

That's from birth.

I always remember loving redheads.

And so

Molly Ringwald was like the bee's knees for me.

And so

I loved her.

Loved her in this role as the...

princess you know as the the the it girl if you will in high school and we all know that it girl but once again played out so well got on the mass got on this persona like she got everything going on she got she is the queen nothing

is nothing bad other than the fact she's in detention for skipping classes but you

She she she's just untouchable.

She's the she is.

She is the first daughter,

if you will.

She everything is going right in life.

She has the look.

She has money.

She she's

I mean,

men won't have women want to be here.

You know what I'm saying?

But we find out as this movie goes on,

as we start stripping down the layers,

we notice that she's damaged on the inside.

The pressure that.

young ladies around that age and even when they get older the pressure to look a certain way to act a certain way to present themselves in a certain way all of that is there in her opening

up in that circle boy within her crying down it was oh like it was amazing uh anthony michael hall as brian johnson he was the nerd

he was he was the little geek in the group um i liked i liked him in his role he had probably the softest role and i'm saying that with all due respect it's not it is this is not a slight he

had the softest role but yet he had probably one of the most devastating if i can say that because they all go through their own thing they all have their own baggage but uh in his case

He was smart.

He had straight A student.

He's a nerd.

You know,

he's a geek.

He doesn't get into trouble.

He just goes to school,

go home and do homework and study.

Yeah,

that's it.

And it is go to bed and repeat that same routine the next day.

Nothing different.

But he messed around and got a B or C on a test.

I think it was C.

And it was so devastating because he never got a C or he could have failed.

I can't remember.

man and I just watched the movie but he didn't get an A.

He's used to getting A's and he was so depressed by that.

He was so hurt that he was going to devastate his parents with this grade that he was going to commit suicide.

He was going to kill himself at the school.

Where they flipped it and made it kind of funny that he was going to do it.

The reason he's in detention because a flare gun went off in his locker.

he was going to try to kill himself with a flare gun.

You know,

anybody would say,

you're not going to kill yourself with a flare gun.

But it was so devastating for him to have that feeling great.

And

I can understand.

You know,

I can relate to all of these characters.

That's something I should have said earlier.

I can relate to everyone.

It's like a piece of every character here.

is a part of me for one reason or other one because i love the movie other is because you can relate to them and i certainly can you know i was a nerd i was what still is let's not mistake it i'm a nerd i'm a geek but in in uh

elementary and middle school i was on honor roll you know i was in straight a's all the i was i was a beast when it came to the books but i had failed a test

And the reason I failed the test,

because I can ace a test without study.

I just knew the answer.

I always knew the answer.

Even now,

I know the answers.

But the issue was when I got to a certain grade,

I'm pretty sure y'all can relate to this.

You had to show your answer.

You had to show how you arrived at that answer.

I never could do that.

I couldn't do that.

You know,

I could if I would study,

but I didn't study.

because I knew the answers.

I felt it was a waste of time.

I just knew the answer.

And so

I turned in the test.

I was like,

yeah,

I'll ace this.

And I was right.

I got all the answers right,

but I didn't show my work.

That's what they always said.

You didn't show your work and I failed it.

And it was so devastating to me.

It just tore me up.

I turned stupid after that.

And you know,

just to try to put it plainly,

I just could not,

I could not shake it.

And I still can't to this day.

The fact that I failed.

how because i can't wrap my head around the logic that i failed a test that i got every question right on i understand that i didn't do the uh layout you know but i just could not wrap my head around and

i could never shake back from it and from that moment on my grades slipped and i to put it plainly i stopped caring i honestly i just stopped caring

because I felt I couldn't win.

And that was the start of my demise in school.

Even though I did make it past the finish line,

thank God.

But it was dragging myself.

I didn't run past the finish line.

I had to drag myself across the finish line.

But it's all on me.

You know,

I don't blame nobody.

I don't blame the school system.

teachers and all this other stuff i don't get into all that i i really i know that it was me you know but i get it i say it all that to say this i like anthony michael hall's performance as brian in

this role um ali sheedy as allison and she's the basket case or what we would consider now golf uh golf girls or whatever yeah something like that

But she's in detention just to be there.

She had nowhere to go.

She wasn't called into detention.

She's just an off.

She's just off.

She's a goofy.

