Not all of the movies I plan on reviewing here have been completely forgotten like my last entry. Many of the films enjoy some sort of cult following; some because they are terrible and end up becoming hilarious and some because they were slightly ahead of their time and overlooked upon their release. Today’s film is one that has seen a resurgence of support recently thanks to its old distributor (Universal) repackaging it with more popular movies from the 1980’s.
If you were to read the brief plot description of “Three O’clock High” it would come across as pretty unremarkable: a high school student named Jerry has to suffer through an entire school day until he inevitably has to take on the new bully in school who challenged him to a fight at the end of the day. Such a description was probably why the film debuted at number seven at the box office upon its release in 1987. In the 1980’s teen comedies were a dime a dozen and one devoid of sex that didn’t have John Hughes’ name attached to it was destined to die a slow and painful death. Come to think of it, if you substitute John Hughes’ with Seth Rogen or Judd Apatow (all three of whom worked on this weekend’s release “Drillbit Taylor”), the same rules would apply.
“Three O’ Clock High” comes with quite the pedigree, itself. The writers never really went on to do anything all that memorable again; mostly television and a couple of movies I could very well use in a future column. Director Phil Joanou recently made the film “Gridiron Gang” and works quite frequently with U2, including their concert film “Rattle and Hum.” The cast included noted and loved character actors that have gained popularity in supporting roles, but the leads never became huge stars after this. Barry Sonnenfeld (director of the “Men in Black” films and “Get Shorty”) even worked on this film as a lighting director and cinematographer.
If none of those names ring a bell, the names of the film’s two executive producers should: Aaron Spelling and Steven Spielberg. There is a rumour circulating around Hollywood that Spielberg had his name taken off the credits to distance himself from the fact that he collaborated on anything with Spelling. It was a shame since the Spielberg name could have helped this movie a lot more than the Spelling name.
The movie opens with a great “getting ready while late for school montage,” that made me believe for the longest time that you very well could throw a shirt in the microwave to dry it off after pulling it soaking wet from the washing machine. Trust me when I say such tricks only work in the movies; you will only end up burning yourself because you just boiled your fucking clothes.
Jerry (played by Casey Siemaszko) wakes up late on a day when he was supposed to open the school’s student store early. His day only gets worse as he manages to have a flat tire, has to end up taking mom’s station wagon (complete with SUPERMOM vanity plates) to school, and nearly crashes the car on the way to school with his sister and Goth best friend in tow in what may very well be one of the longest spin-outs in history.
Upon arriving at school fifty minutes later than he should be, the campus is all abuzz about the arrival of “the new guy” Buddy Revel. Even Yeardly “Lisa Simpson” Smith shows up in a well done DePalma like shot where students talk about the unspeakable acts committed by Buddy. It would appear that Buddy had been thrown out of every school he has attended for various violent acts; some involving breaking the necks of gym teachers, pulling switchblades on football coaches, and a punch in the face from a set of brass knuckles if someone should touch him. Buddy doesn’t like to be touched.
When Buddy (Richard Tyson) finally does show up, it is almost as if an outlaw has really come to town. He shows up in slow motion in his plain white T-shirt and leather jacket; clearing a path without even having to look up, let alone say anything.
At first Jerry doesn’t believe the hype about Buddy and he goes about his day. His boss at the student store (“Arrested Development’s” Jeffery Tambor) tasks Jerry with depositing their record sales of about $500 after school. Jerry couldn’t care less about what his boss says when the girl who caused his near accident earlier walks in. Jerry immediately becomes socially inept at the sight of her, yammering on about the new space age technology behind some fucking pen they are selling.
After looking like a fool, Jerry goes to a journalism class of some sort where he is assigned (completely at random) with doing a welcome piece on Buddy. Jerry’s best friend Vincent (Jonathan Wise) offers to take the story off his hands, but the teacher declines the request as Vincent would probably just make it the kind of sensationalist piece she doesn’t want. Jerry, however, nearly pisses himself with fear and has to run to the bathroom.
Well who should walk in but Buddy, taking the urinal next to Jerry and clearly ignoring the rules of urinal etiquette. Jerry ignores urinal etiquette further by trying to shake hands over a piss. Buddy calls Jerry a fag and in an effort to smooth things over, Jerry makes the mistake of touching his shoulder. Buddy, being the rational human being he is, smashes Jerry’s head into the wall and throws him through the mirror.
Not only is the article not happening now, but Buddy says they are going to fight at three o’clock, but not before giving a speech about how he will track Jerry down if he tries to say anything to anyone or tries to run:
“You try and run, I'm gonna’ track you down. You go to a teacher, it's only gonna’ get worse. You sneak home, I'm gonna’ be under your bed.”
Needless to say, the way the rumour mill runs in the school, everyone knows about the fight ten minutes after the initial confrontation, so before Jerry even has the chance to go to the principal, his idiot friend Vincent has already managed to plant a knife in Buddy’s locker and placing an anonymous note on a teacher’s desk. Jerry goes along with it, regrettably, thinking Buddy will be kicked out before the end of the school’s pep rally. Jerry also refuses to leave since he has a math quiz and a book report due later in the day. He’s such a trooper to try and make it through a day where he could very well end up dead.
The knife planting didn’t exactly go as well as planned. Jerry freaks out and tries to escape in the middle of the pep rally, only to find the knife sticking out of the steering wheel (and a threatening note) and all of his engine connections cut. Not so luckily, Jerry has told Vincent to call the whole thing off and he took the note back from the teacher.
At this point the problems just pile up. Nothing Jerry tries to do to get out of the fight seems to work. He has a run in with a security guard who likes to call himself “The Duker” (played by “X-Files” veteran Mitch Pileggi) who finds the knife during a “routine narcotics search” on his way back from the parking lot.
The emotionless principal (who has such cheery books on his desk as “Nazi War Crimes” and “Dread”) doesn’t believe a word of Jerry’s story. Jerry tries to hire a kid to beat Buddy up during lunch by paying him with all the money he stole from the student store during a staged fire drill, but the guy just ends up getting his nose and thumb broken.
I could go on and on with the other plans that don’t work and the ridiculous romantic subplot involving the Goth girl, the girl of his dreams, and a teacher who thinks he is coming on to her despite him really just wanting to get detention. There is quite a bit more to it, but I will leave it at the point I am at now; which is roughly 40 minutes into the movie.
This movie works because it creates its own reality that is not too far removed from our own. It is aware that the story has plot holes that need patching and it repeatedly comes up with clever ways to explain questions the audience is bound to have. It also eschews my biggest complain about bully’s on film. Far too often movies try to show a bully as being misunderstood. Buddy isn’t misunderstood. He is legitimately psychotic. Just like some of the greatest villains in film history, he has no motivation to be doing the things he is doing and in the process adding dimension to the other characters he torments.
Credit for making the script work, however, should be given mostly to Joanou and Sonnenfeld. The film is shot beautifully and they manage to squeeze every last ounce of dread out of a very mundane setting. The ticking of every clock begins to be a bit much as the film goes on, but the action moves at such a fast pace it helps to keep aware of what time it is.
The biggest problem with the movie is the needlessly tacked on romantic subplot that is completely uninteresting and manages to slow down the pace. Also, the big fight at the end of the film is so ridiculous, it might has well have taken place in the Thunderdome and having everyone chanting “two men enter, one man leaves.” But when you look back on the movies that were more popular at the time, this one blows them away.
Verdict: Hidden Gem
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment