cult films

“a brain, a beauty, a jock, a rebel and a recluse. before the day was over, they broke the rules…”

dir.: john hughes
comedy / drama
1985

facts:
- the film’s title comes from the nickname invented by students and staff for detention at new trier high school, the school attended by the son of one of john hughes’ friends. thus, those who were sent to detention were designated members of “the breakfast club”. “the breakfast club” at that school probably took its name in turn from the title of american radio’s longest running network entertainment show, broadcast from chicago, 1933 to 1968.
- the library in which this movie takes place was actually constructed in the gymnasium of maine north high school specifically for the film. the school closed down in 1982, two years before filming began. the building had been used for park district purposes and the chicago blitz before the illinois state police bought it, turning it into a police station, which it still is to this day.
- claire’s entire ensemble was purchased specially for the character from a ralph lauren store, the only one in chicago at the time. hughes had rejected the original costume on the grounds that it wasn’t sophisticated enough. 
- john hughes insisted that the entire cast and crew eat their meals on location in the maine north high school cafeteria.
- john hughes wrote the screenplay to this movie in just two days (4 and 5 july 1982).
- shot entirely in sequence.
- the joke that bender tells but never finishes (while crawling through the ceiling) actually has no punchline. according to judd nelson, he ad-libbed the line. originally, he was supposed to tell a joke that would end when he came back into the library and said, “forgot my pencil”, but no one could come up with a joke for that punchline.
- the license plate on brian’s mothers’s car is emc 2. the license plate on andrew’s fathers’s car is ohiost.
- the scene in which all characters sit in a circle on the floor in the library and tell stories about why they were in detention was not scripted. john hughes told them all to ad-lib.
- judd nelson made up many of the terms used in the movie, including ‘neo-maxi zoomdweebie’.
- the theme song, “don’t you (forget about me)”, was written for the film by keith forsey. it was a number one hit for simple minds, and both billy idol and bryan ferryturned down offers to record it first (although in 2001, billy idol recorded don’t you (forget about me) as a bonus track for his greatest hits album). the song was also turned down by chrissie hynde of the pretenders who then suggested they offer it to the band fronted by her husband at the time, simple minds. 
- the david bowie quote at the beginning of the movie is pulled from his song ‘changes’. it can be found on the 1971 album, ‘hunky dory’.
- the song which judd nelson hums the guitar riff to at the beginning of the movie is the opening tune to “sunshine of your love” by cream.
- before john bender says: “oh, shit - what are we supposed to do if we have to take a piss? “, he begins to hum a song while playing an air guitar. the song was “sunshine of your love” by eric clapton.
- the switchblade used in the movie actually belonged to judd nelson. he explained that he had it for protection purposes.
- alison does not speak until 33 minutes into the film.
- what they ate for lunch: andy (andrew): a bag of chips, chocolate cookies, three sandwiches, milk, a banana and an apple. claire: sushi (rice, raw fish and seaweed). allison: a sandwich with pixie stix and cap’n crunch cereal. john: nothing. brian: soup, sandwich with peanut butter and jam and apple juice.

a high school wise guy is determined to have a day off from school, despite of what the principal thinks of that

dir.: john hughes
comedy/teen/80’s
1987 

facts:
- cameron’s father’s ferrari wasn’t a real ferrari. because it was too expensive to rent one, they made three fake ones with a fiberglass body. the 1961 ferrari gt250 was a modified mg sports car. the producers received several angry letters from car enthusiasts who believed the car shown was a *real* ferrari and that it was actually wrecked in the film.
- a number of key moments in the movie were created in the editing room: jeannie kicking roonie three times in the face (when there was in fact only one kick filmed); ferris and sloane’s kiss in front of roonie was originally just a brief kiss, but was later edited into the long kiss seen on film.
- to produce the desired drugged-out effect for his role as the drug addict in the police station, charlie sheen stayed awake for more than 48 hours before the scene was shot.
- most of the license plates are all abbreviations for titles of films by john hughes.
  katie’s = vctn national lampoon’s vacation (1983)
  jeannie’s = tbc the breakfast club (1985)
  tom’s = mmom mr. mom (1983) 
  rooney’s = 4fbdo ferris bueller’s day off (1986) 
the exception is cameron’s ferrari (seen when ferris first pulls out of the garage), the license plate of which reads nrvous.
- the hall scenes in which you see jeanie walking down the hall and kid collecting money to save ferris are the halls from the breakfast club (1985).
- ferris laments not having his own car, but does at least own a synthesizer, an e-mu ii emulator, which cost $8000 back in 1984.- whenever mr. rooney and ferris have a conversation with each other, only one of them speaks throughout the entire conversation; the other is completely silent.
- the yellow and red insignia on ferris’s beret is that of the 32nd armored regiment; the motto at the bottom reads “victory or death”. this was elvis presley’s regiment when he was in the army.
- the final scene in the garage was shot in early fall, so each of the leaves on all the trees outside had to be hand-painted green every morning before shooting. In the shot looking up from the wreck at the three friends, the yellow tree with most of its upper leaves gone can be seen reflected in the window. 
- the dance sequence by the group on the stairs during ferris’s lip-synch performance of twist and shout is taken directly out of michael jackson’s thriller video.