Jun 26, 2015 Spoiler "The Breakfast Club" begins with an old dramatic standby. You isolate a group of people in a room, you have them talk, and eventually they exchange truths about themselves and come to new understandings. William Saroyan and Eugene O'Neill have been here before, but they used saloons and drunks. "The Breakfast Club" uses a high school library and five teenage kids. The movie takes place on a Saturday. The five kids have all violated high school rules in one way or another, and they've qualified for a special version of detention: all day long, from 8 to 4, in the school library. They arrive at the school one at a time. There's the arrogant, swaggering tough guy (Judd Nelson). The insecure neurotic (Ally Sheedy) who hides behind her hair and clothes. The jock from the wrestling team (Emilio Estevez). The prom queen (Molly Ringwald). And the class brain (Anthony Michael Hall). These kids have nothing in common, and they have an aggressive desire not to have anything in common. In ways peculiar to teenagers, who sometimes have a studious disinterest in anything that contradicts their self-image, these kids aren't even curious about each other. Not at first, anyway. But then the day grows longer and the library grows more oppressive, and finally the tough kid can't resist picking on the prom queen, and then there is a series of exchanges. 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. (Ever notice the way lots of teenage girls, repeating a conversation, say "she goes ... rather than "she says..."?) The movie was written and directed by John Hughes, who also made last year's "Sixteen Candles." Two of the stars of that movie (Ringwald and Hall) are back again, and there's another similarity: Both movies make an honest attempt to create teenagers who might seem plausible to other teenagers. Most Hollywood teenage movies give us underage nymphos or nostalgia-drenched memories of the 1950s. The performances are wonderful, but then this is an all-star cast, as younger actors go; in addition to Hall and Ringwald from "Sixteen Candles," there's Sheedy from "War Games" and Estevez from "Repo Man." Judd Nelson is not yet as well known, but his character creates the strong center of the film; his aggression is what breaks the silence and knocks over the walls. The only weaknesses in Hughes' writing are in the adult characters: The teacher is one-dimensional and one-note, and the janitor is brought onstage with a potted philosophical talk that isn't really necessary. Typically, the kids don't pay much attention. Note: The "R" rating on this film refers to language; I think a PG-I3 rating would have been more reasonable. The film is certainly appropriate for thoughtful teenagers. 3/4 Stars Spoiler The years between 13 and 18 are among the most agonizing in a lifetime, yet we remember them with a nostalgia that blocks out much of the pain. This is a truth well understood by "Dazed and Confused," Richard Linklater's film about the last day of school and the long night that follows it. The film is art crossed with anthropology. It tells the painful underside of "American Graffiti." In a small town, classes let out for the summer, and upperclassmen go looking for next year's new high school students, so they can paddle them - an initiation inspired, I guess, by high school fraternities. We follow a large number of teenagers, boys and girls, popular and not, "good" and "troubled," as they drive aimlessly around town, drink beer, hang out, trade adolescent life-truths, lust, experiment with sex, fight, and in general, try to invest their passage into adulthood with a significance it does not seem to have. "If I ever say these were the best years of my life," one of the kids says, "remind me to k--- myself." Linklater does not impose a plot on his material. "Dazed and Confused" (the title comes from a song) is not about whether the hero gets the girl, or the nerd loses his virginity, or the bully gets beaten up. It doesn't end in a tragic car crash, although it does end in some quiet moments of truth, which are not pressed too hard. The film's real inspiration, I think, is to depict some high school kids from the 1970s with such unblinking attention that we will realize how romanticized most movie teenagers are. A lot of these kids are asking, with Peggy Lee, "Is that all there is?" Linklater's style is to introduce some characters, linger with them for a while, and then move on to different characters, eventually circling back so that all the stories get told simultaneously. His previous film, "Slacker" (1991), applied a more extreme version of this style to a large group of characters in Austin, Texas. The film would follow one character, then veer off to follow another, so that we got glimpses of many lives. Here, in addition to limiting his characters and following through on their stories, he quietly introduces an observation. It is always the case in any group of males -- students, fraternity brothers, military men, businessmen -- that the ones most zealous about male-bonding rituals, especially those involving drinking and quasisexual "initiations," are the most troubled. They secretly feel like outsiders. As their targets, they choose misfits who are too dumb or too smart, who are different in any way, who do not reflect the mediocrity of the crowd. The kids who enforce this system usually turn out to be losers, and indeed part of their desperation -- part of the reason they cling to status in teenage society -- is that they already feel themselves losing. The most pathetic character in "Dazed and Confused" is a graduate from a few years back, in his '20s now, who still hangs out with the kids because he senses that the status he had at 17 was his personal high point. This is a good film, but it would not cheer people up much at a high school reunion. 3/4 Stars
Jun 26, 2015 @CharlieWork i seen this movie the other day...and HOLY.s--- is it outdated...i cringed most of the movie
Jun 26, 2015 The Breakfast Club? Humor gets dated pretty quick, but I think it's endearing despite the horrible ending. Hasn't aged as bad as Porky's.
