Conference bookie::movies

    Is this the Led Zeppelin film (c1975) or am I getting confused(sic)
    with the track of the same name ?
    
    Royston

    This is not the Led Zeppelin film.  This is a new movie made by the
    same guy (forgot name?) who did "Slacker."  
    
    It's about a group of students, in a high school in Texas, on the last
    day of school in June 1975 (or is it 76? one or the other).  It's
    supposed to show what life was "really like" for teenagers in the
    mid-70's and has the sound track to go along with it.
    
    For some reason, it has become very popular with the college students
    of today.  I'm not sure why, since they were only babies and toddlers
    in 1975-76.  :-)
    
    In any case, it was okay.  It held my attention, but I didn't like it
    as much as I had thought I might.  Maybe I was just too old in 1976 to
    appreciate or even care what 17 yr.old boys were doing at the time.  I
    don't know.  Anyway, I didn't think it was anything too special.  
    
    I'd give it ** out of *****.
    
    Lorna
    

	I liked "Dazed and Confused" very much.  This film was made by Richard
Linklater, who made the obcure "Slacker".  Dazed and Confused feels kinda like
Fast Times At Ridgemont High or American Graffiti (those this is not in
American Graffiti's class), though I think the film has its own identity.

	Dazed and Confused takes place on the last day of school in 1976 in
Austin, Texas (where Linklater is from).  Most of the students we see are former
juniors and soon to be seniors.  I felt this movie did a superb job of capturing
what it feels like to be set free at the age of 17 with the long promising summer
stretching before you.  It also captured a good bit of the fear and angst of
being at that stage of life.  For me it brought many of my own experiences back 
vividly.  I felt this movie had more realism in the characters and their interactions
than many movies of this sort.  Some aspects of the Texan lifestyle and value
structure are evident, but much of what we see exists anywhere in the US among 
people this age.

	Like other movies of this kind, there isn't much plot.  Rather, the film
portrays a sequence of loosly connected events whose main purpose is to aquaint
us with the characters, what's happening around them and inside them and to show the
absurdity of life at 16 or 17.

	It's also pretty politically incorrect as it portrays high
school age people smoking pot and drinking heavily while driving around town
acting in various irresponsible ways, and mostly having fun doing it.  But
kids don't do that anymore right??  Oh, there's also a lot of the "F" word
in case you're easily offended.

	I give it a 7 of 10.


	Mark

    I agree with both Lorna and Mark in the previous two replies. I thought
    it was well-made and realistically portrayed a certain time and place,
    yet I was put off by it, mostly because of the abuse connected
    with the hazing by the future seniors of the future freshmen.  It
    was just too disturbing to let me enjoy the characters.  I have no
    doubt that this sort of ritualized abuse happens, silently condoned
    by parents and authorities.  It's hard to believe it happened as
    recently as 1976; I hope it no longer does.
    
    Richard

    I thought this was very good.  Sort of an "American Graffiti 3: The
    Class of 76".  Good acting by a bunch of unknowns.  I wonder if we're
    seeing the next Richard Dreyfuss here.
    

    Which character would be the Richard Dreyfuss one?
    
    The only actor I recognized was Jason London, and since he's
    a twin, I wasn't sure if he was the actor from "I'll Fly Away"
    or the one in "The Man in the Moon" (a coming of age story, and it also
    stars Sam Waterston as the father).
    
    Richard

    re .4, yes, I was extremely put off by the hazing that went on in the
    movie.  I do not consider this acceptable behavior, and the scenes in
    the movie really sort've ruined the entire film for me.  I would have
    found it more acceptable had there been some indication that whoever
    made the movie found this behavior unacceptable, but I didn't get that
    impression.  I felt that it was more or less accepted as something that
    goes on.  But, I despise that type of behavior - stupid games that
    people play with each other under the guise that maybe it ultimately
    "makes a man" out of somebody, when in reality, I think it's just an
    excuse for people to treat others badly and get away with it.  I, also,
    hope it's not tolerated today.
    
    Lorna
    

    
    i loved this movie, but i too was distressed by the hazing. it was
    as totally foreign to my experience as the rest of it was true to my
    experience. i am told, however, that this sort of thing actually did
    go on in some schools at that time.
    
