The Breakfast Club

In their very first episode, Anna and Derek discuss one of writer-director-producer John Hughes' most iconic '80s teen films, The Breakfast Club (1985).

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Anna Keizer and Derek Dehanke are the co-hosts of ‘80s Movie Montage. The idea for the podcast came when they realized just how much they talk – a lot – when watching films from their favorite cinematic era. Their wedding theme was “a light nod to the ‘80s,” so there’s that, too. Both hail from the Midwest but have called Los Angeles home for several years now. Anna is a writer who received her B.A. in Film/Video from Columbia College Chicago and M.A. in Film Studies from Chapman University. Her dark comedy short She Had It Coming was an Official Selection of 25 film festivals with several awards won for it among them. Derek is an attorney who also likes movies. It is a point of pride that most of their podcast episodes are longer than the movies they cover. 

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:08

Hello and welcome to AD's Montage. My name is Anna Kaiser.

SPEAKER_01 0:11

And I'm Derek Dankey.

SPEAKER_00 0:12

And you are tuning in to the very first episode of our podcast. So welcome.

SPEAKER_01 0:17

Yes, welcome. Hey, did you know we're married?

SPEAKER_00 0:20

We are married. This is true. And we both just happen to love 80s movies. And so we thought we'd have a little fun with it. So thank you for coming along with us. So our very first episode. And I think, yes. And so I think that it's very fitting that we pick a very quintess quintessential. Am I saying that right?

SPEAKER_01 0:41

That's easy for you to say. If you think of 80s movies, you think of the Ross B.

SPEAKER_00 0:50

Well, actually, if you think of 80s movies, you probably think of John Hughes.

SPEAKER_01 0:54

Touche.

SPEAKER_00 0:55

And this falls right into what we're about to do because we're going to be covering the Breakfast Club. I don't know if you would say it's the most famous of his teen eighties films. It's certainly up there, probably side by side with Ferris Bueller's Day Off.

SPEAKER_01 1:10

It is the most famous John Hughes movie that takes place almost entirely in detention.

SPEAKER_00 1:16

That's correct. I'd agree with that. It came out SmackDab in the middle of the decade, 1985. And as we mentioned, this was the brainchild. Is that a word?

SPEAKER_01 1:28

That is totally a word.

SPEAKER_00 1:29

Okay, great. Yeah. Of John Hughes, the prolific writer, director, producer of many films, but in the 1980s in particular, he had a really successful run with teen-focused films. And again, this is one of the most popular ones. We'll just do this in alphabetical order: Emilio Estevez, Paul Gleason, Anthony Michael Hall, John Capalos, Judd Nelson, Molly Ring. That's the janitor. Okay.

unknown 1:59

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:59

And also Ellie Sheedy. If you haven't seen this film or you don't know anything about it, how have you even found this podcast? Exactly. I'm not, I mean, maybe we're educating you. That'd be awesome.

SPEAKER_01 2:13

But also, we're happy you found our podcast.

SPEAKER_00 2:15

We're really just happy you found the podcast. Uh this film is about five high school students. They're in Saturday detention, and they discover how they have a lot more in common than they thought. I pulled that straight from IMDB.

SPEAKER_01 2:28

That okay, that sounded excellent. That sounded really good. Thank you.

SPEAKER_00 2:32

Um, so why this film? Okay, so full disclaimer. Derek and I, we have a lot of 80s films that we jointly love.

SPEAKER_02 2:43

That's true.

SPEAKER_00 2:44

We also have some 80s films that maybe one of us loves more than the other. So we're taking turns.

SPEAKER_01 2:51

Are you saying you love this movie more than me?

SPEAKER_00 2:53

I think I probably do. That's accurate. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 2:56

I do. You totally do.

SPEAKER_00 2:58

So this was my pick. I chose The Breakfast Club. Um, I pretty pretty much adore John Hughes. Not that he's not without fault, um, but I really looked up to him as a kid and loved his films. So uh that's why this pick. As far as like my first memory of this film, to be honest, it's one of those films I don't remember not like I don't remember the first time I saw it, but I also don't have any memories of like not seeing it. Do you know what I mean?

SPEAKER_01 3:28

Like it's I never I definitely never saw this in the theater. I I for sure didn't, because this is like not a movie appropriate. Well, that's partly partly it. And also I don't think it's a movie where when I was younger I would have even been interested in seeing it in the theater.

SPEAKER_00 3:44

I definitely would have been interested in it. I just don't have any memory of actually going to the theater for it. But again, it's just one of those films that's just like always been in my memory.

SPEAKER_01 3:53

I think for a while there, it was probably on TBS All the time. Every day.

SPEAKER_00 3:58

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 3:58

Twice a day.

SPEAKER_00 3:59

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 3:59

And then they switched over to maybe some other movies that will also show up on our list later. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 4:04

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 4:04

Bloodsport.

SPEAKER_00 4:06

Yes, yep, that's uh the next one coming up. In any case, today's devoted to the Breakfast Club. Um, so yeah, we decided that uh even though we both are somewhat familiar with the film, um, and we're gonna do this for all of the movies that we cover, we are going to do another screening of it ahead of the podcast. So that's exactly what we did.

SPEAKER_01 4:27

Which, yeah, I this is one of those movies where I think there are a lot of movies that I've seen on um, you know, like on cable, and I've probably seen it several times if I added up all the little bits and pieces of like I'll catch a half hour here or an hour there. But last night was one of the first times in a really long time that I just watched the whole movie from start to finish.

SPEAKER_00 4:51

Actually, me too. I mean, it's definitely one of those movies where if it happens to be on TV, I just keep it on. Um another disclaimer, I have actually studied this film because it was part of what I did for a paper in in grad school. So I am familiar with the film, but it has been honestly a really long time since I have just sat down and watched it from start to finish. So it was actually kind of fun to do that and fun to do it with you.

SPEAKER_01 5:17

So let's get into the movie.

SPEAKER_00 5:18

Okay, cool. So we went over kind of the basics, um, written, directed by John Hughes. We already told you the stars.

SPEAKER_01 5:26

And let's talk about that intro.

SPEAKER_00 5:29

That intro. Um that intro, I don't think would happen today.

SPEAKER_01 5:34

Um so part of it, yeah. The the I was thinking mostly of the of that classic 80s song, Don't You Forget About Me, which is like always now I think of it, that song almost always in connection with the movie, but just hearing that song come on with the credits, you know, that first moment was really nostalgic and really cool. And then that moment kind of draws out a bit.

SPEAKER_00 5:56

Yeah, very nostalgic. I do find it really interesting that they actually bookend the film with the same song. I feel like that maybe in its own right wouldn't happen.

SPEAKER_01 6:05

I feel like no, you get the rights to one song, may as well get all that.

SPEAKER_00 6:08

Sure. And that honestly, that I mean, that's something that like as we talk about this film and other we'll we'll have other John Hughes films. Just uh disclaimer. Spoilers. Third third disclaimer. Um, that he was very much into you know the popular music of the day. Um so that was a big thing for him is incorporating that kind of music. Um, but yeah, to your point, I mean, all we're doing for like a couple minutes is looking at the opening credits with absolutely nothing to entertain, and that just like people's attention spans are just so short nowadays that I feel like that just absolutely would not happen. And then when we finally move away from the credits, we're still there's some voiceover, but we're still just seeing like these images of high school. It's a lot, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 6:53

It's a lot, it's a lot of credits, and you're you're you, you know, I think for anyone that grew up in that era, you see the director's name and you're thinking, oh my god, finally. Finally, the movie is coming up. And then uh you get some Anthony Michael Hall voiceover reading some of the essay that he will be charged with writing later in the film. Uh and you also get a very uh I don't know, I I don't want to say deep, but I'm certain it was intended to be deep.

