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The Breakfast Club
review by Zach B.
Rated R
Starring Emilio Estevez, Judd Nelson, Molly Ringwald,
Anthony Michael Hall and Ally Sheedy
Running Time: 93 Minutes
Written and Directed by John Hughes
Retail Price: 24.99
Features: Production Notes, Cast Bios
Specs: 1.85:1 Non-Anamorphic Widescreen, 2.0 Dolby
English, 2.0 Dolby French, 2.0 Dolby Spanish, English
Captions, Spanish Captions, Chapter Search
The Jock. The Brain. The Criminal. The Kook. The
Princess. Does this ring any bells? If it doesn't, you're
obviously pretty young or missed the 1980s completely. "The
Breakfast Club" defined a generation of movies and created a
new genre: "1980s Teen Movies". "The Breakfast Club" is
probably the most known and famous film out of the genre.
Sure, there's "Sixteen Candles", "Pretty In Pink", "St.
Elmo's Fire", "Some Kind Of Wonderful" (my personal
favorite) and others. But chances are good if you just
mention "80s Teen movies", people automatically think "The
Breakfast Club", as well as the Brat Pack. The appeal to
this movie is tremendous, and is still entertaining a whole
new legion of fans since its 1985 debut. Perhaps why it is
so popular is that we all can truly relate to this movie, it
is about being different and the assorted cliches high
school brings. It touches on people judging us by our
surface yet deep down, we're not so different at all. This
movie has cult classic written all over it, and I'm sure
twenty years from now, this movie will still hold up and
will still be seen by many people.
For those who have never seen this movie, the film
basically follows five different types of high school
students, as they are forced to spend nine hours of their
Saturday in detention. There's Andrew Clark (Emilio
Estevez), the jock. Brian Johnson (Anthony Michael Hall),
the brain. John Bender (Judd Nelson), our favorite kook.
Claire Standish (Molly Ringwald) as the prom queen and Ally
Sheedy as Allison Reynolds, the outcast. At first, they all
don't get along, but throughout the day, they all bear their
souls to one another, and they learn about each other and
truly benefit from it.
There are many other reasons why I think this movie works
so well and is still so popular. The ensemble cast is
terrific, their performances are incredible and touching..
Each and every actor is believable and gives major depth to
their role. The characters themselves are also believable.
While of course we think they are one dimensional, they
truly aren't, they are 3-D and have many, many different
sides to them as we learn as the film goes on. John Hughes'
direction is pitch perfect, and his script has a sense of
honesty and truth. As I said, this movie is a classic. It
was made at the right time with the right people, I think it
this movie is all about timing. If Hollywood tried to make
this movie today, I doubt it would work. Heck, I doubt it
would actually be made. This movie is plain entertaining and
at the end forces you to draw your own conclusions. I hope
Universal doesn't try to remake this movie, because it would
simply ruin it. Anyone remember "Psycho"? Still, if you've
never seen this movie before, after you're done reading this
review, get up and at least rent it (or buy it). This isn't
a movie you watch once, but you end up watching over and
over.
I think this is the first time "The Breakfast Club" has
been presented in widescreen since its theatrical debut, and
I was really impressed with this transfer. Though it sadly
is not anamorphic, and this film could benefit from the
extra resolution, it still looks great. I was expecting an
old, grainy transfer with faded colors and a ton of
artifacts, but Universal really cleaned it up. It is
presented in a 1.85:1 aspect ratio, and it is really, really
solid. There is an artifact now and then, as well as a few
soft images, but the colors are very saturated and detail is
amazing. An excellent transfer, it looks brand new and does
hold a candle to more recent movies. Well done Universal.
Still, it's a shame it is not anamorphic.
The audio is decent. There is two channel audio in
English, French and Spanish, complete with English and
Spanish subtitles. This movie doesn't have 5.1, and the only
way I could see surrounds is with doors opening and the
music. It could have been a decent 5.1, but the two channel
will do. The audio is crystal clear, nothing overpowers
anything, which is good. Nothing amazing or anything, its
fine and fits the film.
Universal screws us this time. *Sigh*. There are some
nice cast and crew bios, and some excellent extensive
production notes. Other than that, there is nothing. This
film really needs a Collector's Edition, or at least a group
commentary with the cast and one with Hughes by himself.
Heh, I could really see this being a whole, blown out
Collector's Edition. Commentaries, an 1980s teen movie
retrospect... ah well.
With a stunning non-anamorphic transfer, nice audio and
subpar extras, "The Breakfast Club" is a toss-up. It does
exceed in the technical department, but a film like this
really deserves the extra supplements. I'm sure I'm not the
only one who yearns for a re-release with more extras and an
anamorphic transfer. If you've been watching the movie
countless times on TBS without owning it or you're tape is
pretty worn out, then I say you and all Breakfast Club fans
should check it out on DVD.
 (4/5, NOT included in
final score)
(4/5)
(4/5)
 (1/5)
 (3/5,
NOT an average)
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