Anniversary of The Breakfast Club

 February 7, 1985 in Los Angeles, California, USA, the premiere of the film The Club Breakfast. The film was directed by John Hughes, who is often called the "singer of the American teens". 

 
The name of the film, due to its slightly strange sound, is sometimes translated into Russian as "Weekend Club". But in fact, "breakfast club" is an expression from the slang of American schoolchildren. In many American schools, students are punished for misconduct, forcing them to spend an entire day off at school, completing one task or another. It is these days that American teenagers call the "breakfast club".

 
Roger Ebert, who marked the film with 3 stars out of 4 possible, noted in his review: "Nothing that happens in "The Breakfast Club" is all that surprising. The truths that are exchanged are more or less predictable, and the kids have fairly standard hang-ups. It comes as no surprise, for example, to learn that the jock's father is a perfectionist, or that the prom queen's parents give her material rewards but withhold their love. But "The Breakfast Club" doesn't need earthshaking revelations; it's about kids who grow willing to talk to one another, and it has a surprisingly good ear for the way they speak." 

 
In another review of the work of John Hughes in general, Roger Ebert recalled that a year before the release of the picture on the screens, he visited the set and talked with the whole crew. Young actors involved in the film convinced Ebert that the future film is doomed to success. In particular, Ally Sheedy argued her belief in the future success of The Breakfast Club with the following words: "Look at what this movie doesn’t have. No high school dance. No chase scene. No naked shower scene. No beer blast. No rumble. It’s about kids who are learning about themselves. It’s like doing a play. It’s an actor’s dream. And it’s an ambitious picture. With a lot of teenage movies, you get the feeling the filmmakers are remembering their own youth. This movie is about right now." 

 
The idea that the film The Breakfast Club is very different from countless other films about youth was continued by another famous American film critic James Berardinelli, who wrote in his review: The Breakfast Club is very different from almost every other entry into what was (at the time) a burgeoning genre. Instead of relying on the staples of bare flesh, crass humor, and brainless plots, this movie focuses on five dissimilar characters, is almost entirely dialogue-driven, and doesn't offer even a glimpse of a breast or buttock. It's a story about communication gaps, teen isolation, and the angst that everyone (regardless of how self-assured they seem) experiences during the years that function as a transition from the freedom of adolescence to the responsibilities of adulthood". 

 
The film’s originality, its dissimilarity to other teenagers movies, had certain negative consequences for the film. Representatives of Universal Pictures, the company that was supposed to present the film, watched the working material when the film was almost ready, and were very dissatisfied. Following the instructions of the representatives of the producing company, John Hughes was forced to cut out several scenes already shot. As a result, the duration of the film from the planned duration of 150 minutes was reduced to 97 minutes. Cut scenes, according to Hughes, were destroyed.

 
In addition, the dissatisfaction of the producing company resulted in the film not being nominated for participation in any significant film festivals.

 
But, as it turned out once again, representatives of Universal Pictures turned out to be completely unprofessional: with a film budget of $ 1 million, the film only for the first week of the demonstration in cinemas raised more than $ 5 million. And in the first year, the film earned 51 million dollars, 50 (!) times more than it cost itself. And this is only from a demonstration in cinemas. The profits from selling a movie on VHS and DVD are not countable at all.

 
At the same time, 68% of IMDB and Kinopoisk users gave this film a rating of 8 to 10.

 
Based on the foregoing, the rating of the film The Breakfast Club, according to FilmGourmand, was 7,860, which allowed it to take 931st Rank in the Golden Thousand.

 
And a couple more facts about the film. 1) The script for The Breakfast Club was written by John Hughes in just two days.

 
2) At the celebration of the 25th anniversary of the film, which took place several months after the death of John Hughes, Ally Sheedy stated that the full, 150-minute version of the film was saved, but the director’s widow did not disclose its whereabouts.