Dear Jodie,
The Breakfast Club
came out in 1985, which was the year of my ten-year high school reunion. My
brother (nine years my junior) dragged me to see it kicking and screaming. That
being said, I walked out of it knowing I had seen a good one. Now, thirty years
later, I think it is one of the best movies ever made about school days.
John Hughes told the truth, even though that truth did not
sympathize with the teaching staff. It sympathized with the teenagers and the
intense pressures they faced every day, from home, school, and themselves.
The movie is talking heads, and pulling that off requires a
superb scrip and fabulous actors. Hughes's dialogue is first rate, particularly
his ability to capture the way teenagers speak, though I suspect he made at
least one up.
Look, I can see
you getting all bunged up for them making you wear these kinda clothes. But
face it, you're a Neo-Maxi-Zoom-Dweebie!
Yeah,
I suspect Neo-Maxi-Zoom-Dweebie is all John Hughes.
Ah,
the actors. What can I say? All were wonderful, and perfectly cast. They lit
the screen with their own particular stereotype then twisted and swirled until
they blended with each other. Molly Ringwald's and Anthony Michael Hall's stood
out for me because they were at least five years younger than the other three, but more than held their own.
And some of the dialogue was improvised by the actors. For example, Anthony Michael Hall
improvised the line …
Chick cannot
hold their smoke. That's what it is.
That's my favorite line in the movie!
There were a few things that seemed like gaffs to me. I mean, come
on … they run around the school within a few feet of Vernon and he can't hear
them? In a relatively empty school, Vernon would have been able to hear them
from a whole lot farther away. How about Claire's lunch? I like sushi, too, but I'm damn sure not going
to eat it when it's been sitting out for four hours.
Claire - Can I eat?
Bender - I don't know.
Give it a try.
But those "gaffs" really only endeared the movie
to me even more.
Speaking of lunch, how about the size of Andrew's! That would feed three hungry people.
In order for the movie to work, the teens have to have their
foil, and wasn't Paul Gleason perfect? That he played the mean, nasty assistant
principal Richard "Dick" Vernon, honestly gave serious laughs to
things like "I won't be made a fool of," when he turned around only to find the
toilet seat cover dangling from his trousers. Or Bender silently mocking him on the "I'm cracking skulls" line.
I enjoyed the scenes in the basement file area between
Vernon and Carl the Janitor. Did you notice Carl's annual picture at the beginning of the movie? We get a little more insight into Vernon's
character. I think since I was twenty-seven when the movie came out I realized
early on that Vernon didn't want to be there either. He represented what
Allison (Ally Sheedy) meant when she said, "When you grow up, your heart
dies." In his case, I think "dying" would be a better word,
because his heart was hanging on by a thread.
Love the pencil carousel!
I have to give this beautiful movie a 10 out of 10.
