The Rat Pack may have nested in popularity in the ‘50s and ‘60s, but the 1980s were all about a group known as The Brat Pack. An obvious play on words, the young, famous, and good-looking crew of up-and-coming stars seemed to be in just about every teen movie of the decade. The elite and tough-to-break-into group included names likeEmilio Estevez,Demi Moore,Judd Nelson,Molly Ringwald,Rob Lowe, and more, with their faces popping into titles includingSt. Elmo’s FireandSixteen Candles. Aside from the former, the movie to contain the most members of the beloved blossoming stars was a little high school-centered film calledThe Breakfast Club. Helmed by legendary comedy film director and scribe,John Hughes, the Certified Fresh 89%Rotten Tomatoesfilm is now streaming on Peacock.
A movie about celebrating the differences that bring us all together,The Breakfast Clubcenters around a very different group of high schoolers who are all stuck together for Saturday detention. There’s the athlete, Andrew Clark (Estevez), the brain, Brian Johnson (Anthony Michael Hall), the criminal, John Bender (Nelson), the princess, Claire Standish (Ringwald), and the basket case, Allison Reynolds (Ally Sheedy). While they’d never think of speaking to one another during regular school hours, the mishmash of personalities form an unbreakable bond thanks to their shared hatred for vice principal Richard Vernon (Paul Gleason), who runs the detention session with an iron fist.
Arriving in cinemas in 1985,The Breakfast Clubdebutedduring The Brat Pack’s heydey, andbecame an instant classic. While it may not have landed any nominations at the Academy Awards or other major events, the film’s financial success is almost too good to be true, earning more than $51 million on its $1 million budget.Despite plans for a sequelthat would have caught up with the main characters as adults living through the mundane realities of life, the original film is the only one to exist.
John Hughes - Bigger Than the Brat Pack
While the famous faces may be what madeThe Breakfast Clubthe talk of the town, its director, Hughes, was one of the most influential names of that decade and the next. Not only did he helmThe Breakfast Club,Sixteen Candles,Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, andPlanes, Trains and Automobilesin the ‘80s, but he would go on to pen such notable favorites asHome Alone(as well as its sequel and threequel),Dennis the Menace, andFlubber.
Head over to Peacock now to go back to a simpler time withThe Breakfast Clubnow streaming.
The Breakfast Club
After receiving detention, a group of five high-school students bonds as they realize they have quite a bit in common despite being from different friend groups. Despite being over 35 years old, The Breakfast Club still stands as one of the quintessential movies of the ‘80s and one of director John Hughes standout films.
Watch on Peacock
