I just saw this piece of garbage on AMC-what a pretentious load of balaoney. What is really hilarious-twenty-something actors trying to look like teenagers. Anyway, howdid such a pretentious movie ever get made…Judd Nelso looks like he is on some serious drugs…do highschool students have to spend Saturday mornings locked in the libraries like this? 
That’s just damn unamerican, man.
I’d send you to the damn russian commies except they ain’t anymore.
Get thee hence!
It is my contention that The Breakfast Club is the best of the 1980s-teen-angst movies which have a random musical interlude.
John Hughes was dissed by a cheerleader in 1966, and this film is his hate letter to all women.
When all else fails, Bender falls back on pushing and throwing things like a kindergartner. That was a great shot of him looking through the balcony railings. That’s where he belongs: in a playpen.
He belongs in the early sixties, when a guy with mechanic’s clothes and an attitude was all that. In the ‘80s, he would have had a scraggly mullet, a Levi’s vest, and an Iron Maiden t-shirt. He would also have been nowhere near as articulate. And Claire has a flip! That’s it: “He’s a rebel and he’ll never ever be any good…”
And he wonders why everybody doesn’t love him? “You don’t know any of my friends”—because they offer no opportunity to get to know them. “You don’t look at any of my friends”—because making eye contact with someone who walks with his fists clenched is too risky. “You wouldn’t condescend to speak to any of my friends”—About what? And why? Just to be told to f— off?
Maybe he doesn’t have any friends!
He wants to be accepted or he doesn’t? Nail polish? Don’t his women wear nail polish?
And how many of those girls, whose pictures are in his wallet, have his baby, I wonder?
I can’t speak for everyone, but when I was a teenager in the ‘80s, the student council-cheerleader-jock-and-beauty-queen types were regarded as dinosaurs. We, the so-called misfits, were ragging on them. We didn’t need them. That should have been discussed.
How is this a cross-section of American society? Everybody’s white!
Claire is the wrong target for Bender’s wrath. She’s not someone who needs to be brought down. She’s forward-looking, that’s all. She’s a lady. And she’s not really an archetypal character anyway. Why not a bouncy, perky Junior Miss type? Why only two women, for that matter? Two alpha males, one beta male, one attractive, helpless female, one oddball female. How bloody original.
Since when do teenagers wait their turn to speak?
I have never heard of an unsupervised detention. Bender in particular should not be in alone with young women. “We’ll get the prom queen impregnated?” That’s harassment, plain and simple.
Brian turns ghastly white and squeaks “That was MARIJUANA!” Apparently Hughes doesn’t know that it was guys like him—overachievers or academic puppets—who were the midnight tokers in the ‘80s. It was the best way to take the edge off.
I think this would not have found a following in subsequent generations if they saw it uncut, instead of the censored version that’s shown ad infinitum on TBS. You don’t get the full impact of Bender’s evil when you hear “fancy prom” instead of “f*cking prom”.
You don’t get over that. You remember it for the rest of your life, wishing you’d said this or said that, and telling yourself it wasn’t true what he said…but the damage is done, and you’ve lost something of yourself.
She never gets to say anything in her defense. But what is there to say? You can’t match that kind of aggression. All you get is a sore throat.
It’s not difficult to make a teenage girl cry. If he wants to prove something, why doesn’t he make something of himself? He’s a straight white male who has his health. There are a lot of people with more reason to be bitter. Imagine being disabled, for instance.
Hughes doesn’t understand women at all. Why is Claire just sitting there while Andrew tussles with Bender? Because she wants to stay out of it? Or is he trying to portray her as expecting everyone to take care of her? Or because he didn’t think to give her anything to do? It’s very disturbing, whatever the explanation is.
And when she says “Cut it out!” I get the impression that this is a familiar scene to her: people arguing and her begging them to let it go.
“Go home and cry to your daddy.” That’s how a rapist treats his victim. She looks to him for approval, and he nods. She’s learning! That’s how a battered woman acts towards her abuser: appease him at all costs and give up everything of yourself.
People: How would you feel if you were the recipient of those tirades?
I seem to remember another film where a guy without a dime to his name met a girl with beautiful red hair, designer clothes and diamond jewelry. Only he didn’t scream at her and blame her for all his problems. He let her be who she was, and she came to realize that she could be strong. Strong enough that she could lose everything she had and still survive.
And no one’s going to bring sushi to school. It would already be spoiled by noon.
It’s been too long since I’ve seen that movie.