SPEAKER_00 7:21

It could be like a I'm 14 and this is a I think it was meant very earnestly, so I don't think it was yeah.

SPEAKER_01 7:27

Well in that case, it was it it was uh this very earnest David Bowie quote that dramatically blows up blows up into like shards of glass. And then the movie starts.

SPEAKER_00 7:35

And then the movie begins.

SPEAKER_01 7:36

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 7:37

So um very much like they're setting you up for the teen inks that is to come.

SPEAKER_01 7:42

Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_00 7:43

Uh so yeah, I mean I will say that like upon seeing it for f first of all, again, once we finally get into the film, I kind of have this like nostalgia wash over me. Um but what I find really interesting about the film is now that it's like what 35-ish years later. Um it's many years old. Yeah, that it's so kind of on the nose. I mean, like literally you see each of these characters introduced and you know exactly what their role is going to be in the film.

SPEAKER_01 8:17

Yeah, and they I mean, they're spelled out. I mean, we we watched this on a a DVD copy of the film, and the title menu was literally like the athlete. Yeah. The the princess criminal, etc. Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 8:32

So I think at the time that was probably a more unique way of portraying these characters, but but now it's now it's it's very much part of this genre of teen films. So it it's just interesting to see it back in the day when really it was in its own way, I think, kind of groundbreaking.

SPEAKER_02 8:52

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 8:52

Because it it I mean, it really put a stamp on like these different types of teens. And from there, everybody else kind of copied him for a long while. I think now we're beginning to come out of that, um, especially when you see films like BookSmart.

SPEAKER_01 9:06

Yeah, BookSmart, uh, Love Simon. I think a lot of these movies are are still compared in some way at least to some of the John Hughes teen movies. Uh, certainly more so Love Simon than than BookSmart.

SPEAKER_00 9:19

But they're definitely moving beyond these like categories of you know, the basket case, the brain, the criminal, the athlete, the princess. And also, one thing that I noticed right away upon watching it is um this film's very white. Oh yeah. Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_01 9:36

Super white.

SPEAKER_00 9:38

Super white. Um, so it's great that these films decades later are thankfully and rightfully moving away from that and showing some more diversity.

SPEAKER_01 9:48

Yeah, and I mean that's there are a lot of things, a lot of aspects of a lot of older films that could be looked at through the lens of like modern cinema. Totally. And you know, I don't know that it necessarily should take away from the value of those earlier films, but there is value in acknowledging like this look how white this movie is.

SPEAKER_00 10:13

Yeah, I mean, I I'm not gonna like get into a critique of you know what was happening in the 80s versus the way that we would look at some of the choices made today.

SPEAKER_01 10:23

I mean, wait till we get to 16 candles.

SPEAKER_00 10:25

Yeah, no, no, no, totally. Um, but that being said, I think even for when it actually was made, the choice to have all five teens just be white teens was it was a deliberate choice, you know. So I don't know. Um I just found that really interesting, and that's something that like as soon as like we open, um, I noticed it. So you asked what I noticed on the opening, that's what I noticed on the opening.

SPEAKER_01 10:51

I still noticed the Bowie quote getting blown up. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 10:54

And I think another thing, so like as we move along through the film, it's interesting. I think, you know, the dialogue is there, although I read that a lot of um the scenes were actually outlived. Hughes actually gave freedom and permission to the actors to kind of um I mean, some scenes more so than others, and we'll get to that later. But um, but what I'm noticing as I'm watching it is just so much talking and not I mean it that that's kind of the whole film.

SPEAKER_01 11:26

Yeah, I think that was I mean, that's how you get into the minds of these, you know, high school students is by hearing them talk. And I think to you know, to his credit, to Hugh's credit, the dialogue, you know, I think it uh uh is at least halfway realistic or reasonable to expect these uh high school students to to talk in the way that they did, have the conversations they had. Um you see some movies where the high school students talk in in such a sophisticated way, and I think back to when I was hi in high school. No. Like nobody, nobody talked like that.

SPEAKER_00 12:05

I mean, sometimes they can do it where they're actually like poking fun at it. Like I think they do that in clueless.

SPEAKER_01 12:11

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 12:12

And so sometimes they're very like self-aware of what they're doing, and that could be really funny in its own right. But yeah, I agree with you. I do think that they, for the most part, are interacting with each other the way that real teens would, although in the cast, only two of them were actually teens. Well, sure. Yeah. I mean, and that's something that like, okay, uh virtually every movie and TV show for that matter. Um maybe they're getting more um more realistic with the casting, but at the time, only Molly Ringwald and Anthony Michael Hall were actually teenagers, and then Judd Nelson, Emilio Estevez, and Ali Sheedy were all in their 20s. Um I think Judd Nelson in particular looks totally. I mean, he looks like he's been held back like five years.

SPEAKER_01 12:56

He's been in detention for years.

SPEAKER_00 12:58

For years. Um yeah. Uh I would say that like honestly, it I hate saying this because like I do love the movie, but already within like a half hour of it, I was like, okay, come on, let's like, let's move this along.

SPEAKER_01 13:18

Yeah, the pacing of it is a little a little slow at first, but that's because you know, especially watching it for the first time, I I have really no idea what I'm supposed to get out of this or what's gonna what's gonna come out of it. So I don't know what, you know, okay, so they're in detention um and they're supposed to do nothing. Thankfully, the what's his name? Um uh Vernon principal is so far away that they're able to start talking, and then he kind of progressively gets a little bit further from the center of attention, you know, later in the movie when we get to the the point where he just has checked out so much he's in a basement drinking beer. That allows, you know, the main characters to actually have these moments where at least it kind of makes sense that they'd be able to engage in the way they are without the principal coming in and breaking it all up again.

SPEAKER_00 14:12

Actually, you know, kind of going off that, the one thing that I found really interesting upon this viewing is that obviously the film is about these five teens. But for instance, when Vernon, I mean, upon he co he goes into the library several times over, but like upon one time after he has had a pretty major um blowout with John Bender, John Nelson's character, as he's like shutting the door to the library, you hear Bender yell after him and he yells some obscenities. And they could have just stayed on Bender in that moment. Like they didn't have to actually show Vernon's reaction, but they made a choice to do so. And I thought that was really interesting because you see that he doesn't, he he's not all the bluster that he presents to them. Like he does seem to be affected by the fact that these students do not like him. Oh, they hate him. They hate him. And even though he kind of gives off that he's not really much of a fan of them either, I don't know, in that moment where they show him, like I saw like some humanity there. Like he doesn't, he doesn't feel good in that moment.

SPEAKER_01 15:16

They I yeah, I don't think he understands them any more than they understand. Right. And and by that I mean that they probably don't realize that or they don't it's difficult when you're in high school to think about a professor or assistant principal or principal being in the same shoes that you were in in high school. Just being a person, yeah. You don't really like in my case, I you know, you don't really know what you're gonna do with your life. And you're in this weirdly controlled situation in high school where there's this authority imposed on you at the administration level, and then you have to deal with all the clicks that the characters in this movie are all part of.

SPEAKER_00 15:58

Yeah. Um and actually, I mean, I guess somewhat related to that point, what I one of the things I I mean, I already kind of knew this about the film, but one of the things that I think that Hughes did really successfully is he keeps switching alliances throughout the film. That there's never any point in the film where like two characters are perfectly aligned with each other the whole way through. Like at some point, Claire has a problem with Andy or Andy has a problem with Claire. At other points, you know, well, I mean, probably like the Everyone's got a problem with Bender. Everybody has a problem with Bender, but even then, there are moments where, and now I'll get into this because this was kind of a big deal for me upon the screening. Um, there are moments even where Bender sticks up for Claire. Um, when she's kind of complaining about her parents and how they just don't, uh how they basically use her to get back at each other. And then Ali Sheedy's character, Allison calls her out on that. Andy thinks that's funny, and he's saying, you know, you're just feeling sorry for yourself. And then Bender actually starts to stick up for Claire. So you keep having these changes, and that's just like in the first like half hour of the film. So you I really liked that, and I thought that that was really realistic that all these kids would have moments where they feel a kind of camaraderie with somebody, and then that's pulled apart for some reason, and then they come back together.