You know,

she doesn't care about nothing,

you know.

So she's in there.

Ally Sheedy did a great job.

I mean,

for half the movie,

she didn't speak.

But she molded her performance through her performance.

She molded in.

You connect it with her character.

Who I left off?

Oh,

Emilio Escoves as Andrew Clark.

I mean,

it's Emilio Escoves.

He comes from royalty.

Martin Sheen is his dad.

Charlie Sheen is his brother.

The boy can act.

And he acted his behind off in this film.

I think it was the right choice switching him from

John Bender to

Andrew Clark because...

I can see him as the athlete.

He's the jock in this film and or in this situation.

And he's in detention because he taped another student's butt cheeks together.

as a hazing thing,

but something had happened like he the boy got damaged or something,

you know,

he was hairy and he kind of ripped off when they ripped off the tape.

It kind of it messed him up.

and it was devastating but he broke down his story with his dad and how his dad is you know always pressuring him to win win you know no matter what you win and you know the pressure that parents put on these kids on these young athletes and this

is the one character that i can't relate to because i never was pressured like that as far as uh uh athletics

Even though I was good at athletics,

I didn't really go at athletics as I should have because I was told I was too short by coaches.

Even though I was a beast in every sport that I played.

But

I couldn't get on the field or the court because they felt I was too short.

And they're probably right.

They're probably right.

But I see players now that play football.

That's my height.

I was...

get back to the movie but i gotta tell this because it's it's still to this day kills me if you're into football and you know players and whatnot there's a player that used to uh play for the new orleans saints years ago called uh his name is darren sproles darren sproles was a running back and

he was also a punt returner and whatnot real good player he ended up leaving the saints and going to philly i think to the eagles

other places but anyways me and my family we went out to eat one night and

My daughter had uh,

she was walking up

to the door to this restaurant and all but all who comes out the restaurant with his wife or significant other but darren sproles and darren sproles opened the door for my daughter that's cute you know and i was about to shake his hand i'm like all right who that darren sproles you know and uh then

when i got up the steps and i was level with him and i looked and i'm like two inches or three inches taller than him

My heart dropped into my stomach.

And I was like,

wait,

they told me I was too short to play football in high school.

This dude was in the NFL.

I'm taller than him.

I was devastated.

That tore me up.

To this day,

I can't believe it.

I was looking down at the floor.

I'm like,

is this unlevel or something?

Are we on a slant?

I'm like,

this can't be.

This cannot.

be accurate because he looks short on the field i knew he was short he looks short on the football field on tv but in person he's really short i'm like oh my god and if anybody knows me you know that i'm five foot nothing and so it's like how

in the world did this dude get to the nfl but my hat goes off to him i i celebrated success i'm glad but there are other players that around that height

too that had played in the NFL and it kind of makes me mad that I wasn't given the chance but that's neither here nor there but

Emilio Estevez he put in a powerful performance one of the greatest scenes in this film is the sit around therapy session that these characters have where they're opening up about their family life and what they go through the trauma they go through at home with their parents and what not

powerful performance all the way around everybody is given something to chew on everybody ate in this scene amazing scene in this film the comedy in this film was

top-notch amazing uh john bender judd nelson as this character was hilarious and he was what made his character funny

he was funny without trying to be funny he wasn't the comedian he wasn't the comic relief in this film but he was just funny and everybody had a funny little line or two they had a funny little scene or two but john

bender was funny without being funny and that's why i enjoyed his character so much the back and forth between him and the vice principal played by paul gleason he plays mr vernon man

I liked his character too,

because he,

honestly,

his portrayal of the vice principal is beat by beat a disciplinarian that I had in middle school.

They were the same person because I got in trouble a lot in middle school.

So me and him had a lot of interactions.

And so he is beat for beat with Mr.

Vernon.

And I was like,

man.

That was a Academy Award performance that wasn't recognized because he nailed it.

I don't know if Paul Gleason followed around Mr.

I can't even think his name now from my old middle school.

But,

man,

he had his whole persona down pat.

The trolling the hall scene when they were going to the locker to get the weed.

And.

I don't know,

man.

I don't know why this scene is so iconic to me.

Them just walking down the hall,

sneaking through the halls when they weren't supposed to leave out of that library.

And going on this quote unquote adventure was just an amazing scene.

And when Mr.

