Study with the several resources on Docsity
Earn points by helping other students or get them with a premium plan
Prepare for your exams
Study with the several resources on Docsity
Earn points to download
Earn points by helping other students or get them with a premium plan
Community
Ask the community for help and clear up your study doubts
Discover the best universities in your country according to Docsity users
Free resources
Download our free guides on studying techniques, anxiety management strategies, and thesis advice from Docsity tutors
Claire, Andy and Brian are poised to listen attentively. Allison is staring in her lap. John is trying not to laugh. VERNON. A teacher in civvies. A sight to ...
Typology: Schemes and Mind Maps
1 / 143
This page cannot be seen from the preview
Don't miss anything!
EXEC. PRODUCER: CO-PRODUCER: PRODUCER:
THE BREAKFAST CLUB
Final Draft Screenplay
by
JOHN HUGHES
A & M Recore
SUPER: ... "And these children that you spit on as they try to change their worlds are immune to your consultations. They're quite aware of what they're going through .... "
David Bowie
(Music Cue #1, kick drum. Heartbeat. Song #1.)
Roll credits.
1
2
3
The crack of dawn on a cold, bleak winter morning. It's March. Loneliness and isolation. No people. No cars. No life at all. A string bass comes in. We hear the soft, serious Voice of a young man. There is a tinge of humor to his slightly over-dramatic speech.
VOICE Saturday, September 24, 1983. Shermer High School, Shermer, Illinois. (pause)
On the cut, the ticking of a dampened high-hat comes in. Muted guitar.
Deserted, empty, lonely, rows of lockers, open classroom doors. A rare peek at a school at dawn on a Saturday.
VOICE Dear Mr. Vernon ... we accept the fact that we had to sacrifice a whole Saturday in detention for whatever it was we did wrong.
State-of-the-art computer lab. A large sign warns: "Hackers Will Be Expelled."
VOICE What we did was wrong.
1
3
3
bulging with information. A bust of Freud wearing a White Sox cap. VOICE ... and a basket case ....
A Driver's Ed car is sitting in a pool of its own juices, the front end completely creamed.
VOICE A princess ....
A hall locker defaced with the words: "OPEN THIS LOCKER AND YOU DIE, FAGGOT!" (X) VOICE ... and a criminal. Correct?
Trees, shrubs, benches, cold and lonely.
VOICE That's the way we saw each other at seven o'clock this morning. (pause) We were brainwashed.
(Music to accent conclusion of the speech.)
The school's athletic sYmbol, a bulldog, cast in bronze and set in the brick floor. An industrial dust mop glides over (X) the symbol followed by a pair of the ugliest work shoes ever worn by a human being. The shoes carefully avoid stepping on the seal.
We move up from the seal to a slice of window. Out the window we see a car pull up in front of the school.
Music ends.
Hard cut, sound and picture, from the relative quiet and warmth of the lonely school to the frigid, exposure of the
outside and the huge closeup of the automobile grille and the sound of the engine. We move from the grille to the hood'. It's an immaculate silver BMW csi with telephone antenna. Through the windshield we see a man in a business suit at the wheel. Beside him is his seventeen-year-01d daughter, Claire Standish. She's a budding beauty. Much too pretty, much too sexy for her age. Spoiled and petulant. She's staring out the side window at the school, unable to accept her fate. Her father looks over at her.
(Cue #2, orchestra. Something light and lovely. To represent Claire.)
16
18
It's plush and warm but cold and wealthy and organized. Claire's Father pats her on the knee. She looks across at him.
CLAIRE Can't you do anything? I mean it's so ridiculous that I have to be here on a Saturday.
Her Father smiles at her spirit, wrong as it may be.
It's not like I'm defective or any- thing.
CLAIRE'S FATHER (with a wink) I'll make it up to you.
He leans over and gives her a kiss. He reaches into the backseat and hands her a home-packed lunch. It's in a Neiman Marcus bag.
pulls away and Claire starts up to the school. A beat and a filthy, salt-stained Ford Escort pulls up.
(Cue #2A, Claire's theme becomes more serious. Tighter.)
18
She's mad. Her son, Brian Johnson, has his head bowed in shame. He's slight and plain with neatly combed hair, cuffed cord pants, a dress shirt, loafers, brown socks and glasses.
Hey, I screwed around. GUys screw around. There's nothing wrong with that. Except you got caught, sport.
ANDY Morn already reamed me.
