‘Breakfast Club’ Reunion: Claire And Allison Meet Again
Who can forget The Breakfast Club? John Hughes’ epic 1985 film about five stereotypical teenagers is still embraced not only by Generation X, but by many of today’s generation as well. On Monday, two of the film’s main stars, Ally Sheedy and Molly Ringwald, reunited in honor of the unforgettable movie at Austin’s SXSW festival.
It’s been three decades since the premiere of The Breakfast Club, and to commemorate the film’s 30th Anniversary, a South by Southwest film festival screening was held at Austin’s Paramount Theater.
Outside of the theater, fans lined up as Ringwald, 47, and Sheedy, 52, sat down along a table to answer questions. In memory of the film’s famous song, the Barton Hills Choir sang Simple Minds’ “Don’t You (Forget About Me)” as eager fans of all ages made their way to the actresses.
Molly & Ally backstage @allysheedy1 #SXSW2015 #breakfastclub30 pic.twitter.com/KX5OnyyOef
— Molly Ringwald (@MollyRingwald) March 17, 2015
The Endearment of The Breakfast Club
It was a typical Saturday morning on Saturday, March 24, 1984, in the fictional Shermer, Illinois, when five students, collectively known as an athlete (Emilio Estevez), a basket case (Ally Sheedy), a brain (Anthony Michael Hall), a princess (Molly Ringwald), and a criminal (Judd Nelson) showed up for high school detention.
None of the main characters were friends when they begrudgingly filed into a high school library to serve their time, and as the day went on, the contrasting personalities came to physical confrontations, tears, and breakdowns.
Bender (the criminal): “Oh, God. You ritchies are just so smart. That’s exactly why I’m not in heavy activities.”
Claire (the princess): “You’re a big coward.”
Brian (the brain): “I’m in the math club.”
Claire: “See, you’re afraid that they won’t take you. You don’t belong so you have to dump all over it.”
By the end of the day, however, they all discover that maybe they aren’t so different, after all. The “Breakfast Club” left that Saturday with a new understanding of each other’s problems.
What makes The Breakfast Club so unique is that these same “rules” apply to today’s high school standards, and there is at least one character that many American high school kids can identify with.
Ringwald, now a mother of a teenager, stated that after watching the film with her daughter, she was shocked to learn that her daughter related to Brian, the “nerd.”
“She felt that I had too many expectations on her. It was this incredible moment where I realized I was the parent.”
Meanwhile, Sheedy feels that teens today are more worldly and more aware of what’s going on with teens that are different than themselves.
“There is an innocence about ‘The Breakfast Club’ that I think is maybe not quite there anymore for high school kids.”
In remembrance of a film that’s touched many heart, The Breakfast Club will be be shown in movie theaters across the country on Thursday, March 26, and Tuesday, March 31. The 30th Anniversary Edition is also available on Blu-ray and DVD.
[Photo Courtesy of Michael Buckner/Getty Images]
