The Breakfast Club (1985) is a quintessential 1980s film written and directed by John Hughes in which a group of teenagers representing different cliques in high school spend a Saturday morning in detention together and come to realize that they are all deeper than their respective stereotypes.

The film's stars came to be known as the Brat Pack because they all hit stardom at the same time and tended to star in movies together. The teenagers in the film were played by Emilio Estevez (Andrew Clarke, the high school jock), Anthony Michael Hall (Brian Ralph Johnson, the nerd), Judd Nelson (John Bender, the rebel stoner), Molly Ringwald (Claire Standish, the rich girl), and Ally Sheedy (Allison Reynolds, the weird girl). Paul Gleason played the principal named Richard Vernon; John Kapelos played the janitor,Carl. Hughes appeared in an uncredited role as Brian's father.

Judd Nelson’s impressive performance throughout the film was influenced by his method style technique of staying in character off set. He was accused of bullying Molly Ringwald off camera due to his insistence of being the character “Bender” between shooting.

Some argue that the movie has a disappointing ending because Allison renounces her maverick ways and succumbs to the mainstream female image (makeup, pink dress, rather submissive, etc.). It should be noted, however, that she does not completely shed her kleptomania, stealing the jock Andrew Clarke's wrestling patch from his jacket, in a unique show of affection.

The film's theme music, Don't You (Forget About Me) was a US and UK top-selling hit for Simple Minds.

The film was parodied in the movie Not Another Teen Movie. A Saturday detention episode of the British children's drama Grange Hill also bears a striking resemblance to scenes from The Breakfast Club. A first-season episode of Dawson's Creek entitled Detention was a takeoff of the movie.

Breakfast Club is also the name of a band from the early 1980s which included singer Madonna.

Breakfast Club is the name of a minor 1980s literary movement.