| Brian Johnson | |
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Gender: |
Male |
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Height: |
5' 9.5" |
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Occupation(s) |
Student at Shermer High School |
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Alias(es): |
The Brain |
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Family: |
Mr. Johnson (Father) |
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Friends: |
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Reason for detention: |
He wanted to kill himself with a flare gun that later went off in his locker, destroying the ceramic elephant he got an F on in Shop Class. |
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Who Brian blames for being in detention: |
His Parents |
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Significant Other: |
No girlfriend at this time. |
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Portrayed by: |
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The Brain[]
Brian is a young man who respects authority and calls Richard Vernon "Sir." He is friends with the janitor of the school and while he is at first embarrassed for the other kids to know this, he says goodbye to Carl as they all leave the school.
He can be rather silly at times. While repeating the essay prompt "Who I think I am" to himself, he puts a pen in his mouth and says that he is a walrus.
He finds John intimidating and puts his jacket back on when they both begin to remove theirs at the same time. He allows Bender to go through his lunch.
He is incredulous when Bender reveals the marijuana, but later smokes it, though not before silently asking Andrew for permission to do so. Andrew says no, but Brian gets up to do so anyway, marking his first disrespect of authority in the film. Brian acts very high while smoking John's drugs -- using a silly voice, wearing dark sunglasses, laughing openly, while Andrew is dancing around the library to Karla DeVito's "We are not alone".
He pays close attention to what goes on around him. He has been keeping track of the number of detentions that John has racked up --eight-- even though he thinks it's seven and knows where the library's fire exits are.
He doesn't like conflict and comes between Andrew and John when they are talking about their parents to break up their argument. He tells them that he doesn't like his parents either, and their idea of parental compassion is "wacko." He also hides his face in his hand when Andrew is talking about what he did to Larry Lester.
He's incredibly disappointed in himself for doing poorly in shop class. He got an F on a project where he was supposed to be able to pull the trunk of a lamp shaped like an elephant and turn the light on, but his light didn't come on. He took the course because it was supposed to be an easy way to maintain his GPA.
He asks what is going to happen to them on Monday. He begins to cry while they are talking. Claire says that he doesn't understand the kind of pressure that she's under and he responds with a "F*** you!" which shocks Claire and John. He pauses to hide his face in his sleeve before revealing that he received detention because his flare gun went off in his locker because he was going to attempt suicide with it after failing his shop class project. Instead, the flare gun destroyed the elephant lamp he got an F on.
Claire later suggests that Brian write the paper for all of them. This symbolic gesture shows the trust the group has in him, and elevates Brian from his old role of pushover to the voice of the whole group, showing that he is finally being treated as an equal.
Home Life[]
Before Brian goes to detention, his mother tells him to use the time to his advantage, and he answers that they are not supposed to study, they're just supposed to sit and do nothing. His mother doesn't care, and she tells him to figure out a way to study, and his younger sister agrees.
Brian tells everyone that his being the perfect son is a problem.
His father picks him up after detention, but says nothing.
Appearance[]
Brian is cute but dorky teenage boy of medium height and appears to be scrawny. He has pale skin, blue eyes, long nose, small pink lips, braces and short wavy blonde hair which appears thick. He’s 5’9. Brian is first seen wearing a Chicago Bears knit hat, khaki pants, and a brown jacket. He later removes this jacket to reveal a green sweater. Brian wears a watch on his wrist. He often sits with his knees pulled to his chest or in other strange positions. When he is high, he wears dark sunglasses. At the end, he wears a white shirt while holding his sweatshirt.
Quotes[]
"Dear Mr. Vernon, we accept the fact that we had to sacrifice a whole Saturday in detention for whatever it is we did wrong, but we think you’re crazy to make us write an essay telling you who we think we are. You see us as you want to see us, in the simplest terms, in the most convenient definitions. But what we found out, is that each one of us is a brain (Brian), an athlete (Andrew), a basket case (Allison), a princess (Claire), and a criminal (John). Does that answer your question? Sincerely yours, The Breakfast Club."
“Excuse me for being a virgin, I’m sorry.”
“Drugs. Drugs. The boy has marijuana. That was marijuana! Do you approve of this?”
“You know, there's not supposed to be any monkey business.
After being asked by Andrew why he needs a fake ID: "So I can vote."
“Because it's my business - my personal business.”
”When you pull the trunk, the light was supposed to come on and mine...well...didn't turn on...”
“What do you know about trigonometry?”
"I see me, I don't like what I see."
Behind the scenes[]
- Anthony Michael Hall was 16 (same as Molly Ringwald), roughly around his character's age, while he did this role, making them both the youngest of the teenagers although Ringwald had her birthday roughly three days after the movie's release.
- During filming, Ally Sheedy had a nickname for Anthony Michael Hall which was "Milk and Cookies", which he hated.
Allusions[]
- Brian can be compared to the following characters:
- Andrew Clark - Both face parental pressure by their parents to be the best of the best, and because of this, they feel like anything below that means no self-worth.
- Andrew's father wants his son to win at sports at all times.
- Brian's parents want their son to have top grades at all times.
- Andrew Clark - Both face parental pressure by their parents to be the best of the best, and because of this, they feel like anything below that means no self-worth.
- Anthony Michael Hall, Brian's actor, played both a victim of bullying and a bully, during his movie career:
- Here, Hall plays a high school "nerd", who is shy, "goody-two-shoes", and prone to getting picked on.
- 5 years later, in the 1990 Tim Burton drama Edward Scissorhands, Hall played the main antagonist, Jim, a cruel and arrogant muscular jock bully, who physically and emotionally attacks the main character, Edward Scissorhands (Johnny Depp), when the latter hooks up with the former's girlfriend Kim. (Funny enough, Molly Ringwald and Ally Sheedy were both considered to play Kim before it went to Winona Ryder).
Trivia[]
- He's in the math club, the Latin club, and the physics club.
- For the end of the year physics club dinner, they all get dressed up and have dinner at the Hilton. He didn't have dress shoes so he had to wear his dad's.
- His cousin Kendall from Indiana got high once.
- John calls him a "dork", "a parent's wet dream", a "Neo-maxi-zoom-dweebie", a "cherry", "Ahab", and even "smegma-toast" in a deleted scene.
- He lies about sleeping with a girl that lives in Canada and suggests that he has slept with Claire when Bender calls him a virgin.
- He has soup, apple juice, and a pb&j with the crusts cut off, in addition to the Coca Cola they all receive, for lunch.
- The line about Brian getting a fake ID so he can vote was improv.
- For lunch, he has soup, apple juice, and pb&j with the crusts cut off, in addition to the Coca Cola they all receive. He is surprised when John asks him if his mom married Mr. Rogers, referring to Fred Rogers, best known as the creator and host of the children's show Mr. Roger's Neighborhood, and he responds that she married Mr. Johnson.
- According to his driver's license (which is snatched by Allison along with his wallet), his middle name is Ralph, his birthday is on March 12, he's 5'9.5, and weighs 130 lbs. Andrew says that it's the worst fake ID that he's ever seen and points out that it says that he's 68 years old.
- He knows Larry Lester, but he didn't find out who taped his buns together until Andrew told everyone that he's the one who did it.
- Brian can make spaghetti.
- One of the things that Allison found in Brian Johnson's wallet was a perverted nudie picture which quickly caught Andrew's interest.