ANDY'S FATHER (angry) You wanna miss a match? You wanna blow your ride?
and 21
21-A
Andy passively shakes his head no. ANDY'S FATHER No school gives a scholarship to a discipline case.
Andy opens the door and gets out.
ANDY'S FATHER Not a white one, anyway.
He pulls away. Andy watches him go with an empty, vacant look. Then he turns and heads up to the school.
(Cue #2C. Turns dark and bold. )
and 21
21-A
As the Blazer pulls away, we see a sour, young punk, John (X) Bender, cutting across the driveway heading for the school. A Cadillac Seville pulls up and stops short to avoid hitting Bender. He continues without hesitation. He passes and the Cadillac pulls up a little further. In the backseat we see the face of a strange, young girl, Allison Reynolds.
JOHN I love you too.
John starts for the school.
JOHN'S FATHER Hey, smart-ass, you get thrown outta there, you get thrown outta the house. Understand?
(without turning around) Promises, promises.
His Father jams the truck in gear and pulls away. John keeps walking. A beat and he turns and throws his lunch bag at the truck. JOHN Up your ass!
He turns back and heads toward the school.
A wire-wheel car tire rolls over John's lunch. We move up from the tire to the car -- a white Cadillac Seville. A strange, young girl, Allison Reynolds, is staring out the window at the school. She's thin and plain-looking. Ugly, white makeup and dark eyes, no style to her long, straight hair, no attempt to look like anything. A pale, invisible human being. She's biting her thumbnail.
(Cue #2D. Simple, haunting piano.)
Allison's in the backseat. Her parents are in the front. We never see their faces. Only the backs of their heads. She gets out of the car. She waits for a word, good or bad. Silence. She closes the door and the car pulls away. She turns and walks slowly up the school walk.
Music ends.
(Cue #3. Drum roll, execution style.)
A hard, jarring cut to the face of Harold Vernon, a twenty- (X) two year veteran of the school. He's seen and heard it all. A stern, serious man. No bullshit. Or at least that's the image he wants to project. He's watching with a tough, authoritative expression.
from the hallway to the interior of library. We see the five kids seated at a library table, still bundled in their
28
(softly) I don't think I belong here.
28
29
30
32
John looks at her with a smirk. Vernon holds his stare. Claire explains herself.
I'm a normal person.
ANDY
He looks across at Claire offended.
She stares out at Claire curiously.
She offers a dumb, apologetic smile.
stares blankly at her, unmoved, unconvinced. He ignores her comment.
It is now ... (looks at his watch) ... 7:06 and thirty seconds. You have exactly nine hours, nine long, uneventful hours to spend in each other's company.
Claire looks at John.
(under her breath) I can't handle this.
John looks at her with sleepy, half-closed eyes and blocks one nostril. He fakes a construction worker's hankie. Claire is repulsed and turns away.
You may not talk, you may not move from your seats ... (to John, points) ... you may not sleep.
29
30
32
(X)
Vernon places a stack of notebook paper and five pencils on (X) the table.
We're going to try something new today. We're going to write an essay of no less than one thousand words describing to me who you think you are. When I say essay, I mean an essay. Not a single word repeated a thousand times. Do you understand, Mr. Bender?
Mr. Bender understands, Mr. Vernon.
(ignores him) Maybe you'll learn something about why you're here and perhaps you'll decide whether or not you care to return.
Brian raises his hand and speaks.
34
35
I can answer that right now, sir. No. No way ....
Save it. (pause) Mr. Johnson. I'll be across the hall in my office. Any monkey business is ill-advised. Questions?
He shakes his head. He understands the rules.
Fear, total fear. He stares at Vernon, his eyes pleading mercy.
She can't believe this is happening to her.
(X)
(X)
33
34
35
43 CONTINUED VERNON (smug smile) I'll tell you next Saturday. (pause) Anything else you'd like to say to try and impress these people?
43
John looks at the others and takes the challenge.
Got any naked pictures of your wife?
Vernon's face clenches. He glares at Bender. A hateful stare. Then he turns and exits through the open library doors.
45
slouches down in his chair.
JOHN What a pinhead.
(Cue #5. Muted bass in and out.)
Then silence. A lot of silence. John makes like he's going to go to sleep. Claire sighs and stares at her sheet of paper. Andy cracks his knuckles. Brian takes a pencil and a sheet of paper. He starts thinking about his paper. Allison studies her hand. It's so quiet in the library and the school you can hear the linoleum aging.
