Breakfast Club, The

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At one point in his career, John Hughes was on one incredible streak. In three years, the writer/director directed four of the most beloved comedies from the Eighties. "Sixteen Candles," "The Breakfast Club," "Weird Science" and "Ferris Bueller´s Day Off" were all created under the guidance of a man whose resume is even more impressive when you take into account many of the other films where Hughes has only a writer´s credit. Those films include "National Lampoon´s Christmas Vacation," "Home Alone," "Uncle Buck," "Beethoven," "Pretty in Pink" and a number of others. When it came to comedy, John Hughes owned the Eighties and "The Breakfast Club" is perhaps the most beloved created by the writer/director.

Reaching out to the stereotypes that were prevalent in high school society during the decade, "The Breakfast Club" meant something to almost every student who paid witness to the classic comedy. The sports jock, the geek, the shop student and the alternative student were all represented in a manner where almost everybody can attach a name and a face to somebody they knew during high school that resembled practically every character in the film. High school can be a difficult and trying time, as teenagers try to find themselves and their place in the world. It is an environment filled with cliques and social classes that attempt to pull those finding themselves in various directions.

Most of these cliques do not mix well with others. The "Shop Class" kids were the headbangers. They smoked and wore heavy metal t-shirts. The jocks had money and were popular because they wore a varsity sweater. The geeks and nerds were not as attractive as the jocks and the preppies, and their clothing fit function rather than fashion. They were outsiders to others. The alternative kids or skaters played to their own tune. They were considered strange because of their long hair and chains. It was not cool to hang out with kids of another clique and in some cases, you were ridiculed or insulted based upon which clique you belonged in. It didn´t matter if two kids were very similar and had similar interests, if they were in different social groups, they weren´t going to be friends.

In "The Breakfast Club," John Hughes takes a hard look at these cliques and uses his storytelling hammer to shatter them and bring them down. Andy Clark (Emilio Estevez) is the good looking jock who gets the girls and is overly popular. Brian Johnson (Anthony Michael Hall) is the quiet, nerdy type who dresses cleanly and is quiet. He gets the grades, but not much respect from others. John Bender (Judd Nelson) is the troubled head banger who wears tattered clothes and is considered to be a criminal. Allison Reynolds (Ally Sheedy) is the alternative girl who wears dark clothes and makeup and doesn´t talk much to others. Claire Standish is the preppy girl who is pretty, but is considered to be better than everybody because of her rich looking attire and snobbish attitude.

The stereotypical students are brought together one Saturday during an in-school detention session under the watchful eye of Principal Vernon (Paul Gleason). Pulled into the library at 7am, these five students were complete strangers and had very little to say to each other, aside from hurtful and nasty comments based upon their social grouping they held in school. Slowly, they started to learn more about each other and discovered that the clothing they wore and the friends they kept had nothing to do with who they actually were and that down deep, they all had things in common and ultimately found a true friendship. They learned how wrong their stereotypes were about one another.

This is the ultimate High School film. The entire setting is a high school that is shut down for a Saturday and only populated by the five students, their principal and a school janitor. No time is spent in classrooms, or during busy hallways. But in the five main characters, John Hughes has perfectly nailed the notion of social cliques. I have friends that were in different social groupings, some that I had known since kindergarten, but others I have made since graduating. During high school, I found myself segregated at times based upon those I hung out with. When I watch "The Breakfast Club," I can easily attach more than one face to each and every character. The behaviors that each character had during the first half of the film also matched those that I have known from my personal experiences. These social cliques truly are one of the most difficult and trying aspects for many students during their high school experiences and John Hughes has done an absolutely amazing job at building them up and bringing them down.

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