SPEAKER_01 17:22

And to the extent one pair's camaraderie comes at the expense of some other one of the other members of that group, then it like tears that dynamic apart, and they all those bonds essentially like shift or reform all over again.

SPEAKER_00 17:35

Aaron Powell That's a good point. Um, usually an alliance, so to speak, is made because they are like excluding someone else or they're they're lashing out against someone else. But um, that was something that I noticed was done really well and is something that works throughout the entire film up until the end when they finally, you know, have their like we're all kind of the same and we all have our issues and da-da-da, and they all get along. Um so I want to come back to something that I was saying earlier.

SPEAKER_02 18:06

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 18:07

Um I will say that upon this screening, I always kind of had a problem with this, but I really had a problem this time around with the way now I'm kind of jumping ahead, but um, sorry, spoilers. Um basically Ben so Veteran Claire, they are at odds with each other for most of the film.

SPEAKER_01 18:33

This is true.

SPEAKER_00 18:34

And it's not just that they're at odds with each other, he's harassing her.

SPEAKER_01 18:38

He's pretty awful to her. He's pretty awful to everybody, but he's pretty awful to her. In particular in particular.

SPEAKER_00 18:43

He pick he picks on her. He he has chosen to kind of bully her throughout the day.

SPEAKER_01 18:48

It is kind of the um grade school method of trying to find a girlfriend. He showed his love by by being an incredibly awful abusive ass woman. Right.

SPEAKER_00 19:01

I mean, verbally, yeah, um, sexually, you know, when he's under the desk and yeah, the whole the whole shebang. Um so there's this behavior all day long, and then for some reason she decides to go find him when when finally uh Vernon kind of separates him from the rest of the group. He finds his way back to the library, don't worry. But um Vernon thinks that he is separated from the rest of the group and she goes and finds him, and they have a little moment, and she even gives him one of her diamond rings.

SPEAKER_01 19:36

Well, the value of that diamond ring is like nothing to her. Nothing to her.

SPEAKER_00 19:40

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 19:40

Yeah. Um but still it was kind of like uh like the equivalent, I guess, of her giving her class ring or something to him.

SPEAKER_00 19:49

So and I just, you know, I personally I think that the film, my my biggest critique of the film is that anybody had to end up with anybody. Because I mean, I I think that probably most people bring up the Allison and Andy coupling because she undergoes such a dramatic change and there's this implication that, like, oh, she needed to get prettied up for him to it's it's actually not even that subtle.

SPEAKER_01 20:17

It's pretty overt. Honestly, I I was not a huge fan of her uh makeover. Yeah. I mean, yeah, it was that was a weird, uh, a weird part of the movie, uh, where on one hand you would think that it's just this interaction and exposure exposure to each other and their different lives and their different stresses that somehow opens them all up. But no, in the end, it was that Molly Ringwald's character had to hook up with Bender.

SPEAKER_02 20:47

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 20:47

And then Claire, Molly Ringwald's character, had to quote unquote fix the not the weirdo, the basket case. Basket case. Yeah, Ali Sheedy to fix her and make her look a little bit more normal so that she could then hook up with the athlete, Emilio Estevez, uh, thus leaving the nerd all alone. All alone.

SPEAKER_00 21:12

As is custom for nerds. So yeah, that was interesting. At least in the movies. Yeah. Um, yeah, I I really, really wish that they could have just that's great. They embrace each other's differences. I think it's still really unclear. You know, they have this um really, really serious conversation about, hey, on Monday morning, are you gonna still talk to me? Are you still gonna be my friend? I think that that's still left unresolved. Um I mean, basically, Claire and Andy, well, Claire, Claire is the most honest in saying, no, I don't think I will. And, you know, they come at her for that. I think Andy and Bender, um, they're not quite as like forward about it, but there's also that element of like, no, I don't think I would associate with you. And so Brian and Allison are more like, well, we, you know, are we better people than you? Because we would. I think so they have this whole, you know, conversation about this. I don't think it's ever resolved, but they do at least come to a place where they seem to be cool with each other.

SPEAKER_01 22:16

I mean, Claire's probably gonna want that diamond ring.

SPEAKER_00 22:18

That ring uh earring earring back. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 22:22

She did not propose.

SPEAKER_00 22:23

No. Um but that being said, that's cool. I feel like that's where they could have just left it. I don't I don't understand why there has to be this like romantic element to either of the two coupling. You know, like it it just it didn't add anything to it for me.

SPEAKER_01 22:42

And if anything, it took away because there was at least the possibility or the some potential for some kind of tension between Claire and Bender's characters. Um and they kind of came together as they were. I mean, they were he he was I guess off and on horrible to her throughout the movie. Uh I guess in some instances he wasn't as horrible as others before they hooked up. But again, it was just the the one with uh Andy.

SPEAKER_00 23:19

Andy and Alison.

SPEAKER_01 23:21

That was that one was just a little bit stranger.

SPEAKER_00 23:23

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 23:24

Uh I didn't I didn't get the the reason or the need for that one.

SPEAKER_00 23:28

I don't know. I mean, like, I um we off track? Yeah, we're it's it's fine. We're talking about the movie.

SPEAKER_01 23:35

We can do whatever we want.

SPEAKER_00 23:36

We can do whatever we want. Um you know, not that I had too many uh dating prospects in high school. Uh disclaimer, but um I had none. I yeah, basically I had none. I never had a single date in high school. Um that being said, even if there was a guy who showed attention towards me, if it was negative attention, I'd like to think that I'd be like back off. Like, I don't think I'd be attracted to that. Um, but I will say this for Claire. She's not a pushover. Um, she definitely like holds her ground. She gets upset. She certainly lets it show that he is getting to her, but she for sure pushes back. And I did appreciate that, that they didn't just make her this like cowering kind of character who she dishes out as good as she gets, I guess.

SPEAKER_01 24:30

Yeah, and I I got the sense that that was the dynamic that somehow brought Bender that that was what he found attractive about her. Yeah, you know, that uh he could he could push her and she would take it for a bit, but she would she would push back after a while.

SPEAKER_00 24:48

Yeah. So before we actually dive into the montages plural.

SPEAKER_01 24:55

There are so many. There's like 20 montages.

SPEAKER_00 24:58

I mean, we really like outdid ourselves with this first outing. There's actually three. There's yeah. Three, three montages that we can talk about. Which is it seems like a lot.

SPEAKER_01 25:07

I mean, they were all a little different. I mean, you have your chase montage, your dance montage, your sleep I guess.

SPEAKER_00 25:16

There's actually a sleep montage. Yeah, yeah. Um, so we'll we'll get into that in a second, but really quick, I just want to talk about, because we did bring him up earlier when we were talking about the cast, probably one of my favorite scenes in the film, which is when The Janitor, um, which is played by John Kapalos. I hope I am saying his name correctly. Um, and you guys might recognize him from Sixteen Candles. He's Jenny's uh husband, fiancé slash husband in 16 Candles. Um, so he comes through and he's just doing his job. And um probably my favorite line in the entire film is that he says hello to Brian, uh, Anthony Michael Hall's character, and then Bender's like, Did your dad work here? I just love that line. I mean, it's like so natural. I hope that that actually was ad-libbed because that was just like so, so good.

SPEAKER_01 26:08

That was good, but then the interaction between that janitor character and Bender was also good because he could clearly like give it back as well as anything.

