WEBVTT - The Breakfast Club (Archive) 0:00:03.880 --> 0:00:05.720 What kind of a show you guys. 0:00:05.440 --> 0:00:06.360 Putting on here today? 0:00:06.480 --> 0:00:08.879 You're not interested in armed now? No, look, we're going 0:00:08.920 --> 0:00:10.559 to do this thing. We're going to have a conversation. 0:00:12.960 --> 0:00:16.760 Hey, film spotters, Josh here with Adam this weekend, the 0:00:16.800 --> 0:00:19.919 definitive eighties high school comedy The Breakfast Club is back 0:00:19.960 --> 0:00:25.919 in theaters for its fortieth anniversary. Fortieth anniversary, still influential, Adam, 0:00:26.239 --> 0:00:29.400 I think we both got news about a new release, 0:00:29.440 --> 0:00:33.040 an India release called Pools that I believe is playing 0:00:33.760 --> 0:00:36.200 right about now at Music Box Theater. Check that for sure. 0:00:36.240 --> 0:00:38.280 I know they had their premiere there not too long ago, 0:00:38.800 --> 0:00:42.000 and they described it as being influenced at Chicago made 0:00:42.000 --> 0:00:45.640 and set and being influenced by John Hughes comedies of 0:00:45.800 --> 0:00:47.920 the eighties like The Breakfast Club. 0:00:48.080 --> 0:00:49.960 So yeah, definitely a movie that. 0:00:50.000 --> 0:00:56.480 Is still affecting films and filmmakers many few decades on here, 0:00:56.760 --> 0:00:59.240 and we wanted to share with you. 0:00:59.520 --> 0:01:01.760 Are safe could cow review? Now? 0:01:01.760 --> 0:01:06.360 We did this back for The Breakfast Club's thirtieth anniverse, 0:01:06.600 --> 0:01:08.320 which was in twenty fifteen. 0:01:08.760 --> 0:01:11.600 That's right, and we're not just busting it out for 0:01:11.720 --> 0:01:17.480 its fortieth. It's also timely because this weekend September seventh, 0:01:17.560 --> 0:01:22.120 and on Wednesday, September tenth, commemorating its fortieth anniversary. There 0:01:22.120 --> 0:01:25.720 are going to be special theatrical screenings around the country. 0:01:25.800 --> 0:01:28.280 If I can find a link with more details about that, 0:01:28.560 --> 0:01:31.560 we'll post it in the show notes. Wherever you're listening 0:01:31.560 --> 0:01:34.399 to the podcast, you can try to find it there. Otherwise, 0:01:34.480 --> 0:01:37.160 just google it, look for it around you. Hopefully it 0:01:37.200 --> 0:01:39.240 will be playing near you, especially if you haven't seen 0:01:39.280 --> 0:01:43.399 it in maybe thirty years or so, or maybe somehow 0:01:43.760 --> 0:01:48.080 you've never seen The Breakfast Club at all, or maybe 0:01:48.400 --> 0:01:52.200 you're now you're our age and you have kids who 0:01:52.440 --> 0:01:56.840 are the age that maybe we were when you saw 0:01:56.880 --> 0:01:59.000 the film, when we saw the film for the first time, 0:01:59.360 --> 0:02:01.760 and they can actually experienced it for the first time 0:02:01.800 --> 0:02:04.680 on the big screen. This is your opportunity to see it. 0:02:04.720 --> 0:02:06.200 September seventh, September tenth. 0:02:06.440 --> 0:02:08.440 Now we're pulling this review, as I said, from the 0:02:08.440 --> 0:02:12.120 Film Spotting Archives, Adam, And if you want access to 0:02:12.160 --> 0:02:15.360 these archives all the time, all you have to do 0:02:15.639 --> 0:02:19.200 is join the Film Spotting Family. That's where you'll get 0:02:19.280 --> 0:02:22.080 those reviews. You'll get top fives and more going back 0:02:22.120 --> 0:02:24.960 to two thousand and five. So archive access just one 0:02:25.000 --> 0:02:28.040 of the benefits you get as a member of the family, 0:02:28.160 --> 0:02:30.560 and you can learn more about all of that at 0:02:30.560 --> 0:02:35.639 film spottingfamily dot com. For now here, enjoy our Sacred 0:02:35.680 --> 0:02:37.320 Cow review of The Breakfast Club. 0:02:37.440 --> 0:02:39.000 What do you say we closed that door? 0:02:39.360 --> 0:02:40.800 We can't have any kind of part of the burning 0:02:40.880 --> 0:02:43.320 checking us out every few seconds. You know, the doors 0:02:43.360 --> 0:02:45.600 is supposed to stay open, So why don't you just 0:02:45.680 --> 0:02:47.680 shut up? As for other people in here, you know 0:02:47.919 --> 0:02:48.679 you can come see. 0:02:48.720 --> 0:02:51.200 I knew you had to be smart to be a wrestler. 