Here's Where You Can Watch The Breakfast Club
Stop us if you've heard this one before: a brain, an athlete, a basket case, a princess, and a criminal walk into an early morning detention.
"The Breakfast Club" has become a huge touchstone in pop culture since its 1985 debut. The movie took a cross section of an average (white) Chicago suburb and used the high school students to explore identity, family, and friendship. In the end, we are supposed to come away identifying with every member of the Breakfast Club.
A cottage industry has sprung up using the clichés and tropes of the film as shorthand for a quintessential teenage experience. Any number of shows can be described as "'The Breakfast Club' but with ______." "Buffy: the Vampire Slayer" is "The Breakfast Club” but with vampires. The popular tabletop RPG YouTube series "Fantasy High" is "The Breakfast Club" but with Dungeons & Dragons. "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2" famously aped the film's iconic poster, and the closing song by Simple Minds has become a TikTok trend. But how is this film living into the influencer age?
You can stream The Breakfast Club on AMC+ (for now)
"The Breakfast Club" is available to stream on Amazon Prime Video if you have the AMC+ add-on. AMC+ contains not only classic films that would air on the network, but the libraries of Shudder, BBC America, Sundance Now, and IFC Films Unlimited. Because "The Breakfast Club" is a Universal movie, it seems likely that it will move to Peacock soon.
The film helped solidify the Brat Pack as the cultural force of the '80s. Molly Ringwald, Anthony Michael Hall, Judd Nelson, Ally Sheedy, and Emilio Estevez became superstars. And Paul Gleason was able to score bit parts for the rest of his life as an irate authority figure, perhaps best used in "Not Another Teen Movie."
If you use AMC+ to stream "The Breakfast Club," be sure to pay special attention to the dance scene. Each member of the Breakfast Club has very specific moves that have become iconic and repeated throughout pop culture. "Community" famously copied the moves in Season 1 (as well as having Abed pull a Bender quote in the pilot). Kids can also be seen doing the boys' dance in the background of "Wet Hot American Summer." More than 35 years after its release, "The Breakfast Club" can't stop inspiring different generations.