SPEAKER_00 26:16

Totally. And and I that's what I liked so much about that scene is that these kids, like, look, I'm not saying that they didn't have real problems. They each had really real problems. But this janitor, you know, kind of like he calls them like he sees them, you know, or whatever that saying is. And he pretty much tells them, like, I know what you're thinking, I go through your stuff.

SPEAKER_01 26:40

Your lockers in particular is what really concerns Bender.

SPEAKER_00 26:44

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Um, and I just I don't know, I just really enjoyed that scene. Uh, he he comes into it a little bit later, mostly just with Vernon. He has a couple scenes.

SPEAKER_01 26:54

Um, he's he's great. I actually uh I actually took notes like a nerd while watching this movie last night. And one of my notes was I love how much Bender loves how much the janitor just burned them all.

SPEAKER_00 27:07

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 27:08

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 27:08

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 27:08

That was a great moment.

SPEAKER_00 27:10

It was it was a great moment. So um did you have a favorite scene?

SPEAKER_01 27:15

Hmm. I did like that scene. I don't know if it was my favorite. I think one of my favorite scenes was just like how did he how did Bender know to remove that pin? They kept calling it a screw, but he removes what essentially is a pin from the hinge of the door that the principal Werner was using to monitor all of the kids, uh young adults, I don't know, high school kids, when they're when they're in detention, he removes the pin so the door will not stay open. And uh Vernon grabs a chair, a small unfoldable metal chair, and Bender just says, The door's way too heavy, and the door just comically slams shut. It's great. And so then the uh the principal Werner gets um Andy to help him move a giant magazine rack because they're in the library where detention is taking place. So they grab this big metal magazine rack, get it in the in place. It's obvious that you can't actually like get in or out that way. And I just I enjoyed uh I guess the ridiculousness of that moment.

SPEAKER_00 28:19

And it's good. You just made me think of something, card catalogs.

SPEAKER_01 28:23

Yeah, I hadn't seen a card catalog in a while, but then again, I have not seen the inside of an actual library in a while either. Me too.

SPEAKER_00 28:30

So I don't I don't know. Do they do any libraries even bother to have those anymore? I mean that that was a bit of nostalgia. Yeah, I don't seeing that.

SPEAKER_01 28:39

I don't think so. I think the last time I have been in a library was a few years ago, but I think most of them have uh digital, you know.

SPEAKER_00 28:47

I feel you, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 28:48

Yeah, yeah. So it's all it's all on a compu it's all on a computer.

SPEAKER_00 28:51

It's all on computers. Um so okay, one last thing before we dive into what this podcast has called 80s montage.

SPEAKER_01 29:02

Well we got the 80s part down. We have the 80s part.

SPEAKER_00 29:04

Um I want to talk about what actually got them in detention.

SPEAKER_01 29:09

So Okay, I mean that's that is so what got them into detention is what essentially brings them all separately together, like their reasons why they're there. Like that's that's the mechanism by which they all learn more about each other. By hearing about here's here's what's happening, here's how life has affected me, and here's why I'm here. It was almost like here's why I'm in prison.

SPEAKER_00 29:38

Yeah, I would say to like varying degrees, because like Claire's is very like bubblegum y skipped class to go shopping. I mean that totally informs her character, yeah, but it's it's not like some big reveal.

SPEAKER_01 29:50

No, but even that, like her bringing that up brought to everyone's attention that which they already kind of knew. It it allowed That door to get opened up a little bit more.

SPEAKER_00 30:02

Yeah, for sure. It helps like move along like this goal of them understanding each other better.

SPEAKER_01 30:10

Trevor Burrus Because all of their all of their reasons, um all of their I'm I'm trying to remember what Bender's reason it was, but it could have just been like a carryover. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 30:19

I actually think that that he's the one person, I think, where it's never explicitly mentioned what he did. Maybe it maybe it was drugs.

SPEAKER_01 30:26

He's just assumed that he's that he's always there.

SPEAKER_00 30:28

So it's I I don't know if we're ever really told why he's there that day.

SPEAKER_01 30:34

So all of their reasons, like you know, Claire's there may be some hidden depth to the reason that she went shopping and skipped class, but there's kind of like a silliness and uh more depth to them, even that one, you know, with the other with the other characters in particular.

SPEAKER_00 30:49

Yeah, I mean Allison she makes a point of saying, and this is it was kind of a nice way of actually, you know, ending this conversation that went to like really dark, serious places for a while, that she just showed up because she had nothing better to do. Yeah. And that also totally informs her character. Um so they did a really good job of that. So the two the two things I wanted to talk about basically Andy and Brian's reasons for why they're there. Um I think it's interesting because well, Andy, okay, so his whole deal, he's a wrestler, he's feeling pressure from his dad to succeed. He also is feeling pressure from his dad to like be, you know, I don't know, good old boy or something like that.

SPEAKER_01 31:29

Well, tough guy. Like he is like in his dad's world, the sense I got is that being a winner, you're not a winner unless someone else is a loser. Yeah. And so you like winners would kind of impose their wittingness on other people. And the strong should be able to take advantage of the weak. That that's the sense that I got was his dad's worldview. And he you know, saw someone that was weaker than him and he acted out on that.

SPEAKER_00 31:57

Yeah, he tapes the guy's buns together.

SPEAKER_01 32:00

Yeah, which again, it's silly, like it sounds silly to say like he got detention because he taped someone's uh butt cheeks together, but also when he starts talking about the humiliation that that kid must have faced and having to face his own family after having had this happen to him, was just you know, you could see how much um not depression, but just it it kind of how it pained him. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 32:30

Yeah. Um, and you know, he made a point of saying, like, how do you apologize for somebody to somebody for that? So he he knows that this person is owed an apology for this behavior and this humiliation, but he doesn't even know how to go about it. Um I'm curious if at the time that because you know it's um it's shot um it's supposed to be 1985, it's not set in any other era, if that was an appropriate punishment for something like that. Um yeah, I think I I feel like you you physically assault another student and in such such a a manner as to like publicly humiliate them in front of a group of people. I feel like that would be at least suspension. Yeah, I mean I detention seems he's getting off a little light.

SPEAKER_01 33:28

I wasn't in high school in the 80s, but when I was in high school, that probably wouldn't have gotten you any more than detention. Really? No, I don't think it I don't think it would. Wow, okay. I think uh I think nowadays I don't really know. I mean, I know that there, you know, are all these zero tolerance policies, and there's certainly uh much uh higher premium placed on protecting just the dignity of students that would otherwise be bullied or put in situations that are that are um I guess offensive or essentially I think students are in a position to be better protected now than when I was in high school, or certainly when these students would have been in high school.

SPEAKER_00 34:11

That's okay, that's interesting. Um I mean I also wasn't in high school in the eighties, but I just feel like if I mean I couldn't imagine something like that happening at my school. My school was very vanilla. Um, but uh I think for sure that person would have gotten way more than detention.

SPEAKER_01 34:29

Um I don't even know if they would have got detention at my high school.

SPEAKER_00 34:33

No.

SPEAKER_01 34:34

I don't I don't know that they I honestly don't know that they would have.

SPEAKER_00 34:37

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 34:38

Well then I don't think they would have.

SPEAKER_00 34:40

Well then let's okay, so then let's move on to Brian. Because I would say that out of the five, he far and away um committed, I don't know what you say, an offense that I think and okay, so now we are for sure looking through this of a lens where in in since this film has been made, you know, um there have been school shootings and the whole the whole deal. Um so we're not in a place to, I think, you know, kind of comment on on that. But I will say that um him having a gun, even a flare gun, which they kind of all start cracking up about.

