John Bender (the stoner) was the only student who didn’t cry.
Also, I wondered for years; why didn’t Bender fight Mr.Vernon (the teacher) when Vernon put him in that closet and frightened him? I started looking it up online and the consensus among people seems to be one of two things: that Bender wasn’t as tough as he made himself out to be and that he was scared. Or, that Vernon was right, Vernon was a respected adult and Bender was a lying delinquent and he could kick Benders ass and no one would believe Bender didn’t start it.
It’s still a weird scene, I would like to hear from the directer of the film himself why Bender didn’t fight Mr. Vernon. Do you agree with the two explanations above or do you think it was something else?
Yeah saw it in the cinema and one of my fav movies from back then. I had a thing for the goth girl as usual Ally Sheedy as that was my thing but honestly…Bender was a lot of show and wasn’t really the man as I’d take it…
Emilio’s character knew about wrestling and could have done him in anyways so I would think even if Bender got into it he didn’t want to because he was smart enough to see the end game…and didn’t he get the end game…as in Molly anyways…
I enjoyed this repartee . Good memories of some film for it’s time!
I like how they portrayed the various “cliques” that existed then and still exist today…jock, stoner, brain, outcast, prom queen. I always prided myself in my ability when I was that age to fluidly move through the different cliques and have an eclectic group of friends. I was a weird specimen!
At my school we had a small grassy area in the back of the school that was supposed to be a place where people could smoke cigarettes but everybody smoked pot there too. And at my school all those cliques gathered there to get stoned and often intermingled.
The Breakfast Club is definitely a perfect movie. i consider it to be one of the few ‘perfect films’ ever made.
anyways, yes, Bender was scared in the closet, he absolutely was intimidated by Vernon. Bender’s character was so entrenched in poor circumstances, that his only option to survive was to lash out. otherwise, he believed he would drown.
so, in the closet, with lashing out his only option, he couldn’t- because Vernon, too, was conflicted, he was troubled with juvenoia. suddenly, Vernon felt like HE had to lash out, as Bender was doing. in the closet, Vernon shows a piece of himself that is similar to Bender, and Bender simply can’t retaliate against that. because, it would feel like, to Bender, he was attacking himself- who is the only person in his life he can rely on.
throughout different parts of the movie, Vernon reveals parts of him that are similar to each of the 5 students ‘archetypes’. and i believe this scene was him revealing his side that is similar to Bender
I think Bender was smart enough to understand that assaulting a teacher would play out bad for him even if he didn’t start the conflict. People would believe the teachers word without a doubt instead of the troubled kid which the school probably had a history with.
I think the movie became so big because teenagers would identify strongly with the characters…ie…the jock, the nerd, the princess, the punk, the goth girl.
I liked the film. It really drew me in and had me rooting for everyone.
I think that’s part of it. But I think it also meant that once they stopped putting up a front and dropped their guard that they found out they were very similar to each other. I.e. they all had problems, they were all a little weird, they all had problems being who they were.
I think the only time any of them were super honest and adult acting was when Emilio Esteves admits that if he ran into the nerd kid in the hallway the next day, he’d be cool to his face and make fun of him behind his back.
IDK, you have valid points but I think (from the paper they wrote) that the teacher saw them as being in their respective roles but I think that paper proves that they were much more than just stereotypes of the various clicks. When the paper was being read as the last words in the movie didn’t he say ( to paraphrase) that “They all had elements of each other in themselves? Yeah, the last lines are. “We found out each one of us is a brain, an athlete, a princess, a criminal and a basket case.”
I don’t know. Looking back, I’m wondering if the flims retrospective point may be that even someone related to Charlie Sheen is capable of not being a total ostentatious prick douchebag.
