Movie Monday: The Breakfast Club

The Breakfast Club, 1985. Starring Judd Nelson, Molly Ringwald, Anthony Michael Hall, Emilio Estevez, Ally Sheddy, Paul Gleason. (Director: John Hughes)

Plot: In John Hughes’ seminal 1980s Brat Pack film, the jock (Estevez), the brain (Hall), the criminal (Nelson), the princess (Ringwald) and the basket case (Sheedy) break through the strict social barriers of high school during an afternoon of detention. The disparate group clashes at first, but they begin to bond as they reveal their feelings and find a common enemy in their insecure principal (Gleason).

Trivia & Scene's!

Emilio Estevez was originally going to play Bender, but Hughes couldn't find someone to play Andrew Clark so Emilio agreed to play Clark.

Molly Ringwald really wanted to play Allison but Ally Sheedy had already been promised the part.

Anthony Michael Hall's mother and younger sister play his character Brian's mother and sister in the movie.

The library in which this movie takes place was actually constructed in the gymnasium of Maine North High School specifically for the film. The school closed down in 1982, two years before filming began. The building had been used for park district purposes and the Chicago Blitz before the Illinois state police bought it, turning it into a police station, which it still is to this day.

The joke that Bender tells but never finishes (while crawling through the ceiling) actually has no punchline. According to Judd Nelson, he ad-libbed the line. Originally, he was supposed to tell a joke that would end when he came back into the library and said, "Forgot my pencil", but no one could come up with a joke for that punchline.

Director John Hughes actually attended Glenbrook North High School, one of the schools where the movie was filmed.

The film's title comes from the nickname invented by students and staff for detention at New Trier High School, the school attended by the son of one of John Hughes' friends. Thus, those who were sent to detention were designated members of "The Breakfast Club". "The Breakfast Club" at that school probably took its name in turn from the title of American radio's longest running network entertainment show, broadcast from Chicago, 1933 to 1968.

The Director John Hughes appears as Brian's father, who picks him up at the end of the film.

Most teenage movies that John Hughes has written are also take place in Shermer Illinois and involve a Shermer High School. Weird Science (1985), written by Hughes and also starring Anthony Michael Hall, also takes place in Shermer.

Nicolas Cage was originally considered for the role of John Bender but the production couldn't afford his salary at the time. John Cusack was originally cast as John Bender, but John Hughes decided to replace him with Judd Nelson before shooting began.

John Hughes wrote the screenplay to this movie in just two days (4 and 5 July 1982).

The scene in which all characters sit in a circle on the floor in the library and tell stories about why they were in detention was not scripted. John Hughes told them all to ad-lib.

The dandruff that Allison shakes onto her penciled drawing for snow was achieved by sprinkling Parmesan cheese.

John Hughes almost fired Judd Nelson because of his negative attitude towards Molly Ringwald off camera. Paul Gleason convinced Hughes that Nelson was a great actor and was merely trying to stay in character.

Ranked at #1 for Entertaiment Weekly's 50 Best High School Movies (2006).

Any hope of a sequel to "The Breakfast Club" was basically dashed due to the volatile relationship between John Hughes and Judd Nelson. John Hughes has stated that he would never work with Nelson again. Also, it is unclear whether or not Hughes still holds ill-will against his oft-cast starlet, Molly Ringwald. They had a falling out in the late eighties after Ringwald decided to move on from the teen film genre to pursue more adult roles, thus severing her relationship with Hughes.

At the time of shooting, Molly Ringwald and Anthony Michael Hall were the only Breakfast Club members of high school age, both being 16. Emilio Estevez and Ally Sheedy both were 22, and Judd Nelson was 25.

The following are the reasons each character is in detention on Saturday: - Bender: pulls a false fire alarm - Brian: flare gun goes off in his locker - Andy (Andrew): tapes a guy's butt cheeks together in the locker room - Claire: ditches class to go shopping - Allison: didn't do anything, she didn't have anything better to do on a Saturday