SPEAKER_01 35:17

Yeah, and that's that's how like they turn like this silly thing. Obviously, there's a much deeper intent there that he brought a gun. He only brought a flare gun because he probably I I don't know if if we're to assume that he didn't have access to a real gun, but he brought a flare gun because he was so upset about failing in his uh shop class. That damn ceramic elephant that he couldn't get right. I think you're supposed to pull on the trunk.

SPEAKER_00 35:43

Yeah. Elephant lamp. Well, you just called it a ceramic elephant.

SPEAKER_01 35:46

Oh yeah, it was it was ceramic, an elephant, and lamp. And you pulled on the uh trunk and the lamp would light up, and he failed at this and brought a flare gun.

SPEAKER_00 35:56

And 'cause he's the brain. And I I'm curious how much thought went into the fact that the person who is labeled the brain, that his character's name is Brian. I feel like it's a little on the nose, but Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Um so in any case, I, you know, was kind of I I couldn't help it but think about um what that action would warrant. I I feel again, it would be way more than detention.

SPEAKER_01 36:27

And especially Yeah, I think I think even when I was in high school, that would have been that would have been a first pretty significant.

SPEAKER_00 36:32

Exactly. Um and and you actually brought up a really good point while we are watching the film that yeah, yeah, you sure did. Um that obviously this kid is troubled, um, that he is, you know, thinking about ending his own life because the fact that he gets that he gets punished when he obviously needed some kind of therapy.

SPEAKER_01 36:54

Yeah, this kid was about to, well, either kill himself or allow others to believe that he was willing to kill himself over a bad grade in a shop class, and in return, he was given a detention where he could sit there and do nothing for the entire day.

SPEAKER_00 37:09

And tell Vernon who he thought he was.

SPEAKER_01 37:11

Watch everyone else hook up and move on with their lives and relationships while he just goes back alone. Yeah. Nice.

SPEAKER_00 37:16

I love how at the end they make it seem as if he's just like totally cool with the fact that everybody else is hooking up and he's not. I'm like, I don't know. I don't know how you feel about that. Um okay. Well, we got we got to kind of a serious place. So let's let's uh lighten things up a little bit and talk about these montages.

SPEAKER_01 37:32

Let's do it.

SPEAKER_00 37:33

Um so like we mentioned three montages in this film. Um the first uh is like you had mentioned, it is a sleeping montage. It uh how to pin it.

SPEAKER_02 37:46

So it ends at least.

SPEAKER_00 37:47

It kind of begins and ends that way. Um it's it comes at about 21 minutes into the film. And um basically it's just show I mean, okay, I get the point of it. It's you know, we're one of the things that we're gonna talk about with all these films is like, was this an effective montage? What does it say about the film? Basically, it's just showing the passage of time.

SPEAKER_01 38:08

This this is my favorite montage because of that, because we're already stuck with these high school students for an all-day detention where they're allowed to do literally nothing. Obviously, they do a lot more than nothing, but I feel like this montage allows us to kind of feel that sense of the passage of time where they're all literally just twiddling their thumbs, uh doodling, starting to fall asleep, and then they do, in fact, all fall asleep. They're not supposed to be asleep during the detention, but it kind of pushes us past all of that. Vernon Vernon walks in, wakes them all up, and then we start moving forward where they actually start connecting.

SPEAKER_00 38:44

Yeah, yeah. So I mean it's cool, it's fine. I think that like they're showing you what maybe a typical detention would be like, how boring it is for all of them. So so it's fine. Um, and I mean here, I mean, here's the thing.

SPEAKER_01 38:57

It's not really my favorite. It's it was just perhaps the most useful.

SPEAKER_00 38:59

Yeah, and and here's the thing is that as we talk about all three of them, they all kind of actually serve the same purpose. And so I think that it was a little bit of a crutch in the film because the next one, the next one that we get is what I have called the running montage. And basically the kids Yeah, the kids they leave the library, which they are not supposed to do. Um, they are going to Bender's locker.

SPEAKER_01 39:25

So this, yeah, this takes place after the janitor lets them all know that he knows he's the eyes and ears, he knows what all of them are doing there, he knows their lockers. Bender becomes very concerned. And then later we have this montage where they've gone to the lockers where he opens his locker, which has a really odd guillotine protection device of some sort, which I guess would maybe like clip your toenail if you tried to open it without his authorization. And he opens it up, and what does he pull out? But a massive bag of marijuana.

SPEAKER_00 39:59

Massive bag of weed, a lot of weed.

SPEAKER_01 40:01

I'm not familiar with with like varying sizes of bags of marijuana, but this one seemed impressive.

SPEAKER_00 40:07

Very sizable.

SPEAKER_01 40:08

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 40:08

Um, and so basically they're trying to now make their way back. We haven't quite actually gotten to the montage part yet. Um, but just setting it up for you, they're trying to make their way back and then they catch Vernon in the hallway.

SPEAKER_01 40:20

He drinks water a lot. He's drink this guy is drinking water from literally every fountain in the high school.

SPEAKER_00 40:24

Well hydrated. Um, and so now they're freaked out. Now they know they need to get back to the library before he does, otherwise, they'll be in even bigger trouble. And so that's when the montage begins. Um, you know, it's so it's about 45 minutes in. I it's fine, you know. Like I guess it's it's showing their anxiety and um but it's just it's just all these like cuts of you know, legs running in different directions and and some some legs standing still, leaning against lockers, and um you know, there's like a fun song that's playing. It's uh we're what we're gonna try to do.

SPEAKER_01 41:05

It was very Scooby-Doo-ish almost with like these doors opening and running down different hallways, and you know, to the extent that the first montage was kind of necessary just to like move us forward time-wise, this one was just, I think, an opportunity to have them all like having their Scooby-Doo moment running through the hallways with some cool music.

SPEAKER_00 41:24

Yeah, and that's just it. And you know, like I was talking about kind of at the top of the podcast, Hughes was very much into bringing in like um pop music, whatever was popular at the time. And so during this particular montage, Fire in the Twilight by Wayne Chung is playing. Okay, nice. Um, so there you go. Um, the first one, you know, if you're wondering why I didn't mention it, it was an instrumental. I honestly don't know what the music was. Um, it was like this like funky instrumental.

SPEAKER_01 41:50

Um it was not real high energy, which figured it's a good one. It wasn't high energy.

SPEAKER_00 41:53

Yeah, exactly. So, so you know, I feel like we could have probably done with that. I think you actually have a really good comparison that it is like their Scooby-Doo moment. Um, and maybe actually, maybe the one thing that I'll give it is that it's the first time where they're kind of all they're they all have the same goal. They all are trying to like get back to the library and they're all kind of working as one, so to speak, even though they have like differences of opinion of like which way they should go and that sort of thing.

SPEAKER_01 42:19

And I guess the events leading up to this, when they were all walking out to the locker, they didn't even really know why they were doing that. They had no idea. What what what are we doing?

SPEAKER_00 42:28

Nobody had any idea except for Bender. Yeah. And he didn't, yeah, he didn't really tell them anything. But they went along.

SPEAKER_01 42:33

They went along with each other. They started along. They started at that point actually just for no real reason, just other than it's probably comforting to like stay with these same people that you're like stuck with all day. So, you know, they kind of went out of limb and they knew that they could possibly get in trouble, but they did it anyways.

SPEAKER_00 42:50

Yeah, I mean, I would say that it's one of the two, now that I'm like thinking back to it, one of the two most obvious examples of probably like peer pressure, which again, very, very realistic for what this world is and what these characters are. You know, Bender says, Hey, I'm leaving, and you just for whatever reason feel this inexplicable, like, okay, I gotta go too.

SPEAKER_01 43:10

Yeah, I I don't really know why they all followed him.

