Don't You Forget About Them: It's Been 40 Years Since Their Iconic Detention!

Don't you forget about them. But honestly, how could anyone forget about the most iconic all-day Saturday detention?

March 24, 2024 marks 40 years since "The Brains, the Athlete, the Basket Case, the Princess, and the Criminal" all bonded in the library while paying for their high school wrongdoings.

The popular, timeless 1985 John Hughes film, "The Breakfast Club" became a huge part of pop culture and still lives on. While the film was released in 1985, it takes place on Saturday, March 24, 1984.

Five students, who all got caught doing something detention-worthy, met up in the two-story library of the school on a Saturday to pay for what they did with a day-long detention. The five, who were very different, eventually bonded and formed friendships that wouldn't have happened any other way.

The all-star cast, Molly Ringwald, Emilio Estevez, Ally Sheedy, Judd Nelson, and Anthony Michael Hall were no strangers to popular 80s films and went on to star in other hits.

The TikTok account, @JohnHughesMovies, has shared many clips of the popular teenage movie, as well as many of Hughes's other hit movies.

A video shared last year explains the thought process of why and how Hughes cast what he did in the movie.

"Three of the five roles were cast while I was doing 'Sixteen Candles.' I wanted Michael and I wanted Molly," Hughes said in an interview. "And I wanted Ally Sheedy because I'd seen 'Bad Boys' and she was so great in that movie. She was just fabulous, and she'd come in to read on 'Sixteen Candles' and the role was too small and I thought, no, she's too good to play a role this small, I'll wait."

Sheedy was working on another movie in England at the time, so Hughes sent her a script and then called to ask if she wanted the role. She agreed saying, "Okay, I'll see you in February." Hughes didn't even hear her read the lines until rehearsal.

"Emilio came in to read for Judd's part. And I was having a real hard time on that role because I was looking for a bland, a guy that was bland," Hughes said. "His character, whose motivation in life is to be like everybody else, he has no real character of his own, and I was having a hard time finding someone who could play that and play the looks right."

While Estevez went in with the intention of playing the tough guy role, he ended up with the role of Andy. Then it came to casting John Bender's role. Hughes was looking for someone who was a "horrible guy" that you wanted to hang around. Nelson fit the bill perfectly.

Another video clip on TikTok shared Hughes' experience working with the actors cast for the film.

"We had a three-week rehearsal period there, and I won't do anything with less than two weeks," he said in the clip. "I like to cast early so that I know who it is well in advance, so I can talk to them a lot and we can work on the phone and stuff."

Hughes said that during rehearsal, the cast can say whatever is on their minds and changes can be made if necessary. He wanted his actors to feel involved in the process.

"To me, the actors the most important thing on the set. It really starts with the actor," he said. "You protect the script through pre-production, through production, the script and the actors are like sacred."

A video on TikTok celebrated the detention's anniversary and shared the letter that the five misfits were forced to write while serving detention.

"Saturday, March 24, 1984. Shermer High School, Shermer, Illinois 60062. Dear Mr. Vernon, we accept the fact that we had to sacrifice a whole Saturday in detention for whatever it was that we did wrong. What we did was wrong. But we think you're crazy to make us write this essay telling you who we think we are. What do you care? You see us as you want to see us, in the simplest terms and the most convenient definitions. You see us as a brain, an athlete, a basket case, a princess, and a criminal. Correct? That's how we saw each other at seven o'clock this morning. We were brainwashed," the letter starts out.

Many fans dropped into the comment section of the video to reminisce.

"Happy anniversary GenXers," one person wrote. Another added, "How can it possibly be 39 years…we are not that old!!"

The five actors went on to star in many other television shows and movies after their fame in "The Breakfast Club."

Ringwald later starred in a series of French films before coming back to the U.S. Her last major actor role was in the ABC Family Network show, "The Secret Life of the American Teenager."

Hall has appeared in many films including "Weird Science," "Edward Scissorhands," "Six Degrees of Separation," and "Pirates of Silicon Valley," as well as many others.

Estevez starred in "St. Elmo's Fire" the same year as "The Breakfast Club." He also worked on "Young Guns" and "Mighty Ducks." While he hasn't done anything on screen in recent years, he's still in the industry working behind the camera, directing, and writing.

Sheedy also starred in "St. Elmo's Fire" along with Estevez. She also appeared in a few television shows in guest roles and in the TV movie, "High Art."

Nelson hasn't done too much since his iconic bad-boy role in "The Breakfast Club." He was seen in "Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back," "Airheads" and the television show, "Suddenly Susan."