This coming of age tale is John Hughes' best film. I distinctly remember the place I first saw it and the impact that it had on me at the ripe old age of 11. At that age I felt like the movie was speaking directly to me. It had seen my experiences and put them up on the screen. It was telling the truth.
The story brings together five very different students together for a day of Saturday detention. John Bender (Judd Nelson, ST. ELMO'S FIRE) is the metal head troublemaker. Detention is his home away from troubled home. Claire Standish (Molly Ringwald, SIXTEEN CANDLES) is the pretty popular rich girl whose parents use her as a bargaining chip in their ongoing battle of wills. Andrew Clark (Emilio Estevez, REPO MAN) is the champion wrestler whose father rides constantly to succeed. Brian Johnson (Anthony Michael Hall, EDWARD SCISSORHANDS) is a straight-A student, who is under constant pressure from his parents and himself to excel in academics. Allison Reynolds (Ally Sheedy, SHORT CIRCUIT) is a quiet strange girl who does outlandish things to get attention. Watching over these students is principal Richard Vernon (Paul Gleason, DIE HARD), a man who only has contempt for the teens he's supposed to be guiding.
Of course, Bender is the provocateur that gets the students talking and Principal Vernon is their common enemy. Bender makes fun of all of them. Andrew and Claire turn their noses up at the stoner, telling him, "He might as well not even exist at this school." All three of them look down on Brian as the brown-nosing nerd. He feebly tries to be accepted. Allison stays quiet until she is talked to, hiding behind her dark eye make-up and straggly hair. When Andrew tries to get to know her, she tells him that she loves vodka and later says she had an affair with her therapist. Hughes gives each of his characters a unique perspective on themselves and their classmates.
What he also does is give us moments with Vernon outside of his petty dictatorship attitude toward the students. There is a wonderful scene where he confides in the janitor Carl (John Kapelos, AUTO FOCUS) about how he's scared of these students taking over the world. The scene exposes Vernon as a fraud.
Hughes' dialogue sounds like teenagers spoke it. The Brat Pack filled cast nails it. Nelson has never been better. He's the class clown that's smart and witty with his sly digs. Who wouldn't want to ask a cocky teacher or principal if Barry Manilow knows he raided his closet? Estevez avoids making Andrew a typical dumb jock. He's a follower with blinders on. Ringwald makes Claire sophisticated but spoiled and conceited. But she is able to make her confident and vulnerable at the same time, which allows her to remain likeable. Hall's Brian is the classic geek. He's awkward and tries too hard. He's also a push over to the more secure kids. Allison is the most unique character. Sheedy makes her defensive and sensitive. Her strange behavior is hiding loneliness.
Throughout the course of their day, these characters will discover things they didn't know about each other, which will change their perspective. This leads them to see their similarities and their differences. They have their prejudices about each other. At the end of the day, they see each other more clearly, but not all their problems are solved. The film doesn't try to think it can solve the problems of cliques, parents and growing up, but for these characters they learn to see they are not alone.
That's how the film made me feel when I was 11. I was a mix of Brian and Allison and Andrew. I feared kids like Bender and was jealous of the "easy life" of people like Claire. Whoever one is they will find their combo of characters they relate to. The dramedy allows the viewer to see others in a different light and more importantly see themselves in a different light. Now as an adult, I watch the film with nostalgia. Even with lines like Neo-Maxi-Zoom-Dweebie, the film retains fresh because it understands.
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Rick DeMott
Animation World Network
Creator of Rick's Flicks Picks
