Don't you forget about us

It all started with a brain, an athlete, a basket case, a princess and a criminal.

- BY MATT ROPER Senior Feature Writer

And 40 years later, just like the teen film's hit theme tune by Simple Minds, Don't You (Forget About Me), The Breakfast Club remains unforgettable.

In the 1985 film five mismatched teenagers are forced to do detention together - but end up discovering they have more in common than they thought.

It quickly became a cult classic as viewers related to the angst, humour and vulnerability and identified with the characters, be it the popular girl with hidden insecurities or the loud-mouth joker struggling with his identity.

Director John Hughes made huge stars of the cast, who became an integral part of the Brat Pack, a group of actors who dominated the 1980s teen movie genre. Demi Moore, Andrew McCarthy and Rob Lowe were also part of the pack after coming-of-age flicks such as St Elmo's Fire, Pretty in Pink and About Last Night.

But the five Breakfast Club stars have not been seen together since - until Saturday, that is, when they reunited at a pop culture convention in Chicago, where the film was shot.

Molly Ringwald, now 57, who played high school “princess” Claire Standish, told fans: “I feel very emotional and moved to have us all together.”

And Emilio Estevez, 62, who starred as athlete Andrew Clark, agreed, saying: “It felt like it was time.”

Here is what happened to each Breakfast Club actor over the past 40 years...

MOLLY RINGWALD

Molly had already risen to prominence in Hughes's Sixteen Candles when she played spoilt Claire, who is in detention for skipping lessons to go shopping.