For the first few lines, I thought Rilchiam was talking about the bending robot from Futurama.
You can’t overanalyze it like that. The movie came out at a time when the definitive teen movie was Porky’s, for God’s sake. The obligatory dance scene was thrown in to placate the studio. The rest was pure Hughes.
And I loved it. Still do. I think it’s timeless.
People who don’t like The Breakfast Club will be first against the wall when the revolution comes.
Great soundtrack, decent acting (by Estevez, of all people!), and I can watch it whenever it’s on. I just wish I’d seen it sooner.
Can’t overanalyze it? How else am I supposed to react to this epic to misogyny, which has been crammed down my throat for the last twenty years (I’m 34)? I see many, many things wrong with it, and when people say stuff like “Bender rules! Bender is the man!” I’m going to exercise my right to free speech and say, “No, he’s not: he has major issues with women, and he’s not a hero.”
I don’t see a huge difference between this movie and Porky’s. Both send the message that it’s wrong to be a virgin, that might has right, and that women can only be either whores or on a pedestal.
Well, I’m 36, so I probably saw the movie about the same time as you. I have a different take on it.
I see Bender as an abused child that will probably end up in jail because his parents have robbed him of his life. He has a few pained moments (showing the cigar burn on his arm, staring at the principal as he locks him in the closet) that show more of a side of him than just a delinquent. For me, Bender comes across as a badass because that is how he deals with his pain.
I also do not see where the movie says it is bad to be a virgin. Claire tells Brian she thinks it’s okay for a guy to be a virgin, and ends up admitting she’s a virgin, and so does Ally Sheedy’s character (her name escapes me for the moment.)
The scene at the end, when they are all talking about if they will be friends on Monday, gets me every time.
YMMV, of course. 
I didn’t catch the misgynist vibe the first time I watched it (and barring someone shackling me to a chair and peeling my eyelids open, there won’t be a second time), but I did catch the anti-nerd vibe. Five kids. Four of them get love interests, one of them gets to do five peoples’ homework. I’m supposed to see this as a good thing how? But I guess it doesn’t matter, because after all, nobody’s going to identify with the nerd :rolleyes: .
I’m sure I’ll kick myself when you tell me, but what film are you referring to?
That’s always bugged me!
Titanic.
And I know a lot of people hated it; I loved it. TEHO.
Oh, thank you, ivylass, I thought I was the only one crying at that!
Personally, I find myself to be a lot like each of these characters, so I suppose the story just hits home a lot. Besides, the movie’s stinkin’ hilarious at times.
I think the characterization of these teens may be overdramatic, but I think teens themselves can be overdramatic, and this is pretty dead on for how teens feel–especially Brian. Man, have I ever been in his shoes more than once. “You pull the trunk, and the ******* light’s supposed to come on,” indeed.
I did, for what it’s worth. Though I wouldn’t have done anyone’s homework.
Next thing you know that Wang in 16 Candles isn’t PC.
What is this world coming too?
What’s happenin’ hot stuff
/nothing
Was that a remake of SOME KIND OF WONDERFUL? because that’s the film which came to mind from your description S
Except Lea Thompson’s character wasn’t rich. I thought she was a poor kid too and wore a lot of borrowed stuff.
Whoa.
Put down the baggage, man. That was 20 years ago.
I don’t know about you, but the “overachievers or academic puppets” were not the ones smoking pot at my school in the 80’s. BC is a fun movie.
Dang, Rilchiam, this really goes to show you how different everyone’s experiences can be. I’m 37 – at the time I probably would’ve been one year older than the kids depicted in the film – and TBC was pretty much right on target as far as my school’s dynamics went. I’m also pretty much a proud feminista, and I don’t see the film’s misogyny, or the other problems as you describe 'em.
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Where is the film sending a message that being a virgin is a bad thing? At least three out of the five kids are virgins – Brian (Anthony Michael Hall), Claire (Molly Ringwald) and … um, Ally Sheedy’s character whose name I am totally blanking on. For that matter, I don’t think we ever get confirmation about Andrew’s (Emilio Estevez) sexual history, and who knows if Bender (Judd Nelson) is telling the truth? Sure, Brian is shown to be embarrassed to admit his lack of sexual activity in front of other, more popular kids, all of whom he assumes are going at it like bunnies. Hughes isn’t telling us that Brian, Claire and whatsername, Ally’s character, should be embarrassed – he’s just tellin’ it like kids see it.