SPEAKER_00 43:12

I think Well, it's the same thing when they come back, yeah, and he starts actually like rolling joints, and you know, Claire's the first one to go back, and then Brian goes back, and then Andy goes back. You know, so like they're Andy goes back and smokes up a whole room.

SPEAKER_01 43:27

I mean, a whole and then he's like the most energetic stoned person that I've ever seen. Yeah, yeah. I've I've never seen someone with moves like that after like, you know, blazing up the entire library.

SPEAKER_00 43:41

Right. And and for all you people out there, the one or two people out there who might be listening to this right now, um watch that segment with Andy after he gets stoned, and then watch Footloose and watch the segment with Kevin Bacon when he's also dancing.

SPEAKER_01 44:00

Footloose made or released.

SPEAKER_00 44:01

Um I mean 80s. I think it's almost certainly after Breakfast Club. I can look that up for you. But in any case.

SPEAKER_01 44:09

So are you telling me that Kevin Bacon stole that dance for Footloose?

SPEAKER_00 44:12

Maybe they just had the same photographer for the film.

SPEAKER_01 44:14

I think we could.

SPEAKER_00 44:15

Or photographer. Um choreographer? Choreographer, so offer. Someone offer. Um, so yeah. Okay, so that's uh oh, oh, wow. I stand corrected. Footloose was 84. All right, so they But it's very possible that they were like filming it about the same time.

SPEAKER_01 44:35

Someone saw a screening of Footloose and said, Someone saw something.

SPEAKER_00 44:38

Dude, you gotta do this. Yeah, you gotta do this. Um, okay. So last montage, it actually comes pretty far. Well, yeah, another like 45 minutes after uh the second one. And this one is actually what we were just talking about. Um, the dancing montage actually comes a little bit later because Andy is kind of doing his own thing. Um, and then later I think they do this cute little everybody's dance in the world.

SPEAKER_01 45:08

They all separately dance, they all like find, I guess, great photogenic places to do their separate individual dance. Does the basket case dance? Does she dance?

SPEAKER_00 45:18

Uh yeah. Yeah. She's dancing.

SPEAKER_01 45:19

Anthony Michael Hall dances with his eyes rolled back. Every time everybody's dancing.

SPEAKER_00 45:23

Everybody does uh and I would say that um Claire, I I mean it's hard to like explain it through a podcast.

SPEAKER_01 45:30

It was the epitome of what I would consider an 80s dance. Thank you. Yeah. That's what I wanted to say. It was the most 80s dance.

SPEAKER_00 45:36

The most 80s dance ever.

SPEAKER_01 45:37

There was like a little bit of Carlton dance in it from uh Fresh Prince. Yeah. A little a little bit of that motion, and obviously several twists and turns.

SPEAKER_00 45:45

Yeah. And then like the the hair flip and the whole the whole thing. So um so yeah, they're all just like groove in in the library together. It comes in at about uh hour 26 into the film, and uh I'm gonna try to hold true to my promise. The song is We Are Not Alone by Carla DeVito. Never heard of her.

SPEAKER_01 46:07

So that is not ringing any bells.

SPEAKER_00 46:09

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 46:10

When you wonder. Sorry, Miss DeVito. Yeah. Or Mrs. Miss, I don't know.

SPEAKER_00 46:14

Don't know. Don't know. Um, so so that's what's playing. I mean, I um feel kind of the same about this one as the second one. It's like it's fine. Um, but it's it again, you know, like all three of them, the first one most effectively, I would say, they're all showing passage of time. Like, I mean, there's only so much talking you can do in this movie. Like, they have to break it up.

SPEAKER_01 46:40

The first one is it kind of stands as an outlier from the second two. The first one I think really was, and uh this is not why it was my favorite. In fact, was not my favorite. I completely lied about that. It it was really just to like move us forward. So, in in one sense, it was like the truest actual montage in the movie. And then the other two were just kind of opportunities to like get a little bit of action going on because there are heavier conversations that they have, and it's fun, like them running through and having their Scooby-Doo moment. I'm probably gonna regret calling it their Scooby-Doo moment at some point, but in any case, that's what it was. I think it's good. So that and then also them all dancing around is kind of like ridiculous and lightens it up a little bit and acts as like almost like a placeholder, like, okay, we've had all this like deep conversation, now let's have some fun eighties music and some ridiculous 80s dancing, uh, really ridiculous in the case of Andy, and then get on with some more of the story.

SPEAKER_00 47:42

Yeah, I mean, we're we're getting close to the end because after that dance sequence, that's when Claire basically asks Brian to write the essay for all of them. She goes, she first goes Shitty move. Very much lame. Come on. Yeah, that was really lame. Very, very lame.

SPEAKER_01 47:57

Could you do this uh assignment that we're all supposed to do so that I can go hook up with this guy that's been kind of a dick to me the whole uh day?

SPEAKER_00 48:03

Not only are you gonna be the only one to walk out of here totally alone, you're gonna be the one that has to write. But you know what? Given who he is in that world, he is flattered. Like he he doesn't actually seem to take any offense to it. And he knows, he knows that he would be the best one to write this paper.

SPEAKER_02 48:23

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 48:24

And, you know, I don't know if there was like any actual conversation because not shown about like what he was going to write, but what he wrote was, you know, kind of a big deal for someone like him to write. Um, and probably nobody else in that group would have been able to say that as eloquently as he did.

SPEAKER_01 48:44

It it was, you know, in in some ways an assessment of himself and you know, I guess the the part of his life experience so far that brought him into the situation in the first place. And also kind of an accusation against against the principal for for you know forcing them to go through this exercise in the first place. This, you know, who who are we? You know, we're not who you think we are.

SPEAKER_00 49:14

And that they all have a little bit of each of the things that Vernon thinks they are.

SPEAKER_01 49:20

So Yeah. Yeah. I mean there's I think there's more of that than is necessarily specifically like laid out in the movie, but the interaction between him and and this loss of touch that he has with the students um and and because of that, them feeling so sure that he really has no idea what they're going through. And I I don't know if he can. Maybe he's forgotten that part of his life, or maybe it was a different part of his life.

SPEAKER_00 49:52

He has that conversation with the janitor. Carl? He does. Is that what his name is? Carl, I think. Um Brian's dad? Uh Brian's yeah, Brian's dad. Um, which, okay, real quick before before we uh start moving on. Um anybody notice if you've seen this film, the uncredited cameo of Mr. John Hughes in the very end of the film, who actually does play Brian's dad, picking him up um at the end of detention. So that's like a fun little like Hitchcockian type.

SPEAKER_01 50:23

Also, his car played a cameo as well.

SPEAKER_00 50:26

His car, from what I read, it was his his his uh what BMW in the beginning of the film. That Claire's dad. Yeah, I'll I'll sound very believable.

SPEAKER_01 50:35

We've confirmed it. Yeah. You've heard it here, folks.

SPEAKER_00 50:37

Yeah. So okay. So no enough with these montages. Um, let's move on to some fun film facts. All right. All right. Um, so like I mentioned before, well, you know, we'll see how how successful these are. Um, a lot was ad-libbed in the film, which you know what, that makes sense because it's like especially what they're calling the library scene. So the one where the five of them are sitting in a circle and they're all like like the very pivotal, climatic, okay, emotional, like a lot of that was ad libbed. Okay. Um, so I read. Um and this one, this one I've heard many times before. So when Bender is going through um the like vent to get from whatever he's like saying this joke or yeah, he completely made that up.

SPEAKER_01 51:22

There was no punchline to that.

SPEAKER_00 51:23

And there was no punchline to it. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 51:24

I didn't, I I was wondering, where is this going? Yeah. Oh, it's going to be.

SPEAKER_00 51:28

There's never gonna be a punchline to it. He was just completely just whatever was coming into his head. Well, all right. Um so so that's that. Okay, so this little fun fact is very believable to me because I've heard this many times before about John Hughes, and as a writer, it's incredibly frustrating to hear this. He wrote this entire script in two days.

