On DVD: A High School Reunion With the Breakfast Club

It's hard to find a more iconic teen film than The Breakfast Club, which has been newly reissued in a "Flashback Edition" from Universal Studios Home Entertainment. Go ahead. Try and think of one. I'll bet your answer is another John Hughes classic. And as fun as the one you're thinking of is, it's probably not as enlightening, to the point, and just plain as sharp a commentary on the modern youth experience as this lightning-in-a-bottle production was back in 1985.

The gold standard by which all modern teen films are compared (in fact, the film that caused the coining and use of the phrase "teen film" to begin with), The Breakfast Club stands as one of those perfect classics that still holds up today. The fashion epitomizes the era rather than simply looks dated. The language feels as authentic as hip youth slang gets.

And the characters. Oh, how deep and rich these seven characters are. It's a film that on the surface screams pop. But as you peel the layers (and frankly, as you age) you begin to understand how deep and wonderful this thing really is.

Well, Universal was kind enough to re-release a whole slew of John Hughes classics, and seeing this on the list I jumped at the chance to pick it up and talk about it. This is exactly the kind of release I love to see. It's not so much a "Special Edition" as it is a "This is Why We All Love It" Edition. It's not exactly swimming in special features, but what features there are happen to be pretty damned swell.

First and foremost, there is a commentary track. Now, I'm not particularly fond of these things. When they first began to surface on Laserdiscs in the '90s I was pretty into them. But back then these were part of Criterion editions -- new special edition versions of films that were already held to be (if even modern) classics. Hearing what the director and cast had to say about a film you've watched half a dozen times already is pretty enlightening. Nowadays, commentaries come on almost everything and are sometimes recorded weeks, if not even months, before the movie is even released. At the point where everyone is still jazzed, when everyone thinks everything will work out. And they reminisce about films that might in fact turn out to be some of the most loathsome garbage this side of Meet The Spartans.

But when they do go back and actually reflect upon the film, like in the case of the John Hughes movies, over 20 years later, the experience is decidedly different. Hearing Judd Nelson and Anthony Michael Hall tell old Brat Pack stories, or reminisce about the late (great) Paul Gleason every time he's on screen while discussing their 20-year friendships with him after the film, even hearing about how grossed out Molly Ringwald was when Nelson ad-libbed the infamous catching the loogie bit ... well, every bit of it feels like you're sitting in on some kind of reunion rather than an obligatory special feature.

Backing that up is an hour long "making of" remembrance piece (which is also broken up into smaller digestible bits) in which most of the cast share stories while a slew of "teen film" filmmakers give analysis and discuss how the film influenced their own works. This was actually my favorite part of the DVD (outside of the film itself). The hour just flew by as great stories, profound insight, and scene dissections spilled out of this assemblage of great talent. It was a true "film appreciation" piece that strove not to simply celebrate the film, but heighten the experience of watching it.

And finally there's a quirky little five-minute segment on the history of the term "Brat Pack" from both the writer who coined it and several members of the pack themselves. It's an interesting trip into how these phrases come about and how the reputation both elevated and held back the members thereof.

If this disc is any indication of how all of Universal's "Flashback" re-releases are handled, there's little doubt that I'll own them all in short order.

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