Vernon is he has left his office to go to the bathroom.

Now he's leaving the bathroom.

So now they got to dodge through the halls so they won't get caught.

They almost get caught and they do that power slide.

All of them do their power slide where they hit the brakes and this newly waxed floor sliding just in reverse and go back up.

The way they came was was hilarious.

And John Bender sacrificing himself in layman's terms.

So the rest of the kids can get back to the.

library without being detected was awesome

I mean think about it he he this is the most selfish at least this is what we led to believe when this film opened he's the most selfish don't care about nobody else person out of this group but he was willing to take

the hit for everybody um in order for them not to get in trouble and that was the first real crack into this character that he is not really the bad guy he is not

as bad as we thought he is yeah he he is bad you know he's he's not bad he's rebellious you know he's a teenager he's a teenage boy and so it that's what it was but it was a uh

a cool scene uh with him confronting uh mr vernon in the basketball court which led to their epic confrontation when he got back to the library and uh

adding days to his quote-unquote sentence in detention where he pretty much ended at two months I think every Saturday for the next two months he is in detention but one of the things that makes this such

an appealing film such an achievement in film was the the way that this group who when they entered this detention you

When they came to,

arrived at this school that Saturday morning,

they couldn't have been further apart from one another than they were.

You know,

they all come from different backgrounds.

They hang with different people.

But by the end of this movie,

they were the closest that you can,

the closest bond that you can think of.

And it was rightfully earned.

They weren't put together.

Just to be together for example when this film opened like every other movie trope you figured

Okay, there's three boys two girls

We see two couples coming out of this without a doubt

You know somebody's gonna be a odd man out which it in it ended up being the nerd Brian

Anthony Michael Hall's character,

but you kind of knew

who was going to end up with who but yet it flipped it see i thought that john bender would have ended ended up with allison because they're kind of compatible you know the way the movie starts and you figured that the jock would

end up with the pritzy little rich girl that makes sense right that's your normal movie trope but this movie flipped it and john bender

The criminal,

if you will,

ended up with the princess.

The athlete,

the star jock of the school,

ended up with the outsider chick.

And it was a beautiful transition into that.

It wasn't rushed.

It wasn't forced.

It was earned.

And you believe that,

you know,

you kind of felt bad for Brian because he didn't have that.

But what he did earn,

he didn't get a love.

or or or spooky but he did get a uh refresh a renewing of the mind his love for uh his academics i guess you could say if

there's anything i'm fishing i'm searching but you get where i'm coming from i thought that was very a very good uh trend breaker in film for that time

and even going forward you know now even now movies still follow the truth you know if that movie was made to date john bender would have ended up with allison and andrew would have ended up with claire and you can't tell me any anything different but john

hughes did it right he called it perfectly um the main themes of this film the main themes of this film is basically the constant struggle

the American teenager to be understood and that's the one thing that all Teenagers we've all been teenagers or if you are listening you are a teenager

You just want to be understood you feel like you're not you feel a kid feels like or a teenager

What we talked about teenagers feel like they're misunderstood by adults and they're misunderstood by

teenagers themselves like nobody understands them nobody knows where they're coming from this is a

Universal thing.

Every teenager goes through this.

Every little teenager experiences and they feel like they're the only one.

And that's what's so frustrating.

It is so frustrating because thank God my kids are out of the teenage years because it was my God.

I used to tell them all the time.

I pray that I wasn't like this.

when i was a teenager i don't remember being this depressed i mean every they always felt like nobody knows what they're going through and when you express that yes i know what you're going through no these

are different times you don't know no baby we've been through this it's the same thing it's nothing but it's nothing but a rerun it's the same thing

No,

you don't get it.

It's different times.

It's just,

oh my God,

I'm so happy it's over.

I'm so happy they grew out of that,

for the most part.

For the most part.

I mean,

it isn't like they're

30 years removed from teenagers.

They're in their early

20s. So,

it's still remnants of that dare now,

but it isn't as bad as it used to be.

But this film really does tackle the,

uh,

the struggle of that in this uh in this unique fashion and it also explores the pressure put on teenagers to fit in into their own little circles in high school social constructs you know are

you a jock are you one of the athletes are you a nerd are you in the little geek squad or the it crowd or the the outsider crew and so on and so forth you know i mean are you

where do you fit in and this is around when you're a teenager this is where you're trying to figure out who you are and to be

100% honest with you teenagers like once again if any of you are listening teenagers you really don't know who you are what you are and what you all about until you get into your 20s and

I'm talking deep into your 20s at least it was for me and a lot of people I you really don't

find yourself or know what you're all about until you get a little older.