SPEAKER_01 51:46

What what took him so long? Is my question.

SPEAKER_00 51:48

Right. And I mean, I've heard for sure the same about 16 candles, that that was like a weekend of his life. I think I actually um we were watching something where, okay, so this isn't one of his teen films with Home Alone. That was like written in a couple days. Um, this guy was just a crazy great writer, and it's very frustrating when like most writers take months, if not years, to complete scripts. But anyway.

SPEAKER_01 52:15

Written in a couple days. Well, I think diehard was just written. They they just wrote that while they were making the movie.

SPEAKER_00 52:21

Yeah, sometimes that does happen. Oh, speaking about like writing for the film, Don't You Forget About Me was written for the film.

SPEAKER_01 52:28

I did not know that. Yeah. Okay.

SPEAKER_00 52:30

That was that was a new fact for me.

SPEAKER_01 52:31

Um that's why they played it twice.

SPEAKER_00 52:33

May maybe maybe they're we're gonna get our money's worth out of this one. Um so obviously when you know films are going into the casting process, it's not like you automatically choose just one actor, people come in and they audition. So, like among some of the people who were maybe considered or auditioning for some of the other roles, um Bender, the the role that ultimately was played by Jud Nelson, Nicolas Cage.

SPEAKER_01 52:58

Oh my goodness.

SPEAKER_00 52:59

John Cusack?

SPEAKER_01 53:01

That I could I could I could have seen Cusack. Oh I I Nicolas Cage could have pulled that off back then.

SPEAKER_00 53:07

At that time.

SPEAKER_01 53:08

I mean, he um In Valley Girl. Yeah, right? Exactly.

SPEAKER_00 53:12

Yeah, yeah, that's why he probably was considered for it. Um Jim Carey, I read.

SPEAKER_01 53:20

No.

SPEAKER_00 53:21

No. That's gonna be a hard time.

SPEAKER_01 53:24

I I yeah, I I um I would have had a harder time believing because in his earlier roles there was still this like just energy that was more like positive in nature than there there was no like darkness or edge that are both things I would think are necessary for the Bender character. Right.

SPEAKER_00 53:44

Yeah, agreed. Um so for Claire Jodie Foster. Okay. I feel like she would already be a little bit too old. He she already looked, I mean, when she was in taxi driver, she looked older than her year, you know. So um, but Robin Wright, Princess Bride of the Princess Bride, Robin Wright. Okay, and Laura Dern.

SPEAKER_01 54:09

That would have been interesting.

SPEAKER_00 54:10

That would have been interesting. Um, and then for Allison, Brooke Shields.

SPEAKER_01 54:17

I mean, I think Allie Sheedy was probably perfectly cast.

SPEAKER_00 54:21

Yeah, and I did also read that there was some kind of back and forth because um, so you know, again, for for those of you who may not be as like familiar with John Hughes's work, he very much looked to Molly Ringwald as like one of his muses. I mean, he he had admitted as much for for a lot of his team films. That's why she's in half of them. Um, and I think she wanted to do the Allison role, and he actually convinced her not to because she already kind of kind of, I mean, I don't know if I see a lot of crossover, but he claimed that she kind of already was that character in Sixteen Candles in terms of like kind of being an outcast. Yeah, not nearly, nearly to the degree. So anyway, um, so that's why she's Claire. Um, and I think that uh Anthony Michael Hall, I think he was kind he also was somebody who worked with John Hughes quite a bit. Sure. Um, again, in three of his films. So um I think he kind of always was set up to be Brian, but that's also why after this film, um he kind of was like dunzo with playing this one type of role because I mean he's literally called the geek. Yeah, he's 15 candles.

SPEAKER_01 55:29

He's done a lot of stuff breaking away from that. Yeah. And I thought it was interesting watching this movie that there were there were moments where he would um like just turn to face the camera in a way where you can kind of see like the older adult version of Anthony Michael Hall, you know, in there. It was weird. I it was there there are a lot of like uh odd moments that I noticed. And that wasn't necessarily odd, it was just something that that stuck out where I'm like, you know, where you can actually kind of like see that older grown-up person somewhere in this like little awkward kid.

SPEAKER_00 56:03

And one one thing that I thought was really interesting that I read is that you know it it makes total sense from my perspective why, you know, someone like Anthony Michael Hall or Molly Ringwald would want to eventually kind of move beyond these roles, but when they, you know, kind of told John, he's like, I don't want to keep doing this. He took it very personally. And it actually kind of fractured their relationships. And also it was kind of the reason why he then eventually just stopped making teen films because he was not really inspired anymore. And he kind of had these like bad feelings around the fact that these like in particular, these two actors. I don't know if he felt like they weren't even L teens anymore. Yeah. I mean, you know, I don't know if he felt like they were um uh, you know, that they owed him something for kind of actually getting their starts in the industry. I don't I don't think it was that. I think he just felt bad that they were like, no, we're moving on. That's too bad. Yeah. So I I I don't know if there was ever any reconciliation before he passed, but um, but something something I read. Um another, you know, janitor for the janitor for Carl, um I guess Rick Morenus was going to play him, but he was gonna play him a little too hokey.

SPEAKER_01 57:19

Yeah, no, that's that's what I would see happening with that.

SPEAKER_00 57:22

Yeah, and Hughes was like, no.

SPEAKER_01 57:25

Carl was the like the comedic element from that character kind of comes from this sense that this guy's seen some stuff. Yeah. Like he's he's been around and he's seen all this nonsense. And I don't think I could imagine Rick Baranis playing the role as straight up as as the act John?

SPEAKER_00 57:49

Uh as yeah, John Capalos.

SPEAKER_01 57:51

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 57:52

However, another person that I read was considered, and I actually think he I mean, look, I'm not saying that John didn't do a great job with the role, but John Candy, who worked with Hughes quite a bit, was considered.

SPEAKER_01 58:06

See, the thing with Candy is that he could take it so far back around the other direction. Yeah. He could he could almost play it so ridiculous that it would still work.

SPEAKER_02 58:16

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 58:17

And he had such a he had a different presence. He would bring a different presence than Moranus would. And I think that could actually have worked because he could still he could still like play it serious and still put the comedy in in a way that I think would have would have worked.

SPEAKER_00 58:32

No, he I mean like I think he did he walked that line really well, even in his very small role in Home Alone.

SPEAKER_02 58:38

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 58:39

Um, there's a goofiness to him, but there's also like an earnestness and a real like emotional beat that comes with his character. So um so he could have been good. Um okay, so last little fun fact. So this film is set in a town called Shermer, Illinois. What, what? Illinois. Um I am from Illinois.

SPEAKER_01 59:02

Yeah, that's an important, that's an important addition to that fact.

SPEAKER_00 59:05

Um so Shrimmer does not exist. Uh but he did this with a lot of his films. Um he sets it in the same fictional world. So not only is the Breakfast Club in Shrimmer, but Weird Science. Oh, really? Ferris Bueller's Day Off.

SPEAKER_01 59:22

Well, okay.

SPEAKER_00 59:24

Yep. Sixteen Candles.

SPEAKER_01 59:26

At least in uh Ferris Bueller's Day Off, they acknowledge the Chic the city of Chicago.

SPEAKER_00 59:30

Yes, they there's a real city that is actually the locale for most of the film. Yeah. Um and and honestly, like I think that the Breakfast Club is the most forward about saying that. It's in this town. Um, I think that it's just, you know, like it's literally just like fun fact that it was like supposed to be set in the same town for his other films. Um uh so yeah, Sixteen Candles Pretty in Pink, and also National Lampoons Vacation.

SPEAKER_01 59:59

Well. It starts there at least.