0:02:51.440 --> 0:02:55.320 The hell you do to judge anybody anyway? Really, you know, Benda, 0:02:55.360 --> 0:02:57.919 you don't even count. I mean, if you disappear forever, 0:02:57.919 --> 0:03:01.080 it wouldn't make any differences. Well, not even exist at 0:03:01.080 --> 0:03:01.519 this school. 0:03:02.480 --> 0:03:06.840 Well I'll just run right out and join the wrestling team. 0:03:07.000 --> 0:03:09.680 Maybe the prep club too, student council. 0:03:10.919 --> 0:03:11.679 They wouldn't take you. 0:03:12.040 --> 0:03:12.640 I'm hurt. 0:03:13.240 --> 0:03:15.800 Our Sacred Cow selection this time Adam is a movie 0:03:15.800 --> 0:03:18.720 that's maybe not sacred to cinophiles in general, but it 0:03:18.800 --> 0:03:22.160 certainly is to those of our generation. The Breakfast Club 0:03:22.240 --> 0:03:25.520 John Hughes chamber piece about five high schoolers stuck together 0:03:25.560 --> 0:03:28.959 for a Saturday of detention came out in nineteen eighty five, Yes, 0:03:29.120 --> 0:03:32.000 thirty years ago. You and I were not quite yet 0:03:32.040 --> 0:03:34.080 in our teens then, but I know I at least 0:03:34.160 --> 0:03:37.560 was already fascinated by all things teenager. I'm guessing I 0:03:37.600 --> 0:03:40.040 didn't actually see the movie until it came out on 0:03:40.160 --> 0:03:42.720 video most likely, but at that point I did watch 0:03:42.760 --> 0:03:45.160 it enough times that I could predict most of the 0:03:45.200 --> 0:03:49.360 lines of dialogue during this revisit. Judging by your brief 0:03:49.400 --> 0:03:52.640 review on Letterbox, your revisit was a blissful trip down 0:03:52.680 --> 0:03:53.360 memory lane. 0:03:53.880 --> 0:03:55.119 Five stars. 0:03:55.400 --> 0:03:57.160 That's as high as it goes on letters Are you 0:03:57.160 --> 0:03:59.080 aware of that were five stars? 0:03:59.160 --> 0:04:00.080 Okay? 0:04:00.240 --> 0:04:03.600 I'm guessing one reason for this lavish rating is because 0:04:03.640 --> 0:04:06.120 you picked up on a secondary level of wisdom to 0:04:06.160 --> 0:04:08.200 the movie when watching it now as an adult. 0:04:08.360 --> 0:04:09.600 Oh, one of the things. 0:04:09.480 --> 0:04:11.920 You noted in your review was the truthfulness of an 0:04:11.960 --> 0:04:15.320 observation made by Allison the basket Case, played by Ali Sheety, 0:04:15.560 --> 0:04:19.320 who contends that we all become our parents. So what 0:04:19.480 --> 0:04:21.760 was it like to watch The Breakfast Club now, not 0:04:21.839 --> 0:04:23.880 as a kid, but as a parent, And how do 0:04:23.880 --> 0:04:27.000 you feel about Allison's other observation When you grow up 0:04:27.279 --> 0:04:30.480 your heart dies, is your heart Dead, Adam, is that 0:04:30.600 --> 0:04:34.359 five star rating just a shameless attempt to prove otherwise. 0:04:33.960 --> 0:04:36.159 It might be you might be onto something that is 0:04:36.160 --> 0:04:38.159 a little bit melodramatic. But I love that line, and 0:04:38.200 --> 0:04:40.760 I'll get to why in a moment. First, though, I 0:04:40.800 --> 0:04:42.480 do hope there's a little bit of magic in the air. 0:04:42.560 --> 0:04:45.680 Did you catch that when this film opens and you 0:04:45.760 --> 0:04:49.560 get that opening voiceover that the date is the exact 0:04:49.600 --> 0:04:52.200 same date we are sitting here to record tonight. 0:04:51.880 --> 0:04:53.200 By Mark hitting twenty fourth. 