The Breakfast Club is a movie.
John Wilden Hughes , Jr. ( February 18 , 1950 -- August 6 , 2009 ) was an American film director , producer , and screenwriter . The Breakfast Club . Critics consider it one of the greatest high school films of all time , as well as one of Hughes ' most memorable and recognizable works . The title comes from the nickname invented by students and staff for morning detention at New Trier High School , the school attended by the son of one of John Hughes ' friends .