School has officially started and I still get the heebie-jeebies. I thought I would go the student route this time so here are my 3...
1. MARGIE- 1946
I saw this when I was a teen and was over the moon with this sweet film about a young girl who dreams about her teacher. Now, this film could never be made today because the teacher feels the same way! Yikes!! This stars Jeanne Crain as a young girl, in the 1920s, who can't seem to fit in maybe because she wears older clothes. An even bigger problem is that her bloomers keep falling down. She stays with her grandmother while her dad works (mom's dead) and she starts to crush on the French teacher. It actually is a sweet film if you get past the fact that she is supposed to be 15 and her teacher wishes he could have taken her to the dance instead of his present date. I was in teenage heaven over this film due to the romance. Remember, it was during the time...oh never mind...lol
2. FERRIS BUELLER'S DAY OFF-1986
Matthew Broderick plays the teen who wakes up to a perfect morning and decides to cut class. He tells his parents he's sick, they stupidly believe him, and as soon as they leave, he's out the door to his best friend who is a hypochondriac with many other issues. After convincing his friend to skip school with him, they find a way to get Matthew's girlfriend out of class. Thus begins the day of fun with the evil principal and his jealous sister hot on their trail. It’s a fun movie with heart that comes from the friend and the girlfriend. Off screen Matthew started dating Jennifer Grey, who played his sister and, when they were in England they were in a head on collision when Matthew veered into the next lane hitting the car head on and killing the 63 yr old mother and her 28 yr old daughter.
3. OCTOBER SKY-1999
This is an under-rated film that should be seen even if the star is Jake Gyllenhaal. It's based on a true story where Jake and 2 of his friends decide to find a way to build a rocket. They are hoping to get a scholarship to get into university and away from the dead end coal mining town they live in. Jake's dad, played so well by Chris Cooper, is against his son's dreams and thinks he should go to the mines to make money. The one who tells them to go for it is their teacher played by Laura Dern. It's such a brilliant small film that captures the world they live in and want to escape from. It’s neat to find out that all 3 ended up working in the space program and you see the actual photos of the people in the end credits.
Which student movies come into your mind?
October Sky was really good and Ferris Bueller is a classic.
ReplyDeleteI love all 3 of these movies, including Margie, and I know what you mean about times changing.
ReplyDeleteLove,
Janie
I see we feel the same way about Jake Gyllenhaal, though Laura Dern makes up for it.
ReplyDeleteThat Margie movie sounds like it's very much from a different time. I mean, kids often have crushes on their teachers, but today a movie like that would end with someone in handcuffs (or dead).
Never heard of Margie. Saw parts of Ferris Bueller and October Sky. My first thought was The Breakfast Club.
ReplyDeleteHi Birgit!
ReplyDeleteIt seems incredible that the kids are already back to school! Seems like they just started summer vacation a week or two ago.
I’m not the biggest Jeanne Crain fan, she was a pretty woman and an adequate actress but no more than that and I’m always amazed how major her career was since her talent was of such limited scope. She was a great favorite of studio head Darryl F. Zanuck for some reason which explains how she constantly landed important assignments while more gifted actresses sat around waiting. If not for her near constant state of pregnancy (she had 7 kids!) she would have been cast in even more plum assignments, for instance Zanuck wanted her to play Eve in All About Eve (the mind reels!). Okay vent over, Margie is a cute if unextraordinary movie of the type the studio churned out on a regular basis.
Ferris Bueller is a delightful romp of silly and absurd situations made palatable by its good-natured air and exuberant performances across the board. Even though her role is secondary I adore Edie McClurg as the principal’s secretary.
I walked into the theatre to see October Sky with no clear picture of what it was about and emerged thoroughly captivated by the story, the acting and one of the best, most effective scores I’ve ever heard in a film. Hadn’t realized you weren’t a Jake Gyllenhaal fan, I am, but we all have our likes and dislikes.
My first thought is Rodney Dangerfield’s best film “Back to School”, again with a great small performance from Edie McClurg. The whole movie is so infectiously jaunty because Rodney’s character is such a likable guy.
The next would be 1937’s “Varsity Show” wherein the students return to Winfield College and want to put on a show, but their professor won’t let them play that newfangled “swing” music! So they recruit alumnus Dick Powell-now a big Broadway producer to come in to shake things up! It’s as corny as it sounds but it did provide one of my faves-Priscilla Lane-with her screen debut.
Keeping to the college theme, my third would have to be the classic 1978 movie “Animal House” and its wild shenanigans.
Hello Birgit, I've not seen any of these films. I hope you are keeping well, Kate x
ReplyDeleteMargie I haven't seen. Everybody knows Ferris:) And the last one sounds awfully familiar. Hope you are doing well.
ReplyDeleteSandra sandracox.blogspot.com
"The Chocolate War" - logline reads "The Vigils are a gang of students at Trinity Catholic School... part of the tradition. They control the other boys by intimidation and the threat of violence." The protagonist tests this by refusing to sell candy for the school fundraiser.
ReplyDelete"Good News" - Logline is "Golden Globe winner June Allyson and Peter Lawford star in this enjoyable musical about a football hero who falls in love with his French tutor." The music is great!
Breakfast Club and Animal House already mentioned. To Sir with Love; Please Sir (offshoot of a U.K. 60s or 70s tv show which you’ve probably never heard of); Dead Poets Society; Mona Lisa Smile and, of course, St Trinian’s. I’m surprisingly good this week!
ReplyDeleteI've never heard of the first one. Of course I know Ferris Bueller. (I have been known to say, "Bueller, Bueller" when taking roll...) I think I've seen October Sky. For some reason I don't have a strong memory of seeing it, so maybe I've only seen bits of it. But I know it.
ReplyDeleteImmediately "The Trouble with Angels" came to mind. Hayley Mills in an all girls Catholic school. They get up to much mischief.
As I'm living the back to school life, I'm not going to think too hard to come up with other movies. (Although, that makes me think of Back to School with Rodney Dangerfield.)
Ferris Bueller is a classic that I never really cared about lol. It's so well loved, but it was always a big "meh" from me. I'm not sure that I've seen all of October Sky! I remember it being on TV a lot when I was a kid.
ReplyDeleteI've seen the last two. First would sure never get made today indeed lol another fun fact about Ferris, did you know the principal got put on a sex offender list? Blah. Three o'clock high and hiding out were fun ones that I recall.
ReplyDeleteFirst and foremost, the previously mentioned DEAD POETS SOCIETY.
ReplyDeleteThe next one that came to mind was BETTER OFF DEAD.
THE DIRTY DOZEN. (Hey, bootcamp is like a "school", ain't it? ;-)
~ D-Fens DogG