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| “ | Don't mess with the bull young man, you'll get the horns. | „ |
| ~ Vernon's most infamous quote, to Bender |
Richard "Dick" Vernon is the main antagonist of the 1985 movie The Breakfast Club. He is the vice principal of Shermer High School and is a grumpy detention supervisor.
Vernon is strict and a bully disciplinary at Shermer High School in Shermer, Illinois. He isn't pure evil, though. He just finds out that it isn't easy to be teaching students anything. He also does not have any evil minions to do his dirty work.
He was portrayed by the late Paul Gleason.
Biography
When Vernon sees that the five students have arrived on a Saturday, he checks his watch to find out it is 7:06. He gives the teens exactly 8 hours and 54 minutes (7:06am to 4:00pm) to think about why they're here, and forbids them to talk, move from their seats, and to even sleep. He then assigns them something different: a 1000-word essay telling him who they think they are. He also tells the students that his office is right across the hall from the library and doesn't want to see any monkey business. When Bender asks him if Barry Manilow knows that Vernon raids his wardrobe, Vernon gives him another Saturday of detention.
Eventually, when he finds the door closed, even with a chair in the way, he gets Andrew Clark to help him, only for it to end up a failure. When Bender tells him maybe a screw fell out of the door, Vernon demands the screw, even threatening to yank him out of the seat and shake the screw out of him. When Bender insults him, Vernon gives Bender totally two months of detention. Vernon also warns the students that the next time he comes in, he'll be cracking skulls. He makes his students eat their lunch in the library after telling the students that it's lunch time and also allowing Andrew and Allison to stop at the vending machine to get a drink. Later, when Vernon catches Bender playing in the gym, he tells the other teens that Bender will no longer be in their services for the remainder of the day. Vernon also threatens Bender in a storage closet and tries to pick a fight with him and even tells him how tough he is. But Bender refuses to fight Vernon as Bender responds to Vernon if he is threatening him and he calls Bender a "gutless turd" and locks him in the closet before Bender sneaks back to the library and reunites with his friends. Vernon also asks the rest of the students where did that ruckus come from and the students try to make up a story that they didn't hear any ruckus with Bender secretly hiding under the tables before Vernon leaves the library in anger.
Carl Reed, the janitor at the school, when he catches Vernon viewing the confidential records of the school staff in the basement, Vernon turns around and sees Carl standing there. "Hey Carl good to see you". Carl then blackmails Vernon into giving him $50. Not too long after, Vernon and Carl are having a conversation about the kids and drinking some beer. Vernon asks Carl "What did you wanna be when you were young?", and Carl responds "When I was a kid, I wanted to be John Lennon". Vernon responds "Carl, don't be a goof. I'm making a serious point here." Vernon tells Carl that he has been teaching for 22 years and the kids get more and more and more arrogant. Carl says to Vernon "the kids haven't changed, you have." He tells Vernon that he thought that his job would be easy and to find that it is actual work and it bummed him out. Vernon says "These kids turned on me, they think I'm a big fucking joke". Carls asks Vernon "Listen Vernon, if you were sixteen, what would you think of you?" Vernon could care less what they think of him. Vernon tells Carl "You think about this: when you get old, these kids - when I get old - they're going to be running the country." and Vernon says "Now this is the thought that wakes me up in the middle of the night. That when I get older, these kids are going to take care of me" and Carl tells him "I wouldn't count on it."
By the end of the day, Vernon reads the essay that Brian Johnson wrote. The five teens did not write he told them to write about. Those five teens tell him that he's crazy and their a lot better than him. These teens leave detention as better people. Vernon, with his talk with Carl seems to have changed some for the better.
Personality
Richard Vernon is an extremely controlling, intelligent, arrogant, smart, devious and ruthless individual. He is an extremely egotistic aristocractic bully for the students, especially for the group at detention, so all what he enjoys from is to antagonize, harass and motivate them.
However, he isn't pure evil at all, but sort of anti-villain as his own goal is to teach the group a lesson about themselves and about their future lives. Despite this, he really is ruthless as he controls over the students with an iron fist without showing any mercy or remorse, which proves that he is also a tyrannical individual.
More than that, he describes himself as bully whose about to be outraged to Bender, so he warns him by saying his most infamous quote "You mess with the bully, you get the horns.". Somehow, he is shown to be attracted towards the school's janitor, Carl.
Trivia
- There was also a villain in the Victorious episode, "The Breakfast Bunch" named Mr. Dickers and his appearance and personality pays homage to Gleason's character.
