The Breakfast Club

John Bender: [pointing to Claire's lunch] What's that?
Claire Standish: Sushi.
John Bender: Sushi?
Claire Standish: Rice, raw fish, and seaweed.
John Bender: You won't accept a guy's tongue in your mouth, and you're going to eat that?
Claire Standish: Can I eat?
John Bender: I don't know. Give it a try.

Contrary to expectations, The Breakfast Club is not about a group that meets for breakfast, nor does it feature any breakfast food. It is about five high school kids who are assigned to detention in the school library one Saturday. The students are a motley crew, and over the course of the day they become acquainted by sharing their stories, manipulating the detention monitor, and commenting on the contents of one another’s lunches: Claire, the rich kid, lays out sushi with soy sauce; Andy, the wrestler, unpacks three sandwiches, potato chips, milk, a banana, an apple, and chocolate cookies; Brian, the geek, feasts on soup, a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, and apple juice; Allison, the freak, makes a “sandwich” of Cap’n Crunch cereal topped with Pixie Stix; and John, the “bad boy,” has nothing. Such a menu begs the question “Are we really what we eat?” – or do we, perhaps, eat what we already are.

John Bender: Well, Brian, this is a very nutritious lunch. All the food groups are represented. Did your mom marry Mr. Rogers?

Brian Johnson: Uh, no. Mr. Johnson.

Released February 15, 1985

Written and directed by John Hughes

Starring Molly Ringwald as Claire Standish, Emilio Estevez as Andrew Clark, Anthony Michael Hall as Brian Johnson, Ally Sheedy as Allison Reynolds, Judd Nelson as John Bender, Paul Gleason as Richard Vernon, and John Kapelos as Carl

Fun Fact:
“The Breakfast Club” was the name of one of the longest-running radio shows in U.S. history, broadcast in Chicago from 1933 to 1968. It was, perhaps, the inspiration for the nickname of the group of students assigned to detention at Chicagoland’s New Trier High School, attended by the son of one of John Hughes’ friends.