0:04:53.440 --> 0:04:56.520 Wow, it's March twenty fourth, nineteen eighty four, that Saturday, 0:04:56.600 --> 0:04:59.320 thirty one years ago. They shot it before it came out, 0:04:59.320 --> 0:05:02.640 clearly eighty five, but it's exactly the night. So, like 0:05:02.680 --> 0:05:05.800 I said, hopefully that'll bring something to this discussion, and 0:05:05.839 --> 0:05:08.359 it is for me. Forget being able to predict certain lines. 0:05:08.400 --> 0:05:12.080 This was a unique Sacred Cow experience. We've always seen 0:05:12.120 --> 0:05:14.160 the movies first, that's what makes them Sacred Cows. We're 0:05:14.200 --> 0:05:18.360 revisiting them, But in this case I could quote, and 0:05:18.640 --> 0:05:22.039 to the annoyance of my wife, did quote eighty percent 0:05:22.080 --> 0:05:24.600 of the movie as it was going on. I don't 0:05:24.600 --> 0:05:26.840 know to get to your question that watching it as 0:05:26.880 --> 0:05:29.479 a parent really came into play for me. My son 0:05:29.520 --> 0:05:33.039 Holden just turned thirteen. He's a huge nerd. He would 0:05:33.080 --> 0:05:35.080 be the Brian here and he would use that term 0:05:35.120 --> 0:05:38.160 to describe himself and do it with pride. High school 0:05:38.240 --> 0:05:42.000 is hard, but I'm fairly constantly worried about my kids already. 0:05:42.000 --> 0:05:45.440 I'm a high dread kind of guy. More significant to 0:05:45.520 --> 0:05:48.800 me was seeing it as an adult. When I'm not 0:05:48.880 --> 0:05:51.560 the same age, or, as you noted, a little bit 0:05:51.600 --> 0:05:54.479 younger than these kids. Maybe I can't directly relate to 0:05:54.680 --> 0:05:57.560 their day to day problems. Besides having a different perspective, 0:05:57.960 --> 0:06:00.839 I was also just more aware of it as a movie, 0:06:00.960 --> 0:06:03.120 how it's constructed, and hopefully we'll get to that a 0:06:03.160 --> 0:06:05.840 little bit as well. I think that line from Alison 0:06:05.880 --> 0:06:07.800 Ali Sheety, though, is one of the keys to the 0:06:07.800 --> 0:06:10.279 Breakfast Club in terms of why it holds up so 0:06:10.320 --> 0:06:13.320 well thirty years later. It's not just that it was. 0:06:13.760 --> 0:06:15.880 I think that I can recall anyway the first movie 0:06:15.920 --> 0:06:20.719 to simultaneously establish these high school archetypes while deconstructing them. 0:06:21.040 --> 0:06:26.080 It's how seriously John Hughes takes these kids' concerns and 0:06:26.120 --> 0:06:29.480 how thoroughly he explores them amidst all of this comedy, 0:06:29.520 --> 0:06:32.720 sometimes broad silly comedy, he goes to some really dark, 0:06:32.880 --> 0:06:35.160 serious places and he does it as well. In Ferris 0:06:35.240 --> 0:06:38.360 Buehler's Day Off. If you think about Cameron his daddy issues, 0:06:38.400 --> 0:06:41.000 destroying the beloved Ferrari at the end of that movie. 0:06:41.080 --> 0:06:43.640 I always found that tonal shift in Ferris Bueller a 0:06:43.640 --> 0:06:46.560 little bit cumbersome, a little bit hard to overcome because 0:06:46.960 --> 0:06:49.440 it's such a heavy moment. And then it's sort of like, Oh, 0:06:49.440 --> 0:06:51.760 we're back to Ferris Bueller running around backyards, and we're 0:06:51.760 --> 0:06:54.640 just supposed to forget everything Cameron's going to face and 0:06:54.680 --> 0:06:58.440 everything he's been through. But Emilio Estevez's monologue here about 0:06:58.440 --> 0:07:00.400 three quarters the way through this movie about what he 0:07:00.520 --> 0:07:03.440 did to get intolration, Yeah, and why good, that's even 0:07:03.480 --> 0:07:07.480 darker than anything with Cameron, that unbroken take that underscores 0:07:07.520 --> 0:07:11.040 the weight of it. That character isn't just telling a story. 