| | | They only met once, but it changed their lives forever.|Five Strangers with Nothing in Common, Except Each Other.
Features: DVD, Dolby, Dolby Digital (5.1)
They were five students with nothing in common, faced with spending a Saturday detention together in their high school library. At 7 a.m., they had nothing to say, but by 4 p.m. they had bared their souls to each other and become good friends. John Hughes creator of the critically acclaimed Sixteen Candles, wrote, directed and produced this hilarious and often touching comedy starring Emilio Estevez, Anthony Michael Hall, Judd Nelson, Molly Ringwald and Ally Sheedy. To the outside world they were simply the Jock, the Brain, the Criminal, the Princess and the Kook, but to each other, they would always be The Breakfast Club.
"A bold experiment in the era of teen raunch movies...filled with moments of truth and perception." Leonard Maltin's Movie & Video Guide
"Perceptive and entertaining teen drama..." Find-A-Video
"Hughes shows there is a life form after teenpix. It is called goodpix." Richard Corliss, Time Magazine
"[Sixteen] Hilarious comedy of errors..." VideoHound's Golden Movie Retriever
"...a heartfelt, surprisingly experimental film...a touchstone of 80's pop culture..." Entertainment Weekly
"...lively and amusing and occasionally disconcerting in its reproduction of what life was like in the mid-to-late teens." Jay Scott, The Globe and Mail
"Hughes shows there is a life form after teenpix. It is called goodpix." Richard Corliss, Time
"From the neon-sign opening titles to the derivative angst of the dialogue, it's a touchstone of '80s pop culture..." Ty Burr, Entertainment Weekly
"...Gleason is convincing as the kind of teacher no one ever goes back to see..." USA Today
Editor's Note
When five high school students from different social groups are forced to spend a Saturday together in detention, they find themselves interacting with and understanding each other for the first time. A jock (Emilio Estevez), a criminal (Judd Nelson), a princess (Molly Ringwald), a basket case (Ally Sheedy), and a brain (Anthony Michael Hall) talk about everything from parental tension to sex to peer pressure to hurtful stereotypes while serving time. Ultimately, the five find that they may have more in common than they ever imagined and learn more about themselves as well as each other. The only question is, Will they remember what they've learned after they leave detention? Director and writer John Hughes, along with the stellar Brat Pack, cast makes this a memorable, moving film filled with believable dialogue, intelligent humor, and a sufficient dose of high school hijinx. Its timeless appeal makes this film a teen classic along with Hughes's other teen films from the 1980s: SIXTEEN CANDLES and FERRIS BUELLER'S DAY OFF. A great soundtrack features the hit "Don't You (Forget About Me)" by Simple Minds.
Plot Summary
In one of the few intelligent Brat Pack movies, five high school students are forced to spend an entire Saturday together in detention. While serving time, they slowly form friendships that could last a lifetime...or might not last until Monday morning.
| Features | Recommendations | | Audio: English DTS 5.1, Dolby Digital 5.1 | | Subtitles: English, French, Spanish | | Interactive Menus | | Scene Selection | | Theatrical Trailer | | Widescreen Version |
| Technical Info
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Release Information
| | Studio: Universal |
| Release Date: 9/1/2009 |
| Running Time: 98 minutes |
| Original Release Date: 1984 | | Catalog ID: 23156 | | UPC: 00025192315626 | | Number of Discs: 1 |
Audio & Video
| | Original Language: English | | Available Audio Tracks: English [CC], English | | Available Subtitles: French, Spanish | | Video: Color |
Aspect Ratio | | Anamorphic Widescreen 1.85:1 |
| Cast & Crew
| Memorable Quotes| "So it's sort of social----demented and sad, but social."----Bender (Judd Nelson) to Brian (Anthony Michael Hall) | | "Don't mess with the bull, young man. You'll get the horns."----Vernon (Paul Gleason) to Bender |
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| | Professional Reviews | Entertainment Weekly
"...A heartfelt, surprisingly experimental film....A touchstone of 80's pop culture..." -- Rating: B 08/07/1998 pp.80-1Total Film
"...The Brat Pack unite under '80s Teen King John Hughes..." 08/01/2003 p.128 USA Today
"...Paul Gleason is convincing as the kind of teacher no one ever goes back to see..." 09/05/2003 p.9E Empire
4 stars out of 5 -- "John Hughes' teen masterpiece remains entertaining after all these years..." 11/01/2008 p.193 James Berardinelli's ReelViews 8 of 10
The Breakfast Club is very different from almost every other entry into what was (at the time) a burgeoning genre. Instead of relying on the staples of bare flesh, crass humor, and brainless plots, this movie focuses on five dissimilar characters, is almost entirely dialogue-driven, and doesn't offer even a glimpse of a breast or buttock...eminently watchable and consistently entertaining...
ReelViews 8 of 10
One of the most consistent writer/directors to contribute to the '80s teen fad was John Hughes (the man who would later scale the heights of box-office prosperity with Home Alone). In one way or another, Hughes was responsible for the likes of Sixteen Candles, Pretty in Pink, Some Kind of Wonderful, Ferris Bueller's Day Off, and The Breakfast Club. While all of those films were a cut above the sex and booze-drenched antics of most teen comedies, The Breakfast Club was arguably the most insightful and emotionally-true of them...Few will argue that The Breakfast Club is a great film, but it has a candor that is unexpected and refreshing in a sea of too-often generic teen-themed films. The material is a little talky (albeit not in a way that will cause anyone to confuse it with something by Eric Rohmer), but it's hard not to be drawn into the world of these characters. The depiction of high school is evocative because it's so accurate (an actual suburban Illinois high school was used as the filming location). Unlike many teen films, which seem to transpire in some kid's dirty imagination, this picture, despite its occasional flights of fancy, is grounded in reality. In The Breakfast Club, Hughes has created a surprisingly enduring motion picture that is still effective 13 years after its theatrical debut. - James Berardinelli
Chicago Sun-Times 8 of 10
"The Breakfast Club" begins with an old dramatic standby. You isolate a group of people in a room, you have them talk, and eventually they exchange truths about themselves and come to new understandings...Nothing that happens in "The Breakfast Club" is all that surprising. The truths that are exchanged are more or less predictable, and the kids have fairly standard hang-ups. It comes as no surprise, for example, to learn that the jock's father is a perfectionist, or that the prom queen's parents give her material rewards but withhold their love. But "The Breakfast Club" doesn't need earthshaking revelations; it's about kids who grow willing to talk to one another, and it has a surprisingly good ear for the way they speak...The performances are wonderful, but then this is an all-star cast, as younger actors go; in addition to Hall and Ringwald from "Sixteen Candles," there's Sheedy from "War Games" and Estevez from "Repo Man." Judd Nelson is not yet as well known, but his character creates the strong center of the film; his aggression is what breaks the silence and knocks over the walls...The only weaknesses in Hughes' writing are in the adult characters: The teacher is one-dimensional and one-note, and the janitor is brought onstage with a potted philosophical talk that isn't really necessary. Typically, the kids don't pay much attention. - Roger Ebert
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