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Anti-nerds? Nah. IMHO, Hughes’ “avatar” in the film is Brian – he’s the most articulate, and he writes the composition at the end, summing up the whole theme of the movie. And hey, Claire is revealed to know who Moliere is, fercrissake, so she’s a bit more of a nerd than she lets on.
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Claire’s passive reaction during the shoving contest between the guys … well, when Andrew & Bender start going at it, what’s she realistically supposed to do? Jump in and stop the fight? I dunno, I wasn’t nearly as “girly” and protected as she’s supposed to be, and I doubt I would have been as assertive as all that. Claire’s still upset and shaken by Bender’s piglike comments. Remember, we’re talking about a girl who’s probably been taught by her parents, teachers and peers that she’s a pretty Barbie doll who should shut up and go shopping if she feels upset. She doesn’t know how to stand up for herself … not yet, anyway. Although she does smack Bender a few times after he hides beneath her desk.
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Why “only” two girls? There are five main characters, so one of the genders is gonna be at a disadvantage, unless you take away one cast member or add one. I dunno, the mix seems perfectly reasonable to me. Five characters gave us enough variety of “types” without losing focus.
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The film promotes the Virgin/Slut dynamic? Buh? In general, having sex isn’t considered “slutty.” (True, Ally’s character announces that she’s “a slut” who’s slept with her psychiatrist, but that’s all part of her goth act.) Heck, the whole reason that Brian, Ally and Claire lie about their virginity is that they believe sex is something normal that everyone else is doing. Not exactly an unusual belief among teens, is it? In any event, Claire isn’t exactly chastized for being able to use her bra to put on lipstick, or for making out with Bender.
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“Bender’s the maaan!” LOL, well, I don’t know who you saw the movie with, but after seeing TBC in the theater several times (GEEK TEST!) when it came out, I never heard anyone claiming that Bender was supposed to be the hero of the film. Yeah, he gets the most snarky lines, and instigates a lot of the action & debates, but his obnoxious behavior isn’t really held up as ideal. I think we’re meant to feel sympathy for Claire and Brian when Bender goes after them so meanly. And at different times, Andrew, Claire and to a lesser extent Ally’s character (OMG WHAT IS HER NAME???) correctly call him on his “oh, I have a worse life than anyone else here!” tough guy act.
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That said, he obviously comes from a pretty fucked up family, and is treated by every adult (and probably most kids) as a likely criminal who has nothing to give to society. Don’t forget how nasty Claire and Andrew were to him at the beginning. “You don’t even count,” they basically say. Now, I’m not excusing his own meanness to Claire and the others, but I can hardly be surprised at his anger. By the end of the film, he loosens up as much as the rest of them do.
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No black kids? Definitely true. I’m trying to think which one of the kids should’ve been cast with someone of color. Brian? Nah, it would’ve been obnoxious to have a token black guy be the only one who doesn’t get a romantic interest. Bender? Yipe, no, making the thuggish/violent character black would’ve been disgustingly stereotypical. Andrew the ‘dumb jock’? Same thing. Ally, the girl who calls herself a “slut” and a “pathological liar”? I don’t think so, although it would have been awesome to see cute pretty Andrew falling for a sister.
Now, Claire could’ve safely been cast by an African American, but it wouldn’t have happened – Molly Ringwald was (justifiably) Hughes’s favorite teen actress at the time.
In any event, the movie wasn’t supposed to be a “cross section of America.” Just five teens in upper middle class 1980s suburbia. This school was almost identical to my own – and, sadly, if a huge shovel had swept down and scooped up five kids in my high school, odds are that there probably wouldn’t have been anyone of color in the batch. 
(Less than a dozen kids in my class were black.)
- Is this movie as mindless as Porky’s? I strongly disagree. The moral of the film is that it’s wrong to stereotype, and it’s good to cross “party lines” (as it were) for friendship, to look beyond the easy labels. All the kids learn this lesson – that they each have a bit of jock/thug/nerd/princess/goth inside 'em. That’s a bad thing? I know we all look at movies through our own personal lenses, but I seriously can’t imagine comparing this movie to Porky’s and other '80s teen crapfests.
Don’t get me wrong, The Breakfast Club is no brilliant piece of movie-making; it’s very “pseudo-theatrical,” has dialogue that’s often somewhat obvious/simplistic, and it’s got that dumbass music video in the middle of it. But it was one of the few attempts in the 1980s to explore some of the issues that everyday kids went through in school and their social lives. It treated the kids with respect. And? It’s still fun to watch.
I can’t believe I just analyzed The Breakfast Club.