The Breakfast Club, written and directed by John Hughes - 9.7 out of 10

The Breakfast Club, written and directed by John Hughes 
9.7 out of 10


Although in appearance this wonderful motion picture seems to be just an excellent, light comedy, it goes much further than that and it helps not only the protagonists to find who they are, but also the public, given that the questions asked on screen are thought provoking for those in the cinema halls.

The Breakfast Club is not only one of the films on The New York Times' Best 1,000 Movies Ever Made List, it is one of the 100 best,  if you ask me.
It is a Saturday and early in the morning, cars pull in front of the school and teenagers get off, with the exception of John Bender aka the impressive Judd Nelson, who came on foot and we would later see why...he has an atrocious relationship with his abusive father and a cigar burn to prove it.

Richard Vernon, who has been a teacher for more than two decades and has changed for the worse, as Carl, the janitor, remarks, tells the three boys and two girls that have been punished to spend hours on a Saturday, at school, that they would have to write an essay - not one word repeated one thousand times - on who they think they are.
In fact the film starts and ends with Simple Minds and their hit Don't You Forget About Me and the essay is read at the beginning and near the end by the 'dork' Brian Johnson, who states that the teacher has labeled and thus it seems pointless for them to answer who they think they are given that the professor considers them to be

The Princess, the Dork, the misfit,the wrestler and the criminal...the first and last are accurate, but for the others, there probably were different categorizations.

All the teenagers have issues, but the one who seems to be an outlier in the field is John Bender, who seems to be provoking first the Princess aka Claire Standish, then Andrew Clark aka Emilio Estevez.
John is willing to bet one million dollars on the virginity of Claire, who is 'pristine' and then challenges, bullying and abusing her for the norms of the present, with questions about kissing, touching and many other private, delicate aspects of her life.

Anticipating, it would seem rather bizarre, if not an oxymoron to see the two getting close to each other later, but for quite a few long minutes, the Princess is more than teased by the outre Bender, who says that she might reach higher density and after marrying, puppies would follow and he thinks she would get fat.
Andrew intervenes and warns John to let the girl alone or they would fight, he is a member of the wrestling team and both he and Claire belong to the special groups, they are the elite, the superior teenagers.

The other three do not belong with them, indeed, in one conversation about what would happen on the next Monday, if they would still be friends, The Princess is frank and declares that both her and Andrew would be embarrassed about what their long time friends would say and thus break relations with their new found mates.
Allison Reynolds is last, but not least among the group of five, and she does not say a word, for long minutes, up to the point where she is sent with Andrew to get lunch for the group.

She then claims that she drinks vodka, then she serenely maintains that in terms of sex, she has tried it all, unless it is illegal, she is absolutely a nymphomaniac and with this she puts pressure on Claire, who puts her cards on the table, only to see that she has been tricked.
Allison is actually a virgin, just like Claire, but she is also a pathological liar - like the archetype, Trump.

A disturbing revelation about Brian is brought to light, after we learn that he belongs to the Latin, physics and another club - at the end of the year, they don't drink, they dress up - and he had just had an F and this is unacceptable for both his family and himself.
It is actually such a desperate situation that he had brought a gun to school...the reason he is punished is that the gun went off in his locker and it is a flare gun.

At this, first Andrew, then others laugh, albeit it is very serious, nay, dramatic that Brian had been contemplating suicide.

The Breakfast Club is a memorable, Magnus opus.