0:07:11.240 --> 0:07:14.080 He seems to be channeling something deep from within Anthony 0:07:14.080 --> 0:07:17.640 Michael Hall's breakdown as well. Hughes is trying, i think, 0:07:17.640 --> 0:07:21.280 in succeeding at making us laugh, but he's clearly using 0:07:21.360 --> 0:07:25.000 these characters and this setting to really wrestle with something 0:07:25.200 --> 0:07:28.600 wrestling with whether you can overcome your nature, your upbringing, 0:07:28.800 --> 0:07:31.480 or if you're doomed to become your parents, can you 0:07:31.520 --> 0:07:34.000 stop your heart from dying? I think that for me, 0:07:34.080 --> 0:07:36.600 Josh is what makes this movie so timeless and universal. 0:07:36.640 --> 0:07:39.320 Almost everyone, but especially any junior high kid or high 0:07:39.360 --> 0:07:42.559 school kid, no matter what generation, can relate to. That fear, 0:07:43.040 --> 0:07:44.840 along with everything else in the movie, is dealing with 0:07:44.880 --> 0:07:48.680 as far as establishing your identity, retaining your individuality while 0:07:48.720 --> 0:07:51.320 being part of a group, trying to be accepted within 0:07:51.320 --> 0:07:53.680 that group or culture. So yeah, this movie really did 0:07:53.760 --> 0:07:56.080 hit me about the same way it hit me thirty 0:07:56.160 --> 0:07:58.360 years ago, which is something I wasn't expecting because I 0:07:58.400 --> 0:08:01.080 hadn't seen it since then. Maybe actually in high school, 0:08:01.080 --> 0:08:03.920 I remember showing it to my now wife because she 0:08:03.960 --> 0:08:06.240 had never seen it, but I was still of that 0:08:06.320 --> 0:08:08.400 age I was in high school. It really did resonate 0:08:08.440 --> 0:08:08.680 with me. 0:08:09.000 --> 0:08:12.000 Was it just recently last week? I think with Cinderella 0:08:12.040 --> 0:08:15.960 probably we talked about children's films for a younger age group, 0:08:16.040 --> 0:08:18.680 how it's important to respect that audience's intelligence, and the 0:08:18.680 --> 0:08:22.120 same thing happens for teen audiences, where the filmmakers will 0:08:22.160 --> 0:08:24.840 often consider let's just give them the lowest common denominator. 0:08:24.880 --> 0:08:27.840 The Breakfast Club does not do that. It's very interested 0:08:27.880 --> 0:08:32.080 in these kids, not as archetypes, as stereotypes as ways 0:08:32.240 --> 0:08:35.959 to get some funny jokes out. It's interested in their 0:08:36.000 --> 0:08:39.720 stories and the universality of their experiences. The bullying thing 0:08:40.320 --> 0:08:45.480 that you mentioned Andrew's monologue is an amazing sustained sequence, 0:08:45.640 --> 0:08:49.120 especially when you think about in nineteen eighty five. Clearly 0:08:49.360 --> 0:08:52.720 that was something that educators were aware of, but it 0:08:52.920 --> 0:08:55.760 was nowhere near to the degree of attention it gets 0:08:55.760 --> 0:08:58.800 today in terms of experts coming into our schools and 0:08:58.840 --> 0:09:03.040 having sessions with kids about being proactive about keeping. 0:09:02.760 --> 0:09:03.320 This at bay. 0:09:03.480 --> 0:09:06.480 But the complexity of it too, why he does That's why. 0:09:06.320 --> 0:09:10.160 I'm talking to emotional awareness of understanding here. Well before 0:09:10.200 --> 0:09:12.720 this was a common thing that people were digging into 0:09:13.160 --> 0:09:16.040 of what led to it and how this is an 0:09:16.400 --> 0:09:19.319 The act was an expression of Andrew responding to how 0:09:19.360 --> 0:09:23.560 his father treated him, and just the really haunting line 0:09:23.559 --> 0:09:26.720 that Andrew says, how do you apologize for something like that? 0:09:28.200 --> 0:09:34.640 There's no way. It's all because of me, my own man. 0:09:34.720 --> 0:09:40.600 I fucking hate him. He's like this, It's like this 0:09:40.760 --> 0:09:45.640 mindless machine that I can't even relate to anymore. Andrew, 0:09:47.120 --> 0:09:51.120 You've got to be number one. I won't tolerate any 0:09:51.200 --> 0:09:54.000 lousures in this family. Your intensity is for shit? 0:09:54.840 --> 0:09:57.199 When when when. 0:09:58.679 --> 0:09:59.160 Your son? 0:10:01.320 --> 0:10:04.720 I mean, what movie would not only acknowledge that the 0:10:04.800 --> 0:10:08.280 kid is thinking about his action, just move beyond the action. 