Popcorn Favorites 10.16.02: The Breakfast Club
Posted by Chris Williams on 10.16.2002
Don't you forget about me!
A naked blonde walks into a bar with a poodle under one arm, and a two-foot salami under the other. The bartender says, I guess you won't be needing a drink. Naked lady says...[Falls through ceiling] Oh shit! -John Bender
I'm your usher, Chris Williams, and this is Popcorn Favorites. Each week I'll be taking a look at a movie from my own library to either expound on its greatness or decry its utter horridness, and having some fun along the way. The column is broken up into three sections: 1) The Previews, which will be a rant pertaining to the film in question or the movie industry in general, 2) The Feature Presentation, the review itself, and 3) The Credits, featuring trivia on the film and other assorted things.
So let's dim the lights, start the projector, and start this week's special screening. In order to fully enjoy this review, please refrain from talking, deposit all trash in the appropriate receptacle, and make sure to stop by the concession stand for goodies!
The Previews
What happened to the days when a movie that fit into the "teen genre" didn't have to have an American Pie cast member in it? Or Freddie Prinze Jr.? Or both!?! Hey, I like a good comedy as much as anyone, but for every American Pie, there's a demonspawn like Loser to destroy any goodwill I might have. Don't even get me started on Crossroads, although I will admit that I enjoyed that film a lot more than I thought I would.
So why are teen movies generally so awful these days? Simple: nobody's pissed anymore! Where's Jonathan Moxen spiraling a football into his dad's nose for shits and giggles, or John Bender ranting about his abusive father? The deepest angst you'll find these days are things like "My dad wants me to attend a college I don't want to go!" or "You stole my girlfriend/boyfriend, you slut/asshole!".
Really! The youth of today is all sorts of pissed off, full of spite and rebellion, yet we get characters more shallow than a kiddie pool, and plots that are just as deep. The media is in full "bubblegum" mode, and shows no signs of slowing down. That's fine for making money, which is of course the big picture (no pun intended) in Hollywood, but it's really starting to suck as it pertains to quality.
The Feature Presentation
But it hasn't always been that way! In the 1980's, a director by the name of John Hughes made a series of teen movies that were not only highly successful, but great entertainment as well. His crowning achievement was 1985's The Breakfast Club, featuring several members of the (in)famous Brat Pack: Judd Nelson (John Bender-The Criminal), Anthony Michael Hall (Brian Johnson-The Brain), Ally Sheedy (Allison Reynolds-The Basket Case), Emilio Estevez (Andrew Clarke-The Athlete), and of course, Molly Ringwald (Claire Standish-The Princess).
These five students of Shermer High School all end up in detention one Saturday morning, and do everything in their power to annoy their monitor (Paul Gleason as the unforgettable Richard Vernon) and avoid boredom. The stereotypical personality of each character is established immediately, and if this film were made today, that's where it would stop. That's the thing that makes this movie so great: character development. Nobody in the film is one dimensional (Not even the former "Man Of The Year" janitor!) and while their basic personality stays true, it turns out that they all have a lot more in common than they thought.
The bond that ties them together is that none of them feel like they're good enough for the rest of the world, especially their parents, which naturally leads to anger. Like I said before, nobody's pissed these days, but these five sure were! What's really neat to see is that each of them has their own distinct reason as to why they feel like a failure, and while one reason may be incredulous to the other characters, it's truly and wholly believeable to the character him/herself. It also allows for a broad range of audience members to identify with the film, since it's not just one main character going through a problem.
Another interesting thing to watch is the interaction between the characters themselves, since they're all from very different backgrounds. They argue with each other, share a joint, cover for each other to piss off Vernon, and they all manage to come together in the end. The ending was a bit hokey, with everyone pairing off into couples except for poor Brian, which only reinforced the Hollywood standard that "Bad boys and jocks rule, the brains are left behind". Other than that, there are some very deep scenes, including Bender's memorable rant about his nightmare of a home life, and the scene where they all reveal why exactly they are in detention.
Basically, this film DEFINED the "teen movie" genre, and rightfully so. With characters that appealed to teenagers everywhere, a classic antagonist, and an ending that basically blows off steam and shows that you never really know a person until you talk to them. Several movies since this one have tried to copy this formula, albeit some more successfully than others, but none of them have been as perfect as the original.
The Credits
Here's a few trivia bits, courtesy of IMDB.
-Ally Sheedy was originally cast as Claire.
-Emilio Estevez was set to play John Bender, but director John Hughes couldn't find anyone that was right to play Andrew Clarke, so Emilio took that role instead.
-Speaking of Hughes, he has a cameo at the end of the film as Brian's father.
-There were plans to have several sequels to this film, where the gang would get back together every ten years.
-The famous joke that Bender tells while crawling through the ceiling (See the beginning of this column) actually had no punchline, and was ad-libbed by Judd Nelson.
Just a few things that you may not have known about this classic film.
I had plans to review a film of similar nature next week (i.e.-teen movie), but have since decided against it. So just for fun, here are my top five reccomendations in this genre.
5)Not Another Teen Movie-If only because it pays tribute to all the great 80's teen movies, including Breakfast Club.
4)Some Kind Of Wonderful-The model for all "Bestfriend Is In Love With His/Her Bestfriend But Bestfriend Doesn't Know It" movies, and yes, there are a lot of them.
3)St. Elmo's Fire-More of a grown-up version of Breakfast Club, and features some of the same actors/actresses to boot.
2)Varsity Blues-I'm sure I'll get a lot of flack for having this one so high, but really, it's the best teen movie of the 90's, so blah.
1)Say Anything-John Cusak RULES IT BABY! If you don't get a lump in your throat during the "Radio Above The Head" scene, then you are SOULESS!
Next week, the series that defined a completely different genre: the mismatched buddy cops! Here's a hint for those who can't figure out the painfully obvious:
We both know why I was transferred. Everyone thinks I'm suicidal, in which case, I'm fucked and nobody wants to work with me; or they think I'm faking to draw a psycho pension, in which case, I'm fucked and nobody wants to work with me. Basically, I'm fucked.