Teenagers are just teens.

You just,

you still a kid.

You still a kid,

but we put a lot of pressure.

At least we did put a lot of pressure on ourselves when we were kids.

Uh,

as if this is it,

you know,

like friends that we find in high school.

These are our friends forever.

Be honest with yourself to my older seasoned audience here.

How many of them friends you still talk to now?

How many of those friends are still around?

I had one of my besties,

man.

I mean,

best friend to the end.

All through middle school,

all through high school.

We used to talk about when we get older,

we're gonna,

no matter what we do,

we're gonna live close to each other.

We're gonna do this,

go on vacation,

our families together and all this here,

this,

all this.

I mean,

we did.

everything together growing up don't know where he's at we're friends on facebook we see each other through facebook and every now and then we'll talk to each other on facebook but that's

it you know it's nothing we're not that close anymore and it's not that we don't like each other or we had a falling out we just grew apart you know that he went this way i went that way

And not in bad ways.

Ain't like he went down the dark path and I went to the light,

you know.

It was just he went his direction,

I went mine.

And,

you know,

he's doing good from what I can see.

So,

God bless him.

I'm happy for that,

you know.

And I think I ain't doing too bad for myself.

So,

we still good.

But we're not close like we were in high school.

And it's not just him.

A whole lot of associates that I knew in high school.

I couldn't pick them out of a lineup right now.

And they probably couldn't pick me out of a lineup right now.

You know,

it's just crazy that way.

When you're a kid,

you think you're going to be friends forever.

Just same thing.

When you find your first little love,

your first kiss,

your first rub up against your first.

Well,

you know,

you think that's the love of your life.

Y'all going to get married.

Y'all going to have about three or four puppies.

You're going to y'all just going to be together forever.

You probably don't even know where she is right now.

You probably don't know where he is right now.

Now,

there's some lucky fuse.

that survive and are still together,

i.e.

me.

You know,

I met my wife in high school.

It wasn't until the last year of high school when we finally got a class together.

And that's when we started talking.

We went through four years of high school.

Well,

three and a half,

three and a half years of high school and never said one word to each other until the last year,

senior year,

when we finally had a class together and we were sitting next to each other.

And as they say,

the rest is history.

We're still together today.

So it's rare.

It's very rare.

And now I know there are some days that she probably fears like,

my God,

I wish I would have sat on the other side of the classroom.

None of this would have.

I wouldn't have went through all this.

And I'm sorry.

I mean,

that was the only seat left.

My bad.

But in any event,

it's very rare that you get that.

But in high school,

high school is,

uh,

you think things are going to last forever.

Relationships and friends are going to last forever,

but they don't.

Um,

this,

this movie also tackled that common thought that on the surface,

students have little in common with one another.

You know,

they come from different walks of life.

They are different races,

different creeds,

different,

uh,

spiritual beliefs or none.

at all you think that they have nothing in common all of these kids all of these different personalities but eventually they bond over a common thing and in this film they bond over peer pressure and they bonded over parental experience and

by the end they were pretty much carbon copies of one another like i said to start this movie these two these five

But two,

these five characters couldn't have been more distant away from one another than,

I don't know,

a man on the moon.

But at the end of this film,

when they're walking out of detention,

walking down the hallway together,

you if you close your eyes and just listen to them talk,

they're all the same person.

And it was depicted beautifully by the fact that.

the vice principal wanted them all to write an essay on why are they here and whatever the case may be and they didn't all write it only one person wrote it but he spoke for everybody and they all had that same voice and as the voiceover is going over because brian is the one who wrote it of course because he's the nerd in the group but

when they all signed off at the end they all had their own voice and it's like you

chef's kiss and so it it did a great job of uh depicting that theme that common trope it also uh tackled stereotyping you know stereotyping was another theme

throughout this film you know once the obvious stereotypes that we touched in on they broke down the characters emphasized with one another's struggle

They dismissed some of the inaccuracies in their first impressions that,

you know,

oh,

he's a criminal.

