[deleted]

I agree, Paul Gleason was a talented and underrated actor who died too young. He steals every scene that he is in.

I especially get a kick out of his heart-to-heart conversation with Carl the janitor. He asks him if he ever wanted to be someone and Carl answers, "I always wanted to be John Lennon."

Vernon's reply of, "Carl, don't be a goof" always has me in stitches.

In a lot of ways, Vernon reminds me of some of the men teachers I had in high school. Like when he yells for Andrew to help him prop open the library door, "Andrew, front and center!"
That was a line I heard every male teacher who was also a coach say many times. I think they thought it made them sound macho or something. ha

The teen-agers in the movie were typical, whiny and self involved. Their problems were "oh so insurmountable". They had little respect for the adults in their lives. Of course, out of all of them, Bender had the most reason to be angry. His father was clearly abusive.

Vernon provided the perfect counterpoint to their whining. He was living and working in the real world, dealing with brats who made fun of him and laughed at him. I always wished that we could see the "breakfast club" in twenty five years when they were the Vernons of the world, trying to make a living and getting disrespected by teen-agers.