His eyes are closed. Working hard to pretend he doesn't give a damn. We hear the sound of Allison gnawing on her thumbnail. John opens one eye, then the other. He turns to Allison. She's really bugging him.
She's chewing her thumb with great determination. She stops in midchew as she senses that she's being watched. She looks up.
Everybody's staring down the table at her.
JOHN You keep eating your hand and you won't be hungry for lunch.
44
45
47
48 ALLISON 48
49
50
defiantly bites off a chip and spits it out in John's direction.
Yeah, you're real balanced. (hums to himself, then) Fred, what are you doing on the balcony. Lucy, you have some explaining to do. (loud grunts) Uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh.
He leans forward and looks at John. It's innocent curiosity.
49
50
54
catches Andy looking at him. He makes a grotesque face.
JOHN Take a picture, it lasts longer.
She shakes her head in disgust at John.
CLAIRE I can't believe this is really happening to me.
He looks up from his paper, glances left and right and goes back to his thinking.
He smirks and settles back into the boredom. He does a little air guitar. Andy gives him a sour look. John plays on for a beat then loses interest. He slouches down and opens his jacket.
54
54 CONTINUED - 2
Totally.
54
(to John) Why don't you just shut up. Nobody's interested.
ANDY (to John) Butt-face.
John snarls at the insult. He reacts by unloading on Andy.
JOHN What'd you do to get in here? Forget to wash your jock?
CLAIRE (to Andy) Ignore him. Maybe he'll go away.
JOHN Miss an aerobics class?
Andy ignores him.
JOHN Was it something in the shower?
Andy stiffens with anger.
CLAIRE You want us to call Vernon?
JOHN (mock fear) No! Not that! No! No!
The verbal battle is making Brian nervous.
BRIAN (to Claire) Don't, okay?
ANDY (ignores Brian) Just 'cause you live in here, doesn't give you the right to be a pain in the ass.
JOHN It's a free country.
(X)
(X)
54
55
56
57
58
(to Andy) He's just doing it to get a rise out of you. Ignore him.
John looks down the table at Claire.
JOHN Sweets? You couldn't ignore me if you tried.
He gives her a confident wink.
She glares at John. She's no match for his burning stare. She breaks the confrontation and looks away. She sighs and slumps down in her seat.
OMITTED
INT. LIBRARY
John continues to snipe at Andy and Claire.
JOHN Are you guys like girl friend/ boyfriend?
Claire doesn't respond. JOHN Steady dates? Lovers?
Claire still doesn't respond. Andy's smoldering with anger.
JOHN Level with me. Did you slip her the hot beef injection?
To John's surprise, Claire responds with a fury.
CLAIRE (yells) Go to hell!!
It's a designed office. Expensive matching furniture, potted palms, color coordinated blinds.- A modern office. Vernon, a man with little appreciation for the sort of office he's been- given has disrespectively added touches of his own to the perfect decor -- an old walnut coat tree,
54
55
56
57
58
So? ANDY So, why don't you just shut up? There's four other people in here, you know. JOHN Math quiz. You can count. I'll bet you know your ABCs too.
ANDY We're content with the situation like it is. JOHN Content is for cows.
ANDY Moo. JOHN That's about it, man. Moo.
ANDY Who are you to judge anybody?
CLAIRE Amen. ANDY You don't even count. If you disappeared forever, it wouldn't make any difference. You may as well not even exist at this school.
John twitches slightly. It gets him a little. He covers it up immediately with a wisecrack.
JOHN Oh, hey, I'll go join the wrestling team right away. Maybe the tennis team, too. How about the Student Council? ANDY They wouldn't take you.
I'm hurt.
CLAIRE (to John) You know why guys like you knock everything?
This should be stunning.
CLAIRE Because you're afraid.
JOHN God, you're so smart. That's exactly why I'm not heavy into activities.
CLAIRE You're a big coward.
Brian looks up from his paper. John holds his stare.
BRIAN I'm in the Math Club.
CLAIRE (to John) You're afraid they won't let you in. You can't belong so you dump on it.
Claire's getting John as bad as he got her. He doesn't let it show. BRIAN I'm in the Latin Club.
JOHN It wouldn't have anything to do with you people being assholes would it?
CLAIRE You wouldn't know if we are. You don't know any of us.
JOHN I don't know any lepers either but I wouldn't want to join their fuckin' club.
ANDY Let's watch the mouth, okay?
BRIAN I'm in the Physics Club, too.
JOHN (to Brian, irritated) What are you babbling about?
