1. "GREGORY'S GIRL" (1981)
Written and Directed by Bill Forsyth
I have rarely seen a film that exuded as much subtle, warm hearted charm as this celebrated Scottish movie. The story is as simple and everyday as any moment in a teenager's life. Gregory (Gordon John Sinclair) is a lanky, awkward 16 year old high school student and member of the school football (i.e. soccer) team who becomes infatuated with Dorothy (Dee Hepburn)-herself a new student and member of the football team-and is determined to win her affection. There's not much more to the film than that and wisely Forsyth does not complicate his material any more than it emotionally needs to be. It is a social comedy of manners between boys and girls while also being a deeply affectionate portrait of adolescent first love. Based upon the enthusiastic recommendation from Siskel and Ebert, I sought this film out in my early teens and was overcome with its honesty and quiet comedic grace which is as comforting as a warm summer's breeze.
2. "VALLEY GIRL" (1983)
Directed by Martha Coolidge
While I could never be absolutely certain, I think that it would be more than safe to say that rock music composer/political-scatological satirist/guitar wizard Frank Zappa would have hated this movie. At first glance, "Valley Girl" seemed to be a cynical cash-in on Zappa's surprise 1982 radio hit single which then excised Zappa's ferocious bite and mutated the song's original concept into a creaky plot device of two socio-economically divided teenagers falling in love. Perhaps it was a cynical cash-in, but under the wise, guiding directorial hands of Martha Coolidge, viewers received a small, warm hearted gem that still emotionally holds up today.
Deborah Foreman gives a completely winning performance as the sweet yet shallow Julie Richman, the titular valley girl who wants nothing more than to hang out with her gaggle of girlfriends and on the arm of her blond boyfriend Tommy (Michael Bowen). Yet, Julie has begun to grow restless with her surroundings and Tommy's disrespect towards her in particular. While at a grand high school party, sensitive Hollywood punk teenager Randy (a blazing Nicholas Cage), crashes and instantly strikes a connection with Julie. The two embark upon a tentative relationship, much to the dismay of their respective circle of friends and ensuring the heavy doses of peer pressure test their budding romance.
As Roger Ebert has expressed many times throughout his career, when it comes to movies and the plots they pursue, the success does not always lie strictly in what the film is about. The success lies in how it goes about telling its story. In the case of "Valley Girl," the story is as old as the hills yet what makes this film endure and resonate are the terrific leading performances, the empathetic direction, some foxy supporting work from Frederic Forrest and Colleen Camp as Julie's hippie, health food restaurant owner parents, and its great New Wave soundtrack. Pre-dating John Hughes' "Sixteen Candles" by one year, Coolidge also made great strides in the representation of teenage girls in an otherwise sexually offensive film genre by placing Deborah Foreman and her character front and center. Also, in an early party sequence, Coolidge cleverly delivered the genre's requisite topless busty girl shot during a moment where we are meant to feel the girl's sexual humiliation and hurt at the hands of Tommy--therefore, eviscerating any potential puerile thrills.
In addition to all of those aforementioned elements, at its core, "Valley Girl" is simply a sweet love story. Nothing more. Nothing less. But, I have to tell you, the sequence where Julie and Randy share their first kiss in silhouette, inside of a seedy L.A. rock club with The Plimsouls on stage blaring their classic "A Million Miles Away," is a moment that completely captured the burning urgency of teenagers in love everywhere.
(ALSO RECOMMENDED-"ZEBRAHEAD" (1992) Written and Directed by Anthony Drazan: This is an interracial take on this well-worn storyline and features outstanding performances by Michael Rappaport and N'Bushe Wright as the romantic teenagers caught on either side of the racial divide. It is an obscure film well worth seeking out.)
3. "THREE O'CLOCK HIGH" (1987)
Directed by Phil Joanou
I have enjoyed this dark, very underseen high school satire ever since I first saw it during my Freshman year of college. It effectively creates a grim, atmospheric mood that simultaneously never loses its swift comedic pacing. It is a film that keeps you laughing as you are a bit on the edge of your seat. Casey Siemaszko stars as Jerry Mitchell, a mild mannered high schooler and writer for the school newspaper. Jerry is dispatched to write a puff piece on the school's terrifyingly legendary new student Buddy Revell (a menacing Richard Tyson), a violent boy known for destroying absolutely anyone who even so much as touches him. While in the Boys Room, Jerry meekly accosts Buddy for the newspaper story, inadvertently touching him on the shoulder. Buddy flies into a rage and alerts Jerry that no matter what he does, or how he tries to get away, the two will duel in the school parking lot at 3:00 p.m.