    ***�
    

    I thought "The Killing Fields" was a great movie, but I was distressed
    by the use to which plastic bags were put.  This was totally foreign to
    my experience.  I am told, however, that this sort of thing actually
    did go on in Cambodia at that time.
    

    
    ?
    

    re .9, not to be rude, but I think your comparison misses the point. 
    I've seen plenty of war movies - Platoon, Gettysburg, Glory, etc.  I
    think there is a difference between presenting history, including
    horrible acts of violence, which almost everyone watching knows are
    considered wrong, and the way the hazing was presented in this movie. 
    It was my impression that the hazing was presented as some sort of
    unpleasant, yet totally acceptable part of life, and that is what
    bothered me about it.  If the movie had been about why hazing is wrong,
    I might have liked it.  I was bothered by the careless way the hazing
    was presented, as though it was a totally acceptable, perhaps even
    humorous rite of passage.
    
    Lorna
    

    RE: .11 by VAXWRK::STHILAIRE 
    
    >I was bothered by the careless way the hazing was presented, as though
    >it was a totally acceptable, perhaps even humorous rite of passage.
    
    Didn't seem humorous to me, Lorna.  I'm just trying to remind people
    that movies are not always Politically Correct.  It's like, back in the
    40s when the bad guy always had to get it in the end.  Movies are not
    and should not be, the benchmark for the morality of our society.
    
    I've never seen anything like this hazing routine, but I am willing to
    accept that it was happening that way in this place in Texas at that
    time.  I'm not going to come in here and take the director to task for
    not inserting some moral.  
    

I'm sure i'm not going to like this but as a foreigner (:-)) what is hazing ?

Mike
>

    
    re:.12
    
    >I'm not going to come in here and take the director to task for
    >not inserting some moral.  
    
    i don't believe i, or anyone else for that matter, said that.
    
    >I'm just trying to remind people
    >that movies are not always Politically Correct... Movies are not
    >and should not be, the benchmark for the morality of our society.
    
    uh, don't need reminding, thanks
    

re:.13>> I'm sure i'm not going to like this but as a foreigner (:-)) what is 
    hazing ?
    
    Mike,
    
    I never saw the movie, but Hazing, how I know it is a sort of Initiation 
    in a business environment.  It can be destructive and go on for a very
    long time. I'm not sure if there are other meanings that apply to this
    movie.
    
    Steve
    

Mike
>

    Hazing is a term used to describe ritual punishment and humiliation
    inflicted by senior members of a group on junior members of a group
    so the junior members may earn the respect of the group and to willow
    those not "good enough" to join that group. It became quite famous
    in the seventies and eighties when some college student died from
    hazing accidents and colleges tried to stop hazing in college. 
                  Jeff Peters

    
    
    possible spoiler warning... ( not that the warning is possible - in
    fact, the warning is very *probable* considering I'm writing it now -
    but the words below may actually constitute a 'spoiler' to the movie in
    question, that it - it may give away some part of the plot or dialogue
    which may lessen your enjoyment if you've never viewed the film
    before.  Everybody get that? :-) )
    
    
    In the movie, the hazing involved paddling the behinds ( quite
    brutally, i should add ) of the freshmen by the seniors.  Some of the
    seniors were shown gleefully making their personalized big, wooden paddles
    in wood shop in the beginning of the movie.  
    
    	but the freshmen did get revenge on the most sadistic of the
    hazers, so I suppose it did follow movie tradition in that sense . . .
    
    	btw, the best line of the movie was :
    
    	"Awww, man - I *never* get to ride shotgun!"
    
    						- Jim
     

    
    Liked hearding "Jim Daddy" by Black Oak Arkansas... forgot about that
    one!  I think I only don't own 2 songs on the whole soundtrack  :^)
    
    The movie itself was okay.  Some things were great, like the real
    attention to detail around hairstyles (perfect!), clothes, etc. 
    Remeber playing footbal field goals with the paper triangle?  And
    life centering around foosball.  
    
    I thought the whole drugs thing was WAY overdone.  Possibly they could
    have thrown in a few characters that weren't always getting high (there
    were some of those folks, you know).  But most of the characters were
    very recognizable anyway, which was funny.
    
    The only objection I had to the hazing was...  I've never even heard of
    stuff like that in high school, so for me it was "Huh?"
    
    - Sean

    Saw this, well had it on over the weekend....
    