0:10:08.480 --> 0:10:11.760 Most teen movies that deal with bullying are centered around 0:10:11.800 --> 0:10:14.120 the act of bullying itself. And here's something considering the 0:10:14.160 --> 0:10:18.040 aftermath and considering the sorrow on the part of the offender. 0:10:18.120 --> 0:10:20.360 And we could talk about the way that the movie 0:10:20.400 --> 0:10:25.360 gives almost every character in this film a chance to 0:10:26.240 --> 0:10:28.920 consider who they are in that deep of a manner. 0:10:29.200 --> 0:10:31.560 So I think this absolutely stands up. It did for 0:10:31.640 --> 0:10:33.680 me as well. I didn't go quite as crazy for 0:10:33.760 --> 0:10:35.960 it as you did. And maybe we can talk about. 0:10:35.800 --> 0:10:37.800 Why I probably did. I backed off a little bit 0:10:37.960 --> 0:10:38.960 or younger either, did you? 0:10:39.640 --> 0:10:44.240 Oh all, I remember when I watched it is just thinking, yeah, 0:10:44.480 --> 0:10:46.120 I loved it, and just thinking like, is this what 0:10:46.200 --> 0:10:46.960 high school's like? 0:10:47.080 --> 0:10:47.320 Wow? 0:10:47.360 --> 0:10:49.240 You know it was kind of this because we were 0:10:49.280 --> 0:10:53.320 both younger than the people in the story. You're kind 0:10:53.360 --> 0:10:55.560 of looking at it as a primer with it. And 0:10:55.600 --> 0:10:58.400 so that's why the dialogue would stick in my head. 0:10:58.440 --> 0:11:00.600 It was almost like you're packing these things so that 0:11:00.640 --> 0:11:03.240 you'll be ready when you get to high school. That's 0:11:03.280 --> 0:11:05.720 what I remember taking it in as at that point. 0:11:06.000 --> 0:11:11.000 But here, you know, it does just speak across generations 0:11:11.040 --> 0:11:12.040 and across decades. 0:11:12.080 --> 0:11:12.960 I would put it up there. 0:11:13.000 --> 0:11:15.320 A couple of titles that work similarly in the teen 0:11:15.440 --> 0:11:19.320 genre would be Splendor in the Grass decades earlier in 0:11:19.360 --> 0:11:22.080 terms of just getting at that idea of you know, 0:11:22.240 --> 0:11:25.720 puppy love much more focusing on sexuality, Yeah. 0:11:25.840 --> 0:11:28.040 For sure, sexuality and sexual attention and. 0:11:28.400 --> 0:11:31.360 That aspect of being a teenager. And then something more 0:11:31.400 --> 0:11:33.720 recent Scott Pilgrim Versus the World. There is another movie 0:11:33.720 --> 0:11:36.520 that I came out of and just thinking, man that 0:11:37.080 --> 0:11:40.720 gets it, that manages to get at the heart of 0:11:40.840 --> 0:11:44.360 what it was like to be a teenager. And these movies, 0:11:44.400 --> 0:11:46.840 all three of those movies, they don't just get the 0:11:46.840 --> 0:11:50.160 look right. They don't just get the dialogue right. I 0:11:50.200 --> 0:11:52.720 might argue that The Breakfast Club does not get the 0:11:52.760 --> 0:11:55.079 dialogue right, and a lot of situations in terms of 0:11:55.120 --> 0:11:57.280 the phrases they use. But what these movies I'll do 0:11:57.360 --> 0:12:00.480 is they embody the experience in such a way and 0:12:00.880 --> 0:12:04.400 this film. Hughes does it primarily for the attention that 0:12:04.480 --> 0:12:08.480 he gives to the characters and also the cast. I mean, 0:12:08.600 --> 0:12:10.839 this thing would not work as well as it does 0:12:11.320 --> 0:12:13.680 without this phenomenal cast, and we can maybe talk about 0:12:13.679 --> 0:12:16.319 who we think rises to the top. I finally came 0:12:16.400 --> 0:12:18.360 up with an answer after wrestling with that a little bit. 0:12:18.440 --> 0:12:21.079 My son wrestling. Is that a Q maybe a big 0:12:21.200 --> 0:12:21.880 Estavez fan? 0:12:22.040 --> 0:12:23.440 No, I went another direction. 