"Three O'Clock High" is essentially a teenage version of the classic Fred Zinnemann Western "High Noon" (1952) and Joanou is more than up to the task for his debut feature. His depiction of high school is a near Dante's Inferno of hallway rumors and conspiring forces waiting to swallow you whole. Casey Siemaszko is a perfect leading man. He carries an almost "young Richard Dreyfuss" quality as he is easily a hero to root for, while you laugh heartedly at his predicament. Furthermore, Jerry Mitchell is almost like a cartoon character with the proverbial cloud firmly placed over his head, which constantly relinquishes raindrops that endlessly soak him. Every minute through his doom laden day and each scheme to get himself out of the fight ratchets up the comedic and inner tensions as he is faced with filmmaking students wishing to cover the fight, an outbreak of student gambling over the fight, a break-in at the school supply store he operates, foreboding administration figures and sadistic truancy guards. All of these elements are also brought to vivid life through the brooding music score by Tangerine Dream.
"Three O'Clock High" is a wickedly stylish ode to high school bullying and the whirlwind of the teenage rumor mill that I am pleased to suggest you give a peek.
4. "HOW I GOT INTO COLLEGE" (1989)
Directed by Savage Steve Holland
For his third feature, Holland (directing a film he didn’t write himself for the first time), dials down the subversive, suburban satire of his classic debut feature “Better Off Dead” (1985) and the sun-soaked cartoonishness of “One Crazy Summer” (1986) for a slightly more straightforward affair that shows a surprising earnestness and heartfelt charm in its delivery.
Like "Gregory's Girl," the plot is very simple. The average, under-achieving high school Senior Marlon Browne (Corey Parker) has only one dream as he begins his search for the perfect University to attend college: to follow the course of his dream girl, the gorgeous Class President Jessica Kailo (Lara Flynn Boyle) all the way to Pennsylvania's Ramsey College. Through this basic framework, Holland crafts a love story in which Parker and Boyle have an easy, unforced romantic chemistry that makes you hope for Marlon's happiness.
Yet, he hasn't gone completely soft, as Holland is still able to weave in some sneaky satirical barbs that poke holes at college fairs, and S.A.T. exam paranoia. Additionally, he also tells a smart side story about a group of Ramsey College's admission counselors (featuring Anthony Edwards, Charles Rocket, and Finn Carter) who are at war with each other concerning the best qualifications to regard with enrolling potential new students: a person's character or a person's numerical statistics.
Like many of the other films in this listing of Buried Treasures, "How I Got Into College" is a simple story told very well with style, humor and class. And hey...even the surly mail carrier from "Better Off Dead" makes a cameo re-appearance! When it was released originally in 1989, it died a rapid box-office death as the studio that released the film decided that it would have to go up against a little known picture entitled..."Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade." With thanks to DVD or late night cable, I gently suggest that you give this sweet film a shot.
5. "ORANGE COUNTY" (2002)
Written by Mike White
Directed by Jake Kasdan
In a film that also could have been titled "How I Got Into College," we are presented with the story of Shaun Brumder (a wonderful Colin Hanks), a surfer and high school Senior who desperately wants to attend Stanford to study to become a writer under the tutelage of his hero, Professor and Author Marcus Skinner (Kevin Kline) as well as escape the stifling confines of his shallow Orange County community and comically dysfunctional family. When his nincompoop of a Guidance Counselor (Lily Tomlin) sends the wrong application to Stanford, Shaun's dreams are crushed when he receives note that he has been rejected. Determined to fulfill his wishes, he enlists the aid of his girlfriend (Schuyler Fisk) and his loser, stoner of a brother (the amazing Jack Black) to get his real application to Stanford before the official deadline.
Kasdan and White have crafted a riotously funny film that wisely moves at a brisk pace and surprisingly covers a lot of ground in its brief 82 minute running time. "Orange County" features terrific, crackling dialogue, great performances from top to bottom and convincing cameo appearances from Chevy Chase, Ben Stiller, Catherine O'Hara and John Lithgow.
Again, we have a film that works so well simply because it is committed entirely to the story it wants to tell. It effectively devises a way to spin the story in as many hysterical fashions as it is able without ever sacrificing the good will, desires and hopes of the main characters. It is a rare feat to find a film this breezy and raucous that also possesses a shining heart at its center. "Orange County" is a sun-soaked treat of a film and especially as we begin to head into the colder months, this film just may be the perfect blast of sunshine you may be looking for.
Stay tuned, dear readers, for a "Back To School-Extra Credit Edition" of "Savage Cinema's Buried Treasure"!!
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