The Breakfast Club's Classic Dance Scene Was Most Embarrassing For Molly Ringwald
In John Hughes' 1985 teen dramedy "The Breakfast Club," five teenagers are locked in their school library on a Saturday as punishment for a variety of on-campus transgressions. The teens are lucky that their cruel headmaster, Mr. Vernon (Paul Gleason), isn't entirely attentive, as his periodic absences allow them to talk, bond, and come to understand their prejudices about each other. By the end of the day, the five teens — Andrew, Claire, Brian, Allison, and John — may have become friends. More than anything, they understand a lot more about who they are.
John Bender (Judd Nelson) is the troublemaker of the group, and he will reveal his uncaring attitude comes quite directly from having an abusive father. He also deflects a lot of negativity through humor, and it will be he who suggests the other four learn how liberating it is to deliberately break rules. Naturally, he also comes to detention with some weed, which he graciously shares with the others. Claire (Molly Ringwald), the wealthy popular girl, has a little trouble smoking. Eventually, they all get high and dance around the library.
The original script for "The Breakfast Club" (also by Hughes) only called for Claire to get up and dance around. Ringwald, talking to Time Magazine back in 2015, revealed that she didn't like the idea of being the only character dancing, knowing that she wasn't a very graceful dancer. Ringwald was already an experienced actress, working professionally since 1979, but she had never been asked to dance before. Hughes' proposed solution for Ringwald's reluctance to dance worked ... but it was still embarrassing.
Dated or definitive?
Ringwald was asked directly by the Time interviewer, Olivia B. Waxman, what might have been embarrassing about her "Breakfast Club" performance. She instantly thought of the dancing, and what her director said to get the scene shot. It seems that to put Ringwald's mind at ease, everyone danced. That worked on the day, but it didn't really alleviate embarrassment. Ringwald said:
"I was really embarrassed [by the way] the whole dance sequence happened. In the original script, it was supposed to be just my character dancing. And I've never really considered myself a dancer. I took dance lessons, but I was more of a singer. I was like 'Ah God, I don't know about this.' So [Hughes] was like, 'What if we make everyone dance? Would that be better?' I said, 'Yeah, let's do that.' And so that's sort of how it ended up being a whole dance sequence, which I can't really say improves the movie. It's one of the most dated parts of the movie."
One might say that the music and dancing in "The Breakfast Club" are dated, but as the years passed, Hughes' film became something of a touchstone for a particular age group. Ringwald, Nelson, and their other co-stars Anthony Michael Hall, Ally Sheedy, and Emilio Estevez became exemplars of teenhood. Less than a decade later, "The Breakfast Club" started to be regarded as one of the best teen movies of all time, containing archetypes that many suburban could relate to. The music isn't dated, as it is definitive.
Ringwald may have felt genuinely awkward, but the awkwardness was relatable.
When asked what "The Breakfast Club" would look like in 2015, Ringwald was pessimistic. "No one would have talked," she said. "We would have all just been sitting there with our phones texting our friends."