0:12:23.559 --> 0:12:25.320 Well, I didn't really think about it in those terms, 0:12:25.400 --> 0:12:29.559 but I did discover that I did appreciate these performances 0:12:29.600 --> 0:12:32.640 beyond what I remember as a kid liking the movie 0:12:32.679 --> 0:12:35.160 overall and not really judging those performances. Here, being a 0:12:35.200 --> 0:12:37.959 little more objective or distance from it, I was able 0:12:37.960 --> 0:12:39.880 to see them as what they are. I think they 0:12:39.920 --> 0:12:43.280 are all really good, really strong performances. But I want 0:12:43.280 --> 0:12:46.000 to go back to the opening of the film, because 0:12:46.520 --> 0:12:48.480 all of these kids, this is the first thing I 0:12:48.520 --> 0:12:51.040 said out loud as Sarah and I were watching the movie. 0:12:51.120 --> 0:12:53.480 I'm like, all these kids are being driven to school 0:12:53.480 --> 0:12:55.520 by their parents, and yet they seem to me like 0:12:55.559 --> 0:12:58.360 maybe juniors or seniors. Maybe Brian is the youngest. He 0:12:58.480 --> 0:13:01.680 might be fifteen, a sophomore but otherwise they all seem 0:13:01.720 --> 0:13:03.720 like they're of driving age, but they're being dropped off 0:13:03.720 --> 0:13:04.319 by their parents. 0:13:04.360 --> 0:13:05.160 That seems so weird. 0:13:05.160 --> 0:13:06.600 And of course then I thought about it for a 0:13:06.640 --> 0:13:09.960 minute as that sequence played out, and I realized, it's. 0:13:09.840 --> 0:13:11.320 All about that parent, it really is. 0:13:11.400 --> 0:13:13.600 And you see what he is doing, what he accomplishes 0:13:13.640 --> 0:13:16.880 there is he immediately gives us a window into their psyches. 0:13:17.280 --> 0:13:20.080 We see where they're coming from, and for example, we 0:13:20.160 --> 0:13:23.199 understand the disconnect between Claire and her dad, the academic 0:13:23.240 --> 0:13:26.280 pressure and demands of Brian's mom, the athletic pressure and 0:13:26.320 --> 0:13:29.960 demands of Andrew's dad, that blatant disregard of Allison's parent. 0:13:30.160 --> 0:13:31.600 I don't even think we know who it is. They 0:13:31.640 --> 0:13:33.679 just don't even acknowledge her and drive away. And of 0:13:33.679 --> 0:13:37.000 course the loner bender who hilariously walks right in front 0:13:37.040 --> 0:13:39.600 of the car without stopping. He's the one who comes 0:13:39.600 --> 0:13:42.040 in by himself, no parent who cares about him. So 0:13:42.200 --> 0:13:44.480 the whole movie set up right there, all those dynamics 0:13:44.520 --> 0:13:47.439 that we need to see, and before we discover them 0:13:47.440 --> 0:13:49.960 to be a certain type, we get to see them 0:13:50.000 --> 0:13:52.840 as people and see that baggage that they're carrying with them. 0:13:53.320 --> 0:13:56.200 Before they begin any of these interactions or these confrontations 0:13:56.200 --> 0:13:58.200 with each other. It of course sets up the whole 0:13:58.200 --> 0:14:00.440 trajectory of the story, as I said, but it also 0:14:00.520 --> 0:14:03.199 gives us some insight that the other characters don't have. 0:14:03.280 --> 0:14:06.520 I think it actually establishes a neat layer of subtext 0:14:06.600 --> 0:14:09.160 to a lot of those interactions and confrontations that we 0:14:09.160 --> 0:14:13.560 wouldn't otherwise be aware of. A perfect example is when 0:14:13.800 --> 0:14:18.880 Bender does his impersonation of what it's like at the 0:14:19.040 --> 0:14:23.480 Johnson resident the cuts to Anthony Michael Hall and his reaction. 