Another night of waking up too much, so another alphabet list to help me fall back asleep. (The reason for using the alphabet is that it’s the only way I can remember it in the morning.) Since my little boy just started back at school, I thought of movies that are set mostly in and around schools:
AU REVOIR LES ENFANTS (the best of this list)
BLACKBOARD JUNGLE, THE BREAKFAST CLUB and BACK TO SCHOOL\
COOLEY HIGH and CLUELESS
DEAD POETS SOCIETY, DANGEROUS MINDS and DRUMLINE
EDUCATING RITA and ELECTION
FAST TIMES AT RIDGEMONT HIGH
GREASE and GOOD NEWS (both hokey in their own ways, but charming in their own ways as well)
HIGH SCHOOL CONFIDENTIAL, HIGH SCHOOL (Wiseman documentary) and HEATHERS
I? [IF—thanks to RJ Eskow]
J?
K?
LEAN ON ME, LUCAS and LEGALLY BLONDE
MEAN GIRLS (brilliant) and MR. HOLLAND’S OPUS (one of the few times I dug Richard Dreyfus’s acting)
NATIONAL LAMPOON’S ANIMAL HOUSE and NAPOLEON DYNAMITE
OLD SCHOOL
PUMP UP THE VOLUME (with some lines from a poem of mine in it) and PEGGY SUE GOT MARRIED
Q?
REBEL WITHOUT A CAUSE, ROCK’N’ROLL HIGH SCHOOL and RUSHMORE
STAND AND DELIVER, SKY HIGH, THE SUBSTITUTE and SCHOOL OF ROCK
TAPS and TO SIR WITH LOVE
UP THE DOWN STAIRCASE
V?
W?
X?
Y?
Z? [ZERO FOR CONDUCT, thanks to Ray DiPalma]
I couldn’t come up with movies for a lot of letters, obviously. Can you?
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5 comments:
Ray DiPalma emailed to remind me of a back to school movie for the letter "Z"—Jean Vigo's ZERO FOR CONDUCT. He's right, another good one. Thnaks Ray. And I must add, GOODBY MISTER CHIPS, sentimental and melodramatic, but still works for me.
Man, I couldn't wait to jump in there with ZERO POUR CONDUIT - and somebody beat me do it! Damn.
And ZERO had a major influence on my next nominee: Lindsay Anderson's IF, with Malcolm McDowell.
For W, WITHNAIL AND I deals with two actors who have recently graduated from the Royal Academy. That might be a stretch, though.
Best, R
How could I have forgotten IF?! Of course. But WHITNAIL & I is stretching it.Even though it is a terrific movie.
S- School Daze, Spike Lee. Just watched this Saturday night. Such a great experiment in storytelling by one of America's best film makers(I miss him, where the hell has he gone!) Not everything in the film works, I think that's why I love it. There's some bad acting; the plotline is not strong; some of the characters are too extreme. BUT Laurence Fishburne is fantastic! Giancarlo Esposito too! The ending is beautiful and poetic.
You can watch the GREAT musical number embedded in it— "Good Hair & Bad"— on YouTube (just Google School Daze).(I once suggested to you a list of musical numbers in non-musical films, this is my best example of that. I can't think of any others!)
Virgin Suicides, The? Zapped, was bad but hey, it's another Z. And I admit, I jogged the old memory with IMDB. Another fun list!
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