SPEAKER_00 1:00:01

Yeah, yeah. Same, same, same deal. Um okay. So we're gonna start wrapping up. Uh question. Uh would you watch this film again?

SPEAKER_01 1:00:14

Hmm. I mean, maybe in a number of years I would. It's it's a good film and it has, I think, uh, you know, an interesting message and and actually several messages about the importance of you know, clicks in high school and growing up and this interaction between the adults and the high school students. Um there's a lot there. I don't know uh I I I'm probably not rushing to watch it again because it isn't for me at least necessarily like a really fun movie to watch in the way that some other 80 movies you might be able to just put it on and have it in the background or just enjoy it all over again. So I enjoyed this and I think it's it's got kind of like a depth to some of the messages that it provides. But um no.

SPEAKER_00 1:01:06

Okay. All right, well I guess uh my answer, so the short answer would be yes, and I know I will. I know I'm gonna watch this film again at some point. Um, like I said earlier, if ever it's on TV, I'll keep it on that channel. Although the difference for me with this film versus I'll I'll stick to like kind of the John Hughes uh say t say the word for me, Ov Ovra Ovra? What is it called when it's like his like span of work?

SPEAKER_01 1:01:36

I don't know. Oh man, okay, somebody out there help me out.

SPEAKER_00 1:01:40

Um anyway, like uh within his work. That works between okay, sure. Um between like this film, for instance, or Ferris Bieler's Day Off. Ferris Bieler's Day Off is a film that I will actively like take the DVD or go find it on streaming and put it in.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:57

It's just a fun movie to watch. Because it's a fun movie. Like if if the if the measure is if it's on, would I keep it on for and and this is I guess for people that actually have either a cable or digital service where like you actually watch normal-ish TV. Yeah, the answer for me would be no. I I would probably just switch it to something else. And if Ferris Bueller's on at the same time, I'm definitely for sure Ferris Bueller. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:02:19

Um, so yeah, I mean, that's the difference for me is like if I happen to somehow come across it, I'll keep it on. But I'm probably not going to actively like be like, oh yeah, that's the movie I want to watch right now.

SPEAKER_01 1:02:28

I feel like watching some kids go through some tough shit.

SPEAKER_00 1:02:30

Yeah, exactly. Yeah. Um so I'm curious, because we've talked so much about these five different um because here here's the thing about this film. Even though it's not that film that I'm going to like pop into the DVD player or whatever or find on streaming, it's far and away of I mean, okay, my opinion only, but um, far and away is the most influential teen film um from that era to impact what has come since.

SPEAKER_01 1:03:02

I think far and away. Yeah. I mean, look, even even now, we kind of talked about this at the beginning of the podcast, that movies like Love Simon are kind of referred to not necessarily in terms of this movie, but other John Hughes work. And I think you're right that this movie in particular has had an impact and effect on almost almost every kind of teen movie since.

SPEAKER_00 1:03:26

In in numerous regards, yeah. I mean, now I think it's coming to the point where like there are teen films that are like it's like meta. They like reference John Hughes in in the world of that film. Um so okay, so that being said, so we have princess, criminal, basket case, athlete brain. Do you in particular, like as your teen self, identify with any of those? Or do you feel like you're a hybrid of them? None not any of them?

SPEAKER_01 1:03:51

So I actually thought about this while watching the movie, and now as I'm watching it, there's a part of me that really appreciates the fact that Bender, I don't know if he consciously is acknowledging the pointlessness of being in high school. Uh, at least that's how I felt about a lot of it. Uh, and uh, you know, I wasn't smart enough to be Brian, I wasn't athletically gifted enough to be Andy, and I wasn't artistically gifted enough to be that good of a basket case. Um so no, I don't I don't think I would have necessarily fit in with any one of those uh groups or cliques. But looking back at it now, I think Bender is the person when I was in high school who I would have particularly hated and been resentful for this person who somehow is able to just do whatever they want and not follow any of the rules when everyone else had to. And you know, you don't really think about the consequences that he may face later in life, whatever those may be. I don't know if that means he's gonna be a janitor later in life or what what it is. But um when I was in high school, I would have resented that character deeply. Now, much later in life, I um much.

SPEAKER_00 1:05:08

Yeah, kind of appreciate him.

SPEAKER_01 1:05:09

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:05:10

Yeah. Um how about you? Yeah. I mean, I for sh I for sure wasn't a criminal. I will say I was a little bit of a goody-goody.

SPEAKER_01 1:05:19

I wouldn't, I would say right off the bat, you're not the criminal.

SPEAKER_00 1:05:23

Um I like that you know what I really liked about what you just said that you identified Alice in the basket case with her um artistry, actually. I thought that that was I mean, I I don't know if I'm like saying that in the right way, but what I'm saying is that you're not like looking at her as like, oh, she's this like crazy person, you're looking at her as like she's an artist.

SPEAKER_01 1:05:42

Um and I that was like the scene where she she Yeah, oh no, she definitely is an artist. Creates this beautiful scene which she then shakes out all the dandruff from her hair on to make it snow. Yeah. It's quite horrific. It's it's uh But there was some artistic inspiration even in that. Even in that.

SPEAKER_00 1:06:02

Um I definitely did not have that artistry or that artistic button of my body. Um I definitely didn't explore any any of that side of me back then, so I can't say I identify with her. Um other than my illustrious pom-pom career. Um oh no. I was certainly not a princess.

SPEAKER_01 1:06:22

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 1:06:23

Um, not by any means at all.

SPEAKER_01 1:06:25

Um, I guess the pom would get you more in uh Andy's. Well that's what I was going. That's what I was saying. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:06:30

Um I don't know if I was really athlete. I mean, like, I will say that throughout like kind of from from mid-grade school on through high school, because I went to the same school for all those years. Um, it just became my focus academics. So I guess I would say that I identify most with Brian. I certainly was not in the camp where I was gonna be bringing a flare gun um to school for I never had that kind of pressure on me. So that's good. Um yeah, no, no, no, totally. Props to my dad who never, never, ever put that pressure on me. Um so so I guess that that would be my answer if I had yeah. Um and so that is our call to action for all of our fans out there. If you want to hit us up um on our Twitter or Facebook and let us know who you identify with from the Breakfast Club, go ahead and do that.

SPEAKER_01 1:07:21

We would love to know.

SPEAKER_00 1:07:22

We would love to know. And and maybe why. Tell us your story of why you identify with a particular character.

SPEAKER_01 1:07:27

Or if none of them, because neither of us do.

SPEAKER_00 1:07:28

Yeah, or or none of them. If you think it's all like a bunch of whatever. Malarkey. Um, okay. So you brought the sub actually at the top of the episode. Next episode's sneak peek is.

SPEAKER_01 1:07:43

Oh, is it blood sport? It's blood sport. Oh, it's time for some kumite.

SPEAKER_00 1:07:46

This is Derek's pick. It's gonna be time for some sweet kumite. I don't even know what that means.

SPEAKER_01 1:07:52

That is the epitome of the blood sport. It is the martial arts tournament known as the kumite that uh the American oh, what is his name? Played by Jean-Claude Van Damme. I can't remember the uh the character's name.

SPEAKER_00 1:08:05

I know who's in it, but that's literally all I know. Never watched the film, so this will be a first time for me.

SPEAKER_01 1:08:10

So, based on a true story.

SPEAKER_00 1:08:13

Great.

SPEAKER_01 1:08:13

Based loosely on real life events. Okay. It takes place on Earth.

unknown 1:08:18

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 1:08:18

All right. Great. Okay, guys. Well, thank you so much for sticking with us. Um, we're excited to have you continue to uh listen in, and uh that's it. Bye for now.

SPEAKER_01 1:08:29

Promise to be better next time. Bye. Bye.