0:14:24.280 --> 0:14:26.760 You can read it as he's hurt because he's being 0:14:26.760 --> 0:14:30.400 made fun of, But because we know what the dynamic 0:14:30.520 --> 0:14:33.520 really is like at home, we as a viewer appreciate 0:14:33.560 --> 0:14:35.440 that on a different level. We see through it a 0:14:35.440 --> 0:14:37.320 little bit and we recognize that he's not just hurt 0:14:37.360 --> 0:14:40.280 it being made fun of. He's actually hurt because he 0:14:40.360 --> 0:14:42.520 wishes his home life was probably that way, and it's 0:14:42.560 --> 0:14:44.520 not that way at all. So there are double layers 0:14:44.560 --> 0:14:46.240 to a lot of what's going on in this film. 0:14:46.360 --> 0:14:48.680 And we were talking about how quotable this is. And 0:14:48.720 --> 0:14:51.320 for me in fifth grade when I saw this movie, 0:14:51.360 --> 0:14:54.160 we watched it hundreds of times I mean probably not hundreds, 0:14:54.200 --> 0:14:56.040 but it felt like it and we did know every 0:14:56.120 --> 0:14:58.680 single line. So one of the questions I was really 0:14:58.840 --> 0:15:01.520 wondering as I sat down to watch it now, like 0:15:01.560 --> 0:15:04.680 I said, at least twenty years since I last saw it, 0:15:04.680 --> 0:15:06.880 it was could it make me laugh? Could I actually 0:15:06.960 --> 0:15:09.400 laugh out loud when I know all the lines, I 0:15:09.440 --> 0:15:12.520 know all the jokes and what's coming. I laughed a lot. 0:15:12.640 --> 0:15:14.880 I laughed out loud a lot of this movie. And 0:15:15.160 --> 0:15:18.800 it wasn't at the big, broader jokes. The things that 0:15:19.000 --> 0:15:21.000 did make me laugh a lot as a nine or 0:15:21.000 --> 0:15:24.080 ten year old. It was the reactions, the expressions on 0:15:24.120 --> 0:15:27.320 their faces, the overall absurdity of some of those moments, 0:15:27.440 --> 0:15:31.800 like Bender and Brian Judd Nelson and Anthony Michael Hall 0:15:32.000 --> 0:15:35.200 taking their coats off at the same time, and Ryan 0:15:35.600 --> 0:15:38.360 acquiesces when Bender kind of shoots him a dirty look, 0:15:38.440 --> 0:15:40.640 like are you copying me or something? And it's not 0:15:40.880 --> 0:15:43.080 just that he decides to stop and put his coat 0:15:43.080 --> 0:15:45.560 back on, that's funny enough, it's that he then rubs 0:15:45.560 --> 0:15:48.480 his hands together like he's cold and he really wants 0:15:48.520 --> 0:15:50.640 to put his jacket back on, but he feels the 0:15:50.680 --> 0:15:54.000 need to put on that show is really funny. The 0:15:54.000 --> 0:15:56.400 look Bender gives him when he does the I'm a 0:15:56.400 --> 0:15:58.880 Walrus bit and he puts the pen on his lip. 0:15:59.240 --> 0:16:01.160 Those bits for me that I maybe didn't laugh so 0:16:01.200 --> 0:16:03.760 hard at, like I said, however many years ago, were 0:16:03.800 --> 0:16:05.000 really funny to me this time. 0:16:05.080 --> 0:16:08.520 A lot of those are the social cues that the 0:16:08.640 --> 0:16:13.000 film just nails in how teens walk into a room 0:16:13.040 --> 0:16:15.680 and it's immediately perhaps you know, it still happens when 0:16:15.720 --> 0:16:19.000 you're adult, of course, but never more so as heightened 0:16:19.000 --> 0:16:22.360 as when you're a teen. You're immediately staking your place, 0:16:22.560 --> 0:16:25.120 and it captures how that's done through gestures and through 0:16:25.160 --> 0:16:27.880 looks and those sorts of things. So life at Bry's 0:16:28.120 --> 0:16:31.280 that scene is perhaps the standout to me. I had 0:16:31.320 --> 0:16:33.440 three scenes that I want to make sure we talked okay, 0:16:33.640 --> 0:16:36.960 and we got to the first one already, Estevez's confession 0:16:37.000 --> 0:16:39.200 of bowling. I think that's crucial, and I think he's 0:16:39.200 --> 0:16:42.680 fantastic in it, and I like how Hughes uses the 0:16:42.680 --> 0:16:45.560 camera there too, as you said, unbroken, but also moving 0:16:45.760 --> 0:16:48.280 around to include all of them in this conversation. This 0:16:48.440 --> 0:16:50.840 was much more visually sophisticated than I would have expected 0:16:50.840 --> 0:16:53.560 in revisiting it. But the other two scenes I wanted 0:16:53.600 --> 0:16:56.480 to talk about are who I do give my MVP 0:16:56.600 --> 0:17:00.600 award again, not that we need to, but to Judd Nelson, Yeah, 0:17:00.640 --> 0:17:04.160 and life at Bryce the way that goes from this 0:17:04.320 --> 0:17:05.760 comic impersonation that's. 0:17:05.640 --> 0:17:07.199 Also so bitter. 