Oh,

she's she's stuck up.

Oh,

he's just a meathead or he's just a nerd,

you know,

or she's just a goofball or whatever the case may be.

That was their first impressions.

But they discovered that they are more similar than different,

you know,

like I was saying before.

And.

I'm telling you,

this movie goes deep.

This movie goes super deep in those themes,

which is why I feel this is a perfect movie.

There are just a few movies that I would consider perfect,

that I would consider masterpieces,

that I would consider A+.

You know,

it's hard for me to think of them because there's so few.

I know...

the godfather uh back to the future and the only other one that i can lump up in that category is the breakfast club and it it really it's really funny to me that you i never hear i never hear now the

circles y'all travel in you probably hear that the breakfast club is one of the greatest movies of all time good that's good that it's getting its flowers somewhere but i don't hear it

You know,

like you hear all of these mainstream big budget movies,

these with the big stars and the big time directors and whatnot.

You know,

all those movies have their place.

All of them are great in their own way,

but.

I acknowledge the greatness of this film and what it explores and what story it is telling and how it was told in such an intelligent,

funny,

heartfelt,

tragic way.

Even

The Breakfast Club,

in my humble opinion,

is one of the greatest films of all time,

not the greatest

80s film,

not the greatest comedy,

not the greatest John Hughes film.

this is one of the greatest films of all time the breakfast club which was released in 1985 40 years ago oh my god i'm old it gets a letter grade of

an a plus great one of the greatest movies of all time and i am uh you know it this is this is the film that i can really sit back and say i was there

it's you know i've seen this in the theater there's a lot of movies that came out around this time and i didn't get to see in the theater you know like i said i was i was still still a little right you know i wasn't i wasn't i wasn't ready to get plucked off the tree but i i did manage to see some at home but as

far as the theater is concerned i've never been so happy that i went to the theater to see this uh with my sisters you know because i i had to go

you know,

I didn't ask,

I didn't ask to go,

to go see The Breakfast Club,

I didn't know what it was,

I ain't,

what is this,

but when my sisters went to the movies,

I had to go,

because I was the little brother,

and that was to keep them out of mischief,

if you will,

I was the,

I was the third wheel,

and I was happy to be the third wheel for this film,

not so much for desperately seeking Susan,

which I had to go see with my sisters.

One time in my God,

you talk about depressed.

Quick little story.

We went to go see that and I had a choice.

And I think I told this stupid story before,

but it is traumatizing.

So I got to keep it was my two sisters and my brother.

And of course,

me,

we were going to the movie.

My sisters wanted to see Desperately Seeking Susan,

which starred

Roxanne

Arquette, I think.

or Patricia,

I forgot which Arquette it was,

but anyway,

her and Madonna,

and that was the big deal,

because Madonna was in the movie,

I think this was the first movie,

and so,

it was that my brother,

of course,

did not want to see that,

and so he went to go see

Beverly Hills Cop,

and

I could have went with him,

but I chose to go with my sisters,

because my sisters,

they had a good batting average around that time like i said it was uh the breakfast club i think we had went to go see uh they took me to go see et they took me to go see um a short circuit around this time this was all around this time and so i'm like well they

haven't been wrong before i'm gonna go with them i don't know anything about bibbler hill's cop you know he can go by itself biggest mistake of my life

That was the worst.

That was the first worst experience I ever had at a movie theater.

Like,

man,

this movie is so stupid.

And I still feel that way to this day.

I have yet,

and honest to God,

true,

I have yet to watch that movie again.

That's how bad it was for me.

Whenever that movie came out,

I don't even remember the date,

but it had to be around 84.

It had to be around this time because it was about 84,

85,

because Beverly Hills Cop.

came out in 84.

so it had to be around this time but anyways they redeemed it with the breakfast club but i would like to know do you remember the breakfast club how did you feel about it do you hold hold it in as high esteem that i do or

do you feel it was all right it was just a 80s movie i mean look film is subjective i'm not i don't expect everybody to love this movie like i do

But

I expect some of y'all to.

I would love to know your thoughts.

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to movie goodness here on the kb radio network everybody thank you for joining me as we celebrated the 40th anniversary of the breakfast club everybody i want you all to know that i love you continue to love everyone and don't you forget

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40th Anniversary of The Breakfast Club (1985) Retro Review

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