Jun 26, 2015 The Breakfast Club is one of my most favorite movies of all time.. haven't seen Dazed and Confused all the way through, remember not really caring for it tho
Jun 26, 2015 I'm working on getting people to participate. Do your own thing if you have a problem with it. Sorry if I don't think The Passion of Joan of Arc is going to draw a lot of discussion.
Jun 26, 2015 I didn't say to pick a super obscure movie lol, but you can pick something like Taxi Driver.
Jun 26, 2015 I already have Taxi Driver vs. Raging Bull planned for the future. Be patient. I can't just cater to FlickYouCrew and expect this to succeed. The Rat Pack was a huge part of the 80s so let's not pretend neither of these films have merit. The other is more of a cult hit but launched some careers. I'd like to do Slacker instead, but how many people would respond? Not many.
Jun 26, 2015 Taxi Driver and Raging Bull are probably much more popular than Dazed/Breakfast Club tho
Jun 26, 2015 Definitely not with my generation. I'd wager a lot of new users are closer to my demographic than yours.
Jun 26, 2015 I actually haven't seen Dazed and Confused since I was younger so I don't remember it well, I'm sure I'd like it a lot because Linklater is one of my favs, my comment was pointed at The Breakfast Club which I don't think is a good film at all. Also, I'm not expecting you to cater to us, but this is the 4th thread you made so I thought it was fair to say something. If you make Taxi Driver vs Raging Bull, why do we have to choose which one will make it into the canon? Both are absolute masterpieces and among the most important American films of all time.
Jun 26, 2015 Wasn't Dazed a flop in its theatrical run? If anything I'd say that film appeals more to the FlickYou members than a lot of what you've picked for this already. Not that I'm complaining. You'd love it @Vahn
Jun 26, 2015 Because it's an arbitrary debate. It makes you put skin in the game. This was all inspired by the podcast of the same name. They also pit films that should both go in all the time. Having to k--- your darlings is fun. Feel free to PM me ones you want to see. I'm making one of these every 1-2 days. Apocalypse Now vs. Dr. Strangelove is another I'll probably make soon. Dazed and Confused is a cult hit, so yeah, that's generally how that goes. It contrasts well with one of the most popular films of the 80s. They're thematically pretty similar with almost opposite endings in regards to fitting social norms.
Jun 26, 2015 Oh yeah, I see why you would put them together. Just in terms of popularity I'm not sure I understand why you picked them (or just D&C) if that's what you're going for with these threads. Raging Bull and Taxi Driver would 100% get a bigger response.
Jun 26, 2015 Are you aiming this discussion at actual film fans or just random people? Because if it's the former, I don't think it would be outrageous to suggest featuring something like a Bergman or a Tarkovsky film every once in a while.
Jun 26, 2015 I'm just promoting activity in this section. Considering I've only seen three films between them, it might be a while before that happens. I don't want this to be seen as homework like the Viewing Club. I think Kubrick and Scorsese are a lot more doable. Less niche.
Jun 27, 2015 @CharlieWork what's the thought process behind making them "vs." threads? I thought the idea worked better when it was one film at a time.
