Tuesday, September 04, 2007

Alright, Alright, Alright: A List Worth Looking Into

Alright, alright, alright. Somebody finally put together a very good list of the all-time top-10 high school movies (with two glaring omissions, which I'll get to below). It got all of the usual suspects (Dazed and Confused, Rebel Without A Cause, Fast Times at Ridgemont High), as well as a very big surprise in My Bodyguard , a movie I remember watching on cable as a kid and thought I was the only person who ever saw it and actually liked it. Of course, I also thought the guy who played the bodyguard (Adam Baldwin) was Vincent D'Onofrio, and that just made me more freaked out when I saw Full Metal Jacket for the first time.

But there are two movies I have no idea how they missed:
  1. American Graffiti: I started reading the list from 10 down, and I figured that this one would certainly be ranked #1. It's NOWHERE ON THE LIST! How is this possible? I love Rushmore as much as anyone, but does that movie really exemplify how one felt in high school? Not like American Graffiti does. The premise is simple: It's the last day before Curt Henderson (Richard Dreyfuss) flies away to college. The rest of his friends know it's their last day of freedom too, and things will never be the same after Dreyfuss gets on that plane. No other film comes close to matching the last summer before going off to college like Graffiti. It's set in the early '60's, but it could have worked in any era. How this one isn't in the top 5 is inexcusable. There's no other way around it. Christ, the movie was nominated for Best Picture!
  2. Ferris Bueller's Day Off: Like Graffiti, the entire movie is set in one day, only this time, it's during the school year, as our hero Ferris (Matthew Broderick at his finest) tries to play the ultimate game of hooky. Everyone knows the story, he gets his sad-sack loser of a friend Cameron (Alan Ruck) and super hot girlfriend Sloane (Mia Sara, who I haven't seen in a movie since, which is a shame because she still looks gorgeous) to skip school on a picture perfect day in beautiful Chicago. I know John Hughes fans are raising their hands right now also nominating Sixteen Candles (an underrated movie that holds up incredibly well, despite the somewhat racist scenes with Long Duck Dong) and The Breakfast Club (also holds up well, but where else did people go to school to spend 8 hours on a SATURDAY for detention?). Bueller's the winner here, because everyone gets that itch their senior year where they want a day to thumb their nose at everyone and go out and play and be the envy of everyone else stuck in class.

11 comments:

Your Home Team, LLC said...

2 suggestions for this list, I just watched on the cable this weekend "3 o" Clock High",, that was a pretty good one. And who could forget the 1985 Classic "the Heavenly Kid" No after school specials on this list?

Dirtylaundry said...

If you can name one After School Special that merits consideration, I'll definitely try to make room for it on my own list. "The Boy In The Plastic Bubble" with John Travolta and that dead woman doesn't count. It was a made for TV movie, but not an after school special. And that was more about a bubble boy than high school anyway.

Your Home Team, LLC said...

1982's desperate lives where Helen Hunt does some PCP or something and then jumps out the window, not only is that a great high school flick, but it is an accurate portrayal of what happens to you when you do drug's.

Dirtylaundry said...

Uhm, is this the movie you're thinking of?

http://imdb.com/title/tt0182241/

I can't find any other after school specials Helen Hunt was in, but damn if she wasn't on literally every single television show in the late 70's and early 80's.

BSmokedTurkey said...

The Breakfast Club is unwatchable. I root for the teacher now. Sniveling brats.

Your Home Team, LLC said...

What about "all the right moves" Tom Cruise as Stefen Djordjevic
Craig T. Nelson as coach Nickerson and Lea Thompson as the non whore Lisa and Chris Penn, with this lineup?

Anonymous said...

I thought our video yearbook should at least get aHonorable mention

Anonymous said...

ah man, that top ten list was pretty whack and all over the place. while "rushmore" is one of my favorite movies, i've never once thought of it as a high school movie.

i totally second the helen hunt pcp movie (watched that in health class) and nominate "just one of the guys."

after watching "she's the man" with amanda bynes this afternoon, "just one of the guys" looks like citizen kane by comparison.

Dirtylaundry said...

OK, somebody find me this Helen Hunt movie STAT. I can't believe I've missed that thing.

Your Home Team, LLC said...

http://imdb.com/title/tt0083822/


This is the gem. Maybe you can netflix it, i dont know

Dirtylaundry said...

I am all freaking over that flick. Are you aware that none other than Rick Springfield sang the title song to the movie? How did I miss this? I could have avoided a life of hard drugs that have corrupted what should be my salad days.