Buttmunker

I mean, aside from some of the cringe-worthy, corny camp they displayed, I don't buy this anymore.

For all the heart these five kids displayed in a mere eight hours of forced encampment in the school library - shoot, you don't get from "here" to "there" in a whole year of high school, let alone one full day! I mean, you take a guy like Bender - who hates everyone, including himself. You think he's just going to be buddy-buddy by lunch-time?

You take a wimp like Brian - in reality, when he opened up, they all would have told him that nobody gave a tin whistle what he thought. Would they be friends on Monday? Hell-freakin'-no.

I can see if these kids were lost in the wilderness together, or stranded on a mountaintop, or even stuck in the school for a full week without outside interference. Frankly, the whole premise rots.

Be that as it may, I bought it when I first saw it as a teen. I bought it when I saw bits and pieces on TV through the years. But I got tired of waiting for the "complete" film (since Hughes died, and he had the only copy, and even when he was alive he didn't know what became of said copy, figured it's gone for good) to emerge onto DVD, I bought it over this weekend. And watched it in one complete sitting, and was amazed at how "not good" this film was.

Then, when viewing some of the scenes I never DID see on TV due to content (droogs), I thought it made the movie quite campy. The scene with Emilio ("Andrew") Estevez smoking pot, doing his dance through the library, ending with him behind a glass door and his primal yell (of teenage angst, no doubt) shattered the glass.

I think that John Hughes probably wanted to make a "commentary" on 80's kids - the five distinct roles kids fall into (Jock, nerd, outcast, rebel, popular), and on that level, he succeeded.

But between them blasting the music, running around the halls with that ass Vernon in the same vicinity...kind of defeats the purpose.

Numanoid

It was all a dream. Dreamt by a dog. After getting ahold of some bad Purina. The clues are all there, you just have to know where to look.

Dr. DVD

This movie was a work of fiction, for the record.

Groucho

I think you need to lay off the "new post" button for a while, friendo.

Supermallet

I had actually never seen the movie until a few weeks ago, and I think it has some stellar moments, but overall has not aged well. Of course, "Don't You Forget About Me" is as good as it ever was, but for all the film's influence, it's actually often hamfisted and on the nose. I love the look of the library, though.

Hiro11

On the other hand, "Sixteen Candles" hasn't aged a day. This is particularly true in its portrayal of Chinese people, "ethnic" fiancees and Jake's classy, gentlemanly handling of a helplessly drunk girl.

riotinmyskull

coli

Alot of teen movies don't age well simply because we aren't teens anymore. I was in junior high when Breakfast Club came out, so the movie was speaking to me on one level or another. Now I watch it and I could give two shits about someones problems with their parents, or trying to fit into a certain group anymore. The only teen movie that really holds up well years later is Fast Times at Ridgemont High, and that is because it wasn't preachy like the Breakfast Club was.

In saying that, the first 40 minutes of Breakfast Club is still hysterical with Bender stealing every scene. Once they start talking about their problems and start dancing in the library is when the movie loses steam. And I always hated that Molly Ringwald fell for Judd Nelson, and Emilio and Ally Sheedy hooked up too, they should have walked out of that school the same way they walked in, because NO way would any of them changed on Monday morning in school to each other.

hasslein

I've never thought any of John Hughes films were very good, maybe Planes, Trains... I've never seen any of them more than once...

Poink

I find it nigh impossible that you lived through the 80s and 90s without seeing Ferris Bueller's Day Off at LEAST two or three times, whether it be by choice or not.

Seriously, maybe it was just in my small corner of the world (Chicago, makes sense I suppose), but that movie seemed unavoidable until about 1996. I swear HBO showed it at least twice a day for a few years, as well as other cable channels and major networks.

Anyways, I have no opinion about The Breakfast Club.

Brent L

I watched The Breakfast Club while flipping through and saw it on HBO or Starz or something. I didn't plan on it, but I ended up watching all of it. I think it's every bit as good as the first time I saw it.

Hokeyboy

You do realize that the movie is not striving to be some kind of realistic depiction of Saturday detention, right? Just a commentary on 80s teen angst. Well, teen angst overall really. I still love the movie, flaws and all. But come on: when's the LAST time you saw someone get baked off their ass and start doing varsity-level gymnastics around a library? Getting baked and forgetting to do varsity-level gymnastics around a library would have been more realistic.

And Ali Sheedy was 100X hotter BEFORE Molly Ringwald butchered her with that "makeover".

Josh-da-man

Do schools really do Saturday detentions?

While the movie is often heavy-handed and stilted, there is a certain grain of truth in there that once you pull someone out of their peer group (like the jocks, the burnouts, the populars, etc) they will act differently than they do around their friends.

resinrats

My school never had saturday detentions. Not after-school detention. Detentions were during lunch & during your free period. They staggered the hours of that throughout the week so every period had a detention availible at least once a week. They did have in-school detention where kids would spend the whole day in detention. You really had to f-up for that.

I've never seen Breakfast Club other than on TV (edited & altered swearing). I should get around to renting it to see the entire thing one of these days.

anomynous

Yep, my high school did.

hasslein

I never had cable.

dolphinboy

I don't believe we had after school and I know we didn't have Saturday detentions either. I still like the film, but it's definitely not one of my favorite films. I like Sixteen Candles more and I'm a guy.

wm lopez

If that movie were made today it would be a all Mexican cast since Chicago suburb's high schools are mostly Mexican now. What teen movie isn't dated? Teen life follows pop culture so what was cool 4 years ago is not anymore to them.

shaun3000

Only Mexicans go to high school in Chicago?

fmian

wm lopez

It seems like just about in every suburb here in Illinios it does. Big change in the suburbs these past 20 years.

Jaymole

The OP seems to be stuck in the 80's

LiquidSky

Agreed. I loved the film when I was younger. Now that I'm 47, most of it seems corny to me. I still love the songs. My favorite character was Ally Sheedy.

Buttmunker

And shouldn't Vernon have seated himself in the same room as the kids? It's a plot device to have him allllllll the way across the hall, there, and the fact that the big door was closed due to John Bender's having taken the screws out...well, you'd think Vernon would get a clue and sit right next to Bender for the remainder of the day.

Of course, that would seem like too much being in detention himself, so he chose to visit the basement and have beers with the janitor.

Buttmunker

I'm not your friendo, buddy!

--"and I'm not your buddy, pal!"

And I'm not your pal, friendo!