'Breakfast Club' brings high school memories
By Don Strausburger
Thoughts of movies about
teens and for teens bring to
mind few positive outcomes.
Most people immediately think
of films like "Hardbodies" and
others of that genre.
As a result, when a good teen
film is released, few people pay
any attention, or consider see
ing it.
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"The Breakfast Club" is an
exception to the teen standard
-- one which teens of all ages
should see.
The film, which is the second
part of a high-school trilogy by
John Hughes, shows how five
high school students learn to
look outside of the peer groups
of which they are a part. In
looking outside, they both look
at other peer groups and are
NITE
given an opportunity to look
back in at themselves.
The Breakfast Club consists
of five students who, for one
reason or another, must spend
a Saturday in the school library
as a form of punishment for
earlier misgivings. The five in
dividually represent on of the
five dominant types of high
school student.
Among the cast's women,
Molly Ringwald stars as Claire,
the school prom queen and
most popular student, while Al
ly ("Wargames") Sheedy plays
Allyson, an antisocial girl who
seems most interested in shock
ing anyone willing to watch or
talk to her.
The men of the cast are more
obviously stereotypical, but on
ly in what they represent.
Emilio Estevez is a super
athlete, Anthony Michael Hall,
who co-starred with Ringwald
in "Sixteen Candles," is the
school's intellectual, non
athletic type, and Judd Nelson
is the perpetual troublemaker.
Although all of the represen
tations are stereotypical, the
characters face problems that,
in this case, seem unique and
very believable. Each actor
adds a special quality to his/her
character giving reason to
believe that more occurs on the
screen than just another
performance
When Judd Nelson tells of
life in his home anger generated
by his negative attitude
becomes sympathy for his
situation.
Brian, the intellectual,
reveals that, despite his ability
to design anything, he is unable
to build from his plans.
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In general, each is perfect at
his/her own game. However,
when the "games" begin to in
teract, the individuals panic.
From their day of closed con
finement, the five go from be
ing relative strangers -- a few
have already met in school -- to
revealing intimate secrets to
each other in a candid conver
sation. The conversation is
reminiscent of group therapy
sessions ; however, no therapist
is present.
John Hughes, who both
wrote and directed this movie,
took several steps which make
the characters relative to the
problems and thoughts of high
school students.
First, instead of giving his ac
tors a detailed script to use, he
gave the five teenagers rough
outlines of the characters whom
they would portray. The roles
developed through the eyes of
the actors observing their peers
and fresh memories of their
own pasts, rather than the
glorified recollections of a
middle-aged man trying to
enlighten memories of his own
youth which usually results in
the bad teen-sex films of the last
few years.
Second, unlike many teen
oriented films, "The Breakfast
Club" does not become
burdened with scene changes.
Nearly all interaction between
the students occurs in the
library allowing audience con
centration to focus on the per
sonalities of the five rather than
where and why they go to cer
tain places.
Supporting roles in this film
are seemingly minor yet are
vitally important to the
Reagan wants ai
(continued from pg. 1)
Study programs," Martin
contends
"Roughly one million more
will be displaced by the $32,500
cap on GSLs, and another
300,000 will be affected by the
cuts in state grant programs,"
he predicts.
Congress must still review
and approve Reagan's pro
posals, or pass its own version
of the education budget.
Martin frets he and his col
understanding of the gap that
separates adults and teenagers.
Paul Gleason portrays Mr.
Vernon, an administrator who
considers himself vitally impor
tant to the operation of the
school. Because of his attitude,
he blatantly ignores the
psychology of troubled teens in
favor of preserving his own
image.
His counterpart, Carl, played
by John Kapelos, is a school
janitor who understands the
students' actions and motiva
tions, serving as a link between
Vernon and the five "delin
quents."
"The Breakfast Club" leads
the audience across an emo-
tional tightrope very slowly
and, at times, very painfully.
Memories of my high school
years became evident as the five
actors revealed the different
ways in which each one suffers
leading the audience from
knowing laughter to unsuspec
ting tears of sympathy and
understanding.
Although most people are
not exactly like any of these
characters, everyone is bound
to see himself/herself in a com
bination of these characters.
Some will even see a little of all
five wrapped up in one
personality.
"The Breakfast Club" is the
sequel to "Sixteen Candles"
and the middle offering of a
trilogy which ends next year
with a film called "Wierd
Science." With the critical suc
cess of the first two, one can
only wait for what is yet to
come.
d cut
leagues face a hard battle to
beat back the proposed cuts.
"We're in a totally different
environment this year," he ex
plains. "Last year was an elec
tion year and no one wanted to
do anything too unpopular."
This year, he says, "because
of the tremendous pressure to
control the deficit, we should
not assume that Congress will
automatically step in and
reduce the cuts."