The Breakfast Club

John Hughes wrote and directed this quintessential 1980s high school drama featuring the hottest young stars of the decade. Trapped in a day-long Saturday detention in a prison-like school library are Claire, the princess (Molly Ringwald); Andrew, the jock (Emilio Estevez); John, the criminal (Judd ...more

The best of director John Hughes' many teen-angst films of the 1980s, this perceptive, absorbing comedy-drama basically puts five different teenage archetypes in a classroom for Saturday detention and lets them interact. Judd Nelson is most memorable as a bully who reveals his abusive home life, but the entire ensemble cast is terrific. Adults may be somewhat distraught by the amount of venom directed their way, and the idea that one day in detention could unite such disparate types stretches ...more