0:17:07.560 --> 0:17:09.920 I mean, it's just so clear that the reason this 0:17:10.040 --> 0:17:12.240 really bothers him is because his home life is not 0:17:12.400 --> 0:17:14.800 like that too, And as much fun as he's making 0:17:15.280 --> 0:17:19.159 of Brian, that he's also just furious because of this 0:17:19.240 --> 0:17:21.879 other element going on. And then how it transitioned to 0:17:21.960 --> 0:17:25.120 the impression of life at his house, which is really scary. 0:17:25.480 --> 0:17:28.359 I mean, Nelson and we got to talk about this 0:17:28.440 --> 0:17:31.119 as well, how he treats Claire, because I think we 0:17:31.160 --> 0:17:34.280 look at that differently, people in general would look at 0:17:34.280 --> 0:17:36.359 that differently than they did in nineteen eighty five. And 0:17:36.400 --> 0:17:38.800 he's scary with her too. But I think that's a 0:17:38.920 --> 0:17:41.600 very good element of the performance. I love the different 0:17:41.800 --> 0:17:44.000 levels that Nelson brings to this. Even when he has 0:17:44.040 --> 0:17:47.960 that early standoff with Vernon and he gets the four 0:17:48.200 --> 0:17:50.879 or eight extra weeks of detention, there's that. 0:17:50.800 --> 0:17:52.720 Moment got Chay, Yeah, there's that. 0:17:52.680 --> 0:17:56.720 Moment where he turns away and you can see that. Okay, 0:17:56.720 --> 0:17:58.919 most high school comedies would play that up. 0:17:58.840 --> 0:18:00.560 Purely for Trump the rebel. 0:18:00.680 --> 0:18:03.000 He's the rebel, but they hold it that one extra 0:18:03.040 --> 0:18:05.400 beat so that he shows he's pissed at himself. 0:18:05.480 --> 0:18:07.159 Yeah, for him leeing self control. 0:18:07.240 --> 0:18:08.240 He can't believe he did it. 0:18:08.520 --> 0:18:09.720 So those are two things. 0:18:09.760 --> 0:18:12.080 The other one goes to Nelson too, and it is 0:18:12.160 --> 0:18:17.040 that early one where it's it's a sexual harassment slash 0:18:17.080 --> 0:18:22.320 seduction of Claire and watching that very early on where 0:18:22.359 --> 0:18:25.359 he's trying to find out, you know what, how sexually 0:18:25.400 --> 0:18:27.800 experienced she is. He's flirting with her at the same 0:18:27.800 --> 0:18:32.640 time she's acting repulse but also pulling back enough here 0:18:32.720 --> 0:18:36.000 and there to I don't want to say toy with him, 0:18:36.040 --> 0:18:39.720 but to give him the hint that she's still listening. 0:18:39.840 --> 0:18:41.280 Let's just put it that way for sure, all right. 0:18:41.280 --> 0:18:43.840 So in nineteen eighty five, and as a kid, you know, 0:18:43.920 --> 0:18:44.800 I'm taking. 0:18:44.480 --> 0:18:46.320 That as Wow, is this guy cool? 0:18:46.880 --> 0:18:47.160 You know? 0:18:47.200 --> 0:18:50.280 And you'll hear from women too, or I think I 0:18:50.320 --> 0:18:51.800 saw it on It might have been the film's finding 0:18:51.880 --> 0:18:55.160 Facebook feed. That's where girls fell in love with John Bender, 0:18:55.200 --> 0:18:55.920 that bad boy. 0:18:56.600 --> 0:18:57.440 What's yours? 0:18:57.880 --> 0:19:00.880 Claire? Claire Claire. 0:19:00.960 --> 0:19:02.000 It's a family name. 0:19:02.720 --> 0:19:05.479 Oh it's a fat girl's name. Oh, thank you, you're welcome. 0:19:05.720 --> 0:19:07.800 Not fat, well, not a present, but I could see 0:19:07.800 --> 0:19:09.520 you really pushing maximum density. 0:19:10.040 --> 0:19:10.360 You see. 0:19:10.400 --> 0:19:12.520 I'm not sure if you know this, but there are 0:19:12.520 --> 0:19:13.760