    HATED IT!
    
    The soundtrack was good, and that's the best I can say about this
    turkey. Needless to say, it was not my choice for rental. It was 
    such an obvious try at a rip-off of American Griffiti, it was even more
    pathetic than if it had been an original idea.
    
    Not to create a rathole, but the clothing was way outdated for '76. At
    least, here in California, that year we were not wearing that stuff, we
    wore than from '68 to '73. 
    
    None of the characters were likeable, though some unfortunately were
    probably believable. In the end, all I cared about was when it would
    finally end......

    I saw this for the first time yesterday and I loved it. I plan to see
    it again as soon as I can.
    
    Being British, a lot of the details of daily life passed me right by,
    but that didn't matter. What I loved about this film was that it didn't
    have any of the neatly rounded escapades of a film like American
    Graffiti, where one little set piece followed another and everything
    was all clean and tidy. I think AG is a great film, but it does tie
    everything up very neatly. D and C doesn't: it observes and avoids
    having easily identified good guys and bad guys. It's just a loose
    (maybe too loose for a lot of moviegoers) string of events happening to 
    people who remind us all of the people we've
    ever met. I kept thinking 'I've done that' or (and usually in the most
    embarassing cases) 'I've said that'.
    
    And whereas at the end of American Gaffiti, you felt like it was:
    'Okay, that's it! It's all over!', at the end of this film you realise 
    that they're all going to go home, get some sleep, wake up with 
    hangovers/regrets/bruises...and then just go on being alive. 
    
    Right after they've got their Aerosmith tickets, that is.
    
    Nick

The hazing completely ruined this movie for me.  I wish I'd hit the rewind
button sooner.  Zero stars out of four.

				-- Bob

    I couldn't finish watching it.  Reminded me of all the reasons why I
    dreaded becoming a teenager.  Which is not to say that it's a bad
    movie, just that I found the subject matter unpleasant.  If you're
    willing to spend some 2 hours watching the use of humiliation as a
    bonding technique, go for it.

    I'm a bit late on this, but I have to chime in....
    
    I am 34 years old and I grew up and went to High School in Texas in the
    late 70s (I graduated in 78). This movie was dead on and I loved it.
    
    Whether you liked the hazing or not, it happened. In fact it happened
    to me. Not that I totally approve of hazing, but I should point out
    that there is a positive side. 
    
    As a freshman you have one senior that "hazes you" and from then on 
    becomes your best friend and "mentor." In my case, one of the toughest 
    guys in the senior class picked me. I wasn't subjected to any physical 
    abuse, just made to do humilitating acts (silly really). It wasn't much 
    fun, but after that first tough day of school my senior mentor helped 
    me out and stood up for me the whole year. Plus, I knew all those cute 
    senior girls. It was terrific. And this is the way the movie portrayed
    it -- very accurate. The good and bad of hazing. (By the way, this 
    doesn't mean I approved of physical abuse of hazing, I don't, but I'm 
    sure it happened at many Texas high schools at that time).
    
    re. Drugs being overdone.
    
    Not true. Keep in mind this was portrayed in Texas. Marijuana is easier
    for a Texas high school student to get than alcohol (at least back then). 
    It just flows across the Mexican border. At that time, most everyone was
    doing it.
    
    I loved the characters. They were so dead on to many of the guys and
    girls in my class at that time. I could almost fill in names of people
    from my class that acted like the folks in this movie.
    
    It wasn't a great movie, but it was special for me. I give it 7 of 10
    and I hope to buy a copy so when my kids grow up I can say "Hey thats
    what it was like when I was growing up."
    
    Curt

    Re: .23
    
    Interesting.  I, too, went to high school in Texas, although barely in
    the seventies.  (Lewisville High, home of the Fighting Farmers, between
    Dallas and Denton.)  I don't recall participating in incidents like
    those in the movie, from either perspective.  Nor did we have any kind
    of mentorship.  It might have something to do with the size of the
    school.  We had three middle schools, and my graduating class was 550.
    
    Drugs, though, were hardly unusual.

    re. .24
    
    You may be right. I should mention I went to a Catholic High School in
    Ft. Worth and my graduating class was 123 seniors.
    
    Freshman year was tough. When I was a senior, I had the time of my
    life.
    
    Curt