The Breakfast ClubThe seminal film about coming-of age from the mind John Hughes. It’s as iconic as any ’80s movie, but it could have been a lot grimier were it not for Molly Ringwald. She convinced Hughes to cut a weird scene from the movie, and it’s certainly better off for it.
John Hughes’ Early Work
Hughes was a humorist who wrote regularly for The Daily Beast before he became the godfather of high school movies. National Lampoon. Among his first stories, “Vacation ‘58,” became the basis for National Lampoon’VacationFor which he also wrote the screenplay. His writing at the Lampoon demonstrated his skill at writing for teens…and it’s all aged rather poorly.
Writing in the late ’70s into the early ’80s, Hughes’ writing repeatedly included rape and hatred towards women. It’s satire, sure, but it’s hard to feel like the target is sexism. His co-author Ted Mann recollected, “It wouldn’t fly today and it never should have flown then. … These were degenerate cocaine days.”You can call it a product from a man still in his youth.
The Strangest ‘Breakfast Club’Scene
National Lampoon’s Vacation gave way to Hughes’ directorial debut: Sixteen Candles. It was his first collaboration, and they will remain forever connected. Hughes’ 1985 year was as strong as any screenwriter has ever seen. The Breakfast Club, European VacationAnd Weird Science, although the latter is another movie that’s Aged poorly during the #MeToo era.
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While The Breakfast ClubRingwald shared a story about the rape jokes and strange sexist themes that are common in this book. New Yorker about one particularly egregious scene that didn’t make it to air. Ringwald explained that there were still some National LampoonIt was a complete sham movie.
Ringwald said: “In the shooting script of The Breakfast Club, there was a scene in which an attractive female gym teacher swam naked in the school’s swimming pool as Mr. Vernon, the teacher who is in charge of the students’ detention, spied on her. The scene wasn’t in the first draft I read, and I lobbied John to cut it. He did, and although I’m sure the actress who had been cast in the part still blames me for foiling her break, I think the film is better for it.”
It’s better off!
It’s easy to imagine what this would have looked like: Mr. Vernon ogling a beautiful woman in a scene utterly untethered to the rest of the film. It sounds exactly like Porky’s actually. Ringwald’s assistance to Hughes in reaching the right decision was undoubtedly a great help The Breakfast ClubAge gracefully. There’s nothing wrong with loving this era of Hughes. His pop culture imprint speaks for